Here is an interesting interview with Gloria La Riva conducted by Ernesto Aguilar:

http://www.liberationradio.org/extended-interviews/2013-02-11-cuban-elections-extended.html

By James Thompson

HOUSTON – On March 6, 2013, the Houston Communist Party  had a table at the JSA conference in Houston. The JSA conference was held at the JW Marriot Hotel on Westheimer, across from the Galleria. The table was part of the “political fair” organized to help educate young people about the different political parties and organizations.

The young people showed the most interest in the Houston Communist Party  of all the tables there. Also present were the Green Party, NORML, Young Republicans, Houston Peace Council, a Gun Rights organization and an organization calling for an end to the Death Penalty as well as a few others.

The conference attendees were an ethnically diverse group of young men and women. The young people were very engaging and had excellent questions. Some left and then returned to the table with more questions.

There was a lot of anti-war sentiment among the students and most were trying to figure out how to fund their college education.

Most were not aware that it is illegal for Communists to run for public office or hold a state job in Texas and were shocked to learn this. They also learned that by denying Communists the right to run for public office in Texas, they are also denying people the right to vote against Communists. Most agreed that this violated the fundamental principles of democracy.

Several club members were present to answer questions and distribute literature. One club member remarked that it was a great opportunity to counter the negative propaganda that has been aimed at Communists in the USA for many decades now. Although the discussion was lively, there was not a hint of anti-Communism noted in the discussions. We were treated with respect and courtesy. This speaks highly of young people in Texas.

PHill1917@comcast.net

16 arrested sitting in for miners

http://tinyurl.com/cdwvt2x

By Kay Tillow

Charleston, West Virginia. April 1, 2013. They boarded buses and cars
before dawn, some the night before, coming from the coalfields of
Illinois, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and all across
West Virginia. By 10:00 AM over 7,000 had packed into the giant
Charleston Civic Center to voice their support for the 23,000 miners and
their families who face the loss of their lifetime health benefits in a
bankruptcy scam.

In a series of mergers and deals, Peabody Energy and Arch Coal transferred
their contractual health benefit obligations to Patriot Coal. In St.
Louis, Missouri, in March, 2013, Patriot Coal filed in bankruptcy court
seeking to terminate the United Mine Workers (UMWA) contract and set up
instead a Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA) for the
retirees and families.

Patriot seeks to put only a pittance into the VEBA, vastly underfunding
it. UMWA President Cecil E. Roberts has said this plan would “put
thousands of retired coal miners, their dependents or their widows on the
path to financial ruin, worsening health conditions or even death.”

The UMWA pioneered in healthcare benefits and pensions when they battled
coal operators and the American Medical Association to establish the UMWA
Health & Welfare Fund. John L. Lewis and the union defied accusations of
socialized medicine to set up miners’ clinics and built the miners’
hospitals that serve today as the backbone of health care in Appalachia.
The UMWA won early retirement with family coverage for miners who retired
before they were 65. These achievements of the miners’ struggles are
under attack by Patriot, Peabody, and Arch. Most unions, following the
lead of the UMWA, have negotiated early retirement with employers picking
up the cost of health care until Medicare kicks in. The attack on UMWA
retirees is a snapshot of what employers have in store for union
negotiated early retirement plans.

The miners’ fight is winning political support. The West Virginia state
Senate and House of Delegates have passed resolutions calling on Patriot
Coal to meet its commitment to provide pension and health benefits to
miners. Elected leaders are feeling some heat, judging by the number of
the powerful who appeared at the Civic Center to express their support.
West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin greeted the crowd. “I’m from
Logan County the heart of coal mining…I’m honored to stand shoulder to
shoulder with you for the benefits of our retired miners.”

Dan Kane, UMWA Secretary Treasurer spoke. “To cast aside those who earned
benefits through decades of back breaking labor is like taking money—it’s
theft.”

Kane called for a Congressional investigation. “Who’s looking into this
conspiracy? We will fight to protect our health care no matter what it
takes. We will follow these robber barons and we will shine the light of
truth on these evil deeds. We are on the right side of history.”

West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller appeared through a video. “We must
hold Peabody, Arch and Patriot to the promises they have made.” He spoke
of the introduction of the Coal Accountability and Retired Employee Act.

Representative Nick Rahall of West Virginia declared that “In 1912 Mother
Jones said that the labor movement was a command from God Almighty.” He
said that the promise to the miners must be kept. “No white flag…this is
an uphill battle, but everyone here knows how to walk uphill.”

West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie Tennant described herself as a
union member and said that this is an attack on all American workers. “It
happened at Century Aluminum to steelworkers.” Tomorrow, she said it will
happen to many more until we stop “these fraudulent transactions.”

“We can’t let this stand. This is an attempt to take away the health care
that was won on your broken backs, on your black lungs and on the memories
of your fellow miners who took their last breaths in the coal mines,”
Tennant said. “What’s worrisome is that tomorrow it can be an attack on
construction workers, nurses, secretaries, teachers; who knows where it
stops?”

West Virginia’s Junior Senator, Joe Manchin spoke against Patriot’s
attempt to have retirement obligations dismissed in bankruptcy but also
condemned Peabody and Arch for shifting their liabilities.

Manchin said he knows and talks to the owners of these companies. “I’ve
told them, where I come from, you can’t make wrong right. You can’t, no
matter how hard you try. You can’t shine crap, and by God, this is crap.
You can’t make this stuff look good, you can’t make it smell good and you
sure as hell can’t make it taste good.”

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka brought support from 12.5 million members
of the AFL-CIO. He said that when they dumped all the legacy costs onto
one little company they knew it would fail. He said that we’ve been
“living and working under the threat of vulture capitalism.” He addressed
Patriot, Peabody, and Arch, “You can’t use the courts to steal because we
won’t let you.”

UMWA President Cecil Roberts concluded the indoor rally. He said that 42
have already been arrested in St. Louis where the bankruptcy court is
convened. That includes all of the members of the International Executive
Board of the UMWA. He spoke of the broadening of this movement with faith
leaders from the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church, and the
Catholic Church who would be joining today in non-violent civil
disobedience and arrest in protest against this moral outrage. He
recognized the Teachers, CWA, USW, UAW, and the many unions that were in
the hall.

Roberts said “We know who did this –they are wearing $10,000 suits and
Gucci shoes. We know where they are. We are going to be like Jesus who
threw the money changers out of the temple.”

At the conclusion of his speech people moved in orderly fashion to march
to the headquarters of Patriot at Laidley Towers. When the front of the
march arrived, the streets were still packed all the way back to the Civic
Center. Many workers cheered from the steps of their office buildings.

Moms and dads sheltered the babies from the light rain and kept walking.
The camouflage UMWA shirts read “We are Everywhere” and “No Health Care,
No Coal.”

A brief rally continued across from Patriot. Doris Crouse-Mays, President
of the Virginia AFL-CIO, said that this will be the “first time that I’ve
ever gone to jail in my life and I can’t think of a better reason.” She
was joined in being arrested by Kentucky AFL-CIO President Bill Londrigan
and West Virginia AFL-CIO President Ken Perdue.

Three religious leaders were among the 16 arrested, Father John Rausch,
Director of the Catholic Committee on Appalachia, Rev. James Lewis,
Episcopal priest, and Rev. Donald Prange, St. James United Church of
Christ, Lovettsville, VA.

Before leading the group to sit down on the steps of the Laidley Towers,
Cecil Roberts paid tribute to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King who taught
non-violent resistance to unjust laws. Roberts said we must build a
movement that is more powerful than all of their money. “We are over
7,000 today and we will be back with 20,000 and then 30,000. If we can’t
get justice in the court house, we will take it to the state house. If we
don’t get justice there, we must take it to the streets.”

The powerful march and rally made the news not only in West Virginia but
also in the Wall St. Journal, the St. Louis Post Dispatch, and across the
country.

Throughout hours of speeches about health care, neither politicians nor
labors leaders mentioned the Affordable Care Act (ACA), known as
Obamacare, the health care reform that was passed in 2010. Clearly the
ACA provides no remedy for the health care crises that workers and
retirees face.

Only a national single payer plan, HR 676, Expanded and Improved Medicare
for All, can provide the needed care. By removing the private for-profit
health insurance companies and hospitals through HR 676, the nation can
save $400 billion a year yet expand care to all.

HR 676 makes the wealthy pay a larger share and stops non-union employers
from being able to underbid unionized companies. With HR 676 there will
be no more profiting from the denial of care.

Until we can build the movement that can pass HR 676, everyone should join
the battle to preserve the health care won through union contracts. So do
something to help the miners. Ask your senators and congressperson to
support the UMWA demands.

Sign the petition for the UMWA here: http://www.fairnessatpatriot.org/
Check out the UMWA on facebook. Watch for more demonstrations to come.

Distributed by:

All Unions Committee for Single Payer Health Care–HR 676
c/o Nurses Professional Organization (NPO)
1169 Eastern Parkway, Suite 2218
Louisville, KY 40217
(502) 636 1551

Email: nursenpo@aol.com
http://unionsforsinglepayer.org

4/4/2013

Darrell Rankin, Jacob Penner – Norman Bethune Club, Winnipeg

The resolutions and amendments from Manitoba are from
comrades united behind our identity as a Marxist-Leninist
party of the working class and the goal of a socialist
Canada. We had a rich and thoughtful pre-convention
discussion.

At our nominating convention, the delegates’ average age
was the lowest in many decades and two comrades from
Northern Manitoba took their initiation pledges. We had a
good combination of change and continuity, essential for a
revolutionary party.

The YCL is being re-established in Manitoba and
comrades are forming a new club in one of Canada’s
poorest rural areas. It is realistic to say that our influence
in the Aboriginal rights, labour, youth and other
movements will improve in the years ahead.

Other parts of Canada are attracting new members; they
are greatly needed because of the gigantic challenges
confronting the working class.
* * * * *
The fightback and the Communist Party. The Harper Tory
government will never douse the growing flames of
resistance to its reactionary policies. In times of struggle,
the Communist Party’s ideas and interventions become
important, helping create the purpose and unity needed for
advance or retreat, to accomplish a strategic goal or to
support the right tactic.

The Idle No More protests led by Aboriginal Peoples are
the latest upsurge, preceded by the Occupy movement and
last year’s massive Quebec student strike. No longer is
Canada a quiet backwater of U.S. imperialism. In all
nations in Canada, resistance to corporate destruction is
growing.

The Communist Party is an essential part of making sure it
will grow into an unstoppable force that will shift the
balance of forces in Canada, curbing the immense power
of the corporate state at all levels.

A key problem is how to tie all the struggles together,
ensuring unity of all the forces. Our party’s understanding
of the national question in Canada gives a far-reaching and
strategic answer to that problem. We support the
international unity of workers and, unlike any other
political party, we place the full equality of nations as an
important democratic goal.

The slogan “workers of all nations unite” is important
right inside Canada itself. The Communist Party has
warned about the continued danger of bourgeois
chauvinism in the French and English non-Aboriginal
nations. The Tories are working harder to divide non-
Aboriginal workers away from the increasingly militant
Aboriginal working class. Unchallenged, this can only
harm the overall struggle, pushing it back and creating
openings for Tory/ Corporate-incited racism.

Quebec experienced a Quiet Revolution in the 1960s. We
must reject attempts to take away from Aboriginal activists
their call for “revolution.” The Communist Party must be
in full support of the call for revolutionary democratic
change for and by Aboriginal Peoples. We need to build
support for that change in all nations in Canada.
* * * * *
When we contribute our views about firmer tactics like
general strikes, let’s keep a thought in mind. Besides
Labour, only Aboriginal Peoples can bring the economy to
a halt because they live close to pipelines, railways, dams
and power lines. They are being thrown in jail for trying
already. Workers and Aboriginal Peoples have nothing to
lose except their chains. They need to unite for jobs, a big
wage hike and a fair society.
* * * * *
Another very significant development is the Canadian
Labour Congress’ first-ever political action conference
held in March. The Communist Party has long called for
such a conference, notably one that would target the
Harper Conservatives, which in fact was the focus of the
CLC conference.

There is no doubt that the CLC organized the conference
as a response to the Harper government’s dangerous
attacks. The CLC was spurred by the growing alarm of
millions of workers about the agonizing and prolonged
economic crisis and by workers watching the U.S. (and
European) labour movement get pummeled without mercy.
The party needed to ensure our fullest participation and
preparation for the conference.

To call the CLC conference inadequate in advance and
suggest that people should fear participating because of the
long record of manipulation by right wing social
democracy would have been a left-sectarian mistake. The
conditions required that the Communist Party welcome the
fact that the conference was taking place, and to encourage
delegates speak out for effective and unifying tactics to
defeat Harper.

Is there greater willingness by some unions to stop acting
as “business unions,” sponsoring capital funds, or
suffering quietly as U.S.-dominated international unions?
Capitalism’s crisis and the vicious attack on labour are
creating an answer of “yes.”

Importantly, the CLC conference was a challenge to rightwing
social democracy’s dominant role as the lone,
sufficient “political voice of labour”, leaving to unions
only the “economic struggle.” The conference launched
Labour into independent political action, creating a double
benefit: the opportunity to push social democracy away
from its neoliberal, pro-imperialist positions and to carry
out independent, proletarian political action of its own
aimed at the Harper Conservatives.

A politically engaged labour movement is a spur for the
delicate and needed task of ratcheting sections of the
working class and (possibly) the NDP away from positions
indistinguishable from the Conservative Party. The
situation requires the us to improve our propaganda
efforts.

The serious situation required that the Communist Party
urge the fullest unity to defeat the Harper government in
2015. It was necessary to remind delegates of recent
militant struggles and project the tactics that would create
the greatest trouble for the Harper Conservatives.
* * * * *
Our party has always advanced inspiring ideas that spark
action among broad sections of society, well beyond
people who count themselves as socialists.

We are associated with popular victories such as
unemployment insurance, medicare, organizing unions and
opposing fascism and war – examples of past People’s
Alternatives.

Today, our People’s Alternative is a comprehensive
platform. The Communist Party continues to fight for the
best, unifying proposals to curb and eventually end
corporate power and its state institutions. Capitalism’s fan
base is dwindling and Canadians who support a socialist
future are a minority, around 30 per cent according to
opinion polls. That’s a good starting point!

As capitalism’s crisis deepens, the need for a stronger,
fighting Communist Party is greater than ever. With
socialism, our People’s Alternative will be accomplished
more quickly, but we’re fighting hard for our platform
right now!
* * * * *
About my article on the CLC conference (PV, March 16), I
was disappointed at how the Central Executive’s editing
changed it into a complaint about the conference and
turned people off from reading the rest of the article,
which focuses on defeating Harper. I believe it was a
political error that harmed the party.

The original second sentence read: “The most highly
managed conference will produce a life of its own when a
government is ripping a country apart,” an idea intended to
encourage delegates to speak their minds and to point to
the seriousness of the situation. The CEC flat-out called
the conference, in advance, “highly managed.” Secondly,
the original “There are problems” before the 7th paragraph
was more constructive than the word “unfortunately”
inserted by the Central Executive, which is another
complaining word.

The CEC stopped me from circulating a longer version of
the article without cuts and retaining the formulations
helpful to the party. I have not heard from the CEC if the
changes were “political” or if they were made only for
reasons of haste or simple shortening. (I circulated the
longer article by email, copied to the CEC and noting “a
shorter version” was in the PV. I was ready to circulate it
more widely when the CEC informed me of its new rule,
banning later versions.)

Cde. Kimball has suggested that the new rule (one
contradicted by Engels, Marx or Lenin) be discussed at the
convention, so there is an appropriate special resolution on
this matter. I very much regret not being able to circulate a
version more helpful to the party to more activists.

We need to welcome unprecedented developments like the
CLC conference, which challenge the grip of right-wing
social democracy over the labour movement. Turning
people off from participating in the conference feeds into
the outcome desired by right-wing social democracy. The
CEC was notified about the CLC conference months ago,
yet it did not discuss the conference before the March 16
PV deadline.
* * * * *
How has this happened?

Charges and counter-charges in the party, both formal and
informal, are accumulating rapidly; some will occupy
convention time. They are dissipating our energy at a
critical juncture in the fightback. The convention will not
solve the problem, which is a place only for final appeal.
(CC members can only be charged individually in her or
his club, and if that fails, in the next higher body.)

The CEC’s reports to the CC about provincial woes helped
some B.C. members to involve the entire central leadership
and convention in the imbroglio. B.C. structures could and
should have resolved the issues. As an outgoing member of
the CC, I am self-critical for allowing a letter that included
the word “discipline” to be simply read out for
endorsement. The central leadership can be criticized for
being consumed with top-down discipline rather than
building constructively.

About the draft plan of work, I agree with the self criticism
of organizational failures. The only campaign
since 2010 was launched during the pre-convention period
and distracted from preparations.

How can this be remedied?

A more serious look at cadre is needed at all levels,
starting with a careful survey of clubs, activism/ ties to
mass work, and a skills inventory. Where necessary and
consistent with priorities, changes in assignments must be
considered and made. The balance between central (all-
Canada), provincial and local work needs close
examination. Marxist education must be a priority for all
members, everywhere.

Statements and websites are a good start. We need to
develop large numbers of cadre for the growing struggle
who will work in a disciplined, proletarian spirit, equipped
with the most advanced theory.

Here is an interview produced for KPFT radio station in Houston which will be aired on April 12, 2013 at 9:30am Central Time. The interview is with Gerrard Sables of the Communist Party of Britain:

https://soundcloud.com/exax/gerrard-sables

– from Zoltan Zigedy is available at:
http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Seventy-five years ago, Christopher Caudwell’s Studies in a Dying Culture was published posthumously. Caudwell, a brilliant young British Communist writer and poet volunteered to fight for the Spanish Republic and was killed in 1937. If Caudwell’s assessment of capitalist culture was appropriate to the mid-twentieth century, that culture has reached a terminal phase in the second decade of the twenty-first century.

The artistic and personal liberties unleashed by the escape from the repressive, conformist 1950s and the energy and optimism accompanying the civil rights and anti-war movements were methodically and overwhelmingly suffocated by corporate cooption. Any and every new spring of creative originality—whether it be a new popular musical form or an original film director—has been damned and channeled by the monopoly entertainment industry. As a result, cultural products with any claim to broad popularity are reduced to either formulaic, safe entertainments or vapid, lifeless expressions of “high” culture.

This is not to demean the tens of thousands of talented cultural workers who struggle at minimum wage jobs while studying and exercising their craft for the few willing to step away from the corporately constructed temples of culture. They labor even more heroically than their predecessors who were occasionally able to hew some measure of independence from the grasp of cultural moguls and business accountants. That is less possible today when only unrestrained vulgarity and violence or unchallenging distraction and fantasy offer the keys to entering the cultural big stage.

In an age where the promise of hip hop has been reduced to a grinding pulse of swagger, violence, and selfishness and the freedom of independent commercial film predictably delivers time-released, regular spasms of ultra-violence, nudity, and sex, relief from the tedium is especially delicious. More and more that relief is coming from documentary film.

I have in mind two documentaries that expose the worst and best of the US.

The Queen of Versailles

The best documentaries often rise to great heights on sheer dumb luck; the Irish film makers who, by happenstance, captured close-up the coup against Hugo Chavez and its aftermath were extraordinary examples of the film gods in action (The Revolution Will Not Be Televised). Similarly, Lauren Greenfield’s 2012 documentary, The Queen of Versailles draws its drama from the impact of the economic crisis upon one of the richest families in the US. What begins as the capture of the excesses and embarrassing vulgarity of the nouveau riche devolves to a tale of blame, self-pity, and neglect, thanks to the impact of the unforeseen crisis.

On the way up, a fortune built around the hustle and shrewd entrapment of the time-share industry allows an orgy of self-indulgence, senseless consumerism, and smugness. David Siegel, the ruler of the empire, brags about his clandestine role in getting Bush elected President; he creates a glitzy tower in Las Vegas to signal his success, and he aspires to build the largest private home in the US to flaunt that success. Siegel embodies Marx’s infamous iconic capitalist: “… The less you eat, drink, and buy books; the less you go to the theater, the dance hall, the public house; the less you think, love, theorize, sing, paint, fence, etc, the more you save—the greater becomes your treasure which neither moths nor dust will devour—your capital.” But as Marx acknowledges, your abstinence and single-minded greed is rewarded, for your accumulated wealth can “appropriate art, learning, the treasures of the past, political power…” And Siegel does all of this.

But the 2008 economic collapse brings the Siegel family to its knees. Dead, unattended pets; dog feces on carpets; fast food; cranky, spoiled children; and sullenness and self-pity replace the former swagger. “It’s the banks, the rotten, greedy banks,” the Siegels exclaim. They angrily protest that “ordinary” people like themselves are victimized by selfish bankers.

As the empire totters, the Siegels scramble to adjust. On a visit to her childhood friends, wife Jackie must subject her children to their first flight on a commercial airline. “Why are these other people on our plane?” they wonder. Jackie asks the rental car agent for the name of the driver; he responds with a puzzled look. The rich are not like the rest of us.

Through their “ordeal,” David Siegel sulks, whines, and wallows in self-pity. While Jackie’s untamed consumerism remains pathological, she shows more character and resilience, serving as both the family’s anchor and morale-booster. This snap shot of the very wealthy in full bloom and under duress shows the shallowness of that life choice and the ugliness of conspicuous self-aggrandizement. It is hard to feel sympathy for the Siegels.

Searching for Sugarman

If the Siegels conjure contempt, even disgust, Sixto Rodriguez—the focus of the documentary, Searching for Sugarman—counts as a glorious expression of the best of us. Rodriguez, a discarded cultural worker, exudes nobility, humility, warmth, and intelligence, whether working in small, marginal clubs, laboring on excavation or demolition sites, raising his children, or enjoying a belated celebrity.

Others have written of his strange, magical journey from a quickly emerging and falling talent forty years ago to the re-discovered celebrity of today. In between, Rodriguez worked and raised his children like millions of others, but with uncommon dignity and strength. The film, Sugarman, attests to the man’s resilience, but also celebrates his incredible impact upon others.

Unmistakably, Rodriguez, himself a former autoworker and the son of an immigrant Mexican autoworker, is a legacy of the US multi-national working class—a living example of the best of working class values. He, like his co-workers interviewed in the film, has an unassuming intellect and unqualified respect for others.

And he and his music are consummately “political.” Not in any clumsy or preachy sense, but in a way that speaks to and for the disadvantaged, that resonates with those who seek change. Early in his career he associated in Detroit with John Sinclair, the political commissar of the proto-proletarian-punk group, the MC5. Later, when his music arrived in Australia, he opened in live performances for Australia’s most widely known politically outspoken rock group, Midnight Oil.

But the greatest testament to his strong politics is the curious and bizarre impact on South African youth. After Angolan independence at the end of 1975, South Africa intensified its military interventions in that country and Namibia. Over the next decade, conscription of white South Africans into the military met further and further resistance. For reasons that remain obscure, the music of Rodriguez, commercially a flop in the US, found a following in South Africa. Rodriguez became the voice of resistance and change for many young, white South Africans. His music created the sound track for the anti-conscription movement. And by the mid-eighties he inspired other musical groups to propel the End Conscription Campaign. The Kalahari Surfers, Cherry Faced Lurchers, and other alternative musical groups gave expression to disenchanted white youth (see Forces Favourites, Rounder Records, 1986). The resounding defeat of the South African military by the Angolan military and its Cuban internationalist ally, the growing militancy of the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party, and the disenchantment of white South Africans brought apartheid to its knees and paved the way to South African liberation.

In a real way, this modest worker in Detroit helped rock the foundations of the racist, repressive apartheid system in South Africa– quite an accomplishment for an artist without recognition in his homeland. Quite an achievement for a talent initially crushed by the gears of an industry driven by immediacy and profit.

Where The Queen of Versailles drains the spirit with its celebration of accumulation and ostentation, Searching for Sugarman brings joy and inspiration. Both are revealing. Watch them both, one after the other. Hang your head in embarrassment with the decadence that the unbridled capitalist system has wrought. Raise your head with hope for the nobility that people like Rodriguez bring to us.

Zoltan Zigedy
zoltanzigedy@gmail.com

By A. Shaw

Two recent opinion polls show Nicolas Maduro, the proletarian candidate, ahead of Henrique Capriles, the capitalist candidate, in the race for president of Venezuela. The election will be on April 14 this year. Hinterlaces, a Venezuelan polling firm with a conservative middle class outlook, recently found Maduro leads Capriles by 18 points. Another survey by the International Consulting Services (ICS), a Venezuela polling firm with liberal middle class tendencies, shows Maduro leading Capriles by 17.7 points .

The election will pick a successor for the late Pres. Hugo Chavez who died of cancer on March 5.

Most likely, the principal cause — but not the only cause — of Maduro’s lead over Capriles in the two opinion polls is the categorical endorsement of Maduro from Hugo Chavez, a month before his death. The revolutionary sector of the working class feels and believes a vote for Maduro is tantamount to a vote for the late and glorious Hugo Chavez. It is hard to say how much of a lead Maduro would have over Capriles absent the Chavez’ endorsement or whether Maduro would even have a lead at all.

By disclosing his preference for his successor, Chavez rendered his last great service to the Venezuelan people and to their glorious revolution.

Three weeks before the presidential election last Oct. 7, Hugo Chavez led Capriles by about 18 points in most opinion polls. Chavez won on Oct. 7 with an 11-point margin. The results for April 14 this year may repeat the results for Oct. 7. In other words, Maduro wins with an 11-point margin.

In the October 2012 presidential race against Chavez and in the December 2012 governor’s race for the state of Miranda against Elias Jaua, Capriles showed himself to be something of “closer” — that is, a candidate who can take or protect a lead in the last inning or two of the game. Again, Capriles lost in October by 11 points and won in December by 5 points. It’s unclear whether Capriles will have time to show his stuff as a “closer” in the current race against Maduro because the campaign is only a month long. It closes right after it opens and opens right before it closes. But Capriles is trying to show his stuff. “Closers” take and hold the offense and that is exactly what Capriles is trying to do.

ICS research coordinator Lorenzo Martinez says Maduro’s 18-point lead over Capriles is “irreversible.” Some people in Maduro’s campaign agree.

The irreversibility of an 18-point lead over Capriles with three weeks left in the campaign is illusory. If Capriles could chop Chavez’s lead in Oct. 2012 from about 18 points to 11 points in the last three weeks of the campaign, Capriles surely can chop Maduro’s lead from 18 points to a tie in the same period of time, if Maduro any mistakes.

One such mistake is Maduro’s under use of his ministers to refute and to attack Capriles and Capiles lies about poor performance in specific areas of the Chavez’s administration.

Maduro should tell his under-used ministers “When Capriles lies about you, go get him.”

It was impossible to beat Chavez. Chavez was an electoral phenomenon or, in other words, a highly peculiar political presence. Maduro isn’t this kind of candidate. So, talk about the “irreversibility” of Maduro’s current lead in opinion polls before April 14 is crazy talk.

Maduro and his campaign should forget about this apparent “lead” in opinion polls and make the Maduro campaign 10 times more intense in terms of candidate and staff activity, GOTV, media operations, opposition research and publication, and volunteers.