This is completely in line with the previous PSUV position. It’s not even a concession. They have always maintained that they have free and fair elections. She is the rightful legal successor to Maduro, and she is promising to uphold the existing democratic norms of her country. That she isn’t taking an outwardly hostile tone towards the nation which enjoys total military superiority over them during a diplomatic mission at the UN may come across as a betrayal to certain ultra-leftists in the US, but it would seem that the Chavistas in Venezuela do not share the same view.

First line:

Rodriguez gives no date for vote despite pledging elections at UN

Lenin’s 1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk allowed the USSR to survive.

Furthermore:

• https://lemmygrad.ml/post/11003738
• https://lemmygrad.ml/post/12867403/8750241

Better to die than survive is an orientalist lens that requires no concessions or praxis only the purity in the romantic revolutionary’s heart. Reminds me a little of this:

https://redsails.org/the-sentimental-criticism-of-capitalism/

Personally, I try to view the Chavistas themselves, who the commune movement is supporting, and who is most actively opposing Delcy Rodriguez as my way of viewing the situation. I begin with the class struggle as it actively exists in Venezuela, with the PSUV in charge of what has never been a consolidated revolution. Class struggle is incredibly sharp in Venezuela, with a powerful bourgeoisie that at the moment stands in opposition to the PSUV, while the PSUV still holds support on the ground from the commune movement.

This, to me, spells the actions of the PSUV post-kidnapping as a survival tactic and strategic retreat to hopefully prevent a ground invasion. I do not have a clear-sighted view, but I do have more trust in the fact that on the ground, the commune movement supports the PSUV, while the bourgeoisie still opposes the PSUV. If the PSUV collapses and/or alienates the communes, then we will know that this strategic retreat was incorrect. For now, that moment is not here.

Venezuela is not socialist. It never has established a dictatorship of the proletariat. What it has is a progressive party and an incomplete revolution, one that at the moment most lives on in the commune movement. The PSUV plays a progressive role as long as it continues to have connection with that commune movement and help progress it, essentially forming dual power. This is what makes the Chavista revolution so unique, it’s a combination of a reformist party needing to actually rely on revolutionary dual power structures to continue existing.

The communes are the revolution. The communes are building dual power. The communes have not lost. The PSUV is not an active obstacle to the communes. Anyone that was expecting the PSUV to establish a dictatorship of the proletariat through reformism has a critical misunderstanding about the nature of the capitalist state and the necessity of smashing it and replacing it. It’s more like if the Provisional Government was won by a social democratic group, and the Soviets had not yet built dual power to challenge its legitimacy.

All she has done is promise elections at an undetermined point, which as others have said is consistent PSUV policy.

I don’t know about Rodriguez. It’s easy to believe that she betrayed Maduro, but on the other hand, Venezuela is a nation on her knees, with a knife on her throat. Rodriguez might be a traitor, or she might simply be doing what she can to ensure Venezuela and some legacy of Chavez survives this dark period.

I’d go as far as saying that to be outspoken against US policies in Venezuela is easy to be done from the comfort of a Western home. For Rodriguez, it might mean life or death of her nation. It wouldn’t help anyone to appear less than compliant to a US who is itching to lash out and punish someone for America’s failings in the Middle East.

Personally, I have my suspicions on Rodriguez, but I feel the correct course here is to wait and see what comes out at the end.

🫵😂