Accumulation and the State in Venezuelan Industrialization

Abstract

Venezuela is immediately associated with oil. Nevertheless, during the 1960s a relatively important industrialization process was initiated. From a materialist perspective this industrialization must be understood as an accumulation process, that is to say, a process where wage labor is continually absorbed in capitalist production from a reserve army of labor which was created by labor's expulsion from capitalist production itself or by its separation from precapitalist modes of production (i.e., from proletarianizing labor). Thus, accumulation is expressed by using surplus value to produce more means of production and more means of subsistence privately owned by capital and proletarian labor is' attached to the increased means of production. The surplus value is augmented by developing productive forces so that the labor time required to produce the subsistence commodities consumed by the workers is as small as possible (through production of relative surplus value) and by the very absorption of labor power itself, i.e., accumulation. We begin with a historical analysis of the emergence of the industrial branch in Venezuela, pointing out how it was conditioned by the existence of the oil enclave. This explains the specificity of the Venezuelan industrialization, in particular, that, although taking the form of an import-substitution process, has its own pecularities vis a vis other Latin American experiences. The second section focuses on the period 1958-1973, identifying the main elements of industrialization and emphasizing labor power absorption in the industrial branch. This analysis is complemented in the third section by taking into consideration state interventions. The fact that the state has been the main link between the oil enclave and the local economy, and given the importance of the oil branch in the world market, has meant that the state has played a crucial role in the industrialization process. We conclude by pointing out the main tendencies of the post-1973 period.