VIETNAM CP backs bishops

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The Vietnamese Communist Party in the South is seeking the collaboration of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in the work of "construction of a new revolutionary society:"

Nugyen Ho, chief official of the Party machine for the Saigon area, was one of the main invited speakers at the conference of South Vietnamese bishops and clergy on December 17th. "Important changes have taken place within the catholic church throughout the "bae morld". , he said "The Vatican people, to towards the people"

Ünderlining the fact that Stalinism in Vietnam intends to have the closest possible 'peaceful coexistence' with religion and superstition, Nugyen Ho claimed that "our countrymen rejoice in the freedom to attend pagodas and churches". • Catholicism, imported into Indochina at the point of a bayonet by French imperialism, promises to be - like the Church in Poland - a firm defender of Stalinism within Vietnam.

And, as though to confirm that 1L- MInnArt of church country' , Nugyen Ho continued "before being believers in a religion or revolutionary communists, we are all Vietnamese, springing from one people traditionally united against all foreign invasion and to safeguard the independence and the unity of our motherland"

This Christmas turn' by the Vietnamese leadership is one of the most striking confirmations that, far from having broken with Stalinism, they remain tied to it. Despite having thrown imperialism out of their own country, they continue to contract political allianee with the most reactionary in no sense on an equal footing. The army of the People's Republic of Angola, the MPLA, 1s the only force fighting imperialism, and has the broad support of Angolanworkers and peasants.

It is on this side that the Moscow Stalinists have intervened, hoping to bring forward a sympathetic government in West Africa and probably in the long term to gain naval facilities in the region.

Second, Kissinger's statement is a lie. 26 : million dollars was earmarked for Zaire as early as last January, and the arms it put into the hands of the FNLA were a major factor in stepping up military conflict. Current levels of Soviet aid are largely a response to the CIA's backing of pro-imperialist gan to change, let out howls of dismay at Washington's "capitulation" to Moscow. And the British Tory press (The Times, December 22nd.) made a thinly veiled call for continued American financing of Angolan reactionaries.

Their call will not go unheeded. Kissinger immediately threatened to ask the House of Representatives to overturn the Senate's action next month, meanwhile channelling the remaining money through Zaire. Ford successfully demanded that Gulf Oil suspend operations in oil-rich Cabinda and withold payment of royalties from the MPLA, which has control over the region.

This is a particularly dangerous move, which seeks to provoke the MPLA to act against American capital in defence of its legitimate