FRONT HELPS BOLIVIAN REVOLUTIONISTS
(The following article has been translated by world Outlook > from:the April issue of Masas, the newspaper of the Bolivian Trotskyist movement. ]
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Toward the end:of 1965, the year of massacres, the constitution of a united front of left forces was achieved -- the Consejo .-:: Democratico del Pueblo [Democratic’ Council of the:People]. Excep-tionally favorable’ circumstances: permitted the realization of one: of the great popular aspirations, the unification of mass revolutionary forces ina single bloc, making it possible to attack the. fascist government now’ in power under a unified leadership, with.-:
good: prospects of success. For the first time in our history, it has been possible to construct an effective front of left forces,.in .... spite of the negative and reactionary attitude of two small.groups which make a great fanfare over the name "Communist.
"The Conse jo Democratico del Pueblo.is nothing less than the. organized expression of the response: of the people to the maneuvers of the reactionary forces whose unmistakable aim is: to keep.the mass murderers of the workers in the Quemado Palace. If this. great revo-.. lutionary response can be consolidated, it is destined to change the course oOf- politics in our country and set the present stagnant process 0.1 soeial.transformation in motion again. At the: same time, the united front of left forces ‘is.a touchstone by which to test all the so-called left parties. All of those who support it are with the .. people, and those who oppose it serve, directly or indirectly, the. mass murderer generals and imperialism. "
The front of left forces must begin by overcoming the hatreds and narrowness of sectarianism in order not to lose itself in impotence and byzantine disputes.’ The creation of another chapel in addition to the many already existing is not on the agenda, but rather . che setting in motion of an extremely broad movement embracing the | greater part of the country.
In order to achieve this objective, all ultimatism in organizational and ideological questions must be cast off...The problem con-. cerns coordinating Marxist-Leninist parties which have Similar. internal structures; the front of left forces in Bolivia must extend from nationalist organizations to those that base themselves on the Communist Manifesto.
In spite of this reality, the front must have a revolutionary program corresponding to the nature of the country as its point of departure.: The point of convergence of these various forces.that take a left position, the point of: convergence that explains the existence of the front, for the moment, is no.other than that of | seeking the means to carry the revolutionary ‘process forward .and of — dealing a hard blow to reaction. The Consejo Democratico del Pueblo: has inscribed in its program a struggle to the death against the . ‘fascist Military Junta. It has proclaimed. itself the political . leadership of the country to achieve this object, to struggle for. the implementation of democratic guarantees, for respect for the right to organize, for the social benefits won by past struggles, for the rights of unions, for freedom of expression,-.etc. The front of left forces realizes that it cannot fight against the foreign enemy in a real, and not merely rhetorical way, unless it takes the. same stand against its indigenous bourgeois instrument. To sum up,... anti-imperialism, which constitutes the basic plank of the front and together with it the determination to liquidate all traces of bossisn, forms part of the bridge that unites the various political tendencies.
The Consejo Demecratico del Pueblo: is an: unmistakably revolutionary force in both program and methods of struggle. It has. de- :. clared that it does not harbor the least confidence in an empty and
-.-capitulationist parliamentarianism but that;.it will use.the mobilization of the masses and the nethods ‘appropriate to it to realize. its ‘aspirations. - , Lk it,
"The government, the puppets of the ‘Yankees, and the nouth- “pieces of reaction have united in a chorus of direct opposition to ~ the Consejo Democratico;.del Pueblo..-This was inevitable and the dis- ““-eordant howling of this pack does nothing but emphasize the revolu- ~ Sionary essence of the front of left forces. Lasts “ONE . "The antipopular and treacherous attitude displayed by. the “cpight wings of. the MNR and PRIN (both parties are a part of the Con- ‘'sejo Democratico del Pueblo) was not unexpected either. These factions are fighting against the Consejo in their own parties. They fare fighting to destroy it because they believe that it constitutes the greatest danger to their treacherous policies, to their ties with the Military Junta, to their privileges."
‘The right wings of the MNR [Movimiento Nacionalista Revolu- “-i¢ionario] and the PRIN [Partido Revolucionario de Izquierda Nacionalista] justify their war on the Consejo with an argument that exposes their true reactionary essence: avoid all contact with the Marxist parties in order not to lose the confidence of the State Department. They are set on reaching power or thriving in the shadow -i-0f power, always with the approval or the aid of American imperialism. A pitiless struggle is being waged in the: PRIN and MNR between ‘the supporters and the enemies of the Consejo; i:e., between the “left and the right. We :revolutionists have the right and the obligation to aid those who are trying to advance the left front.
"We must alert the people. A new betrayal of the Bolivian people is about to be committed. The right wings of the PRIN and MNR are not only tools in the hands: of the State Department, but without any qualms they have concluded a sinister alliance with the fascist generals. Some encourage the presidential ambitions of the shameless ‘general, Barrientos, others are partners in the sinister and hypocritical game. of Ovando Candia. For the future of Bolivia, it is not a question of choosing between two mass murderers but of expelling the military boot from power. This must be kept clear. It means nothing to us: that the right PRINistas mascarade as ‘unionists, for when Ovando uses’ them as his puppets, they become vulgar toaitees
to the people."
If the right wins control of the PRIN and MNR, these parties may end by giving their.official support to the military; this tendency can already be perceived in the subterranean currents in the -political scene. The victory of the instruments of fascism would signify the most serious: defeat for the left front and for the revolution itself. This must be avoided.
To crush the murderers of the workers, the Conse jo Democratico “.-@el Pueblo must be strengthened. This organization is the road to the victory « of the people.
"GRISLY CATACLYSM" CONTINUES IN INDONESIA
Reports continue to add new details about the fearful mass slaughter of members or alleged members of the Indonesian Communist «= party which began last October and is still going on. The April issue of Atlas magazine carries an English translation of an article that appeared in the Frankfurter Allg emeine Zeitun telling about the kKill-. ings in Bali.
"Villages were burned, the houses of leading Communists piundered and the Chinese were not overlooked," writes the author, Adelbert Weinstein. "There was a general slaughter. Bali is still gripped by violence. As in a cockfight, there must be a victory, unless the hourglass has run down. The end of the struggle with 'the Red demons of Communism' is not yet in sight on the island."
Weinstein tells about arriving in the capital, Denpasar. "All over Bali they were burying their dead. The rampage had begun three days before. There were relatively few victims in Denpasar. Fifty Communists killed, the rest were being held in jail and beaten mer— cilessly." .
In Negara things were much worse. "There were rumors of 16,000 dead. Negara is the Communist stronghold:on Bali. At the sound of the name all faces froze. We asked about Negara in many villages and were. hesitantly told that the Reds had been mowed down in rows by machine. guns, but this turned out to be a legend. However, three thousand Communists were killed there. The | accounts: imply that the Army took a direct hand in the mass murder. .
The reporter continues: "Sessetan is a tragic sight: not a Single house is still standing, the wooden huts were burned down , and the stone bungalows of leading Communists were smashed by iron bars.
New York Times correspondent C.L:iSulzberger provided further facts in a dispatch from Jakarta [April:13]. "It is impossible to give any precise figure on the number slain. One careful diplomatic estimate puts the total at 300,000. Others range higher."
The capital of Indonesia now appears: tranquil to Mr eqeee The military coup that: stripped Sukarno: of- power is- even called. a. "Javanese courtesy coup," he. reports.
"But there is nothing courteous about the mass bloodshed. that has raged and still rages in the hinterland. Officials seek to min- | imize its scope and claim the ghastly episode is closed. Nevertheless, along an immense island arc, from Sumatra to Timor, the killing attained a volume impressive even in violent Asia, where life is cheap.'
Sulzberger lists what he describes as "many monstrous slaugh-. ters" in the twentieth century: "Turkey's Armenian massacres; Stalin's _
starvation of the Kulaks; Hitler's Jewish genocide; the Moslem-Hindu killings following India's partition; the enormous purges after China's communization." Sulzberger's reference to "enormous purges in China" after the victory of the revolution in 1949 is highly dubious. He would have been much more accurate if he had recalled the truly colossal slaughter undertaken by Chiang Kai-shek in suppressing the revolutionary upsurge of 1925-27, which bears close resemblance in a number of ways to the current slaughter in Indonesia. In any case, Sulzberger is accurate in adding: "Indonesia's bloody persecution of its Communists rivals these terrible events in both scale and savagery."
After the failure of the attempted coup last September 30, declares Sulzberger, "Almost immediately Moslem youth organizations, many of whose members had been persecuted by the P.K.I. [Indonesian Communist party], started to hunt down Communist suspects, exterminating them, their wives and children."
"In February," he continues, "public beheadings were still being held outside Ende, capital of Flores Island. Each night soldiers were trucking groups of 20 or more P.K.I. suspects from the prison and out of town to decapitate them with heavy machetes. Sometimes heads were left on the ledge of a monument in Ende's central square."
The beheading of suspects, it might be noted, was standard practice under Chiang Kai-shek, who became known as the butcher of the Chinese revolution of 1925-27.
"From East Java and Bali across the island group called Nusa Tenggara, which includes Flores," the Times correspondent reports, "similar tragedies continue. At Kupang, capital of Indonesian Timor, the public is permitted to watch beheadings -- but witnesses must take part.
"Several dancing girls in the palace of an Agung (prince) in Bali are reported to have been executed on suspicion of Communist affiliations. There have been atrocious wholesale killings in both central and eastern Java. Decapitation is favored because Indonesian animist tradition claims that if an enemy's head and body are buried apart his spirit cannot return.
"Near coastal Surabaya early risers in March were pushing bodies away from the jetties before their houses. Jails near Jogjakarta are said still to be crammed with P.K.I. suspects who are not tried, but taken out in nightly batches and killed.
"Unburied bodies recently littered village streets in central Java. Recently a traveler was told of a bullock cart loaded with human heads.
"Last week a visitor to Tamgerang, near Jakarta, was told by army guards the local prison held five thousand Communists. He was depressed by the dismal silence of the place and suspected the accused were being starved. In distant provinces P.K.I press gangs
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have. been..worked on short rations until they drop."
According to Sulzberger, "Pew people in Jakarta know details of this grisly cataclysm, but everyone knows dreadful things have been : happening andcoren! t quite sure just what provoked such intense bestiality am CF . co ae
Sulzberger, who generally displays ‘an acute awareness of the ins and outs of political happenings appears very reluctant to discuss the political causes of the blood purge conducted by Indonesia's new rulers. He refers to a claim offered by some observers that an "anxiety psychosis" was touched off by atrocity pictures displayed by the generals after their coup October 1. He himself talks about "that strange Malay streak, that inner, frenzied blood-lust which has given to other. languages one of their few: “Malay words , amok. This time an. entire nation ran amok."
The reasons for Sulzberger' Ss. embarrassment are . fairly obvious. The American press,-including Sulzberger's own paper, the mighty New York Times, has remained virtually silent throughout the grisly cataclysm which swept Indonesia and which.is still going on. They remained silent because they were. pleased at the turn of events, pleased-to see the military coup d'état, pleased to see Sukarno lose power, pleased to-see the Communist. party crushed and its members slaughtered. -
Bourgeois opponents. of Johnson' Ss. escalation of the war in Vietnam have even pointed to the turn in Indonesia.as an American victory that proves-the falsity of the: Pentagon. theory concerning . the "domino effect" of a possible National Liberation Front victory in south Vietnam. The satisfaction with which these opponents of escalation in Vietnam viewed the counterrevolutionary coup d'état ~ in Indonesia provides the most convincing proof that their differences with Johnson . in the field of foreign: policy are only tactical.
a American imperialist circles are thus ‘guilty of. moral core” plicity in the. blood bath in Indonesia, if they are not even more directly involved through the machinations. of the CIA.
“In addition Washington is doing everything. ‘possible to help the generals. consolidate their bloody victory in Indonesia. The | generals, in turn, are responding to the overtures of the State Department. -
Thus an announcement by Hamengku Buwono IX, Sultan of Jog-. jakarta and deputy premier in charge. of economic affairs, made top billing on the front page..of.the very.same issue of the New. York... Times that printed Sulzberger's dispatch on the editorial page. The oy sultan!s announcement was a: pledge by Indonesia's new.military rulers... to support "private enterprise." "His statement reversed the social- |. ist trend. of the-last few years," said the. .Times.— ce
The ‘sultan read a statement promising that the government "would cease to consider big and moderate-sized businesses as ene-_
mies of our state. All regulations “slowing down the development of private enterprise" are to be reconsidered.
This was the voicesof' triumphant counterrevolution signaling to: the: countinghouses of Wall Street. Indonesia's blood-soaked: soil, he was telling the American bankers and investment brokers, is now ready for the sowing of dollars.
- -An Ad:Hoc Committee was organized in Berkeley, California, in March to protest the imprisonment in Poland of a group of revolutionary socialists, including Ludwik Hass, a well-known Trotskyist, critical of the Gomulka regime. More than 100 members of the