able to keep the masses in check except through repression. itants, intellectuals, journalists and artists. to call off their strike on 19 May the example of Villa Confederal troops, and members of the "Puma' anti-riot brigade attacked the houses of more than 50 militants together with the local headquarters of the union, and brutally assaulted neighbours who had rushed to the aid of those arrested. In the next five days there were a total of 500 Since there had not been recent conflicts between the employers of the region and the workers of the four big factories (Acindar, Marathon, Metcon, and Vilber), the Government was obliged to invent a crude justification for the terror. The operation was said to have been aimed at 'dismantling a terrorist conspiracy against heavy industry in the region.' Of course, nobody believed the story of this plot - not even the employers.
• OFFENSIVE • It is quite clear that the offensive was in fact intended to prevent local militants from using the concessions that had already been forced from the Government ('parity commissions" negotiate new labour contracts) to develop the struggle still further.
There was already a basis for this fear. The metalworkers of Villa ConNORTH LONDON TOM Social at North Londo oly, Ladbroke House, Highbury Grove, on Fri 20 June at son is music and disco REVOLUTIONARY MARXIST CURRENT: Mepiy to workers riants open Letter tor nevolutionary Regrouoment is now oubliciv avalable Copies from Red Books (Liverpool). 81a Renshaw Street, Liverpool 1. Send stamp with order. VIVA FRELIMO! Mozambique Independence 25 June, at Camden mission £1 (children/OAPs/claimants 50p).
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ANTI-FASCIST PLAY: Do You Remember Cable Street? performed by orofessional socialis theatre co-operative, now booking (nationwide)
. Suitable for meetings, socials, etc. Phone: Howell, 01-722 7237.
GLASGOW Marxist Discussion Group meets every Wednesday in lona Community House, 7.30pm.
NUn In WED LONDON TOM. puDnc meeti Thurs 26 June, 7.30pr , Cricklewood (Willesden Green tube). The anon oquads us meal hole in ireland. speakers viteo include memper of brent rades counci and Gery Lawless (TOM executive!.
PHEs! ON Dublic meetino acainst James White's Abortion (Amendment) Bill, Friday 20 June, 8pm at Unicorn Hotel, Garstang Rd. Speakers: Stan Thorne MP and Dr Sheila Abdullah. been carried out not only by official State bodies like the federal police and the armed forces - who are now engaged in a mini-civil war with the ERP guerrillas in Tucuman province - but also by unofficial murder gangs like the AAA (Argentinian Anti-communist Alliance). Among the targets of this sinister campaign have been revolutionary and worker milBut under the impact of the crisis new working class struggles have continued to develop. In December 1974 a significant victory was scorthe regime, anci thus also a special target of the repressive forces.
Less than three months later they moved in for the kill. But as L.E.
stitucion had worked out a counter draft collective labour contract calling for a 70 per cent wage increase and a minimum wage twice that set by the Government. for something more important: workers control over industrial health control over the work rate. • OCCUPATIONS• The first reaction of the workers to the Government offensive was to occupy the tour big factories of the region, automatically halting production. After three days of hesitation, the Government proceeded to to dislodge the workers violently.
The new workers' leaders were arrested, but they were immediately replaced by others, equally determined and effective. And although the repression continued to hit the new members of the Committee of Struggle, which was elected right at the beginning of the strike, new leaders arose out of the militant rank and file and fully assumed the functions to of the arrested leaders. Four leaderships of the struggle were successively arrested, but nevertheless the Committee of Struggle continued to act WHAT'S ON FREE DESMOND TROTTER Campaign: Picket every Friday, 4.30-6pm outside East Caribbean men commission, haymarket, London ovE BENGALI FRIENDS in Europe and elsewhere, Tor Bengali books and srani-Dal-Bipiab Fourth internationa paper contact: Benoali clo inter. nationalen, Box 3274, 10365 Stockholm, Sweden.
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DEFEND NAXALITE PRISONERS: Picket of indian hion commission. Aldwwch on Mon 23 June 11am. to orotest aaainst death sentences on Naxalite prisoners Bhoomaiah and Gowd. OrganiThis has clandestinely.
pietely by surprise.
But they also asked Silvia Diaz response.
Star del Rata timidation.
The Government was taken comIt tried to go further, unleashing a ferocious terrorist campaign against the leaders and militants who were supporting the ComJosé Páez and arrested all those present (pictured above).
bring the total of PST political prisoners held under the state of siege to 21.
BASTA March in Villa Constitución in support of the striking metalworkers mittee of Struggle. It organised kidnappings and murders and planted dozens of bombs in the houses of the most militant workers. But it had to confront a new level of unexpected The workers organised to defend the working-class neighbourhoods with armed groups, which prevented the para-police gangs from operating at night. Several armed clashes put an end to the aims of the terrorist in• SOLIDARITY • During this time, solidarity commmittees were spreading throughout the work stoppages; their leaders were the major regions of the country.
The workers of the Indiel y de Rigol- them. leau factory in San Justo (Buenos Aires province) organised an assembly and street demonstration for their own demands and to support Villa work.
Constitucion. The assembly and dem- in, and the merchants and small-scale onstration were repressed by the police and the leaders were arrested. The workers responded with a week-long The repression aimed at the Villa Constitucion workers was extended to include four national leaders of the PST (Socialist Workers Party), an organisation which supports the Fourth International. On 17 May these comrades were holding discussions with two PST worker militants, members of the strike committee, when police burst in This raid occurred two days after the PST's headquarters in Rosario had been dynamited. The latest arrests stoppage in which the workers of the Martin Amatto factory also particip ated; it succeeded in winning the release of all the workers who had been imprisoned.
In Rosario, in the San Lorenzo industrial zone, assemblies and work stoppages took place in support of the the Committee of Struggle, and a general demonstration was organised in Rosario in solidarity with the striking workers.
For their part, the railway workers and workers of the Fraternidad (an organisation including the railway machinists) in the city of Villa Constitucion itself organised solidarity also arrested and they fought to free During an assembly the postal workers decided not to distribute telegrams sent by the Ministry of Labour ordering the workers to go back to The whole population pitched producers in the region demonstrated their solidarity, sending funds and tood to the Committee of Struggle oscar Juarez Jose halauz
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workers preparing to struggle against the regime. On 20 March thousands of police,
ed in the steel-making town of Villa Constitucion after a big strike, when a united class-struggie slate threw off the hold of the Peronist bureauc- racy by winning elections for the local leadership of the metalworkers' union. The town quickly became a national focus of the resistance to
RASIN reports below, they soon found that they had bitten off more than they could easily chew. Although the workers were finally forced stitucion cannot but be an inspiration to other groups of Argentinian