Chavez to bishops: read Marx, Lenin and the Bible

So Hugo Chavez now calls himself a communist, quotes Leon Trotsky, and has announced his plans to nationalise the telecommunications and electricity industries. This is strong stuff, and the left should be impressed with the continued 'turn to the left' in Latin America. However, in reporting on recent events, both the the Economist and the World Socialist Web Site are seemingly in agreement that Chavez's rhetoric is still well ahead of his reality, and when you look at much of the detail there is less for the right to be alarmed at and less for the left to celebrate about. The Economist admit that Chavez can claim a mandate for implementing 'socialism', but it thinks that private business has little to fear from his regime. Still they seem to be bemused that Chavez tells Venezuelan bishops that they should read Marx, Lenin and the Bible because 'Christ was an authentic communist, anti-imperialist and enemy of the oligarchy'. The WSWS are still very tough on Chavez, suggesting that an examination of what his government is about shows that his policies 'far from signaling a resurgence of socialism, represent an echo of the kind of economic nationalism and military populism associated with figures such as Juan Peron in Argentina'. The Guardian gives a more sympathetic hearing.