New Struggles Erupt

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Bourgeois leaders, reformists and Stalinists at the head of the giant march The one-day general strike in Colombia on September 14 marks a new stage in the confrontation with the right wing government of President Lopez Michelsen.

During the course of the strike, which reportedly paralysed the major cities, the security forces launched a massive wave of repression.

In the capital Bogota alone 18 people were killed by the police and 4,000 arrested, manv of them placed the bull-ring which became a temporary prison camp grimly reminiscent of the football stadium in Santiago, Chile.

The Colombian government claims to be one of a tiny handful of exceptions to the South It is true that both the parliament and the President are elected after a fashion.

But the nature of Lopez Michelsen's rule, since his election as a 'reforming' candidate in 1974, has shown how elections are no guarantee of the most elementary democratic freedoms.

PRETEXT For most of that period, using the terrorist activities of some Maoist and Guevarist guerilla groups as a pretext, the government has ruled with emergency powers.

It is the organised working class and the peasant movement which have been the victims of these powers.

Strike leaders and militants have been dismissed from jobs and "yellow' trade unions.

A large section of the working class is still organised in two 'trade union' federations, the Union of Workers of Colombia (UTC) and the Confederation of Workers of Colombia (CTC), which are part of the Conservative and Liberal parties respectively.

But for the last few years the Colombian working class has been rapidly building independent unions; partly the Communist Party dominated Syndical Confederation of Workers of Colombia CSTC), and more importantly, unions in individual sectors such as the oil industry (Workers Syndical Union, USO).

These have also emerged among white collar workers like the teachers where the Colombian Teachers' Federation (FECODE) has organised a long series of CORTINAJES strikes, the bank workers and workers in the health service including doctors who last year were involved in a two-month long strike against government plans to restrict their trade union rights.

The demands of the general strike-for large wage increases and automatic cost of living compensation-were rejected contemptuously by the government.

This, along with the brutal repression, will only reinforce the combativeness of the workers, and a repeat of the general strike for a longer period is already being widely proposed.

The determination of Colombian workers to fight is very clear. But the weakness of the workers' movement are significant. Such weaknesses include the continued existence of the fake 'trade unions'

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