The events involving the paratroops and military police in Lisbon last week have imposed a grave defeat on the Portuguese revolution. Today the right-wing commando regiment patrols the streets; the left newspapers are suppressed; for the first time sinse 25 April 1974 the Government has been able to impose a curfew in Lisbon.
ernment of Azevedo literally went on strike because no-one would recognise its authority. umph to date? Was Lisbon an heroic uprising crushed by reaction? What is the depth of the defeat? These are the questions which must be answered to understand the new situation in Portugal today.
We must be clear tirst of all that what occurred in Lisbon was not an uprising of the workers. On the contrary, not one significant section of the Portuguese working class took part in the revolt'. Nor was it a last ditch struggle against fascist reaction. In fact, the preceding weeks had seen the anti-working classs offensive of the Sixth Provisional Government rolled back by repeated mass mobilisations.
No authority The attempt to take over the radio stations had failed; the blowing up of the transmitters of Radio Renascenca had aroused mass opposition going far beyond the revolutionary left and the Communist Party; the Government had been forced to abandon the attempt to set up the AMI special intervention force; the construction workers' strike and the 16 November demonstration organised by the CP and the Lisbon workers commissions had left Azevedo with no authority - in fact, the Government had basically ceased to function.
Transformed
In Spain, meanwhile, a revolutionary process was beginning to unfold which in a few months could have brought the Portuguese revolution support which would have transformed the situation.
These were the really significant developments preceding last week's events. Developments such as the sacking of Carvalho were tiny in comparison. What occurred in Lisbon therefore was not a heroic uprising but an insane adventure - something which would have been a farce had it not had such tragic consequences for the Portuguese working class.
There is not the slightest doubt where the responsibility tor this act lies. Even if the actual pretext for the revolt was a government provocation - which appears likely - the act which brought this severe defeat on the Portuguese working class was a product not of the capitalists, the fascists, or the Socialist Party but was prepared and carried through as a result of the line of petty-bourgeois left officers in the army and ultra-left organisations sucti as the Revolutionary Party of the Proletariat (PRP) and the Movement of the Socialist Left (MES).
For weeks now, as Ked Weekly has pointed out, these organisations have been calling for an immediate insurrection. We need only look at some of their statements: - *It is now time for the revolutionary forces and the workers to pose the problem of an insurrection' (Declaration of the PRP, 30 September).
'Armed insurrection is the sole way by which popular power can continue to a advance' (Press conference given by Francisco Marquez, leading member of the PRP, 7 November). - 'Only a national insurrection on the basis of armed power represents at the present time a way out of the contradictions of the revolutionary process in Portugal' (Declaration of the PRP, 10 November).
Insurrection
Now these organisations have had their insurrection, and the balance sheet of this line is only too clear - as right-wing troops patrol the streets of Lisbon; the left press is closed; the revolutionaries in the army are purged; left domination of the arsenals has been ended; and 30,000 guns in the main arsenal have been transferred from the control of the workers and soldiers to the right wing and fascists.
Continued on page 6 A meeting in Paris last weekend put the final touches on plans for the international conference in solidarity with the Portuguese struggle which will take place in Paris on the weekend of 13-14 December.
Sponsors of the demonstration thus far include: in France, the LCR (Revolutionary Communist League - French section of the Fourth International), the PSU (largest far left organisation in France) and two Central Committee members of the Socialist Party: and in Britain, the International Marxist Group, the Portuguse Workers Coordinating Committee, the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, ten Labour MPs, and Hugh Scanlon, President of the AUEW.
This conference comes at a crucial turning point in Portugal when every ounce of international solidarity is urgently required. It is important that a representative British delegation attends the conference.
For further details contact the PWCC, 12 Little Newport Street, London W.C.2
The result of an adventure-Lisbon is now under martial law How deep is the defeat which has been Red Weekly
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This severe defeat comes only days after the reactionary Sixth Provisional Gov- What caused this abrupt ruling class victory - its most significant tri-
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE