Sri Lanka CP quits

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wages which they wanted to abolish.

The strikes have been mostly to secure the other demands which inclüded a 2% rise in the basic real wage.

EMPLOYERS

Employers in different industries offered either nothing or 1%; and most of the settlements reached so far have given a rise of between one and two percent.

Other demands such as eariy retirement with high pensions remain to be negotiated. And in some firms the strikes are continuing in the face of inadequate offers.

The campaign has been militant one backed up by large demonstrations in the major cities, especially in Rotterdam where the ports remained closed for almost completely unable to impose their will on an undefeated working class.

Workers have at least maintained living standards at a time when capitalists are seeking every possible way to reduce them.

In neighbouring Belgium the same struggle has now begun. There it is directed straight at the government and its policies of wage control and spending cuts.

Even the unions linked to Prime Minister Tindemans' ownl Christian Democratic Party have supported the plan for one day strikes in the public sector, begining last week with the first strike for 17 years on the Belgian railways.

POLITICAL

Tindemans has immediately acknowledged the political nature of the strikes and in a campaign of' them a threat to democracy.

In Belgium workers are fighting to maintain their limited sliding scale and are also demanding a reduced working week with no loss of pay.

HEADING OFF

These demands cannot be won unless the working class goes beyond the method of one day strikes, which are designed by the bureaucracy to head off a real political struggle.

In Denmark, too, notice ot strike action has been served by the unions on the minority Social Democratic government, which was returned to power with significant gains in last month's general The unions have refused to accept the government's plans for a statutory wages policy which would restrict increases to 6% a year for It was these plans which precipitated the parliamentary crisis which forced the general election.

The results, even if they have made the Social Democrats' parliamentary position more comfortable have done nothing to resolve the crisis of Danish capitalism.

After weeks of negotiation in Italy Andreotți's Communist-supported Christian Democratic government has still failed to get agreement on a range of anti-working class measures through which it hopes to alleviate the economic crisis.

mass mobilisation of the working class could throw out the government of Italian Tories. But so far such a mobilisation has been prevented by the criminal collaboration of the Communist Party, Socialist Party and trade union leaders.

APPEARANCE

They still cannot force the Italian working class into accepting Andreottis demands (now given Roy Jenkins' backing) and they are now opportunistically putting up the appearance of resistance to a few details of the Andreotti economic programme while supporting its general line.

Throughout Europe the effects of the capitalist crisis are throwing millions of workers into struggles against wage control, inflation, unemployment and attempts to cut social services.

The lesson of both the setbacks and the partial victories in this struggle is that it can be won - but only through all out strike action to back up demands for a sliding scale of wages, for work sharing with no loss of pay, and for public works programmes to provide jobs.

Last week's exit of t Communist Party from ^ Bandaranaike's right-wi coalition government was opportunistic as its entrar seven years ago.

Having helped to implem the Freedom Party's consisten anti-working class policies, the 1 alarmed by their increasing unp ularity as shown in the wave strikes in December and Janua has tried to save itself from obliv by going into opposition.

It has joined with the "Trots ist' LSSP in an alliance of opp tunists called the Socialist Frc The LSSP is itself only outs the coalition because it was thro out by Bandaranaike in 19 Bandaranaike's Freedom Pa still has an absolute majority parliament.

But, just so as the withdrawa. the CP shouldn't create parliam tary difficulties she has sim suspended parliament for th months.

Although she simultaneol lifted emergency regulati imposed during the uprising 1971, this new move gives virtual dictatorial power. She claims that she will allow general elections due under constitution before the end of year.

But the problems of neighbouring dictator Gandhi well change her mind.