against President Thieu - the most significant and largest outbreaks of opposition in the towns since the downfall of Diem in 1964.
There have been giant rallies, pitched battles with the police, and newspaper strikes in protest against censorship laws. War vetcrans have demanded that Thieu should go, and even former proThieu MP's have raised their voices in opposition, no doubt feeling the wind of change.
Thieu's regime has been tottenng on the verge of disaster ever since the Paris peace talks. Hammered militarily by the NLF and economically by inflation and corruption, it has survived on the strength of its repressive apparatus and US aid. Its days, however, are now quite clearly LUIGICE.
The US Government would not be averse to promoting Thieu's fall (and there are some indications that it is doing so) provided a relatively stable altemative can be worked out. While a Laos-type coalition would be ideal, in the South Vietnamese situation it would be like going for a ride on the back of a tiger. Thus a 'neutralist" regime which could compromise with the NLF appears to be on the horizon.
THE OPPOSITION The recent statements publ ished by the Provisional Revolutsonary Government of South Vietnam (PRG) and by the North Vietnamese Government (DRV) in which they give uncr¡tical support to the call of the Veterans' Association (an extreme right-wing grouping) for a 'popular' government, reflect a serious weakness of the NLF, however.
The fact that they can make these dangerous statements underTHE PORTUGUESE COMMUNIST lines both ideological and organisational weaknesses. By ignoring the ideological and class basis of the opposition, and the alternative it offers to Thieu with a slightly more human face"
the PRO are creating illusions in a force which would continue to base itself on imperialist infiuence, The PRG should instead call for the broadest democracy based on workers and popular councils in the cities, which could lay the basis for destroying the hold of capital in Vietnam, In other words, the struggle for democratie rights should he conducted within the framework of workers' democracy.
The very fact that, despite the enormous popular support which it clearly enjoys, the NLE has been unable to win hepemony in the miss movement in ine cities, is THREE FACTORS factors which underlie the PRON positions:
The role which Peking and Moscow are playing in relation to US imperiatism ("detente above all else] means that aid to Vietnam has decreased. This is holding back the military victory which the NLF so richly deserve, and which the masses under their leadership have struggled for since 1960.
positions of the PRG and the DRV mean that they do not grasp that i.e. dictatorship democracy is only realisable as part of the struggle for socialism. They thus lay great stress on a classless "peace rather than a strategy for all-out victory ingly, we have to note (as do the NLF) the effect that a limited victory such as the overthrow of Thieu would have on the urban masses and on the disparate opp osition forces, The confusion of the latter in the face of continuing upsurges after Thieu's fall could casily crystallise into a struggle for the overthrow of all reflections of imperialist rule in the South, and provided that the NLF gives correct leadership, could overflow into a complete victory.
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of The last few weeks have seen massive mobilisations in Saigon