VENEZUELAN President Nicolas Maduro’s comment, after meeting his Communist Party allies, that he had “received criticism” and appreciated it marks him out as a special kind of revolutionary leader.

Too many rulers in different forms of society, especially those used over a period of time to winning mass popular support, have a tendency to imagine that they are the font of all wisdom.

Maduro, a revolutionary since his youth and a man who came to understand the value of collective discussion and action during his time as a bus driver, retains a willingness to listen and learn.