Wilson Backs Portuguesi Counter Revolution

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Portugal could not be other than the central item of the agenda of the Helsinki 'summit' last week.

Stalinism, the European Social Democracy and many of the world's most reactionary capitalist politicians met in the Finnish capital to restabilise' Europe against the proletarian revolution.

As Harold Wilson, who was one of the main organisers of meetings among the social democrats, said on his return, the 'spirit of Helsinki will be "judged not by what was signed but by how far the promises were carried out"

In a word, by how soon capitalist rule can be securely reestablished in Lisbon.

His statement came in a situation where Soares and other leaders of the Portuguese Social Democracy were openly conspiring with Gen"ingle and the fascists who back him.

It is this threat which has forced the reorganisation of the AFM leadership under a "Troika' in which the central figure is the revolutionary' Otelo de Carvalho, head of the COPCON internal security force:

POPULAR The Supreme Council of the AFM is to be relegated to an advisory capacity and a number of officers have already resigned in protest or are on the way to being forced out. Among them is so-called moderate Melo Antunes, former foreign minister and architect of the AFM's abortive 'economic plan.

The new Troika is expected to announce plans for a 'United Popular Front for the Defence rolution' . The only sciitical organisation supporting this outside the AFM leadership will of course be the Stalinists of the Communist Party, whose hands are still covered with the blood of workers betrayed and defeated by previous 'popular fronts' - in Spain and Chile.

The AFM leaders' Popular Front - meaning the subordination of independent working class organisation and struggle to the defence of the capitalist institutions - has to be seen in the contex of Gomes' call for a "slowdown' is the revolution and for Portugal to realise its dependence on Western Europe'.

Alongside this goes the continue refusal of the AFM regime to relin quish power in Angola despite the MPLA call for the withdrawal of the remaining 27,000 Portuguese troops.

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'Why is it so hard to find an honest man?' This was the question being asked - in one form or another - right across the Italian political spectrum last week.

It was prompted by the surprise election of the unknown Benigno Zaccagnini to replace Amintore Fanfani as national secretary of the Christian Democratic party, the vast, faction-riven political sprawl that has done service as Italian capitalism's main party ever since the fall of fascism at the end of the war.

Fanfani was removed by an accumulation of political pressures. A long-standing figure in Christian Democratic and coalition governments, he was also an apologist for Mussolini's corporate state during the fascist period.

Boss of a powerful party machine in the area round the central Italian city of Arrezzo, he has recently been embarrassed by accusations of corruption and political manipulation on his own home ground. But what finally brought his fall was the substantial swing to the left in the regional elections held throughout the country in the middle of June.

ANTI- COMMUNIST

Fanfani led the Christian Democrats into the campaign on a thoroughly anti-communist, lav and order platform. His intention was to procure an overall shift to the right and to put an end to the behind-the-scenes negotiations by tendencies in his own party and in their main coalition partners, the Socialist Party, with the Communist Party leadership.

The Communist Party fought the election on a ticket tailormade to their strategy of the 'historic compromise' - entry into a coalition with the Socialists and most of the Christian Democrats.

Far from putting forward a socialist programme to meet the sharpening economic crisis, they met and unanimously endorsed the public statement by party secretary campaigned on • "democratic' and "anti-corruption' slogans such as 'Our hands are clean!' ' And since the election they have carefully held back from any struggle to remove the present coalition and clear the Christian Democrats out of office.

None the less, the vote of June 15th - which showed an increase of almost 6% in the Communist Party poll and losses for the Christian Democrats and all other right-wing parties - forced open the present suppurating crisis in the Christian Democratic leadership.

As the inner-party manoeuvres to remove Fanfani came to a head, the leadership of the Socialist Party De Martino in favour of a 'new relationship with the Communists'. This means that the present centre-left cabinet 'of Aldo Moro - which has been in a state of virtual suspension since the election result -will almost certainly not be reformed without a more explicit agreement with the Stalinist leaders.

At the same time the election of Zaccagnini in no way resolves the crisis of leadership and direction of the Christian Democrats and the capitalist class they represent. Virtually unknown beforehand, Zaccagnini 'emerged' because the leaders of the main currents Within the party were unable to find a majority Ior a leading figure which would leave the organisation intact.

A doctor by profession -specialising in the care of babies -Zaccagnini also had the rare advantage of being (so far untouched by rumours of scandal or, in fact, by fame of any sort. As a minor member of Prime Minister Moro's faction he was chosen with the hope of some sort of continuity in the new round of clandestine negotiations opened up with the Socialist and Communist party leaders.

But within the party he has already collected bitter enemies, including the 'clan' • supporting Release Plaminio Piccoli, whose candidature initially got backing from other factions, but only in order to remove Fanfani.

All the strings of Italian capitalist and bureaucratic policies - from the pro-fascist tendencies on the right of the Christian Democrats to the grouping round Enrico Berlinguer which leads the Communist Party - now pass through Zaccagnini's hands.

But everyone recognises that more is needed than a clean-faced baby-doctor to find a cure for the political crisis. Whether or not he is able - as the Communist Party leaders hope - to act as midwife to a 'Popular Front' deal for the national government, the Christian Democrats face continuing crisis and risks of disintegration.

In this situation the capitalist class must look increasingly to the extreme right wing to take on the working class. The dozens of bomb ings and attacks by underground fascist groups in the last few months provided the pretext for Fanfani to pass legislation giving the police greatly increased powers.

The policy of the Communist Party neither answers the economic issues - continuing inflation and sharply increased industrial unemployment - nor offers the working class any way to defend itself against the right. It cannot, since the 'historic compromise requires agreement with precisely those politicians who are most determined to make the working class pay for the crisis.

The central task within the Italian working class movement is the reconstruction of a revolutionary leadership, able to organise on a class basis against the extreme right, and breaking decisively with the Stalinist leaders and all those who seek a way out through compromise with the Christian Democrats.

Thousands of French workers are now involved in wage claims and against the imposition of short time.

A report issued by the main French trade union confederation - the Communist Party dominated CGT - at the end of July draws up a "balance-sheet' of some of the main struggles now taking place. It reveals that on July 22nd over a hundred thousand workers were on strike - the highest ever for this time of the year in France.

A hundred and eighty different employers were involved, and of this number the workers in no less than forty two plants had occupied them. At the beginning of the month struggles were still more widespread - on July Ist workers were on strike against a total of two hundred and sixty employers.

The largest number of actions were principally over pay. At the Singer plant in Mantes strikers accepted a ten per cent increase; at the Cadot bakery in Paris they won 18 per cent, while in the SIL clothing factory in Nevers workers accepted rises of from 10 to 15 per cent.

Yet even the largest of these increases barely keep abreast of the continuing rise in the cost of living - even as reflected in the official index. And in many cases pay increases were conceded not on the basic rates, but on various fringe elements such as holiday pay.

A number of struggles centred on short-time. At the Alfa-Laval plant, also in Nevers, a thousand Continued from page 1 workers successfully struck for an all-round reduction of hours with no loss of pay. They are to be paid the rates for the former 48 hour week, while working time is reduced to 41 hours.

In twenty three plants the struggles centred on threatened sackings or closures. But in only three cases did workers successfully fight off plant closures - for example at the small Lartigue ceramics factory in the south-west of France.

The CGT report underlines the unprecedented combativity of the French working class. Since the massive general strike of May-June 1968, factory occupations have been much more widespread.

Many different sections of workers are discovering in practice that it is impossible to fight for even the most elementary and limited demands without challeng ing the employers' rights of control and of hiring and firing.

At the same time the CGT report reveals that the trade union bureaucracy, far from fighting the string thr, has to a l to limit them and sell compromises to the workers involved. CGT officials were involved in the vast majority of the actions reported.

The CGT's Stalinist leadership, instrumental in the betrayal of the 1968 general strike, publishes such a report as a warning to the employers and the government. It has been written to bury the very questions raised by these dozens of occupations - those of workers' control and campaign for Meanwhile it is acknowledged that the ousted President Spinola visited Europe in July, and met Portuguese social democratic leaders in Paris.

Moreover Spinola's supporters are continuously at work; by court esy of the Fascist regime in Spain, organising the run of arms to the 'Portuguese Liberation Army, a force lead largely by former officers who got their military schooling in

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factory and workshop occupations in defence of their jobs, in support of