With the withdrawal of the presidential candidate jointly put forward by the Trotskyists of the LCI and PRT (see Red Weekly, 10 June), the comrades of the LCI were confronted with a difficult problem. Whom should they now support-Octavio Pato, the candidate of the CP, or Otelo de Carvalho. backed by the centrists of the PRP, UDP, MES and FSP? The LCI decided to give its support to rato.! feel that in this they have made a tactical error, and that the correct course would have been a critical vote for Otelo.
When the question of candidates was fust being discussed. the LCI argued for a single, civilian, worker candidate of the working class parties - a rigure like Kalidas Barreto, a member of the Socialist Party and a national leader of the textile workers. Their argument was that the crucial question was to put up a candidate who could play a part in developing the greatest For the working class in prepard sion for the struggles in the autumn.
in its communique explaining w it would vote for the CP candidate, the LCI saw no ditterence between Pato and Otelo in terms of programme and personality. Instead it stated: "The central committee calls for a vote for Octavio Pato in order to concentrate around a single candidate directly linked to the workers movement the maximum of workers' votes.' It is also argued that a vote for Otelo deepens illusions in the left military and the AFM.
Clearly Otelo is not standing on a revolutionary programme, but he is marked off from Pato in that he calls for the nationalisation of all sectors of industry, the maintenance of the agrarsan retorm. and the detence or working class organisations, especially the workers commissions.
Of course, the programme also defends the constitution. giving the president powers or veto, even tnougn Aren't the militant forces capable of giving a lead against the ruling class offensive to be found behind Otelo? Otelo says he wants it put at the service of the people! He calls for national independence, rather than a socialist Iberia. The section on the armed torces does not mention soldier commissions, and in press statements he has called for unity and discipline in the armed forces - again at the service of the people and not to repress the workers. Otelo also fails to call for a CP-SP government.
can be defined as centrist, is still preferable to the class collaboration of Pato, whose programme has three key aspects: the AFM-people alliance; the defence and application of the constitution; and the formation of a LISBOA' However Otelo's programme, which Gomes. left government, that is of the SP-CP and individuals of the AFM.
Secondly, does Otelo spread illusions in the military? Yes, in the sense that he represents the errors made in the period of March to November last vear with tne tanure or ine workin class to develop its own self-defence.
However, those illusions stem from the progressive role that sections of the army - e.g. the Military Police and the Lisbon Light Artillery (RALIS) - played in defending the radio stations in refusing to break up workers demonstrations such as that of the building workers, and in giving arms to the workers. In that respect. while Otelo's support is based on both the it represents above all the combativity of the workers and soldiers. It seems to me that it is the Pato campaign that spreads the most dangerous militarv illusions - that is, a total subordination of the working class to the orticers or ine ArV Not only is the AFM-people alliance a cornerstone of the Pato programme, but the CP claim that 'the civilian candidature of our comrade Octavio Pato is above all a candidature for the unification of the armed forces' (speech at Setubal, 19 June). It is well known that the CP would nave preterred to support a single military candidate - Costa Faced with a choice between Eanes and Azevedo, however, the leadership realised that their base would not vote for either of these two énemies of the workers movement. They therefore stood their own candidate to maintain the cohesion of the party. as well as to show th likely victor, Eanes, that no government could be formed without the CF Thirdly, in comparison to the poor showing of the CP only 5,000 turned up to hear Pato in Setubal, where the party won 45 per cent or the vote in tne assembly elections), Otelo's campaign has met with a massive response. For example, in Oporto 70.000 people turned out - the biggest demonstration since Aori o/4. more importanty Otelo has won widespread support from workers commissions Inrougnout the country, and at the Lisnave shipyard, one of the most important centres of working class militancy, a mass meeting voted to back Otelo.
This, it seems to me, is the crucial point. Accepting as our starting point The need trougn tne campaion to prepare the working class for the autumn offensive of the ruling class, then the forces capable of giving such a lead are to be found behind Otelo. It seems to me that the workers vanguard are supporting the Otelo campaign. It is these workers, the most advanced section of the class, who must be prepared and clarified, and it is there that revolutionary Marxists should intervene.
RIC SISSONS We have received other letters on this question and will be printing a selection in future issues. All readers are welcome to contribute (send to 'Portugal Forum' Red Weekly, 97 Caledonian Road, London N.I), but we reserve the right to cutterer wwe are longer tran 600 words.