FRSO joins Anti-imperialist Working Class World Summit

Members of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization answered the call from the Partido Socialista Unido Venezloano (PSUV) to participate in a virtual gathering to uphold proletarian internationalism in the face of U.S. imperialism. The virtual conference demonstrated a truly international character, as 61 different delegations of trade unionists and activists attended from all five continents. It is clear that workers and communist parties from around the world stand in solidarity against U.S. imperialism and the blockade against Venezuela.

Other countries that are also in the crosshairs of U.S. imperialist maneuvers – like China, Cuba and Nicaragua – fielded delegations. The All-China Federation of Trade Unions expressed their solidarity with the workers of the world and explicitly their solidarity with Bolivarian Revolution and the people of Venezuela. All participants and parties stood firm in their resolve to end the U.S. blockade of Venezuela and to support the upcoming December 6 elections in Venezuela.

The vice-president of the Working Class section of the PSUV, Nelson Herrera, pointed out, “COVID-19 has taken the mask off of capitalism, it has removed the veil. The workers will strengthen their unity to confront the financial corporations in the service of capitalism.”

As the topic of working class solidarity arose, James Jordan, co-director of the Alliance for Global Justice, added that “there is a difference in the working class in the U.S., too often it is the enemy of the struggles in the Global South. With the AFL-CIO so-called Solidarity Center, this is false solidarity. It is solidarity with the ruling class, with U.S. imperialism. And we must fight to transform the working class in the U.S. into a weapon against the ruling class, and to fight for and with the peoples of the Global South.”

Tom Burke of the FRSO added, “The AFL-CIO Solidarity Center should not be carrying out the agenda of Wall Street. The Solidarity Center played a vital role in the oil worker lockouts from 2002-03 that saw a number of a U.S.-orchestrated coup attempts against President Hugo Chavez.”

FRSO members have been proud participants in recent international delegations to Venezuela, including a trade unionist delegation and an anti-imperialist delegation.

At the closure of the conference, former trade union bus driver turned elected President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, addressed the international meeting. “We are creating a great alliance of trade unionist workers around the world to confront U.S. imperialism, to liberate ourselves.” Paraphrasing Karl Marx, Maduro added, “the proletarians of the world, united, organized, together we will build our future!”