PORTUGAL BEFORE THE ELECTIONS The March 12, 1976, issue of the Lisbon afternoon daily A Capital ran a headline reading, "Strikes on the Rise. " Analyzing the new upturn in the movement of struggle, the newspaper wrote: "The reopening of negotiations for labor contracts is being reflected in a wave of strikes spreading throughout the country. These are not simply strikes for economic demands; all the labor conflicts taken together express the exacerbation of the fight to maintain the conquests of the workers. At the same time, these clashes are revealing of a new will on the part of the employers. Many strikes are not aimed at improving living conditions, but simply at forcing the employers to respect accords that have already been signed." As the campaign for the elections (to take place on April 25) is feverishly being prepared, the Portuguese workers are engaged in a tough defensive battle e against the new claims of the employers. In 1974, for the first time in decades, the Portuguese working class endowed itself with instruments capable of giving independent expression to their interests: parties and trade unions. In a very short lapse of time, this working class underwent many experiences, combining an initial wave of unionization with the emergence of embryonic organs of dual power (workers commissions, tenants commissions). The rapidity of the upsurge and the lack of political and organizational traditions among the proletariat nevertheless implied a certain superficiality of this process, which was revealed, in a negative manner, by the subsequent ebb. Moreover, the political weakness of the revolutionary left, " like the orientation of the reformists, prevented the masses from assimilating the lessons of their actions and achievements. Since November 25, 1975, the working class has be been going through an apprenticeship in defensive struggle, while still commanding its own instruments of battle and even strengthening them. In fact, the present period is marked by a second wave of unionization, which is developing within a context of broad discussion on the statutes and platforms of the unions. The themes discussed during the congress of 300 delegates of the textile unions in the wool and clothing industries (sectors that include 250,000 workers) - workers control, planning, worker-peasant unity, etc. - also indicate how the present strengthening of the unions is combining with the gains of the past. On March 24 Vasco de Melo, the representative of the Confederation of Portuguese Industrialists (CIP), stated: "November 25 put an end to political vanguardism, but economically confidence has not been restored. " (A Capital, March 25.) In addition, the CIP chief affirmed: "The Constitution endangers private initiative and the situation is serious. Since April 24, 1974, people in Portugal have been working less and getting paid more. " As for the technocrats of the SEDES, they expressed themselves this way: "The situation is still marked by deep instability, for in spite of November 25, the relationship of forces has not changed in Portugal. " In reality, the overall relationship of forces has changed since that date, but it is true that any real upturn in investment, like any reinforcing of the positions of private capital in industry and agriculture, requires a qualitatively stronger attack on the masses. But the workers' responses to this new phase of the capitalist offensive have been manifold during these past weeks, and they have taken many forms, some of them new. There have been strikes with occupations (Transports Estefania, Tome Feteira, the file factory in Vieiria de Leira) and a strike with a picket squad and sequestration of the employers (Firestone). This reflects a certain link-up between past experience and the needs of the current defensive struggle. In Coimbra the public transport employees carried out a militant strike, while the pharmaceutical aides have rejected overtime work throughout the country. The hospital workers held a total strike and then went on an administrative strike in some hospitals. In addition, there have been mobilizations in decisive branches (metals, construction) and in sectors that had not engaged in important struggles up to now (municipal employees, public services). Finally, construction workers in Beja, Braga, and Setübal. have refused to accept trade-union directives. Instead of the tactic of one-hour-long work stoppages, they proclaimed the need for a harder and better organized strike in order to renegotiate their contracts; they have asserted that they will go on strike on April 1 in pursuit of this objective. The convergence of this workers! response with the electoral campaign is generating great fear among the reformist leaderships. On March 26 Socialist party leader Mario Soares issued an appeal "to the Portuguese people": "For a special truce until the
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PORTUGAL elections. " On the same date, the Political Committee of the Communist party declared: "It is in the context of this reactionary campaign that we must understand the utilization of the discontent, problems, and just demands of the masses to provoke a wave of strikes before the opening of the electoral campaign, a great disturbance of the essential services of the country. " Presenting itself as the sole government party, the SP wants to affirm its role as a "responsible party" in order to prevent the PPD (Popular Democratic party) from eating into its vote. The CP - which is advancing the slogan, "With the CP, for a left majority" - is also trying to consolidate its image as a "party of order." All this has not diminished its clashes with the PPD and is in fact stimulating internal tension, While the reformist leaderships are counterposing the "electoral batte" to the struggle against the capitalist aftack, the bourgeoisie understands that the combat potential of the working class is far from exhausted and that it cannot press its advantage without running Into trouble. If is well aware of the consequences this could have and the political crises that could flow from it, especially since the workers upsurge in Spain is coming on top of the factors of national instability. For the past two or three weeks, the bourgeoisie has been manifesting less optimism about the probable results of the elections. To such an extent that Eanes, the chief of the general staff, has openly asserted that if the elections do not produce conditions of stability, it seems to him that it would be difficult for an officer to accept the post of president. If would then be better for the officers to preserve their role as arbiters. While the UDP (People's Democratic Union, Maoist) - which has been gaining in strength over past months - is campaigning around the theme: "Against poverty and fascism, unity of the whole people, " and while the MES (Left Socialist Movement) is waging its campaign under the slogan "For the unity of the importance as an element of political clarification and response to the objective needs of the masses. We are publishing below the accord reached between the LCI (Liga Comunista Internacionalista — Internationalist Communist League, Portuguese sympathizing organization of the Fourth International) and the PRT (Partido Revolucionário dos Trabalhadores - Revolutionary Workers party) before the legalizotion of the latter. After legalization, the PRT decided to run its own candidates and broke the accord. Essentially, the text represents the axis around which the militants of the LC are now conducting their campaign. The LCI is presenting 330 candidates in all the districts of continental