Praxis, Informal Learning and Particpatory Democracy: The Case of Venezuela's Socialist Production Units

Using a Marxist perspective, this thesis examines Venezuela’s Socialist Production Units (SPU). SPUs have emerged as a clear alternative to the neoliberal model that characterized Venezuela and most of Latin America for the past 30 years. However, SPUs exist within capitalism and their political economy remains contradictory, a reality that manifests in the concrete experiences of their workers. Although facing contradictory experiences, SPU workers are acquiring important learning that challenges dominant market relations and builds the preconditions for a new, more just society. This learning is being acquired informally, in particular, through workers’ democratic participation in their SPU. For these reasons, SPUs should be considered important sites where revolutionary praxis is taking place. Therefore, I conclude, SPUs are making a significant contribution to the building of ‘socialism in the 21st century’, but further struggles, in particular, against the state bureaucracy and large local landowners are needed to advance their goals.MAS