A poster depicting “Workers, peasants, soldiers, intellectuals, re-enforcing the ranks of the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia”
Germany's socialist left is currently
embroiled in a row over the correct stance on Venezuela. The conflict came to the fore at the February conference of
Die Linke, the country's main socialist party, when a group of Nicolás Maduro fans stormed the stage, chanting slogans and waving banners with pro-Venezuela messages.
Nicolás Maduro is the successor to Hugo Chávez, and has served as Venezuelan President since 2013. The legitimacy of his presidency has been in free fall in recent years, and many now call him a dictator. As Maduro's popularity has waned, his tactics have become increasingly brutal. In 2018, a panel of legal experts convened by the Organization of American States
recommended that the regime be referred to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
Many members of the
Die Linke party establishment, however, still side with Maduro, whom they see as a comrade under siege. Others, especially in the party's youth organisation, take the opposite view - which is why the February conference was contentious.
One young member describes the party's in-house Chavistas as "die-hard reactionaries, who have an antiquated understanding of socialism."
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