PLENUM
THE
International
Executive
Committee
THE
INTERNA
TIONAL
A plenary session of the International Executive Committee (IEC) of the Fourth International was held in
Europe in mid-February 1976. Members of the IEC and observers from sympathizing sections from some 30 contries were present.
The political discussion at the ECcentered around the problems of the Portuguese revolution and the civil war in Angola. Three tendencies emerged on the first question, two on the second. Theses on an intermediary balance-sheet of the Portuguese revolution and a resolution supporting the MPLA military camp against its opponents in the civil war were adopted by large majorities. These documents are in the process of being published in the press of the Fourth International (the text of the Theses on the Portuguese Revolution follows in this issue of INPRECOR; the resolution on Angola will be published in the March 18 issue of INPRECOR). The IEC Plenum also heard informational reports on current developments in Spain as well as on the civil war in Lebanon. It commemorated the death of Comrade George Jungelas, a founding member of the Fourth International and its German section who had been a member of the EC for 25 years. The Plenum voted motions honoring two Angolan comrades killed in the civil war, an Arab comrade killed in the Qarantina massacre in Beirut, and the Argentine comrades killed by reactionary murderers. The IEC Plenum resolved some organizational disputes that had arisen in the ranks of the Fourth International in various countries; a new and larger United Secretariat was elected; a call was issued convening the Eleventh World Congress of the Fourth International (Fifth Congress since reunification), and a provisional agenda for that Congress and the modalities of the pre-congress written discussion were set. All these questions were decided by unanimous votes. Once again the Fourth International has shown that it has learned to combine lively and frank political debate, even when conducted in public, with the maintenance of organizational unity and the strengthening of the common organizational framework of the movement. The proposed provisional agenda for the Eleventh World Congress is as follows:
1. World political situation
2. Intermediary balance-sheet of the Portuguese revolution
3. European perspectives document
4. Theses on the Arab revolution
5. Balance-sheet of the Indochinese revolution
6. Theses on women's oppression and the women's liberation movement
7. Organizational norms of the Fourth Internationa!
8. The outgoing international leadership's activity report
9. Election of the International Executive Committee If a revolutionary situation breaks out in Spain before the Eleventh World Congress, Spain will be a special point on the agenda. Likewise, any other important change in the world situation may lead the United Secretariat or the World Congress delegates themselves to add additional points to the agenda.
15