Speech by Milenka López, by the LSTI of Bolivia
“In Bolivia, Trotskyism could have led one of the first successful postwar revolutions, but the betrayal of the POR prevented it”
First of all, I want to greet, from the LSTI of Bolivia, all the comrades present on this second day of tribute, commemorating the 80th anniversary of the assassination of Leon Trotsky.
We wanted to share a reflection and the lessons of a revolution where the program of Trotskyism was decisive: the Bolivian revolution of 1952.
Everyone will have seen that today in Bolivia you see that fascist Santa Cruz oligarchy at the head of Camacho, who with deep hatred entered with the Bible in hand and with the Armed Forces and the police, displaying all hatred against the woman in “polleras” (traditional skirts), the poor peasantry and the working class; that Santa Cruz oligarchy that we see in action today and that the working class in Bolivia faced.
We have seen that in the '52 revolution, the working class made the government tremble and broke the Armed Forces, split them up by setting up the worker and peasant militias and the soldiers' committees.
But, unfortunately, the lesson that leaves us is that in 1952 there was a lack of a revolutionary party that proposed "All power to the COB!". Years before, in 1946, the influence of Trotskyism had already played a decisive role. In Bolivia, the Fourth International could have been of masses, as Leon Trotsky correctly stated.
Bolivia was part of the revolutionary wave in the 1950s. There Trotskyism had a strong weight and mainly it had entered the heart of the Bolivian proletariat with its program, embodied in the "Pulacayo Theses", which were adopted by the Mining Federation and later by the COB. That was the great revolution of '52. Unfortunately, a leadership that was up to the task to propose the seizure of power was missing. The tragedy was that the Partido Obrero Revolucionario (POR) at that time ended together with the bureaucracy of the COB, at which head was Lechín, handing over power to the bourgeoisie of the MNR.
Trotskyism could have taken power; it could have been one of the first successful post-war revolutions and unfortunately it did not.
And this was not an isolated event, but was part of the policy of a sector of the Fourth International led by Michel Pablo, which had the policy of dissolving the entire Fourth International and the Trotskyists within the Communist Parties. In the '52 revolution, its Bolivian section, the POR, under this guidance, returned power to the MNR bourgeoisie. They erased the entire program of Trotskyism and even what they themselves had made vote in the "Pulacayo Thesis" in the depths of the mining proletariat, which marks the fight against the popular front, the fight against fascism, the fight against class collaboration. Unfortunately all that was erased and the POR betrayed the '52 revolution.
That is the leadership crisis: there was a betrayal on the part of the leaderships, in this case the POR, and therefore the proletariat could not seize power.
That is the leadership crisis: there was a betrayal on the part of the leaderships, in this case the POR, and therefore the proletariat could not seize power.
But, despite this betrayal, Trotskyism had a new opportunity in the revolution of '71 in Bolivia. The working class rose up again and set up the Soviet body that was the People's Assembly. Unfortunately, the Partido Obrero Revolucionario, under the leadership of Michel Pablo, by not drawing lessons from its previous betrayal, ends up in a program of Bolivian exclusivism, with Bolivian particularities, revising the program and ending in a national-Trotskyism. It takes the program of looking for "red generals" and that is how in the revolution of '71 they raised the policy of the "Anti-imperialist Revolutionary Front" and ended up making an alliance with General Torrez, once again betraying the revolution, in which Trotskyism again had the opportunity to seize power.
This program of the “Anti-imperialist Revolutionary Front” was also expressed in Chile, where we saw Fidel Castro telling the Chilean working class that it was necessary to fight for patriotic and democratic soldiers, and a Stalinist policy and program was adopted.
Thus they ended up defeating the '52 and '71 revolutions. We also saw it again in 2003 and 2005 in Bolivia. We believe that it is necessary to make these lessons clear, since the program of Trotskyism and the Fourth International passed the test of history, and those that claimed Trotskyism did not, such as the POR and other organizations that ended up adopting the program of Stalinism. .
And there is another question. Anyone who wanted to be a leader or make a political career in the COB had to speak in the name of Trotskyism to legitimize themselves. Even today they need parties that claim to be Trotskyist to legitimize themselves and rise to the leadership of the COB.
We have seen this when various organizations gave legitimacy to different union bureaucrats, dressing them in red in the “Workers Party”, where different organizations, such as the POR or the LOR-CI, taught them courses to lead the COB. That ended in a tragedy: the COB was appended to the Morales government and even today it is subordinated to the bourgeois government.
We believe that it is necessary to draw these lessons for the new generations and the new battles. Trotskyism must be re-founded in Bolivia. The task is to clean up the program conquered by the masses and conquer a revolutionary leadership, a revolutionary party that is up to the task of preparing the combat and the seizure of power.
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Miners' militias of the revolution in 1952
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