and strikes for nationalisation), the CP has been projecting the road of consolidation. Allende has been attempting to follow this road, notably via the negotiations with the Christian Democrats, which broke down in face of the deepening divisions in the base of Popular Unity. The MIR's first critique of the reformist nature of Popular Unity incurred the CP's witch-hunting wrath against the ultra-left', leading to the events of May in Concepcion, when a MIR member was killed by police breaking up a left counter-demonstration to the right wing, and acting on the orders of the CP chief of police. Here and among the most advanced workers and peasants radicalisation has developed independently of the reformist Popular Unity leaderships. In Concepcion itself, the MIR has recently established a Popular Assembly with the support of all Popular Unity parties except the CP, and a large number of trade union delegates. Though its role for the moment has been largely contined to propaganda and internal discussion, it has evoken a response outside Concepcion.
In the Perlac factory in the Santiago suburbs, there has recently been an occupation on the demand for nationalisation, the management being suspected of stockpiling production. The occupation also demanded: - no to the judiciary, - no to the bourgeois Parliament, - no secret negotiations, - workers' control of the factories, Ceylon Hunger Strike As part of the growing movement of opposition in Ceylon, a one-day hunger strike against the repression has been called for 18 October. It comes at a time when the first batch of political prisoners is on "trial" before special courts; the Government's success or failure here will have a vital bearing on the futug ai the many thousands of political prisoners. still awaiting "trial".
Five leading trade union organisations in Ceylon are so far sponsoring the hunger strike, along with the Human and Democratic Rights Organisation. The strike is rapidly gaining support in the form of pledges to participate on the day, and a number of successful public meetings in support of it have also been held LONDON MEETING In London, the Ceylon Solidarity Campaign is organising a public solidarity meeting on 18 October (Wednesday), 7.30 p.m., at the Unity Theatre, 1 Goldington Street, N.W.1. Speakers will include Ernie Roberts (AUEW) and Hermione Harris (recently returned from Ceylon).
This public meeting will be preceded by a picket on the Saturday before (14th) outside the Ceylon Tea Centre (Lower Regent Street, Piccadilly). The picket will take place from 11 a,m. to 2 p.m.
Both these events are organised by the Ceylon Solidarity Campaign, 9 Dennington Park Mansions, London N.W.6. The C.S.C. also publishes a monthly bulletin (5p) with news and analysis of events in Ceylon and reports of solidarity activity around the world. Also available is an informative pamphlet, Ceylon Island Behind Bars, of particular interest to activists in the labour movement (price 15p).
LITERATURE AND FILM WEEKEND starts 3.30 p.m., Friday, 20 October at Sheffield Polytechnic, on Pond Street Stalls organised by Claimants Unions, left wing publishers, women's groups etc., meetings for community papers, bookshops, ete.; film showings including Hour of the Furnaces, Time is Running Out, People's War in Vietnam.
Ends Sunday afternoon. Cost about £1, including two meals a day. Further information from Agitprop, 248 Bethnal Green Road, London E.2. (01-739 1704). Please try to inform us in advance if you are coming.
MTR peasant - support to Popular Unity (a demand which prevented the Christian Democrats from using the strike).
Police intervention was threatened, and the workers of the borough (Maipu) stepped in and threw up barricades. On the initiative of members of the MIR, Socialist Party left and the front of revolutionaries in the trade unions (FTR) they elected a Council and a self-defence committee from among the trade unionists, peasants and slum-dwellers participating. The strike succeeded in obtaining nationalisation. The peasants of Cautin have also created local Councils, and these have recently held a regional conference, electing a leadership of left SP and MIR militants. In Concepcion and in Perlac, then, there have been important localised experiences of embryo dual power. The need for self-organisation and self-defence of the workers, peasants and slum-dwellers, is reinforced by incidents like the massacre at "La Hermida', where four workers were killed defending their 'poblacion' against the army and police. Only Allende, joining the funeral to mourn the dead, was able to salvage the image of the government. The affair of the fugitives from Trelew also demonstrated the disarray of the government. While the CP demanded "The application of the Chilean law" (i.e. adjudication by the right) and Allende hesitated, only the MIR, left socialists and other revolutionaries came out onto the streets for proletarian internationalism.
The defence of Popular Unity against the right remains nonetheless central to the revolutionary struggle. The economic situation is deteriorating still further, with inflation running at 5 per cent a month. The currency has been further devalued. US credits have been cut to almost nothing, and the French blocking of Chilean copper at the request of BradenKennecott is only the latest example of imperialist sabotage. The right is organised in the judiciary and the army, and in the ranks of Christian Democracy, which is waging an ever more vicious campaign against the government, while the fascists are beginning to work to develop a mass base. In this situation the reformist and Stalinist leaders of the government dare scarcely develop, beyond the occasional demonstration, their organisation of the masses against the right, for fear of the political consequences of organising and arming the mass of militants in the left parties, the factories and the peasant unions. These forces must take the steps which Popular Unity will not.