Ecuador: For a Popular Insurrection to Bring Down the Lenin Moreno Regime!
For a workers, indigenous, peasant and popular government!
Statement of the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), 12 October 2019, www.thecommunists.net
1. A revolutionary situation has opened up in Ecuador. A popular uprising is spreading all over the country since 3 October in protest against a devastating austerity package imposed by the IMF as a condition to a loan of US$4.2 billion. The regime of Lenin Moreno has declared a state of emergency and the police try to smash the protests with brutal force. Five people, including the indigenous leader Inocencio Tucumbi, have already been killed. 1,070 have been arrested albeit ¾ of them had to be released later. In response, indigenous communities also decreed a state of emergency and took control of their land (i.e. Cotopaxi, Azuay, Cañar, Chimborazo, Imbabura and El Oro). According to reports, 47 soldiers and police have been arrested. In some cities governmental buildings have been occupied. Furthermore, self-defense committees have been formed in various popular neighborhoods. There have been even isolated clashes between rank and file soldiers and special police. The government effectively fled the capital city Quito and moved their operations to the coastal town of Guayaquil. The protests have curbed nearly 900,000 barrels of crude production – the country’s most important export product. Faced with such a mass uprising, Moreno has called the protest leaders to start negotiations.
2. There can be no doubt that a dual power situation has emerged. The government is no longer in full control of the situation and while the popular masses have brought the country to a standstill, they have still not taken power. The Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT) is convinced that this situation provides the workers and popular masses with exceptional opportunities. However, at the same time it is clear that such a dual power situation cannot continue very long. Faced with such a mass uprising, Moreno has called on the protest leaders to start negotiations with the mediation of the UN and the Church. Clearly, such a call to dialogue cannot be accepted when the government militarizes the capital and increases repression while the masses march on the streets and demand the fall of Lenin Moreno! Either the masses bring down the Lenin Moreno regime or the regime will reorganize their forces and bring down the mass protests – either by brutally smashing them and/or by forcing the leaders of the trade unions and indigenous communities to retreat.
3. The mass protests are led by the CONAIE (Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador) as well as the FUT (Unitary Workers Front), the Labor Parliament, the Popular Front and the CUTCOP (Unitary Coordinator of Workers, Peasants and Popular Organizations ). It is clear that these popular organizations are viewed by the masses as “their leadership”. However, it is clear that currently the popular masses still follow the leaders of the CONAIE, FUT, etc. In such a situation revolutionaries must not remain satisfied with criticism of these leaders but apply the united front tactic. This means they should relate to the existing illusions of the masses by putting demands on these leaders to push forward the struggle. When the leaders retreat or remain indecisive, revolutionaries must sharply criticize them and work towards replacing them. It is important that revolutionaries in Ecuador patiently explain that the course of the popular uprising must be determined not by some leaders but by the workers, peasants and indigenous people themselves. This is why it is crucial to call for the formation of democratic mass assemblies in the workplaces, neighborhoods, universities and villages. Such assemblies should discuss and decide about the course of the struggle. They should elect delegates for local, regional and national co-ordinations. Such delegates should be accountable to the assemblies and, if necessary, they should be replaced. It is such co-ordinations of delegates which should take the lead of the popular uprising. Such assemblies should also constitute the body for organizing popular self-defense committees.
4. The RCIT considers it as most urgent to advance the struggle towards a popular insurrection in order to bring down the Lenin Moreno regime. Therefore, revolutionaries in Ecuador must demand from CONAIE, FUT, etc. to reject the dialogue with Lenin Moreno and to continue the indefinite general strike until his resignation. The insurrection must continue with the occupation of important production sites (e.g. oil fields and mining!) as well as governmental buildings. It is crucial to appeal to the ordinary soldiers and police to refuse the repression of the protests and to join the insurrectional masses. The strategic goal must be the establishment of a workers, indigenous, peasant and popular government which is under the control of such democratic mass assemblies.
5. Given the wide-spread illusions of the masses in the present leadership of the protests, revolutionaries should call for the formation of a government of CONAIE, FUT, Labor Parliament, Popular Front, CUTCOP and other popular mass organizations! Revolutionaries should warn the masses that such a government, given the character of the leaderships of these popular organizations, will follow most likely a reformist policy. Hence, the struggle would not stop with the formation of such a reformist workers and popular government but only reach the next level. This means that it is urgent to fight for a socialist republic which would break with the IMF and all imperialist Great Powers, expropriate the big capitalists and multinational corporations and open the road to a socialist future in Ecuador, Latin America and globally. Such an internationalization of the revolution is particularly important for a country like Ecuador which is highly dependent on the export of petroleum.
6. As we said in a recent statement, it is crucial to recognize that the revolutionary developments in Ecuador don’t take place in isolation. They are part of a global upswing of the class struggle (e.g. popular uprisings in Haiti and Honduras, looming general strike in Colombia, popular insurrection in Iraq, mass protests in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon, ongoing liberation struggles in Syria against the Assad tyranny and in Yemen against the Saudi invasion, popular uprising in Hong Kong, Intifada in Kashmir, etc.). This global wave of mass struggles takes place at the same time as the capitalist world economy enters another Great Recession and key leaders of the world bourgeoisie face massive domestic crisis (e.g. Trump, Netanyahu, Boris Johnson, Mohammed bin Salman, General Sisis). In short, the world is heading towards a political rupture which involves both tremendous opportunities as well as dangers for the international working class and oppressed peoples!
7. It is crucial for revolutionaries in Ecuador to advocate a perspective of internationalist unity with such struggles in other countries. In that sense the RCIT calls for an international campaign with coordinated actions in support of the Ecuadorian people. Likewise revolutionaries around the world should build international solidarity with the popular insurrection in Ecuador. In particular, it is urgent that revolutionaries in Ecuador and internationally to unite on a clear programmatic basis. They should work towards the formation of a revolutionary party – nationally and internationally. Since without such a Revolutionary World Party, the heroic efforts of the workers and oppressed will be futile and end in defeats. The RCIT calls revolutionaries in Ecuador and internationally to work with us hand in hand in jointly building such a World Party!
No future without socialism! No socialism without a revolution! No revolution without a revolutionary party!
International Bureau of the RCIT
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We refer readers to our joint statement with the Partido Revolucionario de las y los Trabajadores (Costa Rica): Ecuador: For an Indefinite General Strike against the Neoliberal Austerity Pack! Build democratic popular assemblies to defeat the government of Moreno – servant of the IMF! For a workers, indigenous, peasant and popular government! 06 October 2019, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/latin-america/ecuador-for-an-indefinite-general-strike-against-the-neoliberal-austerity-pack/