of the revolutionary left, however, also reflects the reliance placed by the vanguard on the soldiers' movement prior to 25 November. The new situation has left bodies like the neighbourhood commissions very vulnerable to demoralisation and repression.
REBUILDING Yet the rebuilding of a united working class offensive can still have a decisive effect on developments inside the army. Thousands of soldiers were involved in the demonstrations called by the SUV (Soldier:
United Will Win); the Governmen has so far managed to purge only a few hundred. Silence may resemble discipline for a time, but the game is far from over. The Government has barely embarked on the task of reconstructing a new "professional' army organised along strictly hier archical lines The International Monetary Fund is ref using any further credits to Portuga until the Government has come up with a satisfactory economic plan. That mean: a plan which will defend the interests of international capitalism against the aspirations of the Portuguese working class.
Meanwhile Wilson and Callaghan will be joining their social democratic colleagues from the rest of Europe for a meeting in Denmark on 17-19 January at which Portugal will be high on the IN MEMORIAM Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg Murdered in Berlin 15 Jan. 1919 agenda. The outcome will no doubt be further plaudits for Mario Soares for his attacks on the Portuguese workers and soldiers.
Against this capitalist solidarity we must bund anotner kind or soldarity -that of the international working class movement. The Campaign for Solidarity with the Portuguese Working Class has called a conference for Saturday 13 March which can be an important step in this direction. Credentials from:
12 Little Newport Street. Landon WC2 ***** "Fighting for Workers Power' is a 20 minute film on Portugal produced by the Newsreel Collective.
• It cedis particularly with the role played by the worker-control led newspaper Republica in bringing together the struggles of workers and agri cultural labourers. A copy of the film can be hired for meetings etc. from the IMG, 97 Caledonian Road, London N.1. (01-278 9526).
to stage a confrontation with the proletariat, they will have to resort to mercenaries hired in Spain or simply invaders In the last issue of Red Weekly we showed that the line of the PRP was incapable of uniting the working class or waging a serious struggle for workers councils; that it could not win over the sections of the working class which support the Socialist Party or deal with the intermediate strata, aoove au une peasants ortne nort. wno must be at least neutralised for the working class to take power in Portugal. We will conclude our analysis of the line of the PRP by looking at its equally wrong line in relation to the workers who follow ine communist rarty and the relation of forces between the revolutionaries and the CP.
The first point which has to be grasped is the PRP's extraordinary illusions in the communist Farty. us pracuce completely contradicts IS's claim - for example, by Cliff in his pamphlet - that: "The PRP is very clear in grasping the nature of the Communist Party..... it recognises that although the Communist Party has a basc in the class it is a reformist party that cannot be pressurised into revolutionary actions (p.19).
The nonsense of this claim was shown very clearly in the PRP's governmental slogan - for a Government of Revolutionary Unity. Such a slogan evidently implied more than a government of the PRP or of the revolutionary left, which would have been little more than a joke.
refer to a government of the parties of ine working class because the participation of the Socialist Party was specifically excluded by the whole line of the PRP. In reality it was a formula for a revolutionary left-Communist Party LOVe CH Francisco Temudo, a leader of the Internationalist Communist League (LCI)
Portuguese sympathising organisation of the Fourth International - explained the meaning of this line very clearly in an interview conducted before the events of possibility of an immediate insurrection which predominate in the PRP and the MES (Left Socialist Movement) - Now from the extreme decomposition of the state apparatus, espectany in one muitary field. This creates the illusion that it is possible to take power now and not only to take power, but to apply a revolutionary programme, to win broad utionary process, and so maintain the revotunionary forces in power.
Contradiction There is of course an amazing contradiction here. No-one believes that the FUR (Revolutionary United front) by Itself could constitute a government of evoltonary unity, so tnese groups agree on the necessity of what they call a reformist component'- that is the Communist Party. In other words, increatole as it may seem, they expect a reformist party to go along with them to take power, and form a government applying a revolutionary programme' (Red Weekly, 27 November).
So the PRP, far from "being very clear in grasping the nature of the Communist Party, had the worst of all lllusions -that the Communist Party would be capable of, or could be forced (no doubt by insurrection) into being part of a revolutionary government! No wonder that when they were visited by members of the Fifth Division the PRP could have thought that the CP was involved in an insurrection!
But if we turn to the position of the IS we find a rather different situation. The IS, to its credit, has not entertained such ulusions on tne Fortuguese comm unist Party, and has not suggested that it could be forced into being part of a revolutionary government. Unfortunately, however, this doesn't mean that the IS were any clearer on the relation of forces in Portugal: on the contrary, they were even more confused.
We can see this most clearly by looking at comrade Harman's one justified article on the PRP (4 December). It is unlortunalcy nuc marin collne unis article two lines of comrade Harman's article in the November International Socialism, which were in fact separated by a considerable portion of text, got put together. This was done unintentionallv but a scrupulously accurate presentation of opponents positions should be a hall mark of polemics, so comrade Harman is quite justified in complaining and we take the opportunity to apologise for the CrON However, if we turn from the editorial point to the one of substance we find that, far from distorting the IS's position, we were actually too kind to it. No editing error can obscure the fact that Harman did write of the CP as having "some influence in the workers movement' and having 'understood that it can use Its hold over certain workers committees as a trojan norse for regaining some or the initiative in the armed forces' - phrases which clearly suggest that the CP was on the verge of losing control of the working class. And this is consistent with his bizarre statement that: With the SOV the revolutionary left has emerged as a major contender in the national struggle For power Even after 25 November, Socialist Worker spelt out quite clearly what its analysis of the relation of forces was: The revolutionarv left groups the PRP and the MES, had been arguing that an insurrection was necessary to avoid the danger of another Chile. But they expected it only after some weeks of build ing support for it in the factories' (Soclaust Worker, 6 December).
You couldn't have a clearer statemen of the IS's understanding of the relation of forces than that! Apparentiv the revol utionaries were in such a position that CP leader Alvaro Cunhal-had no inten tion of going along with the PRP to form a Government of Revolutionary Unity they wete only weeks away from winning the insurrection! It is clear that we didn't distort the IS analysis at all if anything, too kind to it.
that Harman was right in his letter - that we ud stander une is and that they really did understand that the revolutionaries enjoyed the support only of the vanguard of the working class. What would follow Inen.
the IS were proposing an insurrection in the short term, in 'some weeks" under the masses continued to be dominated by reformism!
A more substitutionist putschist scheme is hard to imagine.
you admit what is the truth - that you and the PRP made a disastrous error on the relation of forces. To adopt the alternative line will only get you into even deeper water.
forces were further compounded, however, by its extraordinary illusions in the left army officers in general, and Otelo de Carvalho in particular. The Manifesto Red Weekly 15 January 1976 ALAN JONES concludes his reply to the International Socialists on the politics of the Revolutionary Party of the Proletariat (PRP)
ucao, 8 May).
the workers from reformism and launching we were But just let us suppose for a moment What would follow is that the PRP and been dealt with conditions where the revolutionaries only enjoyed the support of the vanguard and So we suggest, comrade Harman, that The PRP's errors on the relation of United States or NATO. from NATO and the USA. Try telling that to the Military Police or the RALIS or the paratroopers today! of the PRP of 10 March spelt out their view clearly: "The proletariat will have to count, apart from the revolutionary org anisations and the soldiers and sailors, on Inese progressive officers (and it is ther who have the weapons) in their struggle against the bourgeoisie and reactionaries for the Socialist Revolution in Portugal'.
First and foremost amongst those SING "who had the weapons' and whom the working class nad to rely on was of course Otelo de Carvalho. Indeed, the PRP went out of its way to state: "We underline the courage of this soldier who is always ready to advance without fear' (RevolThis line on Carvalho was carried right into the autumn. Thus the 12 Septcroce issuc or kevolcao carried ar 'Open Letter to Comrade Otelo'. This announced: "Comrade Otelo, it is necessary to struggle for the formation of a revolutionary army and that we progress: ives must make the true socialist revolution. With the true progressives of the MFA. We must understand that the working class must take power and it must do it as rapidly as possible because tomorrow it will be too late' The line of the PRP in relation to other true progressives of the MFA, notably the Clemente group, has already The result of these illusions - -both in the officers and in the general relation of forces in Portugal - was that by the beginning of November the line of the PRP on the army was virtually insane. On 10 November, PRP leader Isabel do Carmo stated at a press conference: "As all history shows, the bourgeoisie unleashes a civil war every time it wants to defend its interests. Fortunately the forces of the right possess no army in Portugal. To get one they must resort to mercenaries based in Spain or to the armies of the The PRP Manifesto Against Civil War, Armed Insurrection', issued on 14 November, similarly claimed: "The Social A PRP Manifesto claimed: 'The Social Democrats and the right in general have no army in Portugal. If they want Democrats and the right in general have no army in Portugal. If they want to stage a confrontation with the proletariat, they will have to resort to mercenaries hired in Spain or simply invaders from NATO and the USA. Try telling that to the Military Police, or the RALIS or the paratroopers today.
With this final conclusion on the army, together with its confusion of social democracv and fascism. and it. wrong conclusion on the relation of forces in the country, the PRP clearly adopted a short-term orientation to insurrection. We will quote only a few StatemenEs carme uns our It is now time for the revolutionary forces and the workers to pose the problem of an insurrection' (declaration of the PRP, 30 September).
Armed insurrection is the sole way by which popular power can continue to advance..... the organisation of the masses has already attained a level sufficient to inherit power" (press conference given by Francisco Marquez, a cading memoer or une kr, t november - *The insurrection is not an unrealisable project. Far from being a utopia it is the only practical possibility to avoid fascism and to finish once and for all with reaction organised and infiltrated at the level of political and military power. It is the only way to avoid a prolonged civil war It is the only way to avoid the intervention of imperialism. It is the only way to avoid the future degradation of me economy and or me social, polluca and military situation' (Revolucao, 7 November).
Anyone influenced by such a line was bound to get caught up in an adventure. Even if the PRP did not itself draw the appropriate organisational conclusions it was likely that someone else would try it. This was doubly inevitable when not merely the PRP but a whole ultraleft current, based primarilv in the lower sections of the officers was on this Finally, on 25 November, someone made the experiment and the real relation of forces in Portuguese society reassertea user win a bane Aberrant The PRP unfortunately didn't recognise the reality of the situation even then In what must surely be one of the most tragically aberrant communiques of all time. it announced: "Thousands of soldiers in haison with the organisations of the revolutionary left, among them the Revolutionary Brigades, still resist the right wing coup. In particular the entire region to the south of Tagus Teams a lee zone This statement was put out at 10 p.m. on 26 November - after all significant resistance had been crushed and the Amadora commandos were merely carrying out mopping up operations The lessons of this are clear. The errors of the PRP were not warts on an otnerwise correct une, but were product. of a disastrously wrong analysis of the situation in Portugal. The events of 25 26 November revealed that with bitter clarity. Unfortunately since then neither the PRP nor the IS has drawn the appropriate conclusions, This ends our series on the politics of the PRP. But because of the importance of the issues raised in Portugal, future issues of Red Weekly will carry articles on the line of the LC! on the struggle in the army leading up to 25 November, and a discussion of the significance of the issues raised in Portugal for the debate amongst the revolutionary left.
IJ Spain Red Weekly 15 January 1976