Rio Soares's nose was the recent decision of the Armed Forces Movement (AFM) to set up 'popular assemblies' based on elected factory and residents' committees, coordinated eventually at the national level through a National Popular Assembly. would clearly challenge the authority of the Constituent Assembly elected earlier this year, which the SP duced two weeks ago as part of a compromise between the left wing and the right wing inside the AFM. As such it has two contradictory sides.
On the one hand it banned political activity inside the army, ruled out the creation of any form of popular militia not under strict military control, and proclaimed its WEEKLY Soares and the SP leadership clearly hoped that the repressive moves would be implemented rapidly, wnile the talk of workers" control and popular participation would be put off until doomsday. For a while it looked as if things were going their way. No sooner had the AFM drawn up its plan than troops from the COPCON security force moved in to evict striking telephone workers from the Lisbon telephone exchanges.
•RESISTANCE• ers or Soares. Despite this crackdown the telephonists refused to go back to work, and telephone engineers in the northern city of Porto threatened to strike in solidarity. Meanwhile workers at Republica to its editors, nor sit around indetinitely while the AFM played for time.
Radio Renascenca the occupying workers rejected an AFM decision to turn the station back to the authorities, and thousands of workers demonstrated their solidarity with this stand.
•RETREAT• had to throw its plans into reverse gear or face a major confrontation with the Portuguese working class, (Portugal) workers commission Sunday 20 July, 8pm Labour Party Rooms ROCHDALE But the working class didn't see eye-to-eye with either the AFM leadmade it clear that they would neither popular assemblies. accept a move to turn the paper back At the Catholic Church-owned It was clear that the AFM either PORTUGUESE WORKERS CO-ORDINATING COMMITTEE meetings with Marcelino Abrantes, shop steward and vice-chairman of Portuguese Textile Workers Union, plus woman member of the Plessey Mon 21 July, 7.30pm Lass O'Gowrie, Charles SL MANCHES CR at a time when the ranks of the army were in close contact with militant workers and being swept by a sense of class solidarity.
The repressive plans were thus abandoned, the Government reversed its decisions on both Radio Renascenca and Republica, and an AFM General Assembly decided to implement immediately the plans for the A few weeks ago Soares threatened that the Socialist Party could paralyse the country if they didn't get their way. But so far all that has resulted is a march of several thousand Catholic fanatics in a small northern town. The fact is that the SP, despite its considerable electoral support, doesn't have the sort of base in the organised working class to carry out Soares' threat.
As a group of railroad workers put it in a statement denouncing the SP's manoeuvres: "This gentleman will Tues 22 July, 7.30pm Trades Council Hall, Saville Place LEEDS Rui Domingues, a worker from Republica, was in London last week to put the record straight on the dispute and expose the Socialist Party's distortion of the struggle to serve its own political ends. Among the meetings he addressed was this one on Fleet Street (photo shows Domingues speaking, with left to right: Carmen Miranda of the Portuguese Workers Co-ordinating Domingues explained during his stay that 'it was the Socialist Party that chose to blow this thing up'. When the increasing bias of the paper became clear it was the workers who suggested that it be turned into an open SP organ and the management who refused.. It was after the management's insistence that Republica was an 'independent' paper that the workers - including Said Domingues: 'We believe that Republica should be open to all currents of opinion within the working class, that it shoulc be a paper of the workers and for the workers.' It was their decision to bring out the paper again last week on this basis which Industry has already issued an ominous threat that it will wash its hands of any responsibility for the economy if Government policies aren't changed. At the same time the Confederation is behind the call for an assembiy of small and medium businessmen, which the left-wing Executive Conmittee of Small and Medium Traders has denounced as "music which reminds us of the baying of the Chilean wolves.
The European social-democratic parties are, as in the past, providing a cover for the bloody plans of imperialism. But this time they have been joined by the Italian and Spanish Communist Parties, who see their own home-grown class collaboration ist schemes threatened by the develop ment of the Portuguese revolution.
•SOLIDARITY• The fact that the Labour Party has joined this motley crew with a statement affirming its solidarity with the Portuguese Socialists underlines the need to step up the solidarity campaign in this country. It is necessary to educate labour movement militants on what is taking place in Portugal and the reactionary role played by the Socialist Party; to organise a campaign to prevent the Labour Party from boosting the social democratic smokescreen for reaction; and to prepare a mass solidarity movement in the event that imperialism tries to put into operation its plans for economic boycott and political or military intervention.
PICKET SPANISH
NATIONAL DANCE CO. 39th anniversary of Civil War Friday 18 July, 6.30pm at the Coliseum, St Martin's Lane Organised by Spanish Solidarity Cttee wort