MEANING OF BARROS' RESIGNATION
SANTIAGO DE CHILE -- The resignation of Senator Jaime Barros from the Communist party, which the newspapers and radio played up in a serisational way, has continued to make political news in this coun~ try.
For example, Marcos. Chamudes, the well-known writer who publishes the magazine PEC with funds emanating from the U. Sey addressed a _ tetter to Barros,”
The senator answered December 11 with a public response, stat- — ing that he was not crossing over to the camp of enemies of ‘the works =: ing class; that he had broken with the Communist party bureaucracy because of its line on "peaceful coexistence," because of its. giving up, during Allende's presidential campaign, the Communist party position of strong support for Cuba, because it "put the brakes" on the class struggle and the militancy of the workers, because it made an alliance with bourgeois sectors in hope of winning the election. mt Barros ended by saying that the road of struggle for socialism is not through elections but through revolutionary activity.
It is important to note: that along with Senator Barros, one of the most important intellectuals of the Communist party, Marcos Portnoy, also resigned. His comments were a well-known feature of =: the official newspaper of the Communist party, El Siglo. In addi-... 203 tion,. José Vega, a former city coufioilman in Valparaiso, resigned,
Marcos Portnoy told the press that when he, Barros and Vega left the Communist party, some 2,000 members in Valparafso went with them. He said that their position was neither pro-Peking nor pro- Moscow; what they sought was to follow "the Cuban road." Portnoy is the author of a recent book on the Cuban Revolution. .
The following conclusions can be drawn from these resignations from the Communist party:
(1) That the defeat suffered by Salvador Allende September 4 touched off a process of criticism of the bureaucracy of the FRAP [Frente Revolucionario de Accién Popular]: i.e., the bureaucracies of the Communist and Socialist parties, The election results were a defeat for the policy of the "peaceful and parliamentary road,"
(2) That this process of criticism now affecting the Communist and Socialist ranks as well as sectors of the workers and students of ‘the vanguard of Allendism, precipitated the deepest crisis in lee old reformist and revisionist leadership yet experienced -in Chi ee
(3) That the current crisis of the Communist party has not yet réached massive proportions, but constitutes a molecular -process of criticism of the leadership among the ranks. The resignation of
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a senator, of a noted writer and a contingent of. militants, the extent of which cannot yet be déeterminéd, indicates that the Chilean Communist party is undergoing one of the worst, crises in its history. mi (4) That the resignation of Barros, Portnoy, Vega and others. is not toward the right but toward adopting a left revolutionary fighting position. It cannot yet be determined whether Barros and his comrades will join the pro-Chinese groups, but the efforts of ‘these groups to win over Barros have failed up.to now, The only declarations made by Barros with regard to the iriternational. problem have been his decided support for the Cuban Revolution and its methods, -Barros has not. said a single word yet, whether. of. support. or criticism, concerning. the Chinese | position, It is interesting to note that Barros resigned from the Communist party but not from his seat in parliament. » Consequently, he continues to remain a senator... . (5) That the critical attitude of Barros,. Portnoy, Vega and others who resigned from the Communist party, will accelerate the. crisis not only in the Communist party.but in the Socialist party, where the critical attitude of the ranks against the. > Peformist ys course is of greater ‘scope. . be, ‘
(6) That this crisis of the Communist party. and fundamentally of the Socialist party opens the concrete possibility of.-overcoming.the:crisis..of proletarian. leadership in Chile through the formation of a revolutionary, Marxist-Leninist left composed of the existing revolutionary groups and the Communist and Socialist militants who are