Tunisia gets new P

Scan page 2

President Bourguiba's ministerial reshuffle in Tunisia and the appointment of a new prime minister Mohamed Mzali have relaxed momentarily the threat of instability resulting from the power vacuum created by the sudden ousting of Medi Nouira-prime minister for the last decade-incapacitated by a stroke.

These new appointments and the conditional freeing of eight trade union leaders imprisoned since the general strike of 1978 have been hailed by Western observers as signs of an impending 'liberalisation' of the regime and has mainly served to clean up Bourguiba's image abroad.:

Facade But the liberal' facade is less than skin deep. The recent execution of 14 "mercenaries" who took part in the Libyanbacked raid on Gafsa has brought about several condemnations of the regime. by western humanists and liberals and proved extremely embarrassing for Bourguiba's apologists.

His 'progressive' face can only be preserved in the absence it serious political opposition. The scope for such public relations work is therefore extremely limited.

Scan page 3

• SOCIALIST PRESS, Wednesday 7 May 1980 Robelo and Chamorro with FSLN's Ramirez and Panamanian President Royo nominees from the Sandinista Wheelock and others.

Robelo, who has recently has been publishing large numThere can be little doubt stopped selling his extensive bers of stories about sabotage . Renewed imperialist threats and the upsurge in political mobilisation throughout Central America as well as in Nicaragua itself have obliged the petty bourgeois FSLN rapidly to consolidate its political control in Nicaragua.

This has led to the first major schism in the FSLN's alliance with the bourgeoisie.

Last week Alfonso Robelo, the millionaire member of the ruling Junga resigned his post, rapidly following in the footsteps of ageing conservative figürehead Violetta Chamorro.

Chamorro left to set up house in Panama; but Robelo intends to continue the political defence of the domestic capital through his Nicaraguan Democratic Movement (MDN) which has remained practically dominant since its leader's miraculous conversion to "sandinismo" in the early months of the revolution.

Robelo's exasperation with the youthful guerrillas reached its peak when the MDN was given only one seat on the 47seat Council of State, Nicaragua's new unelected legislature which 'came into being' on 4 May.

The FSLN has taken only six seats for itself-but has packed the new parliament with Defence Committees (CDS's).

that the line of Ramirez, INTERNATION COMMITTEE SUMME Council will tow the capital holdings and become Sandinista leaders increasingly vociferous in Borge, Hassan, defence of "enterprise", also accused the FSLN of using the 180,000 workers involved in the literacy campaign to spread its propaganda throughout the countryside.

There is no. doubt that, following the example of Cuba (which has heavily supported tho romanion) tho ROT N londorship is using the literacy 'Crusade' as a major political weapon both to strengthen its Barricada, the FSLN paper, and export of capital by entrepreneurs and exhorting the CDS's and the CST (the FSLN controlled trade union body) to intervene directly when they have information of this.

A wave of factory occupations has taken place-and industrial output is reportedly up by 20%.

No sowing But the cotton and coffee the Nicaraguan capitalists' organisation, is pushing the Inter-American Press Association to take up the case as a means of eliciting greater support from Washington.

The Sandinistas are not, however, only exerting pressure on the bourgeoisie.

They have been escalating their attacks on independent working class organisations. to an equal - degree, and in a manner typical of a petty bourgeois bonapartist regime desperately attempting to hold imperialist capital in check while at the same time suppressing mobilisation for full social Closed down At first the attacks on independent organisation were directed largely against the Maoist Frente Obrero (FO), the paper of which, El Pueblo, was closed down and members arrested for being 'counterThe first phase of repression came last October, the second this March when members of FO were accused of being CIA-backed.

Now similar charges are being made against members of the Communist Party, and its union front-Central de Accion y Unidad Sindical (CAUS)more than a score of arrests have been made and concerted efforts are being made to finish off CAUS for good.

There is no doubt that the CIA are alive and overworked in Managua and that they are endeavouring to divide the workers' movement.

But the charge of aiding imperialism is becoming little more than a formal gesture to cover over suppression of the working class.

The Stalinists in Nicaragua In response to this the FSLN is speeding up its plans to impose direct controls on the unions, using the CST to isolate independent bodies.

Dockers, sugar and banana workers have recently been integrated into the CST and agreement has been made to integrate further confederations, those previously attached to the Christian Democrats and the imperialist ORIT, to form a single body-Unidad Sindical.

The FSLN has adopted a foreign policy that closely mirrors its domestic oscillations.

The frantic search for financial aid for the crippled economy has entailed simultancous missions to imperialist and workers' states.

Fraternal relations' with Cuba have been matched by encouragement of Mexican and Venezuelan overtures to offer oil concessions.

This pragmatism is very much in the same vein as that practised by the FSLN in its search for allies before the overthrow of Somoza.

But while the leadership may be at one over this "necessary pluralism' it is coming under considerable pressure from the FSLN rank and file itself to provide material aid to anti-imperialist struggles in Central America, particularly. E1 Salvador.

Borge has been obliged to reprimand members of the Sandinista army for leaving the country to fight alongside the Salvadorean government to condemn a major 'international communist conspiracy' and further sour relations between Managua and Washington.

Yet Borge has restricted himself to warning' the US about intervention in El Salvadorclearly insufficient action even for his own troops.

It is clear that the course of events in Nicaragua is closely