Héctor Silva Michelena thinks that the project headed by President Hugo Chávez undoubtedly heads for a State-party merger (Photo: Nicola Rocco)

Economy
Héctor Silva Michelena has spent more than six decades in the study of Venezuela. He is a member of the National Academy of Economic Sciences, where he just delivered a controversial speech on ethics. Rather than making an analysis of the country, he uses psychiatry: insanity deals with "repeating the same thing time after time, waiting for different results."

Upon having said that, he shoots at the heart of the project led by President Hugo Chávez. "Trying to revive socialism; repeating something that failed already is quite insane; history has empirically shown that it is unfeasible, and theoretically, as it worked, is also unfeasible."

Unfeasibility of socialist economies stems from the "allocation of most goods by an administrative establishment where producers feel not forced to compete among them; the direct control of companies by the party and its political sections, and the lack of political democracy and freedom in all senses."

Lack of innovation, of technological improvements, is another symptom to be considered in the socialist pathology. "In this regard, socialist economies soundly failed. As a matter of fact, in the absence of a thick market competition, both domestic and foreign, no company is bound to innovate; no innovative processes are found in an economy, but those fostered by competition."

As for Venezuela, he noted: "these characteristic features are not accomplished, yet they are moving forward. Today, denying that the State will be the great owner is impossible. The First Socialist Plan has a chart where it can be construed that the so-called social production enterprises and the State would amount to 75 percent of the GDP in 2013, whereas the private sector will decrease from 57 percent of the GDP to 25 percent."

"In the 150 businesses seized by the government, there is no shareholding of workers; everything goes for the State and the party, because here a State-party merger goes. The public sector in 2007 accounted for 25.5 percent of the GDP; today it is above 30 percent. People who work for the State because of continued expropriations, have increased by a million, and here is the disastrous output problem at the Venezuelan Guayana's Corporation."

"Theoretically, companies which lack competition are not viable; therefore, innovation in the project is the other way around, the dairy cow, the hydroponic plantation, communes; it is like going backwards, back to the past."

If, as you said, any attempt to revive socialism is insane, why, in your opinion, the country has fallen into such stage of madness?
Fidel Castro transferred it to Hugo Chávez; his influence is terrible because Chávez is in love with Fidel. There is also a very basic mindset; thinking that we have to espouse socialism to remove profit, gain, and attain happiness; hence, the need of a hyper-leader, the nonexpendable redeemer. Stalin felt like that no matter the crimes he committed.

Hugo Chávez has started to quote Karl Marx. Speaking of the labor theory of value, the surplus value stolen by businessmen from workers, makes any sense?
A third of century ago, it was proven that the labor theory of value is false. According to this theory by Marx, the value of things comes from labor; this turned out to be false, because the value of things actually comes from their usefulness, shortage. Therefore, such idea, according to which the worker produces the gain and the capitalist exploits him by appropriating it, is false.

Nowadays, we know that exploitation is inherent in any system where there are differences or inequalities in terms of any kind of supply available to individuals.

What could happen if the government wins the election scheduled for September and retains the control over the National Assembly?
If the government wins in the upcoming election, collapse, insanity, will speed up.