REVOLUTIONARY
"JUNTA DEMOCRATICA"
SPAIN TOWARD THE GENERAL STRIKE!
In our editorial on the fall of the Coetano regime and the Arhens junta, we wrote: "The Francoist regime, last remaining far-right dictatorship in Europe, has been dealt a powerful blow. The impatient hopes of the Spanish working masses will be accentuated. There too some surprises may be in the offing in the near future. " (INPRECOR, No. 5-6.)
Through their fight against the Burgos trials and their strikes in Pampiono, Vigo, Ferrol, and elsewhere, the
Sponish masses have proven their will to oppose capitalist oppression and the dictatorship by direct action.
It will not be easy for the Communist party and its allies to chonnel this combativity toward class collaboration. Decisive confrontations are on the agenda on THE Question. The policy of the Spanish Communist party has been to try to bring down the Francist dictatorship by making an alliance with the liberal wing of the Spanish bourgeoisie. Ar his recent press conference in Poris, Santiago Carrillo, a leader of the CP, tried to make this policy a reality by announcing the creation of the Junto Democratica (Democratic Council). This new version of the earlier "Pact for Freedom" is an attempted response to the enormous impact the fall of the Portuguese fascist dictatorship has had in Spain. What does the Junto Democratica represent? Is a substantial fraction of the Spanish bourgeoisie today prepared to enter into an alliance with the CP? Answer. We think that the Junta Democratica, constituted in Madrid of the end of July, falls within the continuity of the policy of the Pact for Freedom that has been developed by the CP For many years. As you say, it is a question of trying to channel the deep impact that the fall of the Portuguese dictatorship has had on all of Spanish society to the benefit the Iberian Peninsula, and revolutionaries throughout the world must prepare to extend militant solidarity fo the Spanish workers
In this issue we ore publishing three items on the situation in Spain: on interview with a leodi member of the LCR-ETA(VI) (Lige Comunista Revalucionario-Euzkadi to Askatasuna VI--Revolutionary Communist League
-Basque Nation and Freedom, Sixth Congressi, c sympathizing organization of the Fourth International in
Spain; an account of the strike wave in Baix Llobregat;
and an important document issued this summer by the
LCR-ETA(VI) outlining the situation in the country and the tasks of revolutionaries. INPRECOR of the CP's policy of class collaboration. For the bourgeoisie, these events have further exacerbated the already deep political crisis and have deepened the internal controdictions. The clearest manifestation of these divisions has been the growth of the so-called centrist currents of the bourgeoisie, whose political program is to "institutionalize" the regime, which means to create vehicles for the expression of the various bourgeois tendencies so as to fill the vacuum that will quickly be created by the disappearance of the Bonaparte, Franco. Concurrently, the right wing of the regime is becoming stronger. This right wing, with the support of the Opus Dei organization, wants to impose itself as the guarantor of real continuity of the regime. In addition, we have seen the first demonstrations of the "liberal" wing of the bourgeoisie, notably in Catalonia. But it represents only a very marginal sector. And it is not even this tendency os such that is represented in the Junta Democratico or in the "democratic assemblies" that may come along today in the image of the Catalonia Assembly. Today, only a few bourgeois political personalities are going along with the CP policy-
SPAIN Nevertheless, it must be recognized that the events of April 25 in Portugal have lent the CP's policy of trying to put an end to the Francoist dictatorship through class collaboration much more credibility in the eyes of the masses -- and in the eyes of a section of the vanguard as well. Q. The Workers Commissions have raised the slogan of a general strike for this autumn. What is behind this? Is it a tactical tum by the CP aimed at taking an initiative to back up its political maneuvers through a controlled mobilization of the masses? A. The "general coordination" of the Workers Commissions, which is essentially controlled by the CP, has launched a call for a general strike for the end of September or the be- ginning of October, but has not yet set a definite date. Il's Intended to be a twenty-four-hour general strike for limited objectives. There is no question of taking over the work places on that day. The demands advanced have to do with the struggle against the high cost of living, for amnesty, and against the dictatorship. This initiative by the CP is a response to the real combativity of the workers and an attempt to canalize that combativity as a means of pressure not so much on the dictatorship as on the "centrist" sectors in order to force them into a political agreement. But in any case, we can expect a real mass mobilization around the strike, one that the reformists will have frouble controlling completely. A lot dapends on the ability of the revolutionary organizations to mobilize the workers vanguard around militant positions. 1 think it could be the biggest political mobilization against the dictatorship since the struggles against the Burgos trials in December 1970. Q. What will be the LCR-ETA(VI) response to this exacerbafion of the crisis of the dictatorship, to this beginning of decomposition that has arisen after the Portuguese events, fo the sickness and impending death of Franco, and to the political offensive of the CP? A. Our organization still has limited forces, in spite of the strengthening we have experienced not only through the fusion of the LCR and the ETA(VI) about a year ago, but also through the integration a few weeks ago of two small, local orgonizations: the Bolshevik-Leninist Faction of Barcelona and the Leninist Faction of the ETA in Guipuzco. But in the current situation, our political influence and our capacity for intervention are not at all negligible. Obviously, we support the calling of the general strike. We are going to try to convince the workers to organize general assemblies and elected committees in their work places in order to coordinate with the Workers Commissions and the organs of struggle that have er and enth hother ken organizens to as to high cha high schoolrepresentative leadership capable of making the general strike as powerful as possible and of carrying out street demonstrations in all the big cities. We will propose a platform of struggle including demands like: -- across the board wage increases of 5,000 pesetas for all, -- forty-hour workweek, - reintegration of fired workers, - freedom for political prisoners, - freedom of assembly, strikes, and organization, -- self-determination in Euzkadi (the Basque country) and Catalonia, -- dissolution of the specialized repressive corps. Moreover, we are waging a campaign around. the organization of self-defense of struggles and demonstrations, for the overthrow of the dictatorship through a revolutionary general strike, and for the establishment of a workers government. With the impending general strike, a united policy is more than ever necessary, in the first place within the Workers Commissions, but also among the revolutionary organizations. We can reach an agreement to defend a class struggle position agoinst the reformists with the Liga Comunista (Communist League, another Spanish sympathizing organization of the Fourth International), the ORT (Organización Revolucionario de los Trabajodores -- Revolutionary Workers Organization, a formation of Christian origin), the MCE (Movimiento Comunista de Españo -- Spanish Communist Movement, a Maoist organization), and the COC. This certainly means fighting for the unity of all the workers organizations against the dictatorship. In this way we will move toward an acceleration of the rhythm of class struggle in Spain and an acceleration of the major confrontations that are on the way. As in the post, we are sure we can count on the active solidarity not only of the sections of the Fourth International but of the whole European and world workers movement as well. •
BAIX