Changing Venezuela by taking power

The history and policies of the Chávez government

Gregory Wilpert, Verso, 352 pages, paperback, £16.99

Journalist Greg Wilpert has written many useful reports from Venezuela on the Venezuelanalysis website he edits, and this book is an informative look at the recent history of the country. He writes from experience as he has lived in the country under the Chávez administration.

He concentrates on explaining the policies of Hugo Chávez’s government and is scathing about the right-wing US–backed opposition. Whilst the book is positive about developments in Venezuela under Chávez, it is more critical than most left-wing accounts, detailing problems of corruption and bureaucracy.

The book contains some important information on workplaces, although it states that the UNT union federation is “weak”. Wilpert points out that the co-management schemes in a small number of firms have not gone very far, and that many nationalised industries are still run in top-down fashion.

Wilpert concludes by asking what is 21st-century socialism by looking at Chávez’s most recent policy announcements from the nationalisation of key sectors to the non-renewal of the broadcast license of the main opposition TV station. He questions whether outside observers are right to say that these recent developments will turn Venezuela into an “elected dictatorship” or a “Castro-communist” dictatorship.

Overall the book is optimistic that Venezuela “remains one of the best beacons of hope for a newly invigorated left in Latin America”.