Chris Harman's letter is an extraordinary document. He devotes over half of it to the totally secondary question of who organsauonally initiated me isoon events attempts through this to refute a position which no-one has suggested - that the PRP organisationally initiated the action: meanders through some historic al cuesuons - me expusion or raul Levi trom me Kro- on wiich ne is singularly ill-informed; and throws in for good measure some factually ridiculous charges against the CP inaeed virtuany me only quesuon on wiicn ne nas nor a wore to sav 1s the one thing which is really important, and to which we devoted the whole of our 'Open Letter to the IS' — the political line of the PRP and the IS in relation to Portugal. We never accused the PRP of organisationally initiating the Lisbon events. On the contrarv, we stated unequivocally that the revolt' was initiated ov a covernment provoc ation, but that the PRP's political line short term insurrection. bellet that the bourgeois army had disintegrated, concept of the role of the Socialist Party) was completely wrong and guaranteed that the left would be caught up in a disastrous adventure or government provocation.
It is in this political sense that we said - and still do - that the line of the PRP, the MES, and various of the left-wing officers was responsible for the defeat, and that they perpetrated an adventure. To anyone looking Tor a serious discussion, that is obvious - since when has any Marxist analysed events not in terms of class forces and political lines but in terms of 'who started it'?
However, as comrade Harman does not seem to understand this, we will go through a blow by blow account of te Tacts or ine Lisoon events. Desorte the fact that it takes a lot of space, this should remove any suggestion that we want to 'avoid questions'. Next week, however, we will deal in detail again with what is really crucial - the political line of the PRP and the IS on The first place to look for organisational initiators of the Lisbon events is the Tancos airbase - where the 'rebellion' started. But here we meet the first obvious fact. The Tancos paratroop regiment had moved in literally a matter of weeks from being a right-wing to a left-wing regiment. No left-wing organisation. including the CP. was so im planted in the unit in this space of time that it could control it - which is why not even Azevedo has been able to come up with evidence of a plot here. On the soldiers side. no orcanisation whateve could have planned anything even if it wanted to.
On the Government side however, it is clear that a real plan was involved. Already some weeks before, the Govern ment naa made general plans tor dealing with a revolt in Lisbon - notably by c, shifting communications and arranging for the transfer of television to the North. At Tancos also it is clear that a government plan was carried out. a blanes trom the base nad been moved to the NATO base, the officers made virtually no serious struggle before leaving and heavy arms had been transferred from the base. Tancos was no left-wing plot but a definite put-up job by the Government.
As Tor Tie evenTs in Lisoon tere were ovvious v eements or some pian - actions such as the seizure or the airforce headquarters, television stations, etc. did not all occur at the same hour spontaneously. Whose plan was involved is unclear - and anyway it doesn't much matter, as literally dozens of plans fol coups and insurrections had been floating around the Lisoon garrison Tor months.
As to who was organisationally involved in the events in Lisbon, It Is ot course hard to say - quite apart from the fact that we have no interest to finger anybody. However, at least two officers were openly involved - Tome. the major of the Military Police who was involved in the barracks, and Durand Clemente, one of the ex-leaders of the Fifth Division, who appeared on national television announcing the rebelion.
They and some other officers have been associated with the CP and the "Goncalvist' wing of the army; but they are not cadres or leaders of the CP and have, particularly in the last period, been equally associated with the revolutionary left.
The triggering of this plan, no matter whose it was clearly took the entire political left by surprise. in the PRP, MES etc. to which cde. Harman reters is connirmed ov all comrace. in LIsDon.
Furthermore, it is clear that the CP was also taken by surprise - throughout 25 November it was all over the place, with some officers involved in the 'rebellion', others refusing to join, some unions calling for strikes, others to stav at work, and with the central leadership appealing for calm. The whole CP showed none of the cohesien which would have been evident if the CP leadership had centrally taken a decision to Only one view is consistent with the events in Lisbon. There never was any left wing revolt, rebellion or coup initiated by the PRP, the CPor any other leftwing political force. What we saw was a classic case not of a left wing coup", as the bourgeois press would have it, but of a right-wing coup carried through by me classic means or creating a orovocat tion to cause an isolated action of the vanguard and then stepping in to crush The only organisational 'contribution' of the left to this was the unplannea response or the lancos paratroops, and the fact that this triggered off one or a dozen nait-baked plans tor an in surrection in Lisbon.
In reply to these obvious facts of the situation, however, the PRP and the IS have invented the theory of a "CP betraval' to cover over the bankrup tcy of their "insurrectionist political line in the light of events. According to Clift and Harman: Prime responsib ility for the defeat lies with the Communist rarty leadersnio, wah intacc the rebellion and then abandoned it to its fate.' (Socialist Workers, 6 December - our emphasis). Unfortunately, this line, which is mysteriously known only the right-wing PPD and the CDS - is supported neither by facts, argument, nor elementary logic garrison is much stronger than those and if the CP leadership had decided to a qualitatively different scale to what acutally took place. As for the CPs forces outside the army, they were as The confusion we have noted, all over the place. It is CP leadership was taken just as much by surprise as anyone else.
initiated the events makes no sense in terms of the politics of the CP. Its announced line for weeks has been to get more seats in the Government - not stage a coup. mention its general political positions, Inescate that mi was indeed is line and in relation to Tancos it had already announced and initiated a policy of mobilising massive civilian support in supplies, strikes etc. for the paratroops something completely different from what actually took place.
individual CP officers took part in the events, but it is absurd to believe that the CP teadership initiated what took place forward against these obvious facts is ridiculous. That certain officers of the Fifth Division who were in the CP visited the PRP to ask for support we car well believe, but it proves nothing about the line of the CPfact that individual CP members participated in the events.
that "elements of the Communist Party participated in the rebellion"!
say anything else?
to the PRP and various Portuguese ultra-lefts, the IS - and for their own reasons Firstly the organisational evidence is clear; the CP's apparatus in the Lisbon elements which took part in the 'events';
launch an uprising, it would have been on clear that - far from organising it - the tently.
Most importantly however, to have Hi Its actions. notte -It may well nave been the case that The 'evidence' which Harman brings only me oovIoUs Harman's second piece of 'evidence. however, really takes the cake. He writes: *Even the Government has had to admit Your faith in the honesty of Azevedo's Hodges. Government is really touching, comrade Harman. Do you really expect him to Do you really think we should accept his word as the truth?
The very fact that you bring forward such nonsense shows that your argument nasn t got a leg to stand on.
On the basis of the type of 'argument' and 'evidence' used by cde Harman it would actually be very easy to 'prove" that it was the PRP which initiated events - particularly, as Harman puts it, "through sections of the officers who were closeto memeerainy un people who were indisputably involved, Clemente et al, were really supported by the PRP. As early as 25 September the PRP noted approvingly in an article in Jornal de Noticas that 'the opposition group, specifically Captain Clemente, said that it was necessary to seek new forms of struggle to keep the country from being dominated by Social democrats'. From then on the PRP played up the Clemente current fairly consisThis culminated in the publication of a Manifesto' by Tome, Clemente and Matos Gomez on the front page of Revolucao on 21 November - 1.e Five hundred people packed Conway Hall last Friday at a meeting organised by the Angola Solidarity Committee in solidarity with the struggle led by the MPLA. The next issue of Red Weekly will carry a further eyewitness report on Angola by Tony four days before the Lisbon events. Inis spoke of the existence or a des perate reactionary offensive, and prop osed to counter this through an orientation based on the central political slogan of the PRP - a 'regime of revolu monary UnITy Does it foliow from these facts -which are much more substantial than comrade Harman's gossip - that we tnink me ror was orcanisationaly inked to the in mation or me events of 25 November? Not at all. If it is clear that no organisation initiated the events, and mis is evidenty me case then it is ridiculous to charge the PRP, the CP or any other organisation with having been behind it.
All that this proves is that we said in our 'Open Letter to the IS' - that the PRP shared with Clemente and others an insane poltical line win was totally at varianc with the facts of the situation in Portugal and which was bound to fall into adventure or any government provocation. It the disaster hadn't come with the Tancos airoase it would mereiv nave come some other way.
But it is here that we come back to the real point of the discussion. What is at stake is not the organisational respon sibility of the PRP, but the political responsibility of its line. Was its orientation so a short-term insurrection correct? Was it based on a correct analysis of the situation in Portugal? If not. what was it bound to lead to? It is to these real questions tnat we will return nex issue.
POSTSCRIPT: On questions of history, Harman is as lacking in facts as on every thing else. We don't know what the norms of the IS may be, but we can assure comrade Harman that no one in me communist internationa was ever expelled for such a nebulous and psychological charge as showing lack of solidarity. They were expelled only for definite acts, or because they held views incompatible with communism. Levi was a member of the Central Com mittee of the KPD, and published a pub lic pamphlet denouncing the actions of the party. He was expelled 'because of his unprecedented violation of discipline and because, by his action, in the given circumstances ne dealt te party a blow in the back'. (Resolution of the EECI of the Communist International, 29 ALAN JONES
Jim Allen Could you start by giving Rus some idea of your politica background? A! came out of the army in 1947, and joined the Labour Party at the time of the Korean War - this was the thing which triggered off my generation. Became involved with the left wing, the Socialist Outlook. Went through the 50s - the purges, the Bevanite scene etc.
What were you working at then?
Oh, I did everything. I was a building labourer, hod-carrier, docker — you name it, I did it. Finished up in the pits. I went through the usual scene you went through at that time. The Labour Party was just bursting at the seams with all kinds of left-wing groupings. I was finally expelled in 62 from the Labour Party.
called The Miner, a rank and file paper. I did that for 2½ years, and then when I temporarily left the pits and couldn't get back - I was blacklisted in the Lancashire coal-fields -I got into the habit of writing.
I think every worker who's opened 2 lew nooks wants to write doesn't be? So I went to London, did my big War and Peace — a load of crap -about 3½ hours. Then I came back bome and slung the idea, because working class people have this thing that for them to write is nonsense a way.
So i went on the building sites, scaffolding, and suddenly out of the blue I got a call from Granada — would I write Coronation Street? Well, anything to get my foot in the door. So I went on the Street, and then did The Lump and took off from there.
When we reviewed Days o - for Red Weekly 18 December 1975 Jim Allen. Photo donated by Futura Publications who recently published Days of Hope in paperback (price 60p). utive stuff. compensation is that you can speak to groups of people afterwards, perhaps even show your work to groups of people then.
We are hoping to take Days of Hope to Cardiff, to the NUM execWhat we would like it would be perfect for us — is to show Days of Hope across cinema-screens and have hundreds of people and argue. It's a question of whether the BBC or the ITA would release this type of stuff, would allow you to do it. But if somewhere in the labour movement the technical resources were there....
I prefer TV, as long as I can get my stuff on, because I can get bigger audiences; but it is a pity that once you've done the stuff, it is not made available to the people you've actually written it for. I don't know the politics of this thing .... we sell a product in the market-place under capitalism, they buy the product and use it in whatever way they want.
What do you have in mind Q for your next projects?
I wanted to do, but the cash ra out, was to continue Days of Hope and do another chunk of work throughout the '30s - the degeneration of the Communist Parties is a very interesting subject and take it certainly up to the war and perhaps even up to today.
This would involve quite a few years work..... but the Corporation's skint, the money's not there, and so I don't think we're going to get the opportunity to make that kind of • What do you see as the pur pose of your drama? Is it simply didactic — giving lessons to the working class — or is drama an important medium for giving the working class a
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What made you start writing? A Callen the pits er, dited a and eri