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  • Monthly Review Essays
  • President Maduro was unscathed from the attack (Hugoshi)

    ‘Neoliberal and authoritarian’? A simplistic analysis of the Maduro government that leaves much unsaid

    Originally published: Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal on May 18, 2025 (more by Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal)  |

    According to Hetland, the Maduro government is virtually devoid of any redeeming characteristics. Hetland refers approvingly to the claim made by Maduro’s harshest critics on the left, that his government and the right-wing opposition are “two sides of the same coin”.

  • President Trump meets with far right former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro at the G20 summit in Japan in 2019. Bolsonaro now faces multiple charges for an attempted coup and assassination plot after losing a reelection bid in 2022. (Palácio do Planalto / CC BY 2.0)

    Trump’s policy toward Latin America: Even anti-Communist Zealots in Miami don’t like it

    Originally published: North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA) on March 12, 2025 (more by North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA))  |

    The Trump administration’s volatility on foreign policy reveals internal divisions within Trumpism. But when threats and populism lose their momentum, the anti-communist hawks may get their way.

  • Uncle Sam / Venezuela Flag

    Prioritising anti-U.S. imperialism, Maduro’s Venezuela and the complexities of critical solidarity: An interview with Steve Ellner

    Originally published: Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal on November 1, 2024 (more by Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal)  |

    Steve Ellner: “The basic contradiction of capitalism is at the point of production, the contradiction between the interests of the working class and those of capitalists.”

  • The upcoming elections are unlikely to ease political tensions, as Ellner explains. (Prensa Presidencial)

    Venezuela’s presidential elections: Maduro plays hardball but there are drawbacks

    Originally published: Venezuelananlysis on March 18, 2024 (more by Venezuelananlysis)  |

    Historian and political analyst Steve Ellner lays down the political stakes and US meddling ahead of Venezuela’s electoral race.

  • Ellner analyzes the Venezuelan government's economic policies under a US blockade and leftist critiques. (Bloomberg)

    Objective conditions in Venezuela: Maduro’s defensive strategy and contradictions among the people

    Originally published: Venezuelanalysis.com on September 20, 2023 (more by Venezuelanalysis.com)  |

    Venezuelan history and politics professor Steve Ellner examines Maduro’s economic policies and the contradictions that have arisen among the left.

  • Lula da Silva speaking at the national congress of the PT Party in 2017. (Lula Marques/Agência PT, CC BY 2.0)

    What worries the U.S. most about Lula

    Originally published: Consortium News on November 3, 2022 (more by Consortium News)  |

    Steve Ellner says opposition to NATO’s stance on Ukraine has created fertile ground for the expansion of a bloc of non-aligned nations, now with a progressive possibly at the helm.

  • The Impasse of the Latin American Left

    The Impasse of the Latin American Left

    Originally published: North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA) on May 27, 2022 (more by North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA))  |

    As the Left in power returns, the lessons of the Pink Tide have become increasingly relevant. Recognizing governments’ well-conceived policies as well as their errors is key to understanding the comeback.

  • Pro-government supporters gather in Sucre Square during a demonstration against imperialism (Carolina Cabral / Getty)

    Center-Left convergence in Venezuela: A blow to U.S. interventionism

    Steve Ellner

    Steve Ellner argues that average Venezuelans understand that U.S. sanctions hurt them—and should be resisted.

  • From left to right, Nicolas Maduro, Donald Trump, Juan Guaido (Archive)

    The radicalization of U.S. policy on Venezuela

    Steve Ellner

    Steve Ellner examines the Trump Administration’s recognition of a shadow government and, in so doing, the U.S.’s violation of international law.

  • Trump threatened Venezuela with a 'military option' in August 2017 (Youtube)

    The New York Times Editorial opposing military intervention in Venezuela may do more harm than good

    Steve Ellner

    U.S. establishment liberals are using their opposition to Trump’s military threats as a cover to back economic sanctions currently wrecking the Venezuelan economy, argues Professor Steve Ellner.

  • Andrés Manuel López Obrador votes in the 2012 general elections. (flickr:Eneas de Troya)

    López Obrador’s moment

    Originally published: nacla on July 3, 2018 (more by nacla)  |

    It took Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) 12 years to become president-elect of Mexico, making history for Mexico’s Left as his party’s coalition also achieves a legislative majority. But the struggle has only just begun.

  • Leopoldo Lopez.

    The New York Times’ uncanny comparison of Leopoldo Lopez with Martin Luther King

    Steve Ellner

    Journalistic standards simply don’t apply when it comes to the NYT’s coverage of Venezuela’s radical right-wing opposition, argues University of Oriente Professor Steve Ellner.

  • "Create popular power, transition to the Communal State."

    The implications of Marxist state theory and how they play out in Venezuela

    Originally published: Steve Ellner's Blog on September 19, 2017 (more by Steve Ellner's Blog)

    The implications of Marxist state theories developed by Nicos Poulantzas and Ralph Miliband are useful for framing issues related to leftist strategy in twenty-first century Venezuela. A relationship exists between each of the theories and three issues facing the Chavista movement: whether the bourgeoisie (or sectors of it) displays a sense of ‘class consciousness’; the viability of tactical and strategic alliances between the left and groups linked to the capitalist structure; and whether socialism is to be achieved through stages, abrupt revolutionary changes, or ongoing state radicalization over a period of time. During Poulantzas’ lifetime, his concept of the state as a ‘strategic battlefield’ lent itself to the left’s promotion of ‘strategic alliances’ with parties to its right. The same concept is compatible with the ‘process of change’ in Venezuela, in which autonomous movements play a fundamental role in transforming the old state and the construction of new state structures.

  • Port in the city of Maracaibo, Venezuela

    Economic warfare in Venezuela

    Steve Ellner and Eds.

    Given the thick haze of disinformation surrounding the economic situation in Venezuela, we thought it would be useful to publish the first chapter of The Visible Hand of the Market: Economic Warfare in Venezuela.

  • Burning bolivar

    The campaign against the economic war and corruption in Venezuela

    Steve Ellner

    The resounding Chavista victory in the October 15 gubernatorial elections provides a golden opportunity to take bold measures to overcome shortcomings even while risking clashes with powerful individuals or groups.

  • Venezuelan Chavistas in the streets supporting their revolution

    Venezuela: Chavistas gain upper hand, big challenges remain

    Originally published: teleSUR on August 15, 2017 (more by teleSUR)  |

    “I believe that failure to recognize the positive aspects of the Maduro presidency undermines efforts at international solidarity, which is very much needed at this moment of such intense hostility and threats on the part of European, North American and South American governments.”

  • Opposition protesters gang up on and beat police officers. Telesur

    The Venezuelan dilemma

    Steve Ellner

    I know a number of people in Venezuela and academia in the U.S. and elsewhere who I used to see eye to eye on with regard to Chavez and I now find them expressing total rejection of and even animosity toward the government. The only thing that binds us now is our common support for the need to defend Venezuelan sovereignty, and sometimes not even that.

  • Supporters of President Nicolas Maduro rally to support him while carrying pictures of late Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, in Caracas, Venezuela, May 8, 2017.

    Standoff in Venezuela

    Originally published: Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal on March 12, 2017 (more by Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal)  |

    Venezuela has been rocked in recent weeks by almost daily protests and counter-protests, as right-wing opponents of socialist President Nicolas Maduro seek to bring down his government.

  • Interview with Steve Ellner: Is the Bolivarian Revolution a Populist Failure?

    Lucas Koerner and Steve Ellner

    In part II of our interview with Steve Ellner, the Universidad de Oriente professor discusses a range of contentious issues in Venezuela, including the efficacy of state social programs such as the CLAPs, rentierism, and the Maduro government’s controversial Mining Arc, as well as the role of international solidarity.  Part I of the conversation can […]

  • Interview with Steve Ellner: Democratization of PSUV Is Key to Chavismo’s Future

    Lucas Koerner and Steve Ellner

    Distinguished Venezuelan history and politics professor Steve Ellner visited Caracas from September 26 to October 7 to teach an intensive seminar at the Venezuelan Planning School, titled “The Role of the Venezuelan State in the Transition to Socialism.”  Venezuelanalysis‘s Lucas Koerner sat down with the long-time Universidad de Oriente professor to discuss a range of […]

Also By Steve Ellner in Monthly Review Magazine

  • Applying/Misapplying Gramsci’s Passive Revolution to Latin America October 01, 2024
  • Prioritizing U.S. Imperialism in Evaluating Latin America’s Pink Tide March 01, 2023
  • Socialist Practice and Transition April 01, 2021
  • Venezuela’s Fragile Revolution October 01, 2017

Monthly Review Essays

  • US Imperialism in Crisis: Opportunities and Challenges to a Global Community with a Shared Future
    Sam-Kee Cheng A late 1940s Soviet poster showing a US military service member lounging on top of a German factory, smoking a cigar. The text beneath reads DER DOLLARIMPERIALISMUS [dollar imperialism].

    1. Introduction The predominance of US economic, political and military power in the world was established at the end of the Second World War.1 With just 6.3 percent of global population, the United States held about 50 percent of the world wealth in 1948. As the only power which had used nuclear weapons on civilian […]

Lost & Found

  • Journalism, democracy, … and class struggle
    Robert W. McChesney Bob McChesney on Saving Journalism

    Our job is to make media reform part of our broader struggle for democracy, social justice, and, dare we say it, socialism.

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