[Burying military victims of Basque liberation forces The…]

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Burying military victims of Basque liberation forces The bourgeois nationalists of Euskadi (the Basque country)-the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and the right wing of ETAreturned from Madrid in triumph two weeks ago.

They were clutching an agreement on a hew Statute of Autonomy obtained from the ruling Democratic Centre Union in the Madrid parliament.

Local control

The new Statute-quite close to that demanded by the PNV-gives the Basque country local control of the police force (with agreed exceptions under which Madrid can send in the national police and army); of education; and, in the future, possible limited control of social security, taxation and the right to set up Basque radio and TV stations.

The Statute which grants rights from the Spanish State in no way amounts to the concession of self-determination to the Basque people.

They will be able to vote in a referendum to accept or reject the concessions which Francoist Suarez and the Madrid government (supported by the Stalinists and reformists) are willing to grant.

Nonetheless Suarez has conceded far more than seemed possible a few months ago.

The reasons are not hard to find. Suarez has been forced to react to the growing signs of militant mass hostility to his regime from the working class and petty-bourgeoisie of Euskadi.

This has shown up in the mass strikes against the violent actions of the state repressive forces.

It has also been reflected in the spread of support for the campaign of terrorism carried out so successfully by ETA (militar) in the last few years against officers of the police and army, and Francoist and politicians.

Herri Batasuna (Popular Unity)-the political front which includes ETA (militar) made dramatic gains in the parliamentary and municipal elections earlier this year.

The new Statute is attempt by the UCD reverse the radicalisation Basque nationalism.

It is also a bid to restore some of the lost authority of the right wing PNV, as well as to get PNV parliamentary support for Suarez's government on a permanent basis.

The PNV and its allies in ETA (political-military), may regain some credibility from the accord-but only briefly.

They will rapidly be forced to relinquish the mantle of the opposition to Madrid and take on that of the government in Euskadi.

As direct representatives of the Basque capitalist class their role will be to police the working class and impose on it the sacrifices demanded by capital.

The fact that the police wear Basque uniforms and the Basque language is taught in the schools will do nothing to disguise that role.

Source of tension

ETA (military) therefore, will almost certainly not be without mass support for its decision to continue the terrorist attacks on agents of the Madrid government and to oppose the Statute in the forthcoming referendum.

The campaign in advance of the referendum promises to be, therefore, a new source of tension in Euskadi, especially in the province of Navarra, where the right wing has always hotly contested its being considered part of the Basque country.

The question of national self-determination for Euskadi, therefore, remains one of the most explosive • questions in Spain and one which the granting of the new statute will not resolve.