Algerian. trade unions are uneasy about the advance of bourgeois. forces under the protective shield of Colonel Boumedienne's. regime. This is rather clearly indicated by material appearing. in Révolution et Travail [Revolution and Labor]. In the March 3 issue, for instance, there is a’ speech given by Mouloud Oumeziane, | the secretary general of the Union Générale des Travailleurs Algériens [General Union of the Algerian Workers], February 24 on the tenth anniversary of the. founding of the union. It was published under the title, "Struggle against the underhand actions of the bourgeois forces. " Here is an important section:
"Throughout the country we have all seen the direct or underhand actions, both here and abroad, of those reactionary forces whose obvious aim has been and still is on the: one hand to drive the June 19 regime into turning the helm in. the direction sought for and on the other hand to drive the workers in an intransigent way into. extreme positions in order to bring about a complete divorce between the state and the people.
"If the maneuver has been partially blocked -- and for proof of that we need only look at the case of Messageries Hachette and the way. it turned out, it remains nonetheless necessary to continue to struggle and to- remain vigilant, because the bourgeoisie and the enemies of the. Algerian Revolution are not ready to disarm and to accept the verdict of history without a fight.
“That is why we must persist in explaining to the workers and those around us the meaning of June 19 and its aims, just as we must continue to struggle to contribute to building the party,.a vanguard party alone capable of defending and bringing to victory the cause for which more than a million and a half fighters made the supreme sacrifice. To defend the spirit of June 19 and to bring success to its aims, to build a party of revolutionary content and action, to work for the betterment of our country, this demands. from the workers a sustained, constant action within the national frame-
work that belongs to then.
"this ‘action: must draw its principles and its aims particularly from the Tripoli program, from the Algiers Charter and. the union charter. It must undertake :
" _- To reinforce the union organization and to furnish it with cadres of the required quantity and quality.
" __ To defend workers self- management by struggling against: the ‘failures, the insufficiencies and negative methods of those. responsible. By doing this we will-bé better armed to defend it against its enemies and gravediggers. We will also be in better position to extend it and to open up new stages for it.
" -- To contribute to improving production and to influence the producers in-an intelligent way to always produce. more and better.
" -- To contribute to improving the output and efficiency of our administrations and public services."
An editorial in the same issue follows the same line of struggling against the bourgeois forces: "In face of this pressing danger, the regroupment of the genuine revolutionary forces, the only ones capable of guiding the socialist revolution to success, is
ae to end their power."
In addition an article calls for workers control in the enterprises of the nationalized sector that are not under workers self- “management :
"Often one sees the bureaucratic cadres, which El Djeich describes very well in its editorial, flouting the March decrees outright, and even worse without understanding the economic conditions of the moment! Then they talk ‘about 'returning the enterprises to their owners'! They aré nostalgic for the time. when the enterprises were run‘by the bosses! It cannot be forgotten who these men often were and the fury which | some of them displayed against | ‘our people!
. "Self-management ‘#8 not a fetish. But the main thing is take
the principal | means -of production in hand, with the corollary... that it is im Ossi e for a caste to take the place of the former colonizers. -_ Sir
"In relation with this irreversible option, and the present realities of Algeria, we hold that a formula ‘of ‘national enterprise' is not to be rejected, that it is often desirable, and in-a certain number of cases necessary. eon
"National enterprise conforms to the spirit of our option, since it places in the hands of Algeria as a whole, of the nation, the ownership of an industrial activity, for example like the national steel company. But this is not sufficient.
"In brief, a state enterprise can be managed in various ways. It can be done in the capitalist fashion; that is, by placing the — -enterprises in the hands of the state bourgeoisie; this is what happened in France and other countries of the West where the popular. masses demanded nationalization of certain companies and banks. Nationalization occurred, but management was left out." [Emphasis in original. ] 7 a _
The March 3 issue of Révolution et Travail, the central organ of the unions, indicates rather well the status of the Algerian unions today -- both a safety valve for the June 19 regime and a center for the possible. regroupment of working-class and revolutionary opposition, despite the opportunism of its centrist leadership. a
IRANIAN SOCIALISTS APPEAL FOR