LEXINGTON, KY, JANUARY 5—Vladimir Lenin once said, “imperialist war is the eve of socialist revolution.” Today, we in the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) call on all workers to turn the U.S. imperialist war against Venezuela, and all of Latin America, into communist revolution. 

Earlier this month, PLP members joined a protest rally in Lexington against the U.S.’s recent imperialist actions in Venezuela. Protestors chanted “You can’t stop the revolution!” and “From Venezuela to Palestine, Occupation is a Crime!” We handed out CHALLENGE to almost all attendees (around 100 people) as well as people passing by. Our paper was read by those at the rally and they came up to us to tell us they enjoyed it and wanted to get involved with the Party. When protestors weren’t chanting, we started chants and turned up the energy of the protest. This is our first event in Lexington as the Party, and we hope to grow our base in this area. Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky, after Louisville. PLP members in Owensboro, KY also organized their own protest along with friends of the PLP in the area.

Venezuelan bosses no friends to workers 

One issue that many communists still face is viewing the ruling party of Venezuela as sincere socialists, and thinking that that is the reason the U.S. opposes them. The truth is that the Venezuelan ruling class is fine with imperialism, and what is happening in Venezuela is the result of inter-imperialist rivalry. It is not the result of a genuine anti-imperialist force threatening U.S. imperialism, but rather one camp of imperialism attempting to outbid the other. This has only resulted in suffering for the Venezuelan working class. 

At the same time, many Venezuelan immigrants are being won to gutter U.S. nationalism. Some thank President Donald Trump, the same president who sent innocent Venezuelans to torture centers, for “liberating” Venezuela. The irony is that U.S. imperialism doesn’t care who stays in power in Venezuela, as long as they cooperate on oil. The U.S. was never motivated by “human rights” in Venezuela. That is simply the justification they present to the working class in the U.S. as propaganda for war. Numerous statements made by U.S. officials have proven that their real motivation is competition with China and Russia. U.S. ambassador Mike Waltz stated, “You cannot have the largest energy reserves in the world under the control of adversaries,” and the U.S. State Department recently posted on X (formerly Twitter) “This is OUR Hemisphere.” (Truthout, 1/5/26). The U.S. has also escalated its threats towards Cuba since the attack. 

Communism is key

We must continue to declare that the only solution is communist revolution, not siding with one group of imperialists over another. The workers of Venezuela have been presented with the false choice of supporting either U.S. imperialism, or their own local bourgeoisie backed by Chinese-Russian imperialism. The PLP stands out as the party that has always warned of a global conflict resulting from this inter-imperialist rivalry, and has been publishing articles specifically about the increasing aggression against Venezuela for months now. The PLP stands out also for not defending any imperialist as a “lesser evil” or supporting the reformist leadership of Venezuela. For this reason, we call on all workers of the world, from Kentucky to Venezuela, to join the PLP!