Spanish leaders band together against mass militancy

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Emplea tu voto contra e aro Party economist Ramon Tamames, made his first public statement.

Its content, as well as its backdrop, was calculated to put at rest any fears which the Spanish ruling class might have had that it was unsafe for the mayoralties of 1800 out of the country's 2,000 largest municipalities to be in the hands of the main workers' parties, the Socialists (PSOE) and the Communist Left wing Tierno Galvan, like his Socialist counterpart in Barcelona, Narcis Serra, gave an inaugural address as mayor which was designed to make Adolfo Suarez' ruling "democratic"

Francoists (the UDC) look left wing.

There was no talk of municipal socialism, a denial that there would be any purge of the Francoistridden local administrations and most of all a passionate denial that the alliance which had placed PSOE and CP mayors at the head of over two-thirds of Spain's population represented a precedent which would be operated at the level of national politics.

Shocked

All, this balm, however was not enough to soothe the troubled Spanish bourgeoisie, which has been profoundly shocked and rightly so, by the surprise deal between parties on the eve of the election.

The deal led to PSOE and CP as well as Basque nationalist mayoral candidates standing down in each other's favour to prevent the election of a UCD mayor at the head of a single one of Spain's major cities.

The deputy premier, Martorell, immediately made a near hysterical onslaught on the PSOE CP deal which he judged "the most important political fact in Europe in the last five years"

Fanning flames

Deliberately fanning the Ilames of civil war memories Martorell condemned the PSOE-on whose collaboration the UCD has come to rely-for its "grave responsibility in reviving the Popular Front at the municipal level" and for fostering "the polarisation of Spanish society"

Martorell was expressing the very justified alarm of his class.

But the cause of the change. is far from a deliberate break by the PSOE and CP leaders from their strategy of class collaboration.

The change of line springs from strong the desire of the working class masses for power and for the final destruction of Francoism.

It is this militancy which has expressed itself, still in a distorted fashion, through the PSOE/CP pact.

Both the PSOE and the CP leaders realised that their own rank and file would not accept yet another capitulation to the bourgeoisie Ecev The Ecevit government in Turkey has extended martial law restrictions to another six more cities in the eastern part of the country.

That means military rule now operates in a total of 17 cities-15 of them in or around Turkish Kurdistan.

This latest move came about after six independent ministers in the Cabinet issued a declaration urging the government to take sharper measures in Kurdistan and further measures to resolve the acute economic crisis.

All the six new cities are within Kurdistan. This development shows the extent of the growth of the Kurdish liberation struggle in Turkey, deeply influenced by the movement of Kurds in Iran.

The recent visit of the Chief of the General Staff of the Turkish army to Iraq and other high government officers to Iran indicates that Ecevit's government is seeking to establish a common strategy with Iraq and Iran to crush the Kurdish movement.

A SOCIEONE which failure to stand down in each other's favour would have involved.

Their own rank and file was telling them plainly that they had no time for bureaucratic disunity when that would result in a new victory for the Francoists.

The deal-and therefore municipal power-therefore, was forced upon the PSOE and CP leaders as the necesCP election platform sary condition to maintain political control in their own parties.

Bút this shows that the deal, although necessary to PSOE and CP bureaucrats, at the . same time threatens their control.

Rank and file

The rank and file i orking class base of the tw big.

office will now be asking all the more insistently: why cannot unity between the workers' parties put -the UCD out of office at a national level?

Why cannot unity of the workers' parties implement a policy at the municipal level which meets some of the real needs of the working class?

Opportunity

Revolutionary socialists in Spain now have a massive new opportunity to give leadership to the working class by fighting in the working class for programme of demands which expresses the interests of the working class and which can provide the basis for the class unity and independence for which workers have shown their desire.

This is why the CP and PSOE bureaucrats are now working overtime to destroy the expectations which the deal has created and to avoid implementing any of the socialist policies necessary to meet the needs of the working class.

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VOTA Patiny

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