Argentina) and editor-in-chief of its weekly, Avanzada Socialista, died in Buenos
Comrade Arturo came to Trotskyism toward the end of the 1950s as one of the major student leoders in the region of La Plata under the combined influence of the radicalization generated by the political struggles that followed the fall of Peronism in 1955 and the rise of the Cuban revolution.
Modest, a man able to knit very fruitful human relationships, Arturo was one of the students of
Angel Bengochea, one of the main leoders of Palabra Obrera, the precurser of the PRT (Partido
Revolucionario de los Trabajadores - Revolutionary Workers party) and thi. PST in Argentina.
When Bengochea went over to Castroism, Arturo broke with him and became one of the regional
Arturo won the confidence of the workers, who elected him as counsellor and adviser of the
Agrupación Metalúrgica Verde. When the tendency struggle between the Santucho faction and the Moreno faction broke out in the PRT in 1968, Arturo Gómez opted for the Moreno faction and became a national leader of the organization that was to fuse with the Coral faction of the
The PST was able to take advantage of the posibility for legal activity by presenting candidates for president and vice-president in the elections of 1973. The PST candidate for vice-president,
Comrade José Paez, former leoder of the militant and prestigious SITR AM-SITRAC autoworkers union in the city of Córdoba, transformed this campaign into political agitation for a workers candidate, which enabled the PST to recruit hundreds and hundreds of workers. Throughout this
In 1974, when the PST decided to organizationally and politically consolidate the gains made during the preceding period by transforming Avanzada Socialista into a large-circulation weekly,
Comrade Arturo was chosen as editor-in-chief. Although at the outset he lacked journalistic experience, he succeeded in establishing a remarkable team, which mode Avanzada Socialista
Comrade Arturo came to Trotskyism through internationalism, and he remained an internationalist throughout his life. He was strongly attached to the Fourth International, whose growth and internal debates he followed passionately. He was one of the leoders of the international minority faction and as such was a reporter at the Tenth World Congress, which elected him a consultative member of the International Executive Committee. With the death of Comrade Gómez the PST and the Fourth International lose one of their most experienced and valuable leaders. His memory avanzada
Aires after o sudden heart attack.
leoders in La Plata during the subsequent tendency struggle.
Socialist party to form the PST.
period, Comrade Arturo Gómez was the secretary general of the PST.
one of the most lively and popular Trotskyist newspapers in the world.
will be kept alive by our entire movement.
PST
43
In March 1975 Iroqi Foreign Minister Saddam Hussein signed an agreement with the shah of Iran which entailed, among other things, the end of Iranian material support to the Kurdish fighters against the Iraqi regime. The leadership of the Kurdish Democratic party (KDP) under Mustafa
Barzani, which held hegemony over the Kurdish struggle, gave up the battle and sought refuge in Iran. The result was the collapse of the Kurdish military