Yang Jianmin and Zhang Xiaoxu: The Socialist Ideology and Practice of the Venezuelan Left
The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (hereafter PSUV [1]) was preceded by the "Movement for the Fifth Republic" (MVR), a political party founded by the late Venezuelan president and leftist leader Hugo Chávez. During his tenure, Chávez implemented domestic economic and social reforms, promoted grassroots democracy, and improved the livelihoods of the lower classes. Internationally, he sought independence and sovereignty, opposed US hegemony, and emphasized Latin American regional cooperation. To efficiently implement these governing philosophies, Chávez formally proposed—following his third election as president in 2006—the formation of the PSUV as a merger of all domestic leftist organizations. The aim was to unite the forces of leftist parties and the socialist revolutionaries who supported him. After a period of preparation, the PSUV was officially established in January 2008. From November 2009 to April 2010, the PSUV held its first Extraordinary Congress, passing three documents—the Party Statutes, the Declaration of Principles, and the Founding Program—which provided a comprehensive explanation of the Party’s nature and guiding ideology. The Party advocates opposition to capitalism and imperialism, adheres to socialism, humanitarianism, and internationalism, defends the fruits of the Bolivarian Revolution, upholds the interests of the working class, and is committed to building a "21st Century Socialism" [2] that is equitable, free, and humane. The Party defines itself as a bottom-up mass party that achieves radical transformation and realizes socialism by uniting Venezuelans of diverse backgrounds. In essence, the PSUV is the essential "engine" driven by Chávez to lead Venezuela down an alternative path to neoliberal development.
After Chávez's passing, Nicolás Maduro took up the banner of the PSUV. Born in 1962 in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, Maduro was a subway driver in his youth and later rose to become a leader in the subway workers' union. As early as the start of the 1990s, he was a staunch supporter of Chávez; he later joined the MVR, served as Director of Mobilization, and actively participated in the creation of the PSUV. Highly esteemed by Chávez, Maduro served as Venezuela’s Foreign Minister from 2006 to 2012, was appointed Vice President in October 2012, and was subsequently handpicked by the terminally ill Chávez as his "successor." Following Chávez's death from cancer in 2013, Maduro won the presidential election held that same year and was elected Party President at the Third Congress of the PSUV in July 2014. Article 11 of the Congress Resolutions, a programmatic document passed at the congress, explicitly stipulated the implementation and development of the views and opinions on revolutionary theory and practice proposed by Maduro. With this, the PSUV entered the "Maduro Period."
Under Maduro’s leadership, the PSUV has continued along the path of "Chavismo," and its party statutes, principles, and program have remained unchanged. Despite a deteriorating governing environment—especially after 2019, when Venezuela faced an unprecedented domestic economic and political crisis and external sanctions from the US and isolation from right-wing Latin American states—the PSUV nonetheless stabilized its regime under these extremely harsh conditions and began to explore innovations in its governing philosophy and methods. From March 5 to 8, 2022, the PSUV held its Fifth Congress. In addition to reaffirming the Party’s objectives, it focused on discussing the promotion of the "3R.Nets" concept and the feasibility of the "1×10 for Good Government" system, laying the groundwork for subsequent adjustments and renewals of the organizational structure and leadership at all levels. Currently, the PSUV has 7.7 million members, and Maduro has proudly announced that the Party has developed into the largest and strongest political party among the progressive leftist forces in Latin America.
I. The Significant Improvement in the PSUV's Governing Environment
The governing environment of the PSUV once deteriorated sharply due to the "Venezuela Crisis." Economically, Venezuela’s growth rate had been negative since 2014. Under the overlapping impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and US sanctions, it plummeted to a historic low of -30.3% in 2020, continuing to rank last among 33 Latin American and Caribbean nations. Venezuela also suffered a prolonged period of hyperinflation, with its annual inflation rate peaking at 65,374.08% in 2018. Politically, the opposition figure Juan Guaidó declared himself "interim president" in January 2019. He not only gained support from the opposition camp but also swift recognition from the US, Canada, and many Latin American countries, causing domestic tensions to escalate abruptly. Western countries, led by the US, have consistently viewed the eradication of Chavismo and the subversion of the PSUV regime as the ultimate goal of their policy toward Venezuela, imposing 763 direct sanctions over the past seven years. However, in the last two years, the situation in Venezuela has shown signs of a "turn for the better," primarily manifested in the following aspects.
First, the economy has bottomed out and rebounded. On one hand, Venezuela has broken free from hyperinflation. Academia holds that if a country can maintain its monthly inflation rate below 50% for 12 consecutive months, it is no longer in a state of hyperinflation. According to statistics from the Central Bank of Venezuela, the country's monthly inflation rate remained below 50% throughout the entire year of 2021. On the other hand, the Venezuelan economy has achieved restorative growth. At the beginning of 2022, while delivering his annual summary to the National Assembly (hereafter the "Assembly")—Venezuela’s highest legislative body—Maduro stated that 2021 was the first year of recovery and growth for the Venezuelan economy. Supported by diversified economic development, its GDP achieved over 15% growth in 2022, the best "report card" delivered among Latin American and Caribbean countries.
Second, the domestic political situation is tending toward stability. Since May 2019, the PSUV government has actively engaged in contact and negotiations with the opposition. Although this process faced twists and turns, a "National Dialogue Table" was eventually established in September 2019 with the opposition faction excluding Guaidó, and a consensus was reached in February 2020 regarding the election of the new Assembly. This marked the emergence of a split within the opposition. In fact, the opposition lacks the capability to defeat Chavismo and possesses no solid mass base sufficient to exert political pressure on the PSUV government. Subsequently, the "Great Patriotic Pole Simón Bolívar" (GPPSB) alliance, led by the PSUV, won 256 out of all 277 seats in the Assembly elections held in December 2020, and swept 21 of the country's 24 first-level administrative units in the November 2021 regional elections. Achieving landslide victories in two consecutive major elections indicates that the PSUV has stabilized the political situation in Venezuela.
Third, the external environment has improved to some extent. First, US-Venezuela relations have eased. In the first half of 2022, Maduro and the President of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, respectively met with different US delegations, and the Biden administration announced the lifting of some sanctions on Venezuela in May of the same year; both sides have signaled mutual goodwill. Second, the "Leftist Tide" [3] in Latin America has created a relatively relaxed geopolitical environment. For example, Colombia was long held by right-wing forces, and the two countries faced numerous conflicts over issues such as the border, migration, and crime-fighting. After Gustavo Petro won the election in 2022, Colombia achieved its first "turn to the left," leading to the rapid restoration of diplomatic ties and an intention to further strengthen cooperation in various fields, including trade. Argentina also restored diplomatic relations with Venezuela in 2022. The Argentine government also expressed support for Venezuela’s return to Mercosur and hopes for the two countries to work together to strengthen the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). Finally, the current international situation is favorable to Venezuela. The Ukraine crisis led to crude oil shortages and price hikes; Venezuela capitalized on this trend by stabilizing daily crude oil production at 700,000 barrels in the first half of 2022, generating $1.5 billion in monthly exports.
II. The PSUV’s Adjustments to Leadership and Organizational Structure
Chávez always upheld the spirit of "developing participatory democracy, expanding the rights of the people, and striving to make the majority the protagonists of democracy," a principle Maduro has inherited. Currently, under a favorable new environment both internally and externally, the PSUV has not only updated its leadership but also optimized its organizational structure to better implement this spirit and improve its governance capacity. Following a series of adjustments, the PSUV has become more cohesive, and its governing efficiency is expected to increase significantly.
(1) Transitioning to Socialism Begins with Updating the Leadership
The Congress of Party Delegates is the highest power organ of the PSUV. The President is the supreme leader within the Party, and the First Vice President is fully responsible for the Party’s daily work. The Political Bureau is the core leadership team of the Party. The National Leadership Council is responsible for discussing major matters and important issues of the Party and the state and making collective decisions. The Political Commission is specifically responsible for supporting and guiding various decisions adopted by the government. In addition, the PSUV has nearly 20 specific functional departments, such as the Department of Organization, the Department of Women, the Department of Youth, and the Department of International Affairs, which respectively undertake party work in different fields.
In April 2022, at the second plenary session of the Fifth Congress, Maduro was re-elected as Party President, and Diosdado Cabello continued as First Vice President. The plenary also elected a new 40-member National Leadership Council and a 19-member Political Commission. In May of the same year, the PSUV adjusted its main leadership and organizational structure. Regarding personnel, Maduro announced a list of 13 members for the new Political Bureau, including himself, and adjusted the heads of various functional departments. Following these adjustments, most heads of functional departments are concurrently members of either the Political Bureau or the National Leadership Council. In terms of organizational structure, the PSUV merged the Department of Communication with the Department of Electoral Affairs and created a "Linkage Mechanism." The "Linkage Person" (link) for each of Venezuela's 24 first-level administrative units oversees the Party's organizational work in the corresponding region, effectively playing the role of a "Branch Secretary" [4].
PSUV First Vice President Cabello emphasized that the adjustments to the Party leadership and organizational structure were made to better find new ways to transition to socialism. This demonstrates the clarity of the Party’s goals in undertaking top-down reform and the firmness of its resolve to seek the realization of socialism.
(2) Consolidating the Party’s Primary-level Organizations through Participatory Democracy
Participatory democracy is an essential component of Chavismo. Both the former MVR and the subsequent PSUV have regarded helping the people realize their status as masters of the house [5] as their goal of struggle. To this end, the PSUV established a three-tier system of primary-level organizations: Streets, Communities, and the "Bolívar-Chávez Battle Units" (UBCh [6]). The Party has primary-level leadership bodies in nearly 270,000 streets and over 46,000 communities nationwide, and has organized more than 14,000 Battle Units.
From late August to early September 2022, under the slogan "Organize, Unite, and Participate," the Party held grand primary-level election activities, selecting new leadership teams for the Party at the street, community, and Battle Unit levels. Each street leadership team consists of 4 people; the one receiving the most votes is the general coordinator, while the other 3 assist the coordinator in completing education, mobilization, and electoral work. The community leadership team likewise consists of 4 people, including one general coordinator and 3 cadres. The situation for the "Battle Units" is slightly more complex; besides the candidate receiving the most votes serving as the unit's general coordinator, 9 other people are respectively in charge of affairs such as women, youth, and production. After the elections, the PSUV successfully completed the renewal of its primary-level leadership, with the proportion of new cadres reaching as high as 57%. The role of women has also become increasingly important; taking the Battle Unit election results as an example, women accounted for as much as 62% of the newly elected cadres. It is worth mentioning that in these primary-level elections, non-party individuals and members of the opposition were granted the right to vote, which fully reflects the openness and inclusiveness of the PSUV.
Maduro has stated many times that the protagonists of the Bolivarian Revolution are the Venezuelan people, and the governing party must actively listen to the opinions of the masses. The PSUV’s open and inclusive primary-level elections implement this spirit and enhance the Party’s cohesion.
III. Innovation in the PSUV’s Governing Philosophy and Methods
In the favorable new governing environment, the PSUV has—based on Chavismo—created a new theory with Venezuelan characteristics that conforms to the features of the times: the "3R.Nets" concept. Under the guidance of this concept, the PSUV has launched a series of innovative governance measures, the most representative of which are the "1×10 for Good Government" system and the plan for building Special Economic Zones.
(1) The "3R.Nets" Concept
In early 2022, Maduro formally introduced the "3R.Nets" concept. The "3R" represents three Spanish words: Resistencia (resistance), Renacimiento (rebirth), and Revolucionar (to revolutionize). "Resistance" emphasizes that Venezuela must resist all forms of imperialism; "rebirth" signifies the rebirth of Venezuela's spirit, culture, and national identity; and "revolutionize" requires the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) to stand united with the people, eliminating all maladies through continuous revolution. "Nets" is an abbreviation for the Spanish Nueva Época de Transición al Socialismo, meaning the "New Era of Transition to Socialism," which Maduro has designated as the period from 2022 to 2030.
The "3R.Nets" concept serves as an action guide for Venezuela's march toward socialism. "Resistance" is the foundation for achieving socialism. Since Chávez established the Bolivarian revolutionary regime, the United States has used various means to besiege Venezuela in a vain attempt to block its socialist development. However, the Venezuelan people have refused to bow to imperialist forces even under extremely harsh living conditions. "Resistance" requires the people to continue the struggle against hostile forces that interfere with and sabotage the PSUV regime. "Rebirth" represents the hope for overcoming current difficulties and moving toward socialism. Independence and sovereignty have been the most important rights of the Venezuelan people since their independence in the early 19th century, and "21st-century socialism" and the "Good Life" (Buen Vivir) [7] have long since become the goals pursued by the broad masses. However, the "Venezuela Crisis" of the past few years has severely damaged the people's confidence, shaken their socialist convictions, and even led to millions of refugees leaving the country. Therefore, the people's patriotism, fearlessness, and desire for socialism need a "rebirth," and the PSUV must also be reborn in revolutionary morality. "Revolutionize" is an important means of achieving socialism. Marta Harnecker, a theorist of Bolivarian revolutionary theory and advisor to Chávez, believed that Chávez was not a populist, but a revolutionary leader. Under the new situation, Maduro has also issued a demand for "continuous revolution" to the people. It is evident that both generations of PSUV leadership value the vital role of "revolution." In recent years, inspired by the revolutionary spirit, the Venezuelan people have not been crushed by various adverse factors but have instead defended the fruits of the revolution.
The "3R.Nets" concept serves as a locator for Venezuela's march toward socialism. The "Venezuela Crisis" depleted the people's will and bred discontent, even leading to shifts in the course of Venezuela’s advance toward socialism. Under these circumstances—in order to gradually meet the various basic needs of the public, strive to improve living standards, and lead the country toward socialism at a steady pace—the PSUV, headed by Maduro, proposed the important concept of the "New Era of Transition to Socialism." The mission of this concept is to help leading cadres at all levels of the Party, government, and military, as well as the masses, clearly recognize the reality of the country's current stage of development, thereby avoiding "blind activism" [8] or "lagging behind." Thus, the "3R.Nets" concept functions to calibrate the country's development.
Although "3R.Nets" is still in the construction phase and has not yet formed a complete theoretical system, it has become the core guiding ideology for the PSUV’s governance in the New Era. First, the concept has a broad mass base. In early 2022, at a rally commemorating the 64th anniversary of the victory of the 1958 Venezuelan Revolution, Maduro called on the whole nation to expand the discussion on "3R.Nets." This sparked a wave of discussion across all sectors of Venezuelan society. Second, the concept is highly valued by Venezuela’s top leadership. Maduro has repeatedly demanded on various occasions that leading cadres of the Party and government strengthen their study of the "3R.Nets" concept, using it as an action guide for work in the New Era. Finally, the concept guides an extremely wide range of fields. Since its inception, the PSUV government has formulated multiple development plans under its guidance, covering sectors such as the economy, education, healthcare, the internet, and infrastructure construction. As theoretical construction further advances, this concept will undoubtedly exert an incalculable influence on even more areas of Venezuela.
(II) The "1×10 System of Good Government" and Special Economic Zones are typical examples of PSUV’s practical innovation
To maintain social stability and smoothly transition toward socialism, the PSUV attaches more importance than ever to grassroots governance and economic development. Consequently, it has pursued innovation in governance measures, launching the "1×10 System of Good Government" and the project to create Special Economic Zones (SEZs). These two new governance measures can both be explained by the "3R.Nets" concept: the "1×10 System of Good Government" aims to utilize high-tech tools such as network communications to better resolve the daily problems of community residents and restore their confidence in the PSUV and socialism, which constitutes "rebirth"; the creation of SEZs is a new attempt by the PSUV government in the New Era, aimed at attracting foreign investment and increasing national income to counter US and European sanctions, which constitutes "revolution" and "resistance."
The "1×10 System of Good Government" is an innovation project for public welfare by the PSUV. On May 20, 2022, the Maduro regime officially launched the system, which is a network system for the government to strengthen public management and promptly resolve issues in the daily lives of the masses. Any Venezuelan citizen over the age of 16 can register an account through the "Patria Platform" (Sistema de la Patria), where they can create their own "1×10 group" based on their community or join a group created by others. Each group consists of 11 people, including one leader and ten members; a user cannot join two groups simultaneously. When using the system, users can submit reports or complaints to government departments regarding public service issues such as community water supply, electricity, transportation, and medical services. Public officials respond and resolve the problems immediately. Delcy Rodríguez, a member of the PSUV Political Bureau and Vice President of the Republic, is the leading official in charge of this project; she emphasized ensuring that feedback from the masses can reach the city halls directly. The "1×10 System of Good Government" will greatly improve the efficiency of local governments and provide citizens with more convenient and higher-quality lives. Furthermore, given that "weak social supervision mechanisms" are a major reason why Venezuela's anti-corruption efforts have not achieved their intended effects, this system may improve the efficiency of the PSUV government's governance of corruption. Maduro has high hopes for this new form of grassroots governance, noting that "the 1×10 system is the tomb of bureaucracy."
The construction of Special Economic Zones is a significant governance innovation by the PSUV in the economic sphere. On June 30, 2022, the National Assembly, with vigorous promotion from the PSUV, passed the Organic Law on Special Economic Zones, planning to establish five SEZs in Venezuela's northern coastal regions. The PSUV government hopes to use SEZs to achieve a series of goals, including promoting the development of advantageous projects, expanding and diversifying exports, acquiring new technologies, developing new production models, promoting economic diversification, participating in international production chains, driving industrial development, creating jobs, and increasing workers' income. To attract foreign investment, the SEZs will provide investors with numerous preferential policies, mainly including: the establishment of a "Single Window" for administrative affairs to simplify procedures and improve efficiency; providing various tax refund policies for enterprises within the zones, including import tax refunds; customs and tax incentives for enterprises importing materials conducive to Venezuela’s economic development; tax incentives for enterprises producing or importing essential goods for domestic consumption through the zones; preferential policies in the economic, financial, and foreign trade fields for financial units operating within the zones; and the adoption of a free currency exchange policy. The intensity with which the PSUV government is attracting foreign capital fully reflects its determination for "transformation."
IV. Governance Challenges Facing the PSUV
Currently, the crises in the political, economic, and diplomatic spheres in Venezuela have eased somewhat, and the PSUV’s internal adjustments and governance innovations have brought new hope to the people. However, in the "New Era of Transition to Socialism," the PSUV still faces challenges in several areas.
First, the tasks of the "Plan for the Homeland 2019–2025" are imminent. The "Plan for the Homeland" (Plan de la Patria) is a specific development plan for Venezuela for the period of 2019 to 2025, passed by the National Assembly. It includes relatively abstract "Five Historical Objectives" and a series of "Specific Development Indicators." judging by the current implementation, it will be difficult for the PSUV government to complete the relevant plans. Taking oil production—the lifeblood of the Venezuelan economy—as an example, the daily crude oil production in 2022 was 685,000 barrels. Although this is a significant increase from 554,000 barrels per day in 2021, there remains a massive gap relative to the target of 5 million barrels per day required by 2025. Currently, more than half of the timeframe for the "Plan for the Homeland" has passed, making it highly difficult to fully realize its planned objectives in the remaining time.
Second, the construction of Special Economic Zones faces numerous difficulties. First, Venezuela's overall investment environment is not optimistic. Venezuelan economist José Guerra pointed out that because the government previously requisitioned and confiscated foreign capital, it is difficult to find new investors, especially in the absence of much critical economic data. Second, many preferential policies remain unclear. The Organic Law on Special Economic Zones is a law of principles and frameworks and lacks precise explanations of various preferential policies; for example, it does not specify what the tax refund rates are, nor does it provide a clear definition of concepts such as "materials conducive to economic development." Finally, there is a lack of supporting reform measures. The Venezuelan SEZs lack institutional support, making them akin to "water without a source."
Third, governance innovations have been questioned by some domestic political forces. Compared to the Chávez period, the current PSUV government places greater emphasis on the private economy; Vice President Rodríguez has publicly affirmed the role of the private sector. Consequently, some dissidents believe the PSUV has embarked on a capitalist path and accuse its governance innovation measures of being a betrayal of Chavismo. The Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) has also diverged from the PSUV on labor rights, social welfare, "dollarization," and foreign policy, leading it to withdraw from the "Great Patriotic Pole Simón Bolívar" (GPPSB) governing alliance. The PCV also opposes the construction of SEZs; the party’s Secretary-General and member of the National Assembly, Oscar Figuera, even referred to the Organic Law on Special Economic Zones as a "pact of the elites."
Fourth, there are concerns regarding governance legitimacy. Electoral data shows that compared to the Chávez era, the PSUV under Maduro’s leadership faces a crisis of governance legitimacy. Taking presidential elections as an example, since the founding of the PSUV, Venezuela held general elections in 2012, 2013, and 2018 with the following results: in 2012, over 18 million voters participated with a turnout as high as 80.67%, and Chávez garnered over 8.13 million votes; in 2013, there were nearly 19 million voters with a turnout of 79.68%, and Maduro won the support of over 7.58 million voters; in 2018, the number of voters rose to 20 million, but the turnout dropped to 46.06%, and Maduro received fewer than 6.25 million votes. In a situation where the number of eligible voters is rising but the turnout and total vote counts continue to decline, the PSUV urgently needs to bolster public confidence.
V. Conclusion
The PSUV was born during the "Pink Tide" of the early 21st century when Latin American leftist forces collectively took power. It has withstood the various tests of the "Venezuela Crisis" and has seen a resurgence of vitality in the recent new wave of leftist electoral victories. Under Maduro's leadership, the party continues to follow a path consistent with Venezuela's national conditions—remaining steadfast in Chavismo and the pursuit of socialist development while daring to innovate its organizational structure, governance concepts, and methods of rule. However, in essence, the PSUV's governance philosophy remains far removed from scientific socialism; [9] rather, it is a further exploration of a development path distinct from the Western model within the new geopolitical environment of Latin America.
In the New Era of Transition to Socialism, whether the PSUV can implement the "3R.Nets" concept, execute plans such as the "1×10 System of Good Government," create Special Economic Zones, and respond to a series of new governance challenges will be the key criteria for testing the PSUV's governing capacity and the decisive factor in whether the Venezuelan economy can be revitalized.