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INTERNATIONAL
OF THE
COMMITTEE OF THE
FOURTH
ENGLISH - LANGUAGE EDITION
INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE
Number 16
Editoríal Hotes
• THEORETICAL ORGAN OF THE
INTERNATIONAL
FOURTH
January - March 1963
LATIN AMERICA ON THE CUBAN PATH AFTER the esent of Optober in the Caribbean, the partisans of Imperialism throughout the world have not hidden their hope that the influence of the Cuban Revolution in the other countries of Latin America would mark time and that the objective situation in the continent would even register
(from the point Some weeks have been sufficient to demonstrate how much without foundation
In effect in no country has there been any evidence of a greater crystallisation of the status quo, but on the contrary, the social and political crisis has not ceased to deepen in one part or another of the countries. Even in the two big countries, whose ruling classes count on a relatively large margin of manouvre, the situation, has subsequently deteriorated.
sai on ones to undered stil one for Prores in
can only result in a lamentable failure.
For the other part, the most characteristic aspects of the present stage in Latin America-the develop. ment of armed struggles, above all, in the countryside —has acquired a considerable amplitude. In nearly guerilla formations exist and in at least three or four they operate already on quite an important base, with repercussions on ation in these different countries. it is Peru and Venezuela which have registered the most significant developments.
It was already discussed at length on Venezuelan armed struggle, where one could sometimes speak of defeat and serious setbacks, certain enterprises as adventurist or even as led some reactionaries (the Cubans no
But it appears the situation has now evolved in a very favourable way.
amplity their activities and make a point of win ang
the support of those layers of the peasantry towards whom Betancourt has exerted his demagogy and «agrarian reform". Secondly, audacious actions have multiplied in the towns and the urban detachments are now in a position to hold in check the police in certain workers' quarters of Caracas. Finally, the danger of armed formations of the Right, if it ever existed, appears now entirely removed and in a certain case it has been seen even that certain movements started effectively by rightist. officers transformed quite rapidly into popular movements with a wholly different orientation. should not underestimate the recent evolution of the Venezeulan C.P. as well as the M.I.R are now in their majority for the armed struggle, that is they are quite close to Fidelist orien-
Despite the serious contradictions which exist (notably concerning the real nature Venezuelan Revolution and the ultimate aims of the armed struggle) this organisations, which influence the large majority of the masses, above all the urban masses, will play without any doubt an important role of
In Peru the revolutionary crisis has matured even more than in Venezuela. We have already sketched in another article in this same number of our review, an analysis of the Peruvian situation. Since then, the mass movement has acquired an even greater
Melandey the stration or he peasant sa
well as by the mobilisation of the peasants. Junta of Perez Godoy—which played at Nasserism in the first months of its existence has been obliged to bring to light its true nature: it represented a rela-
"original" attempt to defend the essential interests of conservatism. But in a situation of tension such as that which existed in the country, it was unable to rely absolutely on a passivity of the masses and it had therefore, more than once, to have recourse to traditional methods or repression. of December-beginning of January, after some veritable massacres of workers and peasants, the government took to massive arrests, seeking to deprive all the oppositional forces of their essential The Peruvian revolutionary Marxists, comrade Fras, were also struck at by the repression and thrown into prison (according to the latest information they will have to stand trial).
But the movement continues to rise and the brutal attitude of Perez Godoy will be unable to break it.
2 It is significant that the APRA no more controls the trade union Organisations, of whom an important part has already left the Centre. It held some months ago a conference, which was to be the prelude to a veritable Congress founding a new Trade Union Centre. Already these organisations function in an independent way and the leftist elements play a considerable role. Freed from the limitations imposed by the Aprists, a whole series of fundamental trade unions can thus contribute in a more active and militant way than ever before in the past to the movements which have developed everywhere in the countryside.
However, what preoccupies the military government and the Imperialists even more at the present stage, is the scope of the armed struggle in the countryside. This armed struggle is more and more by way of acquiring a concrete and efficient character as it becomes tied to the peasant movement for the occupation of the land. There are in Peru at the moment some guerilla chiefs who enjoy a very great national prestige and a real support on the part of the peasants in the regions where they operate. The best known is Hugo Blanco, of a revolutionary Marxist orientation and a partisan of the Fourth International who continues his heroic fight in the Concepcion valley despite the ferocious pursuit that his enemies have taken up including the use of helicopters. Latin America, To express it in terminology Peru is in the process of following current in the Cuban path.
Another very important factor for the development in Latin America, is the orientation that Fidel in the last weeks. The Cuban leadership has understood to the fundamentals the lesson of the crisis of the Caribbean. It has seen confirmed all its fears of the attitude of American Imperialism, which at no price will renounce its desire to extinguish the Cuban flame. It takes account that the the military alliance with the USSR-while being a considerable factor-represents no absolute gua-
Finally it has understood in the clearest rantee. way from the past, that in the last analysis, the fate of the Cuban Revolution was strictly tied to the development of the revolution in other countries of Latin speeches made by in January—notably the magnificent speech addressed to the women of the Americas—-are even more explicit than Declaration of Havana in their invitation to the peoples of Latin America to put themselves on the plane of the revolutionary
What is more! Fidel seems to have decided to launch an open struggle against all the traditional opportunist leaderships, including the Communists, who still chatter about "peaceful ways" and alliances with the "national" bourgeoisies and a major obstacle to the unfurling of powerful movements towards their victorious Issue.
The vital interest that American Imperialism in Latin America, the rapid maturation of objective revolutionary conditions in several countries, existence of Cuba and the role of a leadership such as that of Fidel Castro, are factors which render impossible any intermediary solutions, any solution of a more or less "reformist" type in the style of the Alliance for Progress, etc. The perspective for this part of the world is more than ever that of decisive confrontations between the fundamental social forces. The possibility exists that in the short or medium run Cuba shall not be the only Workers' State on the American continent.
4th February, 1963