Tumultuous opening to II UNT National Congress

Invited as one of the official observers by the UNT (National Union of Workers), VSC witnessed the revolutionary passion of the Venezuelan delegates who came from all parts of the country to Caracas for this II UNT National Congress, which is taking place from May 25th - 27th, in the Salon Venezuela, in the Military Circle of Fuerte Tiuna.

The UNT in its embryonic form was conceived on April 5th 2002, exactly one week before President Chavez was taken prisoner by the fascist coup mongers of the Venezuelan military, and the US lackeys belonging to civil society and the historically corrupt high bourgeoisie. In the intervening last three years, the UNT has gone from being a fertilized embryo to the dominant trade union movement in Venezuela. Currently 16 national unions and 700 local trade unions are now affiliated to the UNT, consigning the traitors of the CTV (Venezuelan Workers Confederation) to the status of an empty organisational shell, with little or no grassroots support.

This fact was evidenced by the overwhelming attendance of UNT affiliated workers for the Congress on registration day May 25th, when at least double the numbers of expected attendees turned up to be registered. The Salon Venezuela has a maximum capacity of 2500 people, and the result that day was that half of the potential delegates returned, disappointed, to their home states. Registration procedure turned into a marathon and lasted more than 12 hours testing the patience of even the most hardened and committed revolutionary trade unionists. VSC recommends that next year’s Congress should be held in the Poliedro (capacity of some 14000) and that pre Congress selection and procedures should be smoothed out and all unnecessary bureaucracy unceremoniously eliminated. By 10pm on Thursday May 25th all identification badges had run out.

With the Congress due to be installed from 10am on Friday May 26th, VSC was witness to huge queues one and a half hours before the official starting time waiting to enter the Congress building. Two hours later, the Salon Venezuela was bursting at the seams and there was a sense of great expectation in the air, as the organisers announced multiple greetings from the stage to the many unions and national delegations present.

The primary reason for the enthusiasm was the fact that this Congress was billed as a “grassroots event” where the workers themselves would take Congress decisions and not the ruling representational cliques as was always traditionally the case during the 40 years of corrupt CTV dominance in the Venezuelan trade union scenario.

For this II UNT Congress the main points to be debated were:

1. Mobilise and organise workers and people.
2. Develop an alternative economic and social plan to be discussed by the workers.
3. Democratise the UNT.
4. Combat all legal impunity of the 2002 coup mongers and traitors to the homeland.
5. Repudiate imperialist inference.
6. Transcend capitalism, fight for socialism and struggle for workers power, free from bosses and bureaucrats.