The streets of Caracas were quiet on Monday. With banks and schools still closed and political rallying banned as part of the electoral rules, supporters of the two main political coalitions celebrated, or mourned, in private.

But although the Venezuelan socialist PSUV party suffered a resounding defeat in the parliamentary elections, there is little bitterness or excuses from grassroots activists. Instead, many have accepted the results with dignity, and recognized them as an opportunity to work harder on their own causes and to prove that socialism is capable of withstanding its second ever defeat in a Venezuelan election since 1998.

The new revolutionary offensive has begun    

Luciana Vazquez is the coordinator of the Barrio Tricolor mission in the Caracas district of Mamera. The program, first created by Hugo Chavez and relaunched under President Nicolas Maduro, aims to transform communities and use planning and infrastructure to bring diginity to neighborhoods. The emphasis is on the community, and on power and decisions from bottom up. Luciana told teleSUR English that the loss of the National Assembly was an opportunity to deepen the revolutionary process in Venezuela.

“The time has come to radicalize the revolution, to work to guarantee a new victory, in the legacy left by (former president) Hugo Chavez,” she said. “No one said that the path of constructing, edifying and consolidating the revolution was easy, and less so if this happens … under a bourgeois and capitalist system. We continue together with the dream of constructing a better socialist Venezuela. The new revolutionary offensive has begun.”

She admitted the current situation was difficult, as though the opposition has at times claimed it wouldn’t dismantle the social missions, she feels some of her resources could be in danger. But she said that the results showed that the social movements have a lot of room for improvement.

“We would improve looking at the weakness we had, to strengthen ourselves and continue organizing, training ourselves, participating. And of course planning to improve even more and to continue working on the complete transformation of the barrios,” she said, before quoting Chavez: “The fight continues. The barrios cannot be destroyed, they have to be transformed.”

This is a historic moment to deepen our work with communities    

Pacha Catalina Guzman, who works with Antimantuanos, an autonomous organization unifying communal councils with musical and sporting events, said that she was not expecting the opposition to gain so many seats in the National Assembly.

“But we see it as an opportunity, not as a defeat. This is a historic moment to deepen our work with communities. We will work harder in communities,” she said.

Pacha wanted to emphasize that a political loss was not a defeat for socialism in Venezuela.

“Yesterday the people voted. One political party won, one political party lost. But our purpose is still intact,” she said. “The new situation obliges us to articulate what is people’s power, and what we have achieved in the last 15 years.”

With the whole world watching and waiting for some kind of fraud or outrage to be committed, Venezuelans voted peacefully and calmly, and Venezuela’s electoral body said that there were no irregularities. Pacha said that even though the outcome had not been what they had been hoping for, the process changed international perception of the left in Venezuela.

“For us, the election was an opportunity to show other countries that there is democracy in Venezuela. It was won by a sector that if they lose, there is violence. We lost, and we respect the result, and we are calm. I want to say that the elections were a demonstration of democracy. We respect the results, without resentment or violence. We continue constructing,” she concluded.

Now we have to deepen our confrontation of the economic war    

Pierre Marais awoke in a deep depression on Monday. He works for the municipality with social missions on planning with communal councils. Pierre said that the “surprise” result “invites reflection and analysis.”

“For me the most important thing to learn was that the same people who voted for Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro also voted for MUD, as a protest vote,” he said. “We Chavistas, we are very sure of ourselves. Too confident. Maybe there was a lack of understanding, so the government needs to get closer to the neighborhoods.”

But aside from the initial shock, Pierre understood that now is a time for action. From tomorrow, he will be holding debates around neighborhoods under the three pillars: revision, reformation, remotivation.

“Now we have to deepen our confrontation of the economic war. We have to work harder, be more efficient. We have to work more with educating those who voted to punish the government, who may not know the consequences of their actions,” he said.