What Is Villismo? Español

Insurgent Subcommander "Angeles," Clandestine Command "Division of the North" (Villista National Liberation Front).

At this point in the development of the Mexican national liberation struggle, we should review why we of the Northern insurgency are generalising the struggle: how we see the national liberation struggle developing, how we would analyse it as being completely successful, partially successful, or unsuccessful.

Let us begin by noting that many political gains have already been made by the national liberation movement: a strong, diverse force with a proven capability to make itself heard and felt in our Mexico and worldwide. Nevertheless, the fundamentals, namely, the profound disempowerment and impoverishment of the vast majority of Mexicans, and a state which serves to empower and enrich a few at the expense of the many, remain unchanged.

What is to be done to carry the struggle to its conclusion?

First, we must not stop with our gains, nor satisfy ourselves with mere political change: this would be to repeat the error of Maderismo, with much the same results.

Second, we must insist on the generalisation of the struggle, given the generalised struggle of the antipopular and repressive government to intimidate and impoverish the people.

Finally, we owe it to our people to make clear our analysis of developments to date, in order to develop and advance concepts of clear benefit to the Mexican people.

Villismo is the Generalisation of the Mexican National Liberation

Before Francisco Villa joined his cause explicitly to that of Emiliano Zapata, the Zapatista struggle was a generalised struggle in implication only as evinced in the Plan of Ayala: after the Villistas joined forces with the Zapatistas, the generalisation of the struggle became explicit. Faced with the choice between the Plan of Ayala, the Plan of Guadelupe promulgated by his own "First Chief," Venustiano Carranza, or promulgating his own plan, Francisco Villa sided with Emiliano Zapata, clearly delineating the sides of the final act of the Mexican Revolution.

In an almost parallel manner, we find ourselves of necessity drawn into insurgent politics by the counterinsurgent politics of the Mexican State: we cannot feed, clothe, house, educate, or otherwise take care of ourselves on empty promises: the only promise the Mexican State has kept is to repress the opposition, be it peaceful or violent, legal or illegal. The Mexican State, by equating all opposition to insurgency, necessitates insurgency as the only way remaining to oppose the clandestine violence of poverty and the overt violence of the State.

Our Villismo acts to generalise the insurgency by carrying it to the North of the country, in accordance with the actual conditions one finds here in the present time; we also seek to abstract from the other elements of this and other insurgencies in order to historically situate ourselves and our efforts.

From the National Liberation to the Socialist Revolution

At present, the Mexican National Liberation Movement struggles against one form of capitalism: neoliberalism, which has as its theory market totalitarianism and its practice rule by the transnational corporations. The National Liberation Movement seeks to defeat neoliberalism without contributing to the rise of fascism; some seek a return to the welfare state; some strive for socialism; others struggle to formulate other ways forward.

We who represent socialist elements of the National Liberation Movement see the present moment of national liberation as neither capitalist nor socialist, but transitional from the former to the latter. While we defend the public sector from privatisation, we also strive to advance the socialisation of the private sector as well by advancing the power of the unions to the point that they take part in the governance of the country, as well as governing their own enterprises. The National Liberation Movement, in and of itself, cannot achieve this, but it can act to remove obstacles to this. Further, by defending the public sector against privatisation in the present transitional moment, the National Liberation Movement hastens the transition from socialism to communism in the future.

The Indigenous Liberation Movement and Agricultural Devleopment

As the overwhelming majority of indigenous Mexicans are farmers, the political task of indigenous liberation goes hand-in-hand with the socioeconomic task of agricultural development.

Much of the impulse for pluralism and diversity comes from the indigenous liberation movement, as exemplified by the EZLN/FZLN. Besides the political and cultural aspects, one needs to address the special case of the development of our agriculture, whose socialist roots are nourished by the ejido and calpulli. Restoring the Revolutionary roots of Article 27 also acts to promote the socialist development of our agriculture by defending it against the laws of impoverishment and concentration of capitalist development, which operate under the neoliberal Article 27 promulgated under Salinism. The ejido, a modern reincarnation of the indigenous calpulli, offers Mexican farmers a direct way forward toward socialist development without first having to endure the hardships of capitalist development, which their urban compatriots have already suffered.

Our Road to Victory

Our National Liberation Movement has already succeeded in establishing deep roots in and among the people; we now struggle for the national liberation of our country from the neoliberal regime, which has no country, but which dominates the country to the north of us, including our ancestral lands.

Even with the victory of the national liberation, we socialists will still need to struggle for socialism, just as the socialists in South Africa struggle within their national liberation framework. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), once an ally of the African National Congress (ANC), now confronts it on socioeconomic questions, with the South African Communist Party (SACP) holding the balance. Just as, in our view, the promises of the Reconstruction and Development Plan (RDP) cannot be met in South Africa without socialism, so, too, we would opine that any Plan of Reconstruction and Development (PRD) that our national liberation government would promulgate will fall far short of its promise without socialism, and that this will impel the socialist revolution, properly so-called.

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