== Hugo Chavez:A Trotskyist == 

 Chavez: ``there is a permanent revolution in Venezuela 
 By Roberto Jorquera 
 January 10,2007 marked the swearing in of Hugo Chavez as President of Venezuela. It was used by Chavez to reiterate and clarify the direction that the Bolivarian revolution would be taking during his term in office, which lasts till 2013. In his speech Chavez stated, ``This new period of constructing socialism has barely began. ``Jan 10 finishes the period of transition, this has been a transition of 3000 days (since the last constituent assembly), we are constructing the building which will be Venezuela's socialism, said Chavez. 

 Chavez used most of his speech to once again analyse and explain the history of the Bolivarian revolution since his failed military coup of 1992. But he also stressed that this will be a fundamentally new period in the Venezuelan revolution with many changes occurring quickly. ``People voted for a project a line of march which has been clarified as socialism. It is socialism that people need and that the country needs, said Chavez. 

 Most importantly Chavez emphasised the need to change the Venezuelan constitution and the need to make the Consejos Communales (communal councils) the fundamental and post important political decision making body in the country. Chavez said ``we need a constituent power in Venezuela that will draft a new constitution. This needs to have the revolutionary injection for the Bolivarian revolution. We need this so that the revolution never finishes, said Chavez. 

 On the issue of the constitution Chavez highlighted the need to change article 302 of the constitution which currently states, ``The State reserves to itself, through the pertinent organic law, and for reasons of national expediency, the petroleum industry and other industries, operations and goods and services which are in the public interest and of a strategic nature. Chavez made it clear that such an article was not specific enough and that it needed to include other natural resources on top of petroleum. 

 Another law that was singled out for change was the code on commerce which Chavez noted was over 100 years old and that the last change to the law was in 1955. ``What sort of socialism can we build with such laws, asked Chavez. ``There are many things in the constitution that we need to clarified and rewrite, said Chavez. 

 Chavez went further to state that, ``We have to get rid of any references to privatisation in the constitution we are not going to privatise anything anymore. It was made clear during his speech that the new government will move quickly on further state control of the main and strategic industries of the country. 

 During his speech Chavez stressed the need to strengthen communal power in Venezuela and that the revolution was just beginning but that no one should be worried about this next stage. Chavez once again used Trotsky to explain his position stating, ``Trotsky said that the revolution was permanent, it never finishes. Lets go with Trotsky. It is Trotsky who is correct that the revolution does not finish. 

 The final third of his speech concentrated on the political changes that needed to be undertaken in the new period. Chavez once again stressed the need of the importance of the United Socialist Party. ``What we need is unity, said Chavez. ``We are moving towards a united socialist party, which needs to be elected from the base, said Chavez. Also up for attention was the need to combat bureaucracy, inefficiency and corruption in the municipalities, which Chavez said was part of the fourth republic but needed to be eliminated. ``The fourth republic is still alive at the municipal level we need to dismantle it, said Chavez. 

 In relation to developing a new ``geometry of power in Venezuela Chavez stressed the need for a ``revolutionary explosion of communal power... Communal power needs to be the number one power. Chavez said that this was necessary as part of ``distributing economic, social, political and military power in Venezuela. 

 A new political structure was envisaged by Chavez which would not only develop and strengthen the communal councils but also work towards developing a federation of communal councils.``we need to create a system of cities which is based on federations, regions which are federal... It is part of building a socialist model which is part of a federal area that is organised by communal power, said Chavez.. 

 ``We need to build communal cities, socialist cities, said Chavez. ``They need to be able to make diagnostic assessment of their local area'', Chavez continued. ``We need a confederation of communal councils on a national level. We need to transform power to the communal power. Economic, political, power needs to be transferred to these local