[1930's and the Second World War. Only the…]

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1930's and the Second World War. Only the collaboration of Ho Chi Minh with French imperialism after the war allowed the decimation of the Trotskyist leadership. Decades of imperialist treachery and aggression have forced the Hanoi leadershit to carry the military struggle near to a conclusion.

INSEPA Trotskyists today share the rejoicing of all class-conscious workers and socialists throughour the world at the blows struck at imperialism in Indochinu in this Spring of 1975. . We reject with contempt the sianders thrown by bourgeois tolinesete assinet the serason iro Ces. But at the same time we warn that Vietnam cannot escape the law of permanent revolution: the struge tor lasting national independenco is inseparable both trom of the social revolution and from the struggle for a democratic workers* state tree the political monopoly of Stalinism.

The harsh words and recriminations which thickened the air of Washington last week were only the echo of the resounding defeats inflicted on imperialism by the liberation forces of Indochina.

As South Vietnamese President Thieu insured his last stand by attempting to fly E40 million worth of gold out of Saigon, US capitalist politicians linked up to pass the buck of the Cambodia and Vietnam debacle.

Leading Democratic presidential Senator Henry Jackson led off. He revealed that the puppet regime in accept the 1973 Paris ceasefire South Vietnam persuaded to agreement only on the basis of secret promises by Nixon and Kissanger to guarantee the military position. Jackson made these revelations to further his own political career attempting to both have his cake and eat it. On the one hand he tries to disassociate himself from war policies of Nixon, Ford and Kissinger: while on the other he tries to blame them for letting Indonesia 'go Communist'.

DOUBLE T Double-talk is universal on Canitol Hill. When Ford pleaded with Congress for an additional $722 million dollars to ensure the evacuation of Saigon and the surrounding area, he spoke purely for the record. His officials claimed that 1 million South Vietnamese fear punishment at the hands of the NLF. but even Ford's most ambitious plans to intervene and create a military corridor to the sea would only allow him to evacuate about 100,000 Ford and his "opponents" in Congress and Senate are united in one thing - their fear and hatred of the liberation forces. But, as they attempt to blame cach other for the disaster, the very basis of US imperialism's foreign policy falls apart in their hands. How many puppet regimes around the world rest on "private promises of us military support? Every OTiC of these will feel their position that much shakier as the NSF moves towards Saigon.

is advising Cunhal not to torm a Communist Party government unless he gets at least 75% of the votes.

What they see at stake in Lisbon is nothing less than the equilibrium of Burope established at the end of the Second World War. If this were upset it would bring the bureaucracy 'serious complications" Thus Cunhal is being asked to stay close to the army and build up his party machine There can be no doubt that for the Kremlin - and their apprentices in the leadership of the Portuguese CP - the fate of the Portuguese revolution is one diplomatic bargaining counter among several. The workers and soldiers of Lisbon sense this, and are opposed to it. Nor are they willing to put all their trust in the elections and the AFM, and relinquish their own organisations.

But the gains they have made can only be protected, and the threat of fascist-military dictatorship ended for good, through a policy to unite the organs of workers' power nationally nationti soviet and make this - not parliament - the basis of a workers government. The case for this becomes clearer every day, as the military regime demonstrates it cannot provide even the appearance of parliamentary democracy.

And a minimum condition of any struggle for socialism in Portugal is freedom for all working class political tendencies, including the two Maoist groups - the MRPP and the AOC - which have been hanned. For this reason the WL calls on all bodies fo the British labour and trade union movement to protest lo the Portuguese government against the political bans.