POULANTZAS AND CHAVISTA VENEZUELA

Nicos Poulantzas’ viewed the state as a “strategic battleground.” His thesis that any “power apparatus” (regardless of its political importance) in a socialist government can be used by the bourgeoisie to undermine that government and promote instability goes a long way in explaining a basic dilemma confronting the Chavistas in power. The opposition (supported by Washington) demands that the Electoral Commission (CNE) be “neutral” rather than Chavista-dominated (currently 4 of its 5 members are on the left). If the Maduro government were to lose control of the CNE, the opposition would transform it into a center of resistance which the corporate media would then spotlight. The opposition, the media and Washington use this dilemma as proof that the Venezuelan government is undemocratic, or, in the words of Trump, a dictatorship.