It’s critical that we take example from the liberation struggles of the Global South, and a major recent lesson from these struggles is the importance of finding unity. I describe this as a recent lesson, even though it’s applied to class struggles all throughout history, because the need for a united front has been particularly urgent since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Following that upheaval, the liberation movements have needed to figure out a new path. And during this era of grappling, we’ve seen a pattern where the globe’s liberation movements have kept having to pass the same test: a test where different elements within a given movement must either reconcile, or be defeated for the time being. Three stories about this that stand out are Venezuela, Palestine, and Bolivia—with the former two countries seeing their struggles strengthened due to newfound unity, while the latter has seen a major setback due to new divisions.
In Venezuela’s case, the disunity which the movement needed to overcome had its origins in a wrecking operation. An operation that had been orchestrated by the European-funded global Trotskyist influence network, which began sowing serious discord within Venezuela following the death of Hugo Chavez in 2013. It was after then that the Trotskyist International Marxist Tendency gained enough influence within the Communist Party of Venezuela to hijack the organization, push a narrative about Maduro having sold out Venezuela’s people, and anti-democratically shut out anyone who challenged the IMT’s lies.
These imperialist compradors accused Maduro of that which they themselves were guilty, and used the party’s platform to trick global audiences into viewing the Bolivarian leaders as U.S. neo-colonial tools. Then in 2023, the authentic militants within the party used Venezuela’s revolutionary high court to take action against the wreckers, and end the Trotskyist efforts at silencing dissent within the party. Through this, the militants successfully won back their party; and in the year or so since they won that battle, they’ve been able to rebuild the organization to the best of their ability.
As reported by the Communist Party of Great Britain ML’s writers, the participants in the defensive campaign against the Trotskyists have articulated the true positions that the party holds. As we all work to defend our own movements from the equivalent kinds of sabotage, we must study the statements from these communists.
Luisa González has said that “We communist women are supporting this socialist process. We abhor and reproach the position of that very minor faction that was in the Communist party. Above all that in the election process of 28 July [2024] they supported a candidate of the fascist extreme right, who is also anticommunist. We are deeply offended by that. These actions were taken by citizens who put their hands up [in surrender] and decided to try to put the Communist party on the back foot before the American empire. And from the women’s trench I say to you: the communist women of Venezuela support our president Nicolás Maduro Moros.”
Henry Parra has said that “our party is guided by the scientific conception of Marxism-Leninism, the emancipatory, anti-imperialist and integrationist ideal of Simón Bolívar and by the principles of proletarian internationalism, international solidarity with the peoples fighting for their national liberation, popular democracy, progress, social welfare and socialism.”
It should be a given that these kinds of pro-unity, materially based positions would define any real liberation movement; but there are countless bad actors who seek to draw our struggles away from such principles stances, and we must combat their attacks wherever they’re to be found.
The members of the Palestinian resistance have taken this task seriously, rejecting the bad-faith arguments of those who seek to separate the different armed anti-occupation groups from each other. And it’s because of their successful struggle against division that Hamas now acts within a coalition among all of the guerrilla organizations inside Gaza.
Hamas used to be at odds with the Palestinian communists, who didn’t want to side with Hamas in its fight with the Palestinian Authority’s ruling Fatah party. This had to do with how Fatah is the largest faction within the Palestine Liberation Organization; but the Palestinian communist movement’s enmity towards Hamas didn’t last, partly because Fatah itself plays a highly negative role within the Palestinian cause. The PLO underwent a transition into compradorship, and this means that when Hamas has fought with Fatah, Hamas hasn’t simply been fighting the Palestinian left (as unprincipled critics of Hamas have asserted). Fatah and the PA are absolutely not friends of the communists, and this has made it easier for Hamas to unify with the communists during these last fifteen years.
Despite all the efforts by saboteurs to encourage infighting between the liberation groups, in Palestine these groups have come together. And what this story has in common with Venezuela’s revolutionary reunification is that when the different parties have set out to reconcile, they’ve found that they share the same role within the power struggle. That they all fundamentally agree on the need to defeat the imperial enemy, whether that enemy comes in the form of U.S. aggressions or colonial oppression by Washington’s Zionist proxy. And in both stories, there’s been a comprador betrayer who the principled actors have found unity in fighting, with the betrayer in Venezuela being Trotskyism and the betrayer in Palestine being Fatah.
In Bolivia, such unity has been shattered for the time being, and this isn’t the fault of the principled actors. It’s the fault of the liberal comprador element that took over the country’s Movement for Socialism Party, and refused to build upon the workers gains that former president Evo Morales had made. President Luis Arce weakened the worker institutions that Morales had worked so hard to strengthen, leaving Bolivia all the more vulnerable to the economic crisis it’s been experiencing. The liberals also unlawfully banned Arce from running again, which was a critical factor that led to the party being split. Now the right wing has won, and the left has been fractured.
These developments are absolutely a loss for Latin America, and for the anti-imperialist cause. When juxtaposed with the recent success stories for revolutionary unity, though, they provide us with insight into what a real united front looks like. A united front is not when the principled elements passively accept the betrayals from the opportunists, like those who’ve vilified Morales wanted him to do with Arce’s comprador faction. Real revolutionary unity looks like when the varying forces which seek the enemy’s defeat overcome their differences, and build strength off of each other.
Strength is never found in appeasing the bad actors who align with the imperial hegemon. It’s found in putting aside all secondary disputes, and collaborating on the foremost goal of defeating the hegemon. If someone isn’t interested in doing this, seeking unity with them isn’t worthwhile, because they’re affiliated with imperialism. We must prioritize unity with the forces that share the goal of defeating imperialism, or we’ll end up trying to please opportunists who will betray us.
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