MILITANT. CELEBRATION. OF APRIL 9 IN BOLIVIA
~ La Paz
“Bolivia in 11952 | was governed by a Military Junta headed | ‘by General Hugo Ballivian. President Mamerto Urriolagoitia had handed power over to them in order to prevent the MNR [Movimiento Nacional- “Esta Revolticlonario], which had won the 1951 elections, ; from baking office.
Fonsi.
“The “NR, on the basis of ‘its electoral victory, began. to. plot, ‘put it feared a: ‘popular mobilization; it wished to gain power without involving the masses. Accordingly, on the evening of April 8, a conspiracy came to a head involving the then minister of the govern- «ment, Colonel Seleme and a sector of the police. This palace coup a! état was rapidly brought under control by. the military, and the “conspirators had to seek asylum:in various embassies. Hernan Siles Suazo, the inspirer and leader of the coup, took asylum in the. nun- -ciature.
tt was at this: ‘moment, when the army: had defeated the coup, _*) ‘that the workers in the factories of La. Paz; the poor sectors of the ‘middle class in the heavily populated districts, the miners of. Lilluni, rose up. They built: barricades::to block the army, attacked the arsenals, made grenades and bombs. out’ of dynamite. The army found itself “under attack on numerous fronts and every street, every house, was a-fighting fortress, impossible to overcome.: The struggle , Tasted. for three’ ‘days’: until finally on. April 11 the army. was defeated.
Me ‘POR [Partido’ Obrero ‘Revolucionario]. participated: in. all these: actions,” its militants joining: in» the assault.on the arsenals, the building of barribades'and.in ‘the. bloody. struggle. against, the regiments defending the military regime.
In“this way' the palace coup was defeated and converted into “a victorious popular insurrection. But if the workers of; the POR ‘fought heroically until they defeated the: Military. Junta, ‘they. did not gain ‘power, which ‘passed into. the hands of the .MNR,. initiating the long period of struggle between the masses and. the usurping MNR .,Which lasted fourteen years, up to the downfall of Paz Estenssoro through a preventive coup undertaken by the military which now rules near the Military Junta headed by General Alfredo Ovando...
“April: oy 1952, the day ion which the. defeated coup | of “the MNR wad ¢ converted anto a popular insurrection, is..a historic “date which the peoplé’ and the workers commémorate as the: downfall: ‘of the feudal bourgeoisie (rosca) and the beginning:of the revolutionary.period in .. which ‘the masses Ses pressured the MNR into granting. nationalization of the minés,- an “agrarian reform, workers control; the formation of the COB {Central Obrera Boliviana], etc. etc., conquests which. the MNR then mutilated, distorted and even:irepudiated on the eve of its fall. The MNR, for its part, also claimed this date as narking its rise to / power. This. ‘double meaning has been observed each year.
mis year, too, on April 9. the. qual significance could: ‘be seen.
The MNR tried to. convert the anniversary into a party celebration and called. for a turnout at a stadium in the factory zone. ees
The CODEP [Consejo Democratico del Pueblo -- Democratic Council of the People],:a kind of front of leftist groupings that includes the POR, the PCB [pro-Peking Communist party of Bolivia], the PRIN [Partido Revolucionario de Izquierda Nacionalista], a popular anti- Paz sector of the MNR, called for a turnout in the Plaza 14 de Septiembre located in the most heavily populated area of the city. The MNR, seeing that it would fail if it acted separately, finally joined in the. call. of: ‘the CODEP.
The “workers and the people in general began to gather at 3. D- m. on Saturday, April 9. The meeting was-set for 4 p.m. At that time
armed: plainclothesmen and uniformed carabineros attacked the Plaza, . throwing tear-gas grenades. After a brief stand, the crowd backed: away from the heavy clouds of gas, only to unite again and undergo. a new vattack. This was repeated | several times.
Since it was “impossible to. occupy the Plaza, groups organized. demonstrations in the neighboring streets. These finally converged in the Avenida Tumusla to then parade through the heavily populated . working-class districts. If at the beginning the demonstrators were few, some 1,000, they grew. in number until they reached about 10,000. This entire excited, almost delirious crowd: poured through the streets, shouting slogans about the: anti-imperialist, anticapitalist revolu=_ tionary content of April 9 and against .the. murderous nilitary...Chants were heard like "Los Obreros al Poder; los Militares al Cordel!" {The workers to power; the military to the gallows.] "Izquierda, Izquierda, Izquierda, Siempre Izquierda!" [Left, left; left, forever left. | These drowned out and silenced the efforts of. the MNR to. shout viva's for their jleader Paz ‘Estenssoro. cy ;
The: demonstrators carried a. Bolivian flag. at the head of the procession, then a big placard with the name of the Consejo Democratico del Pueblo, followed by a large number of placards of the POR, of the PCB, the PRIN and the MNR.
The predominance of POR slogans .led the MNR to complain that the Trotskyists wanted to take advantage...of the demonstration. This met with no sympathy among the people. At the head of the crowd marched the CODEP committee, then the leadership of the POR, followed by the PCB, the PRIN, ‘the COB and the MNR: In a tug-of-war for, leadership of the demonstration and its general orientation, the left. came out victorious.
Going through the heavily populated districts, the column of demonstrators went along Avenida Santa Cruz. When they reached the headquarters of the COMIBOL [Corporacion Minera de Bolivia, in charge of the nationalized mining industry] they were met with gunshots and tear-gas grenades. Five were killed and thirty wounded.
The column broke up and returned to the heavily populated | areas where it reformed and ended the demonstration a little later.
. During the -dttack.on Avenida.Santa Cruz many people took refuge in nearby houses. These were ‘searched: by the police,and men and women were arrested after being brutally beaten.
‘The fear of: the Military Junta was: - quite evident: In face of amass mobilization the military feels lost and is capable of the worst atrocities. The day before, they had passed out revolvers, ammunition and money inorder to block the demonstration, but the popular pressure disrupted their plans.
After many years, this celebration of April 9 marked a step forward. It was completely successful. The masses demonstrated their hatred of the military regime and their determination to struggle. Despite the brutality of the repression, the masses returned to the streets. The day of an armed confrontation is | nearing which will finish off the fascist generals.
Another significant fact is the challenge to the bourgeois or petty-bourgeois currents like the MNR in control of the streets and leadership of the masses. In this struggle the POR is playing a decisive role. The recent unification has given the party greater force and weight in the eyes of the workers. In the demonstration hs the number of POR adherents, placards and leaflets was greater than that of any of ‘the other parties. Because: of this the dominant note in the April 9 demonstration was revolutionary and proletarian. The bourgeois press, however, tried to ignore the POR and the Consejo Democratico del Pueblo, picturing the demonstration as a mere party action of the MNR. dee LS ETA .
“Throughout. ‘the country, the celebration: of April 9 was much the same. It proved to bé a test of strength between the reaction represented by the Military Junta and the masses, the. latter win-. ning the round. At the same time it was a test of strength among the ranks of the left, the POR appearing publicly as: the. most solid and aggressive. oe
UNITED