Drawing class lines in Peru

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Centred in San Salvador, the political and economic interests of this group are different from the big landowners-at least insofar as they are able to perceive the economic benefits from an agrarian reform which was first pushed by the US in 1976.

That attempt, however, was stalled by the landowners, represented by the sector of the army led by Romero who came to power in 1977.

Since the formation of the Central American Common Markęt under Kennedy's Alliance for Progress in the early 60s El Salvador has become the industrial centre of the region (while Nicaragua was the leading supplier of raw materials).

But the working class still remains small compared to the peasantry, and the land question is of critical importance.

The ruling oligarchy's response to the failure of the coffee market in the 1930s was the infamous slaughter of over 25,000 peasants in 1932, ever since then independent peasant unions have been outlawed.

With the growing capitalisation of agriculture the peasantry has been progressively driven off The Financial Times reported that the two days of rain which ended the long drought last week in Northern Peru were greeted as a miracle.

But this was nothing to the miracle for which the Peruvian ruling class is praying as it attempts to preserve its power through a return to civilian government after the failure of twelve years of military rule.

The elections for President and partiament due on May 18 are very unlikely to produce anything but an increase in the expectations of Peru's working class and peasantry and in the incapacity of the ruling class to satisfy any of these aspirations.

Virtually all the organisations claiming to be Trotskyist in Peru are supporting the Presidential candidacy headed Workers Revolutionary Party, the Peruvian section of the United Secretariat of the International (USFI):

His vice-presidential candidates come significantly from groups supporting the two main components of the Parity Commission for the Reconstruction (Reorganisation) of the Fourth Speaking at a raily in London organised by the IMG, Hugo Blanco on March 21 showed why he had such a vast following among the Peruvian masses.

In an eloquent but undemagogic and witty speech Blanco vividly described the appalling conditions of the peasantry, unemployed and workers of Peru and mercilessly criticised their military and capitalist oppressors.

His speech did not take up many of the elements of the political programme of the alliance which he leads.

But he did discuss one of the questions which was raised in the leaflet the WSL distributed at the meeting, namely the purpose of Trotskyists standing in the elections and the relationship between elections and the mobilisation of the masses.

Our criticism of the tendency towards electoralism is based on the press of the parties involved in it as well as statements of their supporters in Europe.

But we say unreservedly that it was not a criticism which could possibly be levelled against Hugo Blanco's 'speech at the rally.

We agree with what he said on this point: that it is through the mobilisation of the working class, not through elections; that liberation from imperialism and capitalism can be won; that the arming of the workers forces the bourgeoisie to respect election results; that through elections propaganda for the programme is and party is built.

But Hugo Blanco made no mention of the other criticisms raised by the WSL's leafletthe political support given by the USFI to the Stalinist government in Cuba and the counterrevolutionary bourgeois coalition government. in A similar political adaptation could be seen at the rally itself, when a representative of the "Patriotic Front"' (it was not stated whether ZAPU or ZANU) was greeted rapturously when he asked the audience to "bear with us... be patient and give us time" in relation to the clear pro-capitalist direction =* =*= regre in 03N Taria Ali ré errac == -E. Ila= cessions" made si - zaz5r "which we all hope temporary concessions"

When several sections of the audience expressed some scepticism about how "temporary" Mugabe's concessions were supposed to be, Ali burst into a round of criticism of the "sectarians" "who have to recog nise realities."

"There are no simple answers he helpfully explained.

We have to confess we had not previously understood that the way to fight imperialism and racism was to demobilise a mass movement and make enormous concessions to capitalism.

No doubt the subtle dialectics of the USFI will eventually explain to us how it is to be done. Meanwhile we continue to press the fight for class struggle meinods as the road to revolusor and ia figh on that basis= = : -a =2s*vist InterFoa asor Don-ittee-for of the =up Tracre

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rinted from Labor News paper of the Labor (25p il BM WCIV can ) fi ibtained ie po: he WSL Box London 6XX.