Rethinking Socialism in Today’s Latin America

Four models of "socialism" are current in Latin America today: Chilean social democracy, Cuban revolutionary socialism, socialism as self-management, and the illdefined "twenty-first century socialism" espoused by Hugo Chávez. The best known theorist of "twenty-first century socialism" is Heinz Dieterich who believes that computers will make it possible to realize a utopian vision that failed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. But computers do not solve a fundamental difficulty with the utopian vision: a lack of material incentives for work and investment. Social democracy is the hegemonic vision in Latin American today because of its tangible success in many parts of the world. Socialism as self-management, as advocated by Brazilian economist Paul Singer, can nurture a truly socialist alternative within the social democratic framework if its advocates have the energy and resourcefulness to compete with the private sector. The word “socialism” is used in at least four ways in Latin America today. There is the social democracy of the Chilean and Uruguayan Socialist Parties. There is the still “actually existing” socialism of the Cuban revolution. There is socialism as self-management as espoused by progressive elements within the Brazilian Workers Party. And there is something called “Twenty-first Century Socialism,” advocated primarily by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. 1. Partido Socialista de Chile. 1990. Declaración de Principios. http://www.pschile.cl/ ps.php. Partido Socialista del Uruguay, Declaración de Principios, http:// www3.ps.org.uy/doc_ps/dppios.htm. 2. Marifeli Pérez-Stable, ed. 2007. Looking Forward: Comparative Perspectives on Cuba's Transition. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. 3. Benjamin Goldfrank and Aaron Schneider, "Competitive Institution Building: The PT and Participatory Budgeting in Rio Grande do Sul," Latin American Politics and Society 48: 1-32, 2006. Changing Cuba/Changing World Rethinking Socialism in Today’s Latin America “Twenty-first Century Socialism” is an appealing slogan, until one asks for specifics. When asked exactly when he meant by socialism, Chávez told Venezuela's Catholic bishops they should “look for the answer in the works of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and in the Bible...the first book is the Bible, the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Sermon on the Mount.” Chávez claims that Jesus is the “greatest socialist that ever lived.” But he also says “I am a Trotskyist, I am very much of Trotsky's line, the permanent revolution.” For Chavista legislator Carlos Escará Malavé “socialism represents the sword of all the men and all the movements who have fought and continued to fight for the liberty and equality of human beings [and] for the rights of the oppressed.” So conceived, socialism is the battle cry of victims against oppressors everywhere. But what shall these victims do once they achieve power? The only scholar who has written seriously on “twenty-first century socialism” as an answer to this question is Heinz Dieterich, a German who has lived mostly in Mexico since 1970. Dieterich seeks to revive the nineteenth century vision of socialism as true equality where everyone has the same income. The market will be abolished. Goods and services will be exchanged according to the number of 4. Sustar, Lee. 2007. "Chávez and the meaning of twenty-first century socialism," Znet: International Socialist Review, http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=13351. Marco Herrera, Chávez: Socialismo del Sigle XXI, Publicaciones de la Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, 2005. Bowman, Michael. 2007, July 9. "Many Venezuelans Uncertain About Chavez' `21st Century Socialism,'" Voice of America, http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-07/2007-07-09voa37.cfm. 5. Hugo Chávez, "Palabras del presidente reelecto," 8 January 2007, http:// www.abn.info.ve/discurso_presidente.php.