The main factor explaining the grim circumstances in which the working class finds itself is the one-sided intensification of the class struggle by the capitalist class.
The powerful voice of Hugo Chavez - a voice for economic justice, democracy, empowerment, national independence, continental solidarity, peace, anti-imperialism, and socialism - has been stilled.
The recent election vote is an insistent call for action on the most pressing problems facing the working class and people. That is the election's mandate.
The Communist Party said a year ago that the 2012 elections would be the main front of the class and democratic struggle, and subsequent events have confirmed that fact.
Today's left intellectuals offer both insight and inspiration. But as good social analysts as they are, some of them come up short at the political level.