[The new elections in fortugal on 25th April…]

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The new elections in fortugal on 25th April, second inniversary of the overthrow if fascism, seem certain to how a marked, and carefully Irganised move to the right.

These elections do not take lace under the same conditions as year ago. All the right wing fficers imprisoned after the ttempted 'coup' of 11th March 975 have now been freed. • The newspapers, together with many farms and other enterprises ave been handed back to their prmer owners. The CDS and other ight wing parties have been ctively protected by the military egime - though despite this only mall numbers are attending their ublic rallies.

All of these measures have led to epression. The new consitution, miled by the Times and the tortuguese Communist Party the rost progressive in the capitalist rorld, nevertheless leaves the lower of veto in the hands of the cad of state who has yet to be lected. It cannot be changed until 980.

The capitalist and pro-capitalist arties standing in the election have B accepted this. Extreme right ring forces around the Efugees from anti-colonial revolt in Ingola and other former colonies •re come out into the open. : On 7th April the West German sagazine Stern claimed that it was ossible to meet leaders of the D-called 'Portuguese National lovement' by chance on the street • Northern Portugal.

SPINOLA

The same magazine also showed bat a right wing 'coup' was again eng planned by ex-General pinola from his hide-out in switzerland.

The Swiss authorities were pompelled to deport their unwelcome guest back to Brazil, but tho is to say that all the military quipment detailed in the Stern irticle has not now been put in Nace to prevent any workers povernment from coming to office.

While these right wing forces lave been openly organising hemselves, the election has been leliberately weighted against the eft. At Beja on 10th April lemonstrators against a right wing CDS rally were arrested.

When a further demonstration was held to demand the release of those arrested, it was supported by ocal soldiers.

Other soldiers had to be flown in, and they shot on the crowd vounding a number and killing 3838-year old farmworker, Manuel talminha.

At the same time, the rights of left-wing parties in the election have been restricted. The Maoist UDP has been banned by the authorities from campaigning for their policies among the immigrant workers there.

Even more important, the LCI, affiliated to the United Secretariat of the Fourth International, was banned for eight days from putting forward its policies on Portugues radio and TV, after attacking some of the right'wing military leaders.

Such constraints have not been placed on the Contmunist Part or the Socialist Party.

The CP, naturally enough, has announced its complete support for the new constitution which enshrines capitalist rule for the foreseeable future.

Its careful support for the status quo has not however won it any new support and it does not seem likely that it will increase its vote in the elections.

The Socialist Party, on the other hand, considers itself to be in a strong position. On llth - 14th March SP leader Soares received a vote of confidence in a conference at Oporto from various other European reformist leaders such as Mitterand of France and Palme of The 40% increase in the the mobilisation of thousands of peasants and workers around the war for the liberation of Zimbabwe.

Since the end of 1974, the Vorster government in South Africa has followed a conscious policy of accommodation (detente) towards the black states further north, notably Zambia.

The aim was both to secure countries like Zambia as markets for South African industry and to ensure, through Zambian pressure, that the eventual government of reported that Soares said "we will opposition" after we will be in the elections.

By 9th April, the London Times was able to report a modification oi this position: 'independent' military and political figures might be included in an SP administration, Soares. had now said.

This policy will not serve the interests of the workers at all. In these elections we call for the establishment of a government of the main parties of the working class, the CP and the SP, independent of the armed forces and any of the other capitalist political formations.

This is a fight to establish the independent class interests of the working class. At the same time we are for the development of workers committees in the factories and the banks, and the peasants occupation of the land, which although they suffered a setback following the November rightward swing, remain together with the rank and file soldiers movement the onty basis on which the working class' and peasants' interests can be defended.

Callaghan and Soares liberated Zimbabwe would be amenable to South Africa's influence.

Vorster has for some time therefore accepted that the days of the Smith regime Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) are numbered.

VORSTER.

Vorster and his precedessor white minority governments in South Africa however, have hitherto imagined that they could avoid meeting the same fate as lan Smith by disguising racial oppression under the guise of 'national indep endence' Thus next October Vorster plans that the first 'independent' African 'Bantustan' will separate from South Africa with its own government and army.

This area, the Transkei, will in effect remain totally under the control of South Africa. 70% of its income will come from African migrant workers working for a pittance in the gold and diamond mines in South Africa.

Crucial to the policy of Bantustans has been the cooperation with Vorster of the conservative tribal chiefs like Chief Mantanzima who is to be the first "President" of the Transkei.

However, a month ago another important African ' chief Gasha Buthelezi who had hitherto gone along with Vorster made a speech resoundingly opposed to Bantustans in favour of 'one man one vote within South Africa.

This speech reflects the pressure of the forward movement of the African masses within South Africa dirasir flaurina from the chain nf 100,000 French University and secondary school students and teachers brought their objections to the goy.. ernment's educational 'reform' plans to the streets last week. • Large demonstrations in most of the major cities (40,000 in faris alone), though permitted by the autorities, were heavily pressured by the riot police and numerous demonstrators were injured.

The movement which has to rationalise the education system to make it meet more consistently the needs of French capitalism.

Primary education should concentrate, according to education minister Haby, on the acquisition of basic skills; secondary and higher education should concentrate on courses designed to produce the qualifications for which demand exists.

So the nature and content of college and university courses will be decided by committees of teachers, ad ministrators and capitalists. At the same time, admission to courses should be much more selective.

The strength and rapid growth of the movement against this Vorster bique, Angola, and now the developing struggle in Zimbabwe.

On the other hand, Vorster 1s preparing to consolidate his military power for a last ditch stand. This is the basis of his visit to Israel to discuss armaments last week.

• The fact that South Africa already has more military hardware than all the governments of black Africa put together means that Vorster's 'last stand' will be a totally different question from that of lan Smith.

This raises the vital question of building in this period of general forward movement of the working class and peasantry on a world scale a Trotskyist leadership within South Africa itself.

The most vital task facing Trotskyists in South Africa now, is to link the growing struggle for trade union recognition and wages among African workers in the towns with the question of genuine national independence and the abolition of white Afrikaner rule.

The fight against apartheid cannot policy has forced the Communist Party and reformists to support it. And the efforts of the students' and teachers' leaders to obtain trade union support for the protest means that the movement has become a significant threat to the increasingly insecure Giscard regime.

The WSL has supported for some time the institution of an enquiry into allegations by the OCI that Michel Varga, leading member of the LIRQI faction, is a CIA/GPU provocateur. Such an enquiry has now been set up and has held its first meeting. Ihe following is the statement issued from that meeting:

"This is to inform you that we have constituted ourselves as a Commission of Enquiry on the basis of the enclosed text. The participants in this Commission are at this time: G. Marion (Ligue Communiste Revolutionaire), Gus Horowitz (Socialist Workers Party), John Docherty (Workers Socialist League),. Lesueur (International Sparticist Tendency), Andre Frys (Lutte Ouvriere). We invite you to take part. The secretariat of the Commission of Enquiry has been assumed by Lutte Ouvriere, at the above address'.

The Declaration, which has the support of all the above organisations, reads as follows:

"For some time the Organisations Communiste Internationaliste (OCI) has put forward number of charges, claiming that Balasz Nagy, known as Michel. Varga, is an 'agent paid by the CIA', and a "GPU provocateur'.

The leaders of LIRQL, the organisation to which Michel Varga belongs, have demanded a 'workers' commission of enquiry" to express opinion on 'the campaign of the OCI leadership put forward by , as well as 'the extension of these charges to the League Internationale, in that they have gone as far as repeated physical attacks against members of the OCI/LIRQI fraction, notably the united demonstration against Francoism, and at the leafletting that was taking place outside a meeting calling for the freeing of the Soviet mathematician Leonid Plyushch.

We consider that such accusations made against an individual militant or aD organisation are serious enough for the entire revolutionary movement to ascertain whether they have any foundation.

For this reason we have decided to constitute ourselves into Commission of Enquiry in order to invite the leadership of the OCI to present us with all the proofs it claims to possess, and to ask all those who consider they can provide any evidence on the affair to come and put it forward.

The Commission takes upon itself the task of a scrupulous verification of facts and documents which it will eventually publish. To give this as much authority as possible, the Commission invites all those organisations that consider themselves to belong to the

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Sweden 19th March Le Monde 1-18%

African government's defence budget reflects the decisive impact within South Africa of