Chavismo = Trotskyism?

On the agenda for the Venezuelan president's new term:

• allow him to rule by decree for a year
• lead to socialist constitutional reforms
• reinforce popular education
• change the "geometry of power" or the way political, social, economic and military power is distributed across the territory
• lead to the "explosion of communal councils"

Then the Beeb buries the lede:

In the same address, Mr Chavez also announced he would nationalise key businesses, declared himself a Trotskyist and cited the ideas of Marx and Lenin.

Never mind that "Bolivarianism" is, by bluster and by defintion, the equivalent of "great Russian chauvinism," which is associated with Stalin, as is "rule by decree." (Lenin at least adhered to some flimsy version of democratic centralism within the Soviet regime, though Trotsky was never equable about outlawing the Workers Opposition and other non-Bolshie groups.)

I have to admit, I love hearing Hugo talk Third International to me. I wonder from what SparksNote pamphlet he culled permanent revolution.

Joey and I proudly count ourselves as ex-Trotskyists (having completely bypassed the City College Alcove 1 days of Irving Howe) trapped somewhere in the ideological DMZ of neoconservatism and social democracy. We've been agitating for months now to create a Jewcy tee that features the Old Man of Coyoacan as one our Real Radicals.

The petty bourgeois imperialists are keeping us down.

More fun at Harry's Place.