“Those in the oligarchy don’t like that,” Gómez added. “They prefer things the way they used to be. But for many people, advancing our education and culture is an opportunity that for a long time we had been excluded from.”

For 10 days, beginning May 14, tens of thousands of people thronged Los Caobos Park in this capital city to browse through book stalls, listen to poetry readings, and enjoy puppet shows, videos, and other cultural performances.

While this was the 11th annual Caracas book fair, it was only the second year it was held at this city park. For years the book fair had been held in a closed space that was small and uninviting, many visitors to this year’s fair told Militant reporters. It was oriented toward the literary and academic establishment. Last year the Venezuelan ministry of culture and the government of the Libertador municipality in Caracas decided to move the fair to an open location and take other steps to encourage broader public participation. The park was spruced up. The 2003 fair drew tens of thousands and was a big success.

This year it was expanded from 77 to 127 booths. To help make books more affordable, government ministries gave their employees vouchers worth 10,000 bolivares each (about $5) to use for book purchases at the fair.

The book fair was marked by the political ferment and sharpening class struggle that have dominated Venezuela for the past five years: rising struggles by workers and farmers for land, jobs, housing, and decent health care; the response to them by the government headed by President Hugo Chávez; and efforts by capitalist forces—backed by Washington—to oust the elected government and roll back these struggles.

Major sections of the Venezuelan ruling class are up in arms over measures the government has taken that, to the extent they are carried out, infringe on the bosses’ prerogatives. Working people have used these laws to press their demands. They include new land reform legislation, stronger state control over Venezuela’s oil and other mineral resources, several programs to broaden access to education among working people, and an expanding number of free neighborhood clinics staffed by volunteers from Cuba who offer quality health care.

At a May 14 event that officially opened the book fair, attended by several hundred people, Freddy Bernal, mayor of the Libertador municipality of Caracas and a prominent supporter of the Chávez government, said the move to upgrade the fair was made over the complaints of opponents of the government who objected to spending funds on such a project. “Some argued, ‘People don’t read here—they don’t like to read,’” he said. “But how can they if they are not given a chance?”

Speakers at the inauguration highlighted the presence in the audience of dozens of working people taking part in special educational campaigns. Wearing distinctive red T-shirts, they were enrolled in Mission Robinson, a literacy drive; Mission Ribas, an adult education campaign aimed at helping those who dropped out of school gain a high school diploma; or Mission Sucre, a program offering university-level classes to those excluded by class-biased university admissions policies.

Minister of culture Aristóbulo Istúriz, the keynote speaker at the inauguration, noted that with the expansion of the educational programs some 12 million Venezuelans are going to school today—about half the country’s population. Referring to the literacy campaign, he said, “1.2 million more people can now read and write.” Istúriz said the government is increasing subsidies to help boost book production in Venezuela.

“The educational missions in our country are turning millions toward reading,” said Lourdes Fierro, president of the National Book Center (CENAL), which sponsored the Caracas International Book Fair.

This year’s fair was dedicated to “the indigenous peoples of the Americas.” Representatives from several native peoples in Venezuela, as well as from Guatemala, took part in cultural programs throughout the fair and hosted a large book exhibit.

Of the 127 book exhibits, most belonged to Venezuelan publishing houses and government institutions, with half a dozen representing publishers from other countries—Mexico, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Argentina, Spain, France, and the United States. Among the wide array of literature, there was a sprinkling of titles on political topics, much of it focusing on the history of the South American independence struggles of the early 19th century—particularly on their principal leader, Simón Bolívar—and on current developments in Venezuela.

On the closing night of the fair a showing of the new video documentary Puente Llaguno: claves de una masacre (Llaguno Bridge: Clues to a Massacre) drew a crowd. Using live footage, the film exposes in gripping detail how the proimperialist opposition manipulated TV coverage to make it look like the Chávez government had used gunmen to fatally shoot opposition demonstrators in an April 11, 2002, incident—a fabrication these forces used that day as a justification to launch a short-lived coup against the elected government.

The book stand, exhibiting titles from several Cuban publishers, was a particular pole of attraction at the fair. Many visiting the booth expressed interest in learning more about Cuba and the Cuban Revolution. That interest has been heightened by the presence and volunteer labor for more than two years of thousands of doctors, teaching instructors, physical education teachers, and agricultural specialists from Cuba.

During the fair, the Cuba-Venezuela Solidarity Coordinating Committee sponsored a meeting at a nearby theater of more than 2,000 to protest U.S. imperialism’s threats against Cuba and Venezuela. It was addressed by Cuban minister of culture Abel Prieto. The guests of honor were a contingent of dozens of Cuban volunteer doctors who, as they filed into the theater wearing their white coats, received a standing ovation.  
 
Pathfinder books meet thirst for politics
One of the publishers taking part in the Caracas book fair for the first time was Pathfinder Press. A constant stream of visitors came through the booth. Most had never seen Pathfinder’s array of books and pamphlets on revolutionary working-class politics. Many were also interested in discussing politics with members of the international team of socialist workers and young socialists from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada who staffed the booth.

By the end of the fair, these volunteers had sold nearly 540 Pathfinder books. The most popular title was the Spanish-language edition of The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning: The Fraud of Education Reform Under Capitalism by Jack Barnes, with 48 copies purchased. Many were surprised by the description in that pamphlet of the brutal consequences of the U.S. employers’ productivity drive and of the working-class resistance to these conditions unfolding today.

Titles on the U.S. class struggle, questions of war and depression in the world today, and the Cuban Revolution were among the most sought after. Between 20 and 32 copies were sold of the Che Talks to Young People, the Communist Manifesto, Malcolm X Talks to Young People, Malcolm X Speaks, and Cuba and the Coming American Revolution.

Other popular titles were the issues of the Marxist magazine Nueva Internacional featuring “The Opening Guns of World War III,” “U.S. Imperialism Has Lost the Cold War,” and “Imperialism’s March toward Fascism and War,” as well as the book Capitalism’s World Disorder, also by Barnes. Eleven people purchased Marianas in Combat: Teté Puebla and the Mariana Grajales Women’s Platoon by Cuban Brig. Gen. Teté Puebla, seven bought Teamster Rebellion by Farrell Dobbs, and all five copies were sold of The Changing Face of U.S. Politics and The History of American Trotskyism (all in the Spanish-language translations).

“I’m very surprised to find revolutionary socialists from the United States,” said Ana María Zia, an English-language teacher who purchased Cosmetics, Fashion, and the Exploitation of Women. This was one of the most common remarks.

Many visitors were especially surprised to hear about working-class struggles in the Miami area such as the successful union-organizing battle by garment workers at the Point Blank factory there (see front-page article). A typical question was, “Can you be a socialist in Miami, which is run by right-wing Cubans?”

They were interested in the descriptions given by Nicole Sarmiento and Omari Musa, who are Socialist Workers candidates in Florida for U.S. Senate and Congress, respectively, of how socialists there have joined in the labor resistance and openly campaign to present their socialist perspective to workers, youth, and working farmers.

Books of speeches by Malcolm X were a special draw. “For me it’s very important to know about Malcolm X and the struggles of Blacks in the United States,” said María Saintis, 19, a university student. She pointed to the need to combat racist discrimination in Venezuela.

Gregory Yáñez, 22, who is a member of an organization that does work among Afro-Venezuelans, said, “Before the April 11 [2002] coup, all government officials would say there was no racism here. Since April 11 some leaders have recognized publicly that there is racism.” Many workers who are Black took part in the popular mobilizations that defeated the coup and other attempts by the pro-imperialist opposition to overthrow the elected government.

Many who asked about the significance of the U.S. elections already knew that Democratic candidate John Kerry has argued for Washington to step up its offensive against the Venezuelan government. They appreciated an explanation of why the two-party system serves the interests of the U.S. employer class and not working people.

The impact of Cuba’s internationalist solidarity with Venezuela was noticeable in the discussions with people who came seeking books on the Cuban Revolution. Some, like Julio Salas, 24, a city employee, explained that he has benefited from the neighborhood clinics run by Cuban volunteer doctors, part of the program known as Barrio Adentro (Into the Neighborhood).

The big majority of visitors to the Pathfinder booth were supporters of the Chávez government. Opposition backers largely boycotted the fair. Some visitors, all from middle-class layers, expressed support for certain policies of the government but echoed arguments by the opposition such as, “The economy has gotten worse since Chávez became president.”

The growing confrontation between Venezuelan capitalists and Washington, on one hand, and Venezuelan working people, on the other, was a constant topic of discussion, especially given the recent arrests of Colombian soldiers in Caracas who were involved in a plot to attack the Venezuelan government. Pamela Conde, 18, a Central University of Venezuela (UCV) student who purchased Che Guevara Talks to Young People, was interested in an explanation of why U.S imperialism is escalating its offensive against Venezuela.  
 
Political ferment among youth
Most notable were the dozens of young people who came to the Pathfinder booth looking for books on a Marxist perspective. Many said they were not satisfied with any of the existing radical organizations and were searching for answers. Others belonged to a plethora of relatively new student-based organizations that identify themselves as Marxist, or to informal study groups. Virtually all of these revolutionary-minded youth supported the Chávez government. They were inspired by the rising struggles by Venezuelan workers and peasants, and sought a coherent perspective for how to uproot imperialist domination and capitalist oppression. “We need a revolutionary party,” was the comment by a few students from the UCV who purchased a number of books, including Teamster Rebellion and Lenin’s Final Fight.

One group of students invited two members of the Pathfinder team, Nicole Sarmiento and Carlos Cornejo, to give a forum at the school of anthropology in the UCV on “The Fight Against Imperialism Inside the United States and Around the World.” Sarmiento, the socialist senatorial candidate in Florida, is a member of the Young Socialists. Cornejo is a socialist worker in Canada. Nearly 30 students took part in the forum.

After the presentations, students peppered the speakers with questions: Is there much debate among ordinary Americans on the torture of Iraqi prisoners by the U.S. military? Why do you run in the elections? Are the unions bureaucratic? Is it possible to overthrow capitalism in the United States? What is the situation facing indigenous peoples in Canada? Did Bush steal the elections in 2000? Do you think there is a revolution in Venezuela? What kind of educational work do you do as communists in the United States? A number of students purchased books and pamphlets to get further answers to their questions, and several others visited the Pathfinder booth later in the week.

Another group of students invited Sarmiento and Cornejo to speak at the Bolivarian University. Several other groups of students invited the visiting socialists over for dinnertime or late-night discussions.

Pathfinder’s presence at the Caracas book fair was featured in several radio and television interviews. A number of people came over to the Pathfinder stand after hearing them.  
 
 
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