The CP is now Spinois, who they now admit played ir class power.
but they decided to go ahead with their plans anyway. Spinola rejected Prime Minister Goncalves" demand that heban the demonstration.
Instead, the Minister of Information, a Spinola supporter, suspended all newspapers and regular radio programines, and broadcast a speech calling on the workers to take down their roadblocks, and pledging that the Government would do whatever was required to allow the 'silent majority' demonstration to go ahead, PRISONERS The Prime Minister and the military Governor of Lisbon, another member of the left-wing in the army, were called to the Presidential palace early Saturday morning, and it appears, practically held prisoner.
But the workers refused to budge an inch. And then the important COPCON army units (a special securVISIONAL GOVERNMENT DECIDED TO CELEBRATE ITS wing in its own way-by asking everyone to go to work on Sunall properly blessed by the Catholic Church), to harness the mass se workers to the capitalist chariot will not calm the troubled minds day's work is nowhere near enough to make up for the big political mpensate for the lack of any firm instrument on which the capitalCity wing of the army under the command of the Lisbon military Governor) began to go into action, rounding up suspected right-wing supporters.
This further weakened the right, and showed Spinola that he couldn't count on the support of the army.
Hated. Goncalves was released, the Minister of Information's broadcast was replaced by an Armed Forces Movement message lelling the people to remain on the alert against fascist manocures, and Spinola banned the silent majority demonstrution. ing Monday he resigned as President.
It is not clear exactly what the right wing was planning main backers probably wanted to set off a political crisis that would allow them to strengthen the powers of the President, reshuffle the Government to include more conservatives, and perhaps put off the general clection and hold a Presidential election inthe right is far from over.
close personal friend of Spinola. have had full backing for such a ers' movement. stead, At that point the President capitul- their own ends-getting a few troubleocrats", The followSpinola and his the Portuguese workers.
Wing of this manoeuvre was a big antee their economic interests.
Despite the big defeat imposed on the reactionaries, the concrete gains won by the working cluss were only a fraction of what they could have been. Certainly, the danger from The new President, General Costa Gomes, is cut from exactly the same cloth as Spinola. A former chief of military operations in Mozambique he is a longstanding colleague and There is no doubt that if the Communist Party had set out after 25 Ap ril with a clear-cut policy aimed at strengthening the workers' movement and turning the new situation to the advantage of the working class, they could have casily taken power during the recent upheaval. They would move front a highly conscious and determined working class, mass sympathy among farm workers and peasants in the countryside, and massive support within the ranks of the army:
If the Communist Party was not actually able to take such a move it was a direct product of its own class-collaborationist policies. By supporting the repression of militant workers, and such reactionary measures as the press law and the trade union law, they weakened and confused the work By participating in the Government alongside all sorts of reactionaries they allowed Spinola, the military brass, and capitalist parties like the Popular Democratic Party to claim that they represented alternative ways forward Instead of working to build up a solid core of supporters of the worker ers movement within the armed forces, they left the officers to re-establish 'order and military discipline as But it is virtually certain that other forces on the far right had much more violent plans, including possibly the assasssination of the Prime Minister. It may be that Spinola & Co. knew about this and thought it would serve makers' out of the way and allowing them to pose as 'moderates" and "demGRAVE THREAT In any event, the demonstration represented a grave threat to the democratic rights and class interests of The smashernment. victory for the working class. But it also represented a big setback for the capitalist class, who once again find themseives without any reliable way to secure their class power and guaritalists lying down. of the middle class. they saw fit. When three officers were placed under arrest for refusing to take part in the army's scabbing plans agrinst the postal workers strike, the CP did nothing to sup port them When rank-and-file soldiers went on strike demanding shorter hours and better conditions, the CP didn't lift a finger.
MASSIVE DISPLAY
But the massive display of unity and fighting determination mounted by the working class could have wiped out all these failings-if the Communist Party had been prepared to base its policy on this power, rather than on deals with the military brass and the capitalist politicians.
At the very least, the Government could have been forced to make major concessions to the workers" movement- repeal the press and uniion laws, grant the 6000 escodo minimum wage, recognise the authority jans. of workers and soldiers' anti-fascist committees to carry out the job of 'cleaning out right-wing elements.
The Communist Party has done nothing to aid the struggle of workers, like those of Mabor ture factory, now or strike for several monthe for a minimum wage of E100 e month and a 40-hour wonk But not one of these things was won The Communist Party is totally unprepared to mount any sort of struggle to strengthen the workers power, and instead is happy to settle for a new face in the Presidential Palace and vague promises from the atmy chiefs.
This is a really treacherous, and potentially disastrous, policy. The right-wing threat is going to get much worse. Spinola's resignation makes a split within the army almost inevitable, and Spinola can now become a rallying point for all right-wingers -military or civilian-against the GovTREACHEROUS Moreover, the loss of the colonies and the growing recession in the world economy all bear bad news for Portugil's capitalists. The only way out is to force the Portuguese workers to bear the massive burdens of the crisis-both to attract more foreign investors and to guarantee the profits of the Portuguese cap.
But the workers, after their recent victorios, will not take such attacks The result will be a deep crisis in the Portuguese economy tied to a big wave of industrial struggles This is perfect ground for the rightwing to go onto the offensive.
The right-wing in the army will be strengthened, as today's "progressive officers begin to have second thoughts about democracy, when forced to choose between the working class and the capitalist class. In this they will be followed by sections The only way to minimise this rightward drift would be an aggressive policy on the part of the workers" move ment to demonstrate they can solve the crisis-that the way out is sot through a return to a fascist Portugal but through a struggle for a socialit The Communist Party rejects such a course, bowever. The head of the Portuguese CP, Alvaro Cunhal, recest ly told an interviewer from the French daily newspaper Le Monde: The coon omic situation is difficult. The imme diate prospects are unfavourable and we have reason to believe that things will get worse in the near future. The levers of control remain in the hands of the monopoly groups who are not "good friends" of the new set-up."
NATIONALISATIONS
But Cunhal makes it quite clear that he is not prepared to fight for ef fective solutions that are unacceptable to the army and the capitalist politic When asked about the possibility of nationalisations he replied: Objectively this is necessary, and it is econo mically inevitable. But if this solutUMMES DE LUTA POR ion proves to be impractical-not bein written into the programme of the Armed Forces Movement-It will be ne cessary to find something else. We don't want to creat points of division which will make developments more difficult.
It is clearly up to forces to the left of the Communist Party-the organisations of the revolutionary left and those militant workers who have seen through the treachery of the CPto mobilise the might of the workers" movement against the right-wing threat. Through the creation of anti fascist vigilance committees across the country, the establishment of sim ilar bodies among the rank-and-file of the armed forces, and the fight for their rights to be recognised by the Government and the military chiefs, the mass anti-fascist movement can be pushed forward.
Through direct action-mass dem onstrations, strikes, and actions to prevent the right organising the te actionaries can be blocked.
DEMOCRATIC ASSEMBLY Such a novement could link its actions to demands for immediate clections for a democratic assembly and the formation of a Government of the mass workers' organisations (Communist Party, Socialist Party, trade unions), which would base itself on the organised might of the workers' rather than deals with the capitulists. In this way it could care out another way forward for the Po by the Communist Party and its ca italist allies.
This is the only way to effectin smash the right-wing threat and por antee the democratic gains of 25 Ag il-through mass strugee and the fight for a socialist Portuga Red Weekly 12 Octobe 104
the wages battle. A mumber of women workers struggles (SEI in Manchester, Wingrove & Rogers in Liverpool) show that a hig push for c equal pay has the possibility of gathering steam, organise the trade union movement around these strugeles contract is supposed to aid' low paid workers.
actions of the low paid moving into An all-our fight is needed now, to The social But the only real aid is trude so this must be kers to avoid equal pay must be smash-
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guese right- but not out!