long live the Bolivarian revolution
I'm under the impression that this is basically how China seizes means of production. Western companies eventually can't afford the yearly wage increases (which also conveniently encourage automation over time) and then workers (or the state) takes over.
Not everyone was happy with this new “Socialist Kellogg,” the staff takeover, or the use of the Kellogg symbol. Kellogg is currently suing the Venezuelan government and the new factory President Milton Torres for $72 million for continuing to use the Kellogg symbol and for using their property.
“If Kellogg returns, we will give the factory back, as long as they keep the same salaries and rights of the workers,” says Orlando.
Lol, kellog going to take them to the ICC??? How are they going to pursue that hahahah
But they committed one mistake: Kellogg left the working class well trained,” says Orlando Contreras, the president of the factory’s union. The workers and the union hit the ground running to organize so the factory could stay open and the workers wouldn’t lose their jobs.
EXTREMELY BASED
NOOOO WORKPLACE CANT FUNCTION WITHOUT THE PMCS :wojak-nooo:
While the story is epic, there is one small thing it omits which is fine by me but when the story was translated by a leftist news site where i live, commenters jumped on it, so it would've been better to clarify, namely, that Milton Torres, the president of the factory is in fact an army colonel, or at least he used to . So maybe the "workers took over" the factory, but it's still under tight government control.
And again, that's not my problem, the problem is that the article doesn't mention that Torres is an army official which is a pretty important detail imo and if we criticize NYT for pulling shady shit we should hold left media to the same standard, especially if we want to win over people.
I have a copy of “Building the Commune” on my shelf but haven’t read it yet, but as I understand it the premise is that the Bolivarian Revolution really emphasized partnership between the state and autonomous citizen orgs, so like independent town councils and labor unions often receive state funding and have state liaisons while nominally being (mostly) independent from the PSUV. So maybe this guy sorta functions as the state rep for the workers at the factory.
Yeah, that's what i thought about but then the article should've been expanded with that and not just omitting the fact directly or whatever because the main criticism about it was that it explicitly left out Torres' role in the army.
There would've been handwringing libs anyway, but it's worth the effort imo.
Oh wow you mean the workers were able to take over the factory when they had guns? Thanks for that context though.
TIL that states are constituted by the working class and not by interlocking institutions of professionals acting in the name and (hopefully) interests of the workers.
--
Unironically though, the PSUV recognizes the gap between the people and the state and goes to long lengths to survey the people, work among them, and win their trust. They also have a counterbalance to the power of the state in the form of the communes, which are semi autonomous and can pressure the state into following the interests of the people. It's why I'm the most optimistic about Venezuela out of all the socialist governed states.
Check out what capital thinks about it
https://globalcomment.com/the-unauthorized-and-illegitimate-appropriation-of-kelloggs-in-venezuela/
Around the world, some products are illegally created as copies of others to take advantage of their image, but the Venezuelan government has gone much further. After Kellogg’s announced in 2018 that it would cease operations in the country, Maduro’s regime occupied the company’s facilities and began producing, placing a Venezuelan seal on the box without changing the brand name. Kellogg’s has responded with an international demand for the appropriation of identity and image.
:cope:
tbh why not just change the name? Important thing is people get fed and the workers have a living. Why hold water for an American brand? Call them chavismo corn flakes and the only thing that changes is people know who abandoned them and who stood up to feed them as well as getting some suits off your back.
Probably because they have all the crap set up for printing the Kellogg boxes, why bother? They probably also just think it's funny to make them mad by breaking copyright law
because it's hilarious and awesome. when the cubans took over the rum distilleries and continued making Havana Club it was awesome. the heirs all fled and had to start all over again elsewhere, and they branded their new product "The Real Havana Club" with basically the same logo + "real" inserted into it. and it's just hilarious, because everyone knows it's the new shit from a new place (neither in Havana or in Cuba), new process, different raw materials, etc. it's a total victory for the workers to literally seize everything, including the name.
Their bio says "Edgary Rodríguez R. is a Venezuelan writer, journalist and video producer" even though the article sounds like something from a corporate press release or think tank.
Woah, Kellog says Maduro is doing cultural appropriation, that’s a big no-growth
A signal and the word ‘expropriate’ were enough for Chávez to transfer a company into the hands of the government. The idea was inherited by his successor, who has continued with the measures against private property. More than 1,000 companies have been nationalized, expropriated and confiscated in the last 20 years. The controlled sectors are related to the oil, financial, commercial, construction, food, among others. Such is the case of Owens-Illinois, Sidetur, Fame of America, Agroisleña, Tidewater, Universal Compression Holdings, Kimberly Clark, Hipermercados Éxito, as well as others.
:porky-scared-flipped:
Lmao at the bits where they whine and complain about production being down when
a) now the factories aren't running in hyper exploitation mode and over working the workers
- the raw material that Kellogg imported is locked behind American embargo, no shit it's harder to make when the guys with guns tell you you aren't allowed to get the food you need.
