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You do realize these things take time. You can just barge in and say, "Ok, this is the way things are going to be now whether you like it or not." More subtle changesm ust be made first. I think the downfall of alot of the nations trying to become communist was they made too drastic changes too soon.

I see a Petty bourgeoise Populsit Socialist when looking at him. Examining his policies. The way he talks and all such my opinion of him from a somewhat Socialist like guy to that.

Which nations? The Soviet Union did have a period of state capital before it went socialist (and then back to State Capital). This period was to take the time and effort, to not use haste. However after Lenin, Stalin did use haste and achieved Socialism however short lived it was it was created.

The early Soviet Union had reasons to revert back to State Capital, but Chavez has not even attained the level of State Capital the Bolsheviks attained and Venezuela does not have the lack of technology or industry as Russia had during the time of its revolution.

The dictatorship of the proletarait should be suggested on the basis that it is a majority over the minority.

He does not have to declare himself dictator just democratic centralism and the theory of the new democracy wink

There is a lot of controversy when it comes to the statement that they did not transition back to state Capital. Stalin did not transition back to state Capital however Khrushchev is recognized as the transitional period of Socialism in the USSR going backward to State Capital. I love your explanation on State Capital lol

Sorry I should have been more specific with just the vanguard parties with Democratic centralism.

Ahh I see, nice post, thank you for clarifying some things for me Gracchvs!

Chavez's scheme of giving scheap oil, specifically heating oil, is quite ingenious. With this he can say "you know poor Americans, what is your government doing for you? What are your oil companies doing? Look at what CITGO is doing, look at what I am doing!" On the whole it gives the American public a reason to be prochavez and thus hampers the US government's ability to hamper Chavez. He has also announced this deal will head to the UK next year, but the UK is going more left recently.

Chavez is a lot like Castro, hell he had close relations with Castro prior to his coup back in the day. First he is a nationalist "Free venezuela from foreign companies.. land to the people" etc.. Then he changes "I am a socialist"... Then he changes again, progressing further and further as it becomes socially acceptable.

Through his policies of buying up bankrupted capitalist enterprises and turning them over to workers to run, and by forming farming co-ops, and by taking steps to abolish the institution of rent (by making renters owners after a period of 10 years), and by setting up what are known as "boliviarian circles" which are essentially workers' soviets with a different name. I must deem Chavez to be a socialist.

Chavez also doesn't need to be a dictator because he already effectively is. His party "The Fifth Republic Movement" and its allies in MAS "Movement towards Socialism" and the Venezuelan Communist party hold every single seat in the unicameral legislative house of Venezuela.. The people have spoken and they have virtually installed the dictatorship of the proletariat in every branch of government. They have already made a few constitutional amendments to better make the government an impliment for socialism.

Couple that with ALBA and the PTAs they've been signing (Peoples' trade agreements, mostly between Cuba, Venezuela, and Bolivia) as opposed to FTAs (free trade), you can see they are moving towards socialism, it just isn't happening like one big orgasm.

Bolivia's situation is a lot like Venezuela's situation with a few exceptions. Mostly, Bolivia's drug problems are a lot worse than Venezuela's.

Bolivia has the largest oil reserves in South America, next to Venezuela, this makes them an obvious choice for imperialism, which is exactly what happened elsewhere. In Bolivia however, due to their inhospitable terrain and constant shifts from state-run to private capital dominance they are not as well developed as Venezuela. They are currently one of the poorest nations in the region. Bolivia also has more Native Americans living within.

Venezuela isn't so much taking advantage of Bolivia in the form of imperialism as it is helping Bolivia out.

Firstly by creating a three way system everybody gets what they want. Cuba sends Venezuela and Bolivia doctors and teachers, and allows those nations to send students to Cuban universities. In return Bolivia gives Cuba and Venezuela food, and in return for food and Cuban goods, Venezuela gives capital. Venezuela has tons of money, and uses it well.

Bolivia recently nationalized their oil fields, which is a lot different from Chavez's approach of legislating higher and higher taxes untill it is simply more profitable to sell out than to remain. As in Morales sent the army in and ordered Chevron, and the Brazilian oil company out. Venezuela will be funding this.

Venezuela is also funding the (49%) Cuban drilling operations currently going on in Cuban coastal waters.

Cuba also produced a lot of heavy machinery for the soviet union, and in the wake of the rise of Venezuela (and its need for heavy industrial production) many of these older industries are being revived.

Essentially these are the economic goals of the region:

Cuba wants to become self sufficient food wise (or at least well fed through constant trade) and it wants to stabalize its currency. They can do this by having Venezuela buy up (which they have done) Cuban international debt, and by exchanging heavy industrial products and their stellar education/medical technology, personelle, and educational facilities for food and capital. Just recently Cuba posted a 12.7% growth of GDP in a single month due to the recent PTA agreements with Bolivia and Venezuela (my source was Granma.cu cuba's news paper). Cuba also has a lot of electricity problems, and its 6 or 7, I don't recall, oil burning power plants, must really appreciate the Venezuelan oil, and the oil that Venezuela is helping them drill in the cost. Cuba has also began trading a lot with China (mostly buses, refridgerators, and computer parts), but China hasn't done much with Venezuela or Bolivia to my knowledge.

Venezuela, with overflowing oil cash; needs to invest it. Another deep concern for Venezuela is an extremely high poverty rate (which is now down to only 30% of the population thanks to Chavez, it was 40% in 98' prior to his election) and its dependence on the oil industry.. No more demand for oil.. No more economy in Venezuela. So they are turning mainly to agriculture and heavy industry essentially building a self sufficient economy. Thee goal here is to reduce poverty with investment returns, increase living standards through cuban education and medicine, and create a self sufficient economy (which reduces poverty too). Venezuela has also started spending a lot on the military and is now building an AK-47 factory (which will be state owned) with the endorcement of Vladimir Putin. They mainly say this is to protect against a coming invasion, but I think it also plays into the need for job growth and poverty reduction that comes with producing a hot commodity like guns.

Bolivia is in terrible shape. A huge portion of their population is in poverty (64% according to the CIA world factbook). The people of Bolivia saw what Chavez is doing in Venezuela and demanded the same from their Washington puppet government which didn't deliver even after riots. It was only natural to place Evo Morales and his MAS party in power. They have since nationalized their oil and natural gas industries and sought to stop the forced eradication of coca leaves (the main ingredient in Cocaine) and the promotion of legal and responsible coca growth and use. They are really just swimming around. They need to trade, but they must do so carefully to avoid the major pitfalls of free trade on a very poor nation. Bolivia does have a lot of activity going on in it that it can trade, but it must do so carefully, hence why they promote the PTAs that protect weak Bolivian industry and allow highly capitalized (nonstate) industry to face competition from Venezuelan and Cuban companies or to bring in Venezuelan or Cuban companies for nonexistent, but vital imports. Bolivia also depends upon foreign aid to function. Venezuela can provide this pretty freely. The world bank has also granted them a 2 billion dollar debt forgiveness (whereby industrial nations buy up 2 billion in Bolivia's debt) which is really going to help out.