The Left and Hugo Chavez

Many on the left are in a quandary about events in Venezuela these days. Hugo Chavez the left/populist leader has significantly altered the state away from the traditional elites, including privileged trade unions in the oil industry, towards the brown and poor mass of Venezuelan society. He has done this in a decidedly top down way. The question for many leftists: do authoritarian regimes like Chavez's deserve support or should principles on popular democracy send us into the opposition? Chavez is actually changing institutions so that wealth is being re-distributed. Are we part of the problem if we are in opposition or should he get qualified support? Here's the latest on agrarian reform.