'Democratic' facade cast aside by Portugal military

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The Soares government said clearly bourgeoisie, dismissed Soares as succeeded in obtaining a large this debate.

Premier after a dispute in the credit from the IMF, and the coalition over how fast nation. bourgeoisie is now anxious to Social Democrat party has mainalised land could be handed see that this credit is not lost in tained an apparently sympasupporting the state deficit and thetic silence and is not The Soares leadership was the losses of the nationalised expected to table a rejection devoted enough to the interests industries but that it is motion.

But six weeks ago President the largest in the Assembly. None of the parties have yet deal with Eanes and Nobre da "Democratic" Portugal now has a cabinet without a single elected member.

And this new government of the bourgeoisie- which was appointed by military President Eanes, agreed to in advance by the main political leaders of the Portuguese armed forces, and headed by Nobre da Costa, ex-technocrat of the fascist government-has so far been allowed to take office by all four main parliamentary parties.

When Nobre da Costa introduced his government's reactionary programme to the Portuguese parliament last week he was greeted with complete silence.

But if the silence was meant to appear to be the piqued response of the "parliamentary democrats" to this intruder from the past, it was not very convincing.

Shame

The silence should have been a silence of shame.

Because every one of the four main parliamentary parties-and in particular the two parties which claim to lead the working class, the Socialist and Communist Parties-have created the conditions for this new reactionary 'Presidential" government of the bourgeoisie to come to power.

The occasion of Nobre da Costa's speech was not the first time the National Assembly had heard these particular programmatic proposals-including wage cuts through wage controls, and savage cutting of government spending.

In its essentials it is the same as the programme of the previous class collaborationist coalition headed by Socialist Party leader Mario Soares.

But six weeks ago President The crisis in world trade generate: i not only protectionism, tariffs and the drive trade war.

It produces in turn a crisis in the shipping industry, and so also in shipbuilding.

As shipping companies sell off their stock and fail to take up orders for new vessels, so the ship-building industry is faced with a massive slump in demand.

The crisis is world-wide. Two major Japanese shipbuilding firms, Mitsubishi and Ishikanajima. Harime, recently announced a 40% reduction in their productive capacity, and this move follows on most other Japanese firms reducing their capacity by 35%. Inevitably huge redundancies are involved.

In Spain, the Suarez government has been forced to intervene directly, as with the similarly crisis-ridden steel industry. Lengthy negotiations with employers and union officials reached agreement last week on a new plan to 'save' the industry in terms of capitalist profitability. Eanes, acting for the Portuguese back to landowners.

of the bourgeoisie.

But Portuguese capitalists decided they needed a government which could practically serve those interests more speediy than the "socialist" Soares.

Working class

His weakness, in their eyes, was that he was still forced to look over his shoulders occasionally at the working class and peasantry whose votes helped to make the Socialist Party by far the largest in the Assembly.

Massive government loans will go alongside the destruction of over 17,000 jobs-40% of the total. The agreement claims that the bulk of this loss will be covered by 'natural wastage' early retirement, retraining schemes, etc.

The remaining 7,000 jobs will be dropped through a scheme of rotational employment, whose details remain obscure.

Massive as this blow is, the deal clearly indicates the Francoist government's fear of the strength and determination of the working class, and also reflects the inability of the labour bureaucracy to move into open opposition to: that strength at this stage.

The main shipyards are centred in Euskadi, an area of already high unemployment where workers have been in the vanguard of conflicts with the 'liberalising' regime.

A concession parallel to the rotational employment' decisively diverted into the hands of the capitalists.

This week the new government must survive a parlia mentary debate on its pro. gramme in order to stay in office.

But the government does not have to table a vote of confidence.

Under the Portuguese constitution there is only a vote if one of the parties puts down a motion of rejection of the None of proposal has been made to agricultural workers southern Andalucia. Faced with increasingly militant demands from the 16% of unemployed workers in this region, the government last month allocated over £13 million to a scheme of emergency public works.

Six weeks later, the fund was exhausted-70% had been spent on the materials required. A strike of all agricultural workers has now been called by the main unions in the Cadiz region, demanding further funds and an extension of the scheme to include unemployed youth.

But while the Suarez government faces mounting resistance from workers in its attempts to defend capitalism without directly confronting the power of the working class, these same compromises and half-measures have also antagonised the forces of the repressive state apparatus, The Francoist heirs make liberal use of the army, riot what they The right-wing bourgeois The other main bourgeois The Portuguese Assembly party, however, the Social and Democratic Centre (Christian Democrats), has virulently attacked the Nobre da Costa government as being in alliance with the Portuguese Communist Party.

They name three ministers as CP sympathisers.

And the scandalous behaviour of the CP gives a good deal of credence to the view that its leaders have cooked up some kind of filthy backstairs deal with Eanes and Nobre da police and armed police, but are also forced on occasion to restrain their 'excesses' and criticise their over-enthusiastic defence of the regime.

Outraged by these sli, to their repressive authority, leading members of the extreme right wing Police Association, which represents 85% of the armed police, declared last week that:

"As long as the government practices an indiscriminate policy of pardons and amnesties, and completely disdains the law, we cannot offer protection to citizens."

The two officers concerned were dismissed after 'this outright threat. But the moves within the armed forces towards a military coup show the precarious balance of the Suarez government.

The failure of the Francoists to contain the struggles of the working class increases that pressure But that ide p Tha Costa.

The CP and the bureaucracy of the main trade union federation, the CGTP-Intersindical which it dominates, have urged (without complete success) the suspension of all ongoing labour disputes during the formation of the government.

In their speeches and press, the CP. leaders have taken a consistently conciliatory approach to the government, urging their followers to "wait and see" what the government is like in practice.

Of course a last minute shift of the CP into "opposition" is quite possible it the Socialist Party's oppositional noises seem to be gaining them any popular But what the SP and CP leaders both want to avoid at all costs is voting together against the new government and against the bourgeois parties.

Workers' parties.

Because that would immediately raise the question of a government consisting of the workers' parties alone.

For the Stalinist and reformist leaders this is the worst possibility, since it would bring them face to face with the class from which they parasitically derive their strength.

Both leaderships assiduously cultivate the idea that Portuguese politics is not a matter of one class against another but of "democratic" versus dictatorial That is the way they try to justify their treacherous class collaborationist alliances.

Parliament part of this dece politics all takes irliament.

That is why the new non- is why the Nobre da Costa parliamentary government is an embarrassment to both the CP and SP leaders.

Foreshadowed

Even if they let it pass now, they will be looking for a new parliamentary regime.

Soares foreshadowed this approach last week when he said that a new parliamentary solution must be obtained within two or three months.

But these frightened leaders face another problem.

They are anxious to avoid turning the present political crisis into a situation in which new general elections would be held.

If that did happen they fear that the centre of political affairs would shift from parliament and that the masses would be able to re-enter the political arena as they did in 1974 and 1975.

The workers' parties are both in their different ways, therefore, involved up to their necks in the bourgeoisie's plans to keep the Portuguese masses from regaining any political initiative.

Mobilisation

Workers must demand an end to all these manoeuvres and that their parties' form a govern. ment and implement policies which meet the needs of the working class.

These are not parliamentary tasks.

They call for the mobilisation of the mass of workers and peasants to bring down the Nobre da Costa government and force the SP and CP to break their embrace with the bourgeoisie and form an independent

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As the Aubrey/Berry/ Campbell "Secrets" trial got under way at the Old Bailey with extensive press coverage of the prosecution case, the TUC gave a calculated kick in the teeth to the NIII and other forces fighting for the charges to be dropped.

TUC chairman David Basnett ruled that a fairly tame NUJ motion-calling on the TUC to "note with concern" the continuing prosecution, call on the Attorney General to drop the charges, and call for the introduction of a Freedom of Information Act-should not be debated.

Legal advice

He claimed that this was the outcome of legal advice on the problems of discussing a matter currently before the courts.

AnNUJ attempt to challenge this ruling failed to win support-though delegates from the Society of Miril and Duhlin Carranto UL LIVI dIU FUULL DEIVALELO and the Civil and Public Services Association (whose members have to contend each day with the Official Secrets Act) voted with the 2:482 NUJ.

In proiest at this muzzling of the resolution, NUJ delegates walked out of the hall, and subsequently circulated copies of the speech that would have been given by union President Dennis McShane.

No infringement The text made it clear that there was never any question of MoShane's speech infringing the subjudice regulations-but that it did contain a damning indictment of the record of the Labour Government in imposing restrictions on the freedom of the press-including references to the deportation of journalists Philip Agee and Mark Hosenball, and to censorBasnett and the ABC Defence Campaign calling a national labour movement conference to build support for the three defendants is now greater than ever. total of nine charges under the Official Secrets Act of 1911 and 1920, all of which relate to the alleged disclosure of information on the hugely expensive and secret SIGINT surveillance network.

Journalist Crispin Aubrey is charged with arranging a discussion between all three defendants and abetting Campbell.

Information

John Berry-who, seven years earlier, had held a corporal's rank in SIGINT-is charged with communicating information to Campbell.

And journalist Duncan Campbell is charged with obtaining information from Berry and collecting information on defence communications.

Already the prosecution has declared that a portion of the trial will be held 'in camera'.

This is despite the statement by prosecuting QC John Leonard that the case is "not a