more than Tou people marched to me roreign Oprice last saturday to demand the unconditional release 07 to the repressive regime headed by Patrick John.
he did not commit, and made a scapegoat in a wave of repression which still continues today.
workers and voun. to obtain me unconc mona release or Desmone Trotter free de Desmond Trotter, the young Dominican militant framed and sentenced to death a year ago for his opposition From reliable reports it seems that Desmond's sentence will probably be commuted to life imprisonment, reflecting the pressure of the defence campaigns in the Caribbean and in France, Britain and Canada. But the Dominican Government must not be allowed to get off the hook in this wav. Desmond was framed for a crime An urgent appeal has been issued by the Fres Desmond Trotter Campaian in the Antilles islands in the Caribbean to step up the campaign by informing public opinion of the case and campaigning for solidarity amongst italist exploitation of the working class can go right ahead as long as the CP gets a piece of the action alongside the bourgeoisie in PLATFORM OF DEMOCRATIC CONVERGENCE The Platform of Democratic Convergence was set up in July 1975 on the initiative of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE).
The Platform is basically a manoeuvre to outflank the CP in winning an alliance with important sections of the bourgeoisie. The PSOE knows very well that such forces find the prospect of an alliance with social democracy infinitely preferable to one with even such a 'democratic' and "liberal' CP as that headed by Santiago Carrillo. After all, who has been the recent saviour of capitalism in Portugai but Mario Soares, aided by his interrational social democratic colleagues Brandt, Mitterrand and Wilson.
The PSOE has had some success with this une, autracting the following bourgeois groupings: the Social Democratic Union of Spain (USDE), founded by disillusioned Falangist =HENERA ' nods in the direction of the working class by calling for, 'through popular consent, the adoption of urgent measures which will change the socio-economic and cultural structures, and obtain a better standard of living for the people'. But what measures? Why doesn't it call for concrete measures around defence of wages and jobs - such as a sliding scale of wages, nationalisation, workers con trol, etc?
The answer, of course, is that the Platform - just like the Junta - is a means to head off the struggles of the working class rather than lead them towards the overthrow of the dic tatorship and the capitalist system in which it is rooted. The working class has no interest in such schemes; rather. it will accomplish these tasks through the development of its own organisations, which have so far reached their highest point in the co-ordination of the Basque Workers Commissions.
'At the moment the commando regiment isn't satisfied. It thinks that there is still a lot to be d done, and it is determined continue to the end.' These words of commando chief Jaime Neves on 1 December show that the most fascist-inclined sections of the military hierarchy in Portugal are hoping to complete the process set off by the events of 25-26 November. They would like to move on from the purges in the paratroopers, the military police and the light artillery regiment (RALIS) to sort out the rest of the military units - dealing on the way with the factories of the Lisbon industrial belt, whose militancy they don't really appreciate.
But on the same day, Major Melo Antunes appeared on television to reaffirm his 'attachment' to socialism. "In liberty", of course - that's the slogan of the moment. With order and discipline, above all. Nevertheless, Antunes went on to stress his conviction that the Revolutionary Council should set its face against any 'right-wing lurch'.
COALITION Melo Antunes has gone to a lot of trouble to establish a well ordered bourgeois democracy - with its parliament to promulgate laws, its army to defend them, and its police Jaime Neves and Melo Antunes - 'divided we rule - for the moment': Red Weekly 18 December 1975 Portugal 1l ent objective of building a 'progressive alliance with the Antunes wing. A Government based on these forces would still be a Government of 'order', which wouldn't hesitate -with the agreement of the CP - to set itself against the workers strug gles. It would also be incapable of halting the economic and political sabotage by the right wing, because that would mean arming the workers - if only with the desire to arm In other words, such a Government would manage the affairs of the bourgeoisie rather badly, but still at the expense of the working ONE SOLUTION There is only one realistic and viable solution for the working class to the crisis of power. That is the extension, unification and centralisation of the independent organisation which the workers have created for themselves in the factories, the neighbourhoods, the agricultural estates and the barracks. Isn't this a bit utopian after what has happened in Lisbon? Not really.
It's true that certain officers have been arrested and replaced in some of the barracks, but you can't change the whole body of soldiers from one day to the next. You can't even do it with the militia officers and NCOs. The workers commissions and the trade un-