This research analyzes the Bolivarian historical ideology since the Simon Bolívar death in 1830 until the end of the 20th Century, focusing on the development of what we shall call social consciousness practices in an experience of popular armed confrontation: The Venezuela’s Federal War of 1858-1863. Our aim was to understand and evaluate the potentialities of the historical memory as a social and emancipatory mobilization practice. In order to conduct the research and guided by the available documents and other historical sources, we did characterized "bolivarianism" as a revolutionary-romantic ideology, with a special and contradictory unity between revolution and conciliation. The research has revealed that Bolivar’s project of creating Gran Colombia was a relevant part of the Federal War political proposal. Bolivarianism was also a general ideological reference to important individuals during the Federal War. Finally, the study brought new evidence and insight regarding the nexus between historical memory and ideology as an activity of remembrance in an operative present, which helps to explain how the past is selected through conflicting projects of future.

This research analyzes the Bolivarian historical ideology since the Simon Bolívar death in 1830 until the end of the 20th Century, focusing on the development of what we shall call social consciousness practices in an experience of popular armed confrontation: The Venezuela’s Federal War of 1858-1863. Our aim was to understand and evaluate the potentialities of the historical memory as a social and emancipatory mobilization practice. In order to conduct the research and guided by the available documents and other historical sources, we did characterized "bolivarianism" as a revolutionary-romantic ideology, with a special and contradictory unity between revolution and conciliation. The research has revealed that Bolivar’s project of creating Gran Colombia was a relevant part of the Federal War political proposal. Bolivarianism was also a general ideological reference to important individuals during the Federal War. Finally, the study brought new evidence and insight regarding the nexus between historical memory and ideology as an activity of remembrance in an operative present, which helps to explain how the past is selected through conflicting projects of future.

This research analyzes the Bolivarian historical ideology since the Simon Bolívar death in 1830 until the end of the 20th Century, focusing on the development of what we shall call social consciousness practices in an experience of popular armed confrontation: The Venezuela’s Federal War of 1858-1863. Our aim was to understand and evaluate the potentialities of the historical memory as a social and emancipatory mobilization practice. In order to conduct the research and guided by the available documents and other historical sources, we did characterized "bolivarianism" as a revolutionary-romantic ideology, with a special and contradictory unity between revolution and conciliation. The research has revealed that Bolivar’s project of creating Gran Colombia was a relevant part of the Federal War political proposal. Bolivarianism was also a general ideological reference to important individuals during the Federal War. Finally, the study brought new evidence and insight regarding the nexus between historical memory and ideology as an activity of remembrance in an operative present, which helps to explain how the past is selected through conflicting projects of future.

Este trabalho analisa a trajetória da classe trabalhadora venezuelana como parte do Proceso Bolivariano, sendo este entendido como um conjunto de acontecimentos de caráter político e social inaugurado na Venezuela pela crise pré-revolucionária do Sacudón (27 de Fevereiro de 1989 – 27F) e que se desenvolve como resultado de diferentes correlações de forças sociais até os dias atuais, sob o governo dirigido pelo Presidente Hugo Chávez. A tese volta-se para o estudo de dois sujeitos fundamentais do Processo Bolivariano que se encontram muitas vezes preteridos nos estudos sobre a Venezuela atual, cuja ênfase orienta-se para a análise da liderança chavista e seu governo. São eles, a classe operária industrial e os trabalhadores precarizados moradores dos barrios ─ espaço de segregação social que ocupa parte significativa da paisagem urbana venezuelana. Para compreender e explicar a emergência desses sujeitos no cenário nacional são buscadas suas raízes econômico-sociais nos elementos próprios da estrutura do capitalismo dependente petroleiro-rentista. Partindo de uma história econômica da Venezuela desde os anos 1920, identificamos a constituição de um Exército Industrial de Reserva de proporções inauditas. Com base na experiência de mais de três gerações vivendo nos barrios, os trabalhadores precarizados ingressaram no cenário político nacional venezuelano como um movimento de massas particular, com demandas e modos de luta específicos. Inspiradas em práticas insurgentes que remanescem da experiência guerrilheira dos anos 1960, essas lutas ganham forma nas mobilizações callejeras das décadas de 1980 e 1990. A intensa atividade política desse setor, em aliança com setores reformistas das Forças Armadas Nacionais venezuelanas que se arremetem na busca pelo controle do aparato estatal em 4 de fevereiro de 1992, os militares bolivarianos, constitui-se um movimiento bolivariano radical de masas, de caráter policlassista. Depois de abandonar a estratégia insurrecional de acesso ao poder em prol da via institucional, a chegada de Hugo Chávez na Presidência inaugurará uma nova fase do Proceso. Ocupando posição nada desprezível no aparato estatal, a aliança policlassista consubstanciada no governo bolivariano enfrentará o acirramento da luta de classes no interior da qual se recolocará a centralidade do operariado industrial como sujeito central da mudança estrutural. Assim, se o 27F marcou a crise pré-revolucionária e o 4F uma situação revolucionária, o governo bolivariano vem revelando-se mais recentemente como um instrumento de contenção das demandas sociais. Ao mesmo tempo, a exacerbação da luta de classes abriu caminhos para o comparecimento da classe operária industrial na luta pelo poder com experiências significativas de controle da produção em importantes atividades econômicas do país, como são as indústrias do petróleo (PDVSA), alumínio (CVG-ALCASA) e siderúrgica (SIDOR). Baseado em fontes quantitativas e qualitativas, com uso de séries estatísticas históricas e coleta de testemunhos de História Oral, este trabalho procura oferecer uma interpretação rigorosa, ainda que provisória, da história recente venezuelana a partir da perspectiva da luta de classes. / The present thesis annalyses the trajectory of Venezuelan working class within the Proceso Bolivariano, which is understood as a compound of political and social events in this country inaugurated by the pre revolutionary crisis driven by the Sacudón (February the 27th, 1989 – 27F) and since then has evolved as a result of varying correlation of the social forces up to the present. Stemming from an economic history of Venezuela since the 1920s, the thesis presents evidence on the upsurging of precarious urban workers as the main actors of the Proceso Bolivariano. The relevance assumed by this working class sector is discussed as resulting from the very constitution of the Venezuelan oil dependent capitalism and its rentier bias. The thesis remarks that this particular form of capitalism reproduced throughout the twentieth century an Industrial Reserve Army of incomparable dimensions. In this process, the precarious urban workers have been socially segregated in the barrios (shantty towns) and had their identity forged on day-to-day struggles experience for survival. In this sense, it is argued that this working class sector emerged at the national political escenario in Venezuela as a particular mass movement, carrying out its claims and specific ways of struggles. The political actions sustained by those social subjects, in an alliance with reformer military from the Venezuelan National Armed Forces – the Bolivarian Military – crafted what we named the Bolivarian radical mass movement, inaugurating a new historical bloc which accessed Venezuela’s state apparatus departing from 1999. Using insurgent methods derived both from the 1960s guerrilla experience and the popular extraction within the Venezuelan Army, this historical bloc unfolded a strategy to control State’s apparatus evoking a political discourse advocating for a revolutionary transformation. Regarding the former elements, the thesis discusses how the pre revolutionary crisis of the 27F moved towards a revolutionary situation, when dominant classe’s difficulties for unity opposed them in a stalemate with the military, on February the 4th, 1992 (4 F), and, finally, how this situation evolved to an institutional outcome with ex-Liutenenent Colonel Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías candidature and election for Presidency in 1999. In this sense, the Bolivarian Government is depicted as a new phase of the Proceso. The thesis contends this new phase has sharpen the class struggles and put the industrial working class into centrality, as it will reemerge as main protagonist for social structural change. In conclusion, if the 27F stressed a pre revolutionary crisis and the 4F remarked a revolutionary situation, the thesis contends that multiclassis Bolivarian government turned out to be an instrument for countering radical social demands of the industrial working class and the precarious workers, while at the same time sharpening the class struggles, unfolding a new path for the working class to fight for an alternative power. Using quantitative and qualitative methods and different sorts of research sources, such as historical statistics and Oral History records, this thesis aims at offering a yet provisional contribution to the field of the Venezuelan recent history, considering the class struggles theoretical perspective.

Este trabalho analisa a trajetória da classe trabalhadora venezuelana como parte do Proceso Bolivariano, sendo este entendido como um conjunto de acontecimentos de caráter político e social inaugurado na Venezuela pela crise pré-revolucionária do Sacudón (27 de Fevereiro de 1989 – 27F) e que se desenvolve como resultado de diferentes correlações de forças sociais até os dias atuais, sob o governo dirigido pelo Presidente Hugo Chávez. A tese volta-se para o estudo de dois sujeitos fundamentais do Processo Bolivariano que se encontram muitas vezes preteridos nos estudos sobre a Venezuela atual, cuja ênfase orienta-se para a análise da liderança chavista e seu governo. São eles, a classe operária industrial e os trabalhadores precarizados moradores dos barrios ─ espaço de segregação social que ocupa parte significativa da paisagem urbana venezuelana. Para compreender e explicar a emergência desses sujeitos no cenário nacional são buscadas suas raízes econômico-sociais nos elementos próprios da estrutura do capitalismo dependente petroleiro-rentista. Partindo de uma história econômica da Venezuela desde os anos 1920, identificamos a constituição de um Exército Industrial de Reserva de proporções inauditas. Com base na experiência de mais de três gerações vivendo nos barrios, os trabalhadores precarizados ingressaram no cenário político nacional venezuelano como um movimento de massas particular, com demandas e modos de luta específicos. Inspiradas em práticas insurgentes que remanescem da experiência guerrilheira dos anos 1960, essas lutas ganham forma nas mobilizações callejeras das décadas de 1980 e 1990. A intensa atividade política desse setor, em aliança com setores reformistas das Forças Armadas Nacionais venezuelanas que se arremetem na busca pelo controle do aparato estatal em 4 de fevereiro de 1992, os militares bolivarianos, constitui-se um movimiento bolivariano radical de masas, de caráter policlassista. Depois de abandonar a estratégia insurrecional de acesso ao poder em prol da via institucional, a chegada de Hugo Chávez na Presidência inaugurará uma nova fase do Proceso. Ocupando posição nada desprezível no aparato estatal, a aliança policlassista consubstanciada no governo bolivariano enfrentará o acirramento da luta de classes no interior da qual se recolocará a centralidade do operariado industrial como sujeito central da mudança estrutural. Assim, se o 27F marcou a crise pré-revolucionária e o 4F uma situação revolucionária, o governo bolivariano vem revelando-se mais recentemente como um instrumento de contenção das demandas sociais. Ao mesmo tempo, a exacerbação da luta de classes abriu caminhos para o comparecimento da classe operária industrial na luta pelo poder com experiências significativas de controle da produção em importantes atividades econômicas do país, como são as indústrias do petróleo (PDVSA), alumínio (CVG-ALCASA) e siderúrgica (SIDOR). Baseado em fontes quantitativas e qualitativas, com uso de séries estatísticas históricas e coleta de testemunhos de História Oral, este trabalho procura oferecer uma interpretação rigorosa, ainda que provisória, da história recente venezuelana a partir da perspectiva da luta de classes. / The present thesis annalyses the trajectory of Venezuelan working class within the Proceso Bolivariano, which is understood as a compound of political and social events in this country inaugurated by the pre revolutionary crisis driven by the Sacudón (February the 27th, 1989 – 27F) and since then has evolved as a result of varying correlation of the social forces up to the present. Stemming from an economic history of Venezuela since the 1920s, the thesis presents evidence on the upsurging of precarious urban workers as the main actors of the Proceso Bolivariano. The relevance assumed by this working class sector is discussed as resulting from the very constitution of the Venezuelan oil dependent capitalism and its rentier bias. The thesis remarks that this particular form of capitalism reproduced throughout the twentieth century an Industrial Reserve Army of incomparable dimensions. In this process, the precarious urban workers have been socially segregated in the barrios (shantty towns) and had their identity forged on day-to-day struggles experience for survival. In this sense, it is argued that this working class sector emerged at the national political escenario in Venezuela as a particular mass movement, carrying out its claims and specific ways of struggles. The political actions sustained by those social subjects, in an alliance with reformer military from the Venezuelan National Armed Forces – the Bolivarian Military – crafted what we named the Bolivarian radical mass movement, inaugurating a new historical bloc which accessed Venezuela’s state apparatus departing from 1999. Using insurgent methods derived both from the 1960s guerrilla experience and the popular extraction within the Venezuelan Army, this historical bloc unfolded a strategy to control State’s apparatus evoking a political discourse advocating for a revolutionary transformation. Regarding the former elements, the thesis discusses how the pre revolutionary crisis of the 27F moved towards a revolutionary situation, when dominant classe’s difficulties for unity opposed them in a stalemate with the military, on February the 4th, 1992 (4 F), and, finally, how this situation evolved to an institutional outcome with ex-Liutenenent Colonel Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías candidature and election for Presidency in 1999. In this sense, the Bolivarian Government is depicted as a new phase of the Proceso. The thesis contends this new phase has sharpen the class struggles and put the industrial working class into centrality, as it will reemerge as main protagonist for social structural change. In conclusion, if the 27F stressed a pre revolutionary crisis and the 4F remarked a revolutionary situation, the thesis contends that multiclassis Bolivarian government turned out to be an instrument for countering radical social demands of the industrial working class and the precarious workers, while at the same time sharpening the class struggles, unfolding a new path for the working class to fight for an alternative power. Using quantitative and qualitative methods and different sorts of research sources, such as historical statistics and Oral History records, this thesis aims at offering a yet provisional contribution to the field of the Venezuelan recent history, considering the class struggles theoretical perspective.

Este trabalho analisa a trajetória da classe trabalhadora venezuelana como parte do Proceso Bolivariano, sendo este entendido como um conjunto de acontecimentos de caráter político e social inaugurado na Venezuela pela crise pré-revolucionária do Sacudón (27 de Fevereiro de 1989 – 27F) e que se desenvolve como resultado de diferentes correlações de forças sociais até os dias atuais, sob o governo dirigido pelo Presidente Hugo Chávez. A tese volta-se para o estudo de dois sujeitos fundamentais do Processo Bolivariano que se encontram muitas vezes preteridos nos estudos sobre a Venezuela atual, cuja ênfase orienta-se para a análise da liderança chavista e seu governo. São eles, a classe operária industrial e os trabalhadores precarizados moradores dos barrios ─ espaço de segregação social que ocupa parte significativa da paisagem urbana venezuelana. Para compreender e explicar a emergência desses sujeitos no cenário nacional são buscadas suas raízes econômico-sociais nos elementos próprios da estrutura do capitalismo dependente petroleiro-rentista. Partindo de uma história econômica da Venezuela desde os anos 1920, identificamos a constituição de um Exército Industrial de Reserva de proporções inauditas. Com base na experiência de mais de três gerações vivendo nos barrios, os trabalhadores precarizados ingressaram no cenário político nacional venezuelano como um movimento de massas particular, com demandas e modos de luta específicos. Inspiradas em práticas insurgentes que remanescem da experiência guerrilheira dos anos 1960, essas lutas ganham forma nas mobilizações callejeras das décadas de 1980 e 1990. A intensa atividade política desse setor, em aliança com setores reformistas das Forças Armadas Nacionais venezuelanas que se arremetem na busca pelo controle do aparato estatal em 4 de fevereiro de 1992, os militares bolivarianos, constitui-se um movimiento bolivariano radical de masas, de caráter policlassista. Depois de abandonar a estratégia insurrecional de acesso ao poder em prol da via institucional, a chegada de Hugo Chávez na Presidência inaugurará uma nova fase do Proceso. Ocupando posição nada desprezível no aparato estatal, a aliança policlassista consubstanciada no governo bolivariano enfrentará o acirramento da luta de classes no interior da qual se recolocará a centralidade do operariado industrial como sujeito central da mudança estrutural. Assim, se o 27F marcou a crise pré-revolucionária e o 4F uma situação revolucionária, o governo bolivariano vem revelando-se mais recentemente como um instrumento de contenção das demandas sociais. Ao mesmo tempo, a exacerbação da luta de classes abriu caminhos para o comparecimento da classe operária industrial na luta pelo poder com experiências significativas de controle da produção em importantes atividades econômicas do país, como são as indústrias do petróleo (PDVSA), alumínio (CVG-ALCASA) e siderúrgica (SIDOR). Baseado em fontes quantitativas e qualitativas, com uso de séries estatísticas históricas e coleta de testemunhos de História Oral, este trabalho procura oferecer uma interpretação rigorosa, ainda que provisória, da história recente venezuelana a partir da perspectiva da luta de classes. / The present thesis annalyses the trajectory of Venezuelan working class within the Proceso Bolivariano, which is understood as a compound of political and social events in this country inaugurated by the pre revolutionary crisis driven by the Sacudón (February the 27th, 1989 – 27F) and since then has evolved as a result of varying correlation of the social forces up to the present. Stemming from an economic history of Venezuela since the 1920s, the thesis presents evidence on the upsurging of precarious urban workers as the main actors of the Proceso Bolivariano. The relevance assumed by this working class sector is discussed as resulting from the very constitution of the Venezuelan oil dependent capitalism and its rentier bias. The thesis remarks that this particular form of capitalism reproduced throughout the twentieth century an Industrial Reserve Army of incomparable dimensions. In this process, the precarious urban workers have been socially segregated in the barrios (shantty towns) and had their identity forged on day-to-day struggles experience for survival. In this sense, it is argued that this working class sector emerged at the national political escenario in Venezuela as a particular mass movement, carrying out its claims and specific ways of struggles. The political actions sustained by those social subjects, in an alliance with reformer military from the Venezuelan National Armed Forces – the Bolivarian Military – crafted what we named the Bolivarian radical mass movement, inaugurating a new historical bloc which accessed Venezuela’s state apparatus departing from 1999. Using insurgent methods derived both from the 1960s guerrilla experience and the popular extraction within the Venezuelan Army, this historical bloc unfolded a strategy to control State’s apparatus evoking a political discourse advocating for a revolutionary transformation. Regarding the former elements, the thesis discusses how the pre revolutionary crisis of the 27F moved towards a revolutionary situation, when dominant classe’s difficulties for unity opposed them in a stalemate with the military, on February the 4th, 1992 (4 F), and, finally, how this situation evolved to an institutional outcome with ex-Liutenenent Colonel Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías candidature and election for Presidency in 1999. In this sense, the Bolivarian Government is depicted as a new phase of the Proceso. The thesis contends this new phase has sharpen the class struggles and put the industrial working class into centrality, as it will reemerge as main protagonist for social structural change. In conclusion, if the 27F stressed a pre revolutionary crisis and the 4F remarked a revolutionary situation, the thesis contends that multiclassis Bolivarian government turned out to be an instrument for countering radical social demands of the industrial working class and the precarious workers, while at the same time sharpening the class struggles, unfolding a new path for the working class to fight for an alternative power. Using quantitative and qualitative methods and different sorts of research sources, such as historical statistics and Oral History records, this thesis aims at offering a yet provisional contribution to the field of the Venezuelan recent history, considering the class struggles theoretical perspective.