ANSWERS STUDENT DEMONSTRATIONS WITH TERROR
The Bourguiba regime has answered the March 15-19 student demonstrations in Tunis with terror. Police clubbed students in their classrooms in two high schools, killing Ben Miled and wounding twenty others.
The March demonstrations were in solidarity with Mohamed Ben Jennet, a theology student sentenced to twenty years at hard labor last June for participating in a protest action at the American enbassy during the Arab-Israeli war.
In the wave of terror, the following have been jailed: the students Brahim Razgallah, Ahmed Ben Othman, Salah Zguidi, Kemais Chamari, Mohamed Salah Guarbi, Hedi Slama, and Halel Abdeljaoued; the professors Hafed Southoum, Mohamed Charfi and his wife, Attia Hebib, Hechemi Troudi, and Sassi Ben Halima; and the government officials Nourridine Ben Khader, Naccache Gilbert, Houssime Baendi, and Ahmed Smaoui.
GREEK RESISTANCE MOVEMENT GIRDS FOR LONG STRUGGLE
By T.N.Themistocles
Several things have been written regarding the causes of the dictatorship in Greece, most often that economic crisis led the Americans and the Greek big capitalists to resort to dictatorship. The dictators say something similar, that is, that they saved Greece from the economic chaos in which the country found itself. The truth is completely contrary.
We had a political crisis in Greece, not an economic one. Before the dictatorship, Greece was in the midst of a boom; in 1966 the national income grew by eight percent and industrial production 14.5 percent. In Greece, the exploiting classes were represented by the Palace and the two bourgeois parties -- the Palace, basing itself on the state appparatus and the army, being the symbol of fascist repressive methods. The two bourgeois parties were the Center Union [Enosis tou Kentrou] and the ERE {Ethnike Rizopastike Enosis -~ National Radical Union]. The latter was a conservative party representing a minority of the bourgeois class.
The EDA [Enosis tes Demokratikes Aristeras -- Union of the Democratic Left], a formation reflecting the viewpoint of the Greek Communist party, was bound hand and foot to Soviet foreign policy and to the policy of class collaboration. Although a majority of the working class followed this party, it played no serious political role. It continually pleaded for cooperation from the bourgeoisie, and its political function was limited to quieting and keeping down the exploited. It would approve slogans after their adoption by the Center Union.
A sharp political battle broke out in Greece between the two factions of the bourgeoisie, in which the majority was represented by the Center Union and the minority by the National Radical Union and the Palace. This struggle unfolded in several phases, and, in spite of the Center Union's passive attitude toward the Palace, which was the symbol of the regime, the situation of the monarchy was scarcely a favorable one.
A digression is necessary here in order to be able to interpret this phenomenon. An all-powerful, ponderous state and military apparatus remained in Greece from the time of the civil war (1945- 1948); it had its own interests and its own mentality and by training and natural bent was disposed to resort to dictatorship when the regime faced any danger.
One of the differences within the bourgeoisie was over retaining this ponderous state apparatus. A group of officers in the armed forces general headquarters and in the capital's defense units stole the envelopes containing the plans for instituting martial law; they sent the appropriate signals by telegram and in lightning fashion put martial law into effect throughout the entire country.
Once these plans had been executed, they all realized that they had not carried out the orders of the top command and the Palace but of a small group of officers who already had the situation in hand. The group of colonels had the support only of a tiny minority of the bourgeoisie. The dictatorship was set up against the will of the bourgeoisie, though doubtless with the support and consent of the American intelligence service. Under compulsion, the Palace supported the dictatorship, basing itself on the navy and certain air force units.
After establishment of the dictatorship, a resistance movement began in Greece. Despite the fierce blows being dealt it, this wave of resistance, not only is not abating but is continually extending. The resistance within the country is expressed through various organizations -- both through those linked to the political parties and others which have sprung up spontaneously. From the first moment of the dictatorship, the Greek Trotskyists entered all the resistance movements and are playing a decisive role within them. Their sacrifices are unimaginable. The Trotskyists have been sentenced to a total of 500 years in prison. Greek Trotskyists abroad are continuing their activity.
With the dictatorship, the country has moved backward in every respect. Despite its previous dynamism, the economy has been shaken. Parallel to the struggle of the Greek people, the bourgeoisie is trying for its own political ends to regroup its forces against the colonels. Caramaulis has expressed these efforts through his declarations. *
* Former Prime Minister Constantine Caramanlis, the leader and founder of the ERE. Caramanlis ruled Greece from 1955 to 1963, presiding over a right-wing authoritarian regime closely bound to the Crown. In 1963, in the first reasonably free election in postwar Greece, his party lost heavily, winning only 39 percent of the vote as against 42 percent for the Center Union. [See World Outlook, November 15, 1963.] After his defeat Caramanlis went into exile in Paris and maintained political silence until several months after
These statements of Caramanlis particularly affected the Palace. Under pressure from the bourgeoisie, but fearing for its fate because of the turn political developments might take, it acted precipitously to bring down the dictatorship and present the bourgeoisie with a fait accompli. But it was so hasty, its action so little coordinated, that it failed.
The colonels have won time by the use of armed force, but the resistance in the country is continuing. Armed struggle is the only way. But this is still several years off. The path of preparation will be long and the struggle hard. The
the colonels' coup of April 21, 1967.
On November 29, 1967, approximately two weeks before King Constantine's abortive attempt to stage a coup of his own against the colonels, an interview with Caramanlis was published in the Paris daily Le Monde in which he condemned the military government and called for the junta's exit from power.
For example, in answer to a ques-— tion whether he thought the junta would restore democracy, he said: "Indeed, the putschists' attempt to place the army under their control, their continual clashes with the Palace, which is the guarantor of the return to legality, the Sslandering of the [Greek] political world in its entirety, accompanied by unbridled demagogy, and finally the absurd aim that is attributed to the putschists of drawing up a new constitution lead me to the conclusion that they have no intention of restoring democracy."
He declined to say by what means the colonels might be ousted, but added, "I can in any case assure you that the Greeks will not permit the maintenance of dictatorship in any form." -- W.O. dictatorship is trying to achieve stability by gaining recognition abroad. The way has been prepared for this diplomatically by certain apparent concessions, i.e., freeing Andreas Papandreou* for the benefit of the West and Mikos Theodorakis** for the East. This recognition does not alter the situation, however, because the decisive struggle will be carried out within the country. The imposition of the dictatorship and the struggle to unseat it represent one phase of this struggle; several other bloody phases will follow.
It is useful to mention one fact. The magazine Tachydromos [Express], which is published in Greece, wrote in its last issue about profitable deposits of uranium existing in the country. A few days after the installation of the dictatorship, a small, unimportant Greek bank which had merged with a big American combine began prospecting for and mining uranium in Greece.
It has not yet been proved what relationship there was between the American economic groups whose interests are expressed by the U.S. intelligence service and the establishment of the Greek dictatorship. But it does not matter how indirect the relationship was. The role of the American government's intelligence forces and the dictators under their control everywhere is to throw humanity backward. The role of revolutionists, the sole defenders of civilization, is to continue their indefatigable struggle for the liberation of humanity. Everything depends on how they carry the struggle forward.
* The son of George Papandreou, the leader of the Center Union, and considered the head of the party's left wing.
** Former head of the Lambrakis Youth, the youth organization of the EDA.
WEST BENGAL -- WHAT NEXT?
(The following editorial appeared in the March 1968 issue of Marxist Outlook, journal of the Socialist Workers party of India.] * * *
The imposition of the presidential rule in West Bengal and dissolution of the State Assembly comes in the wake of a statewide mass upsurge "led". by the United Front [opportunist alliance of the "left" Communist party (CPI-M) with capitalist and communal parties in a "non- Congress coalition" -- W.0O.] against the Congress-sponsored P.C.Ghosh ministry installed after the dismissal of the government headed by Ajoy Mukherjee. The left constituents of the UF have hailed the development as a victory for them, the goal set before them being only that of a midterm poll [election].
The mass