Having failed in their attempt to win a parliamentary majority, the Portuguese ruling class is more anxious than ever to see a "bonapartist' president installed who can advance their interests while appearing to be above the hurly-burly of the class struggle.
The main contender will be Ramalho Eanes, head of the army, who to date has won the official support of the Centre Democrats (CDS), the Popular Democrats (PPD), and the Socialist Party. Without a doubt he is the best possible choice for the bourgeoisie at the present moment.
It was Eanes who led the attack against the soldiers' revolt in November, enabling the bourgeoisie to regain control of the mass media and to purge the army of all forms of soldiers democracy. And well before these events, his credentials were already impeccable. A member of the army general staff for many years, a 'Spinolist who was never implicated in the events of 28 September 1974, a general who is thoroughly professional and has to date never 'got involved' in politics, he has all the qualifications necessary for becoming a Portuguese De Gaulle.
STRONG ARM Unlike prime minister Pinheiro de Azevedo, who is also standing for the presidency, Eanes has no record of being overtly 'anti-worker' His base is not a political one but lies in the army itself. Thus he can appear to stand above the parliamentary squabbles between the various parties, above the class struggle itself.
The bourgeois parties have achieved a very important tactical victory with the support for Eanes offered by the Socialist Party. This support follows some less than subtle wooing by the PPD and the CDS, who both say publicly that they are not opposed to the formation of an SP Government.
From their point of view the election of a strong arm president in command of the army plus a Socialist Party Government would be an admirable match. It would provide a perfect cover for the ruling class to step up the fight against the workers, to organise and consolidate their positions behind the Socialist Party governmental programme for the restabilisation of Portuguese capitalism.
TROTSKYISTS Thus the picture emerges of a president elected to power through the support of the PPD, the CDS and the SP, who will then preside forces, and with the Communist Party still silent on the question, the emergence of a third candidate sponsored jointly by the Trotskyists of the Internationalist Communist League (LCI) and the Revolutionary Workers Party (PRT) has already had a considerable impact.
Most immediately, this has been around the fact that the candidate is a woman - Arlete Vieira da ground in Portugal.
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British television viewers got all that they ever wanted to know about the current bug-bear of Western governments last weekend in an interview with the number two figure in the Italian Communist Party (PCI), Giorgio Napolitano.
Napolitano, described as witty and uroane Dy rewsweek, Is te FeIs Inkman with the trade unions. Speaking to Weekend World interviewer Peter Jay, he was asked whether his party would set up a one-party state as in Eastern Europe. The glib answer rolled off: 'We are in favour of a multi-party democracy.
This formula has a very specific meaning for the leaders of the PCI. Their perspective is that of advanced democracy a restructuring of the post World War Il regime in collaboration with the most "dynamic and modern' sections of the bourgeoisie.
widely than has been possible so far.
presentation of a civil candidate, of a workers candidate standing against an admiral and a general, Lists to present a programme of al might have to say.
A WOMAN, A WORKER, A REVOLUTIONARY ARLETE VIEIRA DA SILVA was born in 1940. A militant in the Communist Party Trom ine age of to, she worked Tull-time in the underground and was one or tnose in charge of the party's work in the Lisbon industrial belt. That cost her five stays in prison, the last of three years, as well as torture and beatings. she revealed notning and after visits to Prague and Moscow she went back to take up the struggle underArlete left the CP towards the end of 1975, but she had resigned as a full-timer shortly after 25 April 1974. 'How could I accept the sight of the party attacking strikes and sitting at the same table as Spinola and (PPD leader) Sa Carneiro, she says. Today she is a Trotskyist, and a candidate in the presidential elections But apart. from this reason, the will allow the Portuguese Trotskystruggle to the workers and peasants that cuts across anything and everything that the general or the admirconsidering. when viewed the proletariat'? overcome the deep crisis of the economy:
end to exploitation.
Not once did he mention nationalisaThey want parties break with the bourgeoisie and base themselves on the organisations of the working class - on a national congress of workers commissions and a national congress of trade unions. In addition the campaign will concentrate on the question of workers self-defence, the organisation of soldiers within the army, the anti-militarist campaign, the defence of the workers' gains, and the generalisation of all workers and popular struggles This campaign will undoubtedly have a sharp impact among the base of both the SP and the CP. There is already mounting anger among SP militants at the decision taken by the party's National Committee to support Eanes. And although the CP has yet to make a public declaration in support of a particular candidate, its intentions are becoming clearer.
CP leader Cunhal has said that the best candidate would be one that unites the armed forces - in other words, a military candidate.
However, the CP cannot give its support to Eanes — it has declared that he will be won by the right if he is elected (as if he were not already). This means that they will either have to support Pinheiro de Azevedo or present their own candidate, which the party is now As for the remainder of the left, the Revolutionary Party of the Proletariat (PRP) and the Left Socialist Movement (MES) have both declared their support for the candidature of Otelo de Carvalho. But as Arlete pointed out at the press conference held by the LCI and the PRT to announce her candidature, Otelo. is tions. ployment - not to create unemployment. The laws of capitalism change magically Hugh the rose-tinted glasses of the historic compromise.
Beneficiaries We believe in a mixed economy run in the interests of the people and the nation', says Napolitano. He makes no mention of the working class - - and more importantly, of some other beneficiaries. But his colleague Luciano Barco has already let the cat out of the bag in an interview with Newsweek: "The aim of the PCI proposals is to convince US industrialists once again to invest in Even Peter Jay thought it was time to remind Napolitano where his party came from. Didn't Marx talk about 'the common ownership of the means of production under the dictatorship of No, Napolitano preferred a more 'precise' formulation. In the time-worn manner of labour bureaucrats. he ex plained that he wanted to see 'a gradual change to socialism, social justice and an International relations also seem be all sewn up by the Italian Communists.
La Europe neither anti In the shaded areas the combined CP and SP vote was greater than that of the PPD and CDS neither for the independence of the working class nor has he ever firmly placed himself in the workers' camp. Apart from the fact that he is a vacillating demagogue, Arlete reaffirmed our opposition to any military candidate.
The presentation of a joint candidate by the two Trotskyist organi sations can help to clarify these misconceptions, and marks an important.step forward in the relations between the LCI and the PRT While they will publish a joint pro gramme for the elections, each will then retain the right to publish additional propaganda separately.
In this way the political differences that still exist between the two organisations will not interfere and present themselves as obstacles in the campaign to reach out to the militant base of the CP and SP and build a real revolutionary pole in the presidential elecSoviet nor anti-United States. Con sequently the maintenance of NATO as a 'defensive alliance' (against whom is unclear) is not only necessary but desirabie. mme swengwening or the commor Market is equally an aim of the PCI.
"Urbane' Mr Napolitano certainly is. His willingness to go all the way with Jay provides a significant signpost on the likely attitude of the PCI to somewhat more powerful interlocutors - those who have not merely to enquire on behalf of British public opinion, but are responsible for defending world imperialism.
JOINT SLATE FOR THE FAR LEFT groups in Italy will be putting up a joint list of candidates in th 20 June elections. The central committee of the PDUP (Democratic Party for Proletarian Unity) initially voted 60-40 against a united slate but mis decisior was reconsidered after the minority threatened to split the organisation.
PDUP will therefore join Avanguardia Operaia and Lotta Continua in a join campaign, although each organsation will continue to put forward its own programme This campaign will be supported by ou comrades of the GCR (Revolutionary Communist Groups).