The Cominternist Origins of Current Socialist Bolivarianism

Abstract

Introduction. The article examines the Comintern “trace” in the formation of modern “Bolivarian socialism”, proclaimed by the leaders of Venezuela at the beginning of the 21st century. Communist postulates (in the Comintern perception) were, certainly, not the only source of the formation of the ideology of the ruling Socialist United Party of Venezuela. At the same time, a number of the postulates were formulated back in the 1920s by activists of the Venezuelan Revolutionary Party (later they became members of the country’s Communist Party) and the Socialist Party of Ecuador. A number of similar concepts were the subject of discussions between the leadership of the Comintern and the Peruvian People’s Revolutionary Alliance and were also debated during one of the congress of the Communist International. Another important aspect explored by the authors is the analogy between the processes of the formation of a united left party in Venezuela in the 1930s and in the 2000s (as a comparative example, the pattern of creating a united revolutionary party within the framework of the Castro revolution in Cuba was also used). Methods and materials. The study uses a set of methods of analysis adopted in historical and political science, namely documentary analysis, systemic and comparative analysis. Analysis and Results. The cases presented in the article prove that Socialism of the 21st century is not the exclusive creation of Hugo Chavez, but is closely related to ideological discussions in the international left-wing movement of the first half of the 20th century. The article is based primarily on archival documents, which allowed the authors to show little-known pages in the history of Latin American left-wing parties. Authors’ contribution. V.L. Jeifets and L.S. Jeifets made joint analysis of the archival documents, carried out the study of historiography, and developed the theoretical framework of the research. The conclusions also are the product of joint work.