To make the people visible and give them the power that pertains to them is one of the greatest achievements of the Bolivarian Revolution... Here we are to render tribute to People Power, the greatest achievement of this Revolution. Everything is referred to strength and to power. The people’s strength has become power
Hugo Chávez Frias.

In the face of the total economic embargo against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, decreed by Trump last August 5, 2019, which prohibits any kind of economic transaction with the Bolivarian government and the State petroleum company PDVSA, as well as imposing sanctions against anyone who maintains trade relations with both, we can expect, without any doubt, an imminent deterioration in the capacity of the people to acquire their most elemental needs, mainly food.  And all the more so when the CLAP instrument, the insignia program of the government for providing basic food, has been torpedoed by this latest, malign, morbid and genocidal imperial decree.

As many have asked, what is the alternative to possible famine among the Venezuelan people? The revolutionary government has been creating some plans for such a case, to provide tools to face this eventuality.

One revolutionary proposal has been to strengthen the idea of People Power, for which Commander Chávez had already announced the basic idea: “The configuration of People Power requires firstly the creation of people’s organizations, leaderships, from those levels most committed in the direction of the country at the political, economic, military and social level, to the most committed levels at the grassroots.”

People Power has been employed as one of the guiding principles of the Political Program of the National Bolivarian Government, and has been qualified as Socialism or the transition to Socialism, since 2005. In fact, the first approximation to a concrete example of this figure took place in 2006 with the promulgation of the Law of Communal Councils, which created the National Presidential Commission of People Power.

This law makes way for one of the most advanced figures in relation to people’s organization, the Communal Council: "The Communal Council is the body for participation and integration of citizens, organizations and social movements that allows the organized people to exercise community governance and the construction of a new model of egalitarian society, with equity and social justice.”

The Communal Council must be made up of around 150 families from a sector, a neighbourhood, a locality. The CC can be created both in urban and rural areas. For example, in one neighbourhood, there can be various CC, according to the number of families who live in that neighbourhood.

These Communal Councils have their own structure and their action arms are called Working Committees, such as: Committee of health, Committee of urban land, Committee of housing and habitat, Committee of communal economy, Committee of security and integral defence, Committee of alternative community media, Committee of recreation and sports, Committee of food and defence of the consumer, and other committees that the community considers necessary.

When a Communal Council is set up, it can also plan to have a space for production, both in the urban sectors (when there is not sufficient space in the urbanisations or in apartment buildings, the CC should provide a tract of land sufficiently large to provide food for 150 families, with a neighbouring CC, or in some nearby rural zone) and in rural areas, where normally there is sufficient land.

These bodies, the Communal Councils, are already set up and exist in all the States (provinces) of Venezuela, that is to say, the, the political and physical infrastructure exists, and should be the arm, via production, for facing an eventual famine.

Productive CCs have already been tested and are operating in a number of agricultural and livestock items: various kinds of pulses: beans, lentils, dried peas, chickpeas, among others; vegetables such as onions, spinach, pumpkin, broccoli, and others; and livestock including cattle, sheep, goats and others.

Organizing Communal Councils in all the States-Provinces, to produce their own food, represents a viable outcome for feeding people with our own food, at least the basics, for the families living there. The Venezuelan Government should make sure that these instances of People Power become a policy of the State for survival. They have already tested, with credit-contributions from the State, for inputs and tools, as well as machinery and counselling for the activity.

We should add that, when at least seven Communal Councils join together, we can create a Productive Commune, and we thus have greater strength and determination. At least, this is the proposal, based on thirteen years of experience, working with the Ministry of People Power for the Communes.

And this is just one of the viable proposals, to move in the direction of Production; but there are also many other paths that have been tested and exist, it is a question of promoting them on a larger scale. Meanwhile, the experiences with Communal Councils and Productive Communes have been successful, and have demonstrated great capacity for confronting corruption and other vices of capitalist management.

14/08/2019

(Translated for ALAI by Jordan Bishop)