xenophobia On October 19 and 20 Swiss citizens were called upon to vote on a referendum proposing the expulsion from Switzerland several hundreds of thousands immigrant workers. (1) About 70% of those eligible voted; of the votes cast, about 34% were in favor of the proposal. In 1970 the vote in favor of a similar referendum was 46%. To understand the stakes involved in the vote, one must consider the decisive importance of the immigrant workers in the development of Swiss capitalism. The total number of immigrant workers (seasonal workers, annual workers, residents) rose from 175,000 in 1950 -- the time of the beginning of stroke. The extremely right-wing policy of the Social Democratic and trade-union leaders has produced a strong organized opposition within the unions. This opposition has been principally shaped by the Communist party, which has consequently strengthened its position within the working class. The increased force of the CP was reflected in the latest municipal elections in Copenhagen, in which the CP got 18 percent of the vote. While the CP has maintained its purely parliamentarist perspective, it has developed a more militant line on trade-union questions and is now seen by many workers as an alternative leadership for the union movement. The strength of the CP was clearly seen at the October 5-6 meeting called by the Formandsinitiativet (Chairmen's Initiative), which attracted 900 local union leaders. The October 5-6 meeting decided to call for a day of action on November 26. It is expected that as many as 2-3 million workers will respond to the call and will strike and demonstrate on that day. The central slogan for November 26 is "Down with the Hartling Government!" While the May strike wave won little in the way of specific gains, the workers have not become demoralized, as is shown by the breadth of the current solidarity strikes. If the government nevertheless sticks to its present policy and if the union leaders continue their open advocacy of an incomes policy and a coalition with the bourgeois parties, it is likely that big changes will occur in the workers movement. It is possible that a radically strengthened Communist party or a split in the Social Democratic party, with the left wing trying to catch up to the radicalization of the workers, will develop. In any case, November 26 will be an important target date for the struggle of the Danish workers. D the protracted growth of Swiss capitalism -- to 886,000 (essentially Italian and Spanish) in 1972. In 1950 immigrant workers accounted for 1% of the active wage-earning population; by 1970 the figure had risen to 31%. Nevertheless, as of 1969 immigrants received only 17.7% of total wages. These figures indicate that it was possible to accomplish the expansion of capital in Switzerland only on the basis of a massive influx of immigrant workers;
they also give an idea of the superexploitation to which these workers have been subjected.
The trade-union movement in no way tried to integrate the immigrant workers into its organizations
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-- quite the contrary. Thus, capital found it easy to use the immigrant workers to hold down wage increases. The way was left open for numerous forms of discrimination in all areas: wages, social security, professional training, education of the children of the immigrants, etc. Moreover, the trade- union movement (essentially represented by the
Union Syndicale Suisse, tied to the Social Democracy, which has served in the government since the second world war) developed a fundamentally xenophobic policy in the tradition of the social chauvinism that characterizes the Swiss workers movement. It began in the 1950s with many attacks on the immigrants who were members of Communist parties (mostly the Italian and Spanish CPs). Then it demanded a limitation on the number of immigrants allowed into Switzerland, hoping in this way to provoke shortages on the labor market that would favor wage increases being won without any struggle. (In 1937 the metalworkers union reached an agreement with the employers that involved total renunciation of strikes.) contre la division des travailleurs The perpetual appeals by the unions to limit the number of immigrant workers, the separation of the immigrants from the unions, and the support of the unions for the crudest forms of discrimination prepared the ground for the xenophobic far-right. (2) At the beginning of the 1960s the far right launched vigorous campaigns against immigration. The audience for this sort of propaganda among the native working class was, and still is, large. This was all 30 the more true in that, because of the confusion fostered by the traditional organizations of the workers movement, various workers were expressing a distorted opposition to capital by coming out against the employers' and government's policy on immigration. The discrimination and the limitation or outright elimination of political, civil, and trade-union rights of the immigrant workers serves a very precise function for the bourgeoisie: preventing a quantitative strengthening of the working class from being expressed on the social and political plane. Hence, marginalization of the immigrants, depriving them of all the rights that the European workers movement has won through long struggle, simply on the grounds that they are immigrants is an essential objective for the bourgeoisie. During the latest referendum, the bourgeoisie missed no opportunity to insist that the motivations of those who had initiated the vote were admirable; it was only that their conclusions were irrational (economically). The Ligue Marxiste Révolutionnaire (Revolutionary Marxist League), Swiss section of the Fourth International, had waged a vast campaign against xenophobia during the 1970 referendum. On the occasion of this second vote, the LMR stood at the head of the greatest part of the actions that came out of the workers movement in response to the campaign of the far right. The LMR did not simply intensify its work in the factories; it also stimulated many
demonstrations that united immigrants and native Swiss vanguard workers and youth. Thus, in Lausanne more than 2,000 workers, immigrants and young Swiss, demonstrated their opposition to the policy of the far right. In Tessin (the Italian-speaking region) in cities with a population of à few dozen thousand, thousands of demonstrators, both immigrants and Swiss, asserted their will for a united fight against the employers' policy. In addition, for the first time in decades, more than 150 trade-union militants belonging to different federations came together to organize a campaign for the unity of all the workers and the elimination of discrimination and against the social-chauvinist policy of the trade-union leaderships. It must be stressed that the government denied militants of some of the European sections of the Fourth International the right to speak at the internationalist meetings held by the LMR. Thus, comrades Tariq Ali (Britain), Edgardo Pellegrini (Italy), and S. Robichon (France) could not express themselves directly. But they managed to do so through television and taping equipment. The Parti du Travail (Labor party, the Swiss CP) kept its campaign to a minimum, because it was afraid of losing the votes of some workers in the coming elections. (This produced certain tensions within the ranks of the Italian and Spanish Communist parties.) Like most of the far left, the Swiss CP refused to put forward elementary and essential slogans like "Equal political and trade-union rights for all who work in Switzerland" and "Free movement for all workers. " Thus, the only organization to develop a campaign of propaganda and agitation EDITORIAL cont'd. from pg.2 cent against Mme. Chae Soo Jung on October 16 and against Mun Sekwang on October 19; Sekwang was responsible for the assassination attempt against Park on August 15.) In spite of all these measures and the action taken by the South Korean CIA, which has gone so far as to occupy university campuses, Park did not succeed in breaking the struggle against the dictatorship and on several occasions has had to make a few tactical retreats, which he is doing today. His predecessor was brought down after a series of student riots that broke out in 1961. In 1965 the university movement launched a campaign against penetration of South Korea by Japanese imperialism. In the April 1971 presidential elections he was unable to prevent Kim around these slogans was the LMR, along with the Comités Unitaires de Travailleurs Suisses et Immigrés (United Committees of Swiss and Immigrant Workers). While the xenophobic referendum was rejected relatively strongly (in comparison to 1970), it must nevertheless be stressed that the "yes" vote was dangerously high in some workers districts. Moreover, since it is facing an economic outlook less brilliant than in the past, the bourgeoisie will combine its attack on the incomes of the workers with intensification of its policy of stabilizing the immigration and selectively integrating immigrants (which means repression, among other things). It is therefore clear that strengthening the systematic campaign in the unions, factories, and neighborhoods against xenophobia, against discrimination, and for the unity of the workers remains a priority task for revolutionary Marxists in the current period. In addition, the Swiss revolutionary-Marxists will have to act in conjunction with other sections of the Fourth International to strengthen initiatives on these questions on a European scale. O Footnotes: 1. Swiss law provides that if 50, 000 citizens sign a petition proposing a change in the constitution (called a "constitutional initiative"), the proposal must be voted on in a referendum, To be approved, the proposal must carry both a majority of the total vote and a majority of the cantons. 2. Two far-right organizations have been built on a xenophobic basis: Action Nationale (National Action), which launched the present initiative, and the Mouvement Républicain (Republican Movement), the group led by Schwarzenbach, which organized the referendum in 1970. Dae Jung from getting 46 percent of the vote, despite the obvious fraud, and in February 1973 he got a majority in parliament only because one-third of the members are appointed. The end of 1973 saw new explosions of struggle protesting the kidnapping of Kim Dae Jung in Tokyo and the severe torture of the militants in prison. These protests became so broad that Park was forced to fire Lee Hu Rak, the detested chief of the CIA, and to reorganize his cabinet. Then he intensified the repression again. On August 15, 1974, Park's wife was killed during an assassination attempt directed against the dictator by a Korean citizen who had been living in Japan. The regime found itself obliged to pay prisoners to publicly cut off their little fingers in front of the Japanese embassy -- an
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Editeur responsable: René Groslambert, 34 rue Nothomb, 1040 - Bruxelles Imprimerie spéciale de l'editeur.
SOUTH KOREA attempt to create the impression that the regime had popular support. A regime that feels that it must do such things after the death of the wife of its president is not a strong regime. The development of opposition movements is not the, only manifestation of the essential weakness of the • South Korean regime. The repression, which goes beyond the student movement, is an additional indication. The repression has struck the intellectual elite (an example being the poet Kim Chi Ha), the Christian hierarchy (the Bishop of Wonju, Mgr. Daniel Chi, and pastor Pak Hyong Kyu have each been sentenced to fifteen years in prison), professorial circles (Lee Sung Hee, a teacher at the university of Chonju, was sentenced to death). Journalists and lawyers have also been hit. The crisis has even extended into the regime itself. Since the beginning of 1973, many high-ranking members of the army have been fired and sometimes condemned to fifteen-year prison terms (like General Yoon Pil Yong, who was made the scapegoat for the generalized corruption); two former directors of the South Korean CIA were discharged or fled to the United States; the special presidential assistant for security affairs "drowned" during a fishing trip. Neverthe less, the regime will not crumble very easily. It is supported by an army of several hundred thousand men, political police, and an atmosphere of terror that makes it very difficult to develop opposition movements. Above all, it is tightly linked to imperialism, especially to American and Japanese imperialism. The "chill" that crept into U.S. - South Korean relations this past summer should not give rise to any illusions. The American Congress did threaten to reduce credits to South Korea. And the Tanaka government had no choice buf to protest the kidnapping of Kim Dae Jung (as it was carried out on Japanese soil), the sentencing of two Japanese citizens in Seoul, and the anti-Japanese demonstrations that were organized after August 15. But that does not change the fact that the Park regime is imperialism's creation. After September 11, accord aas reestablished between Tokyo and Seoul, and Tanaka promised to intensify surveillance of active anti-Park organizations in Japan. More fundamentally, South Korea occupies a key place in the Western imperialist system in the Far East; it is a country large ly dominated by Japanese imperialism. Seoul is now trying to diversify its economic relations, looking toward Europe (especially France and West Germany); it is supported by a broad consortium of imperialist powers. For example, it gets credits from the IECOK (International Economic Consultation on Korea), created 32 in 1966 under the aegis of the World Bank. IECOK includes nine countries: the United States, Canada, Japan, West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Australia, and Britain. But the United States and Japan occupy a decisive place. The United States is South Korea's largest customer and second-largest supplier. Japan is the second-largest customer and largest supplier. Together they account for 87 percent of South Korea's exports and 67 percent of its imports. Japanese investments in South Korea are considerable, for the country provides political stability, very cheap labor, extreme ease in exports of goods and capital, and special industrial zones reserved for foreign capital; it also permits Japan to move its most polluting industries there. On several occasions the American government has shown how capable it is of making sharp changes in personnel when a crisis becomes too serious. The overthrow of Diem in South Vietnam in 1963 and of Thanom Praphas in Thailand in 1973 are two examples. But the stakes are too high for Washington not to seek to guarantee the security of its investments in South Korea and maintain Seoul within the system of imperialist domination of the region. By presenting a UN resolution defending the Lon Nol puppet regime in Cambodia against the GRUNK and by vigorous ly supporting programs for multilateral aid to Saigon proposed at the recent meeting of the World Bank, the Tanaka government has offered new proof -- if any were needed -- of the crudely counterrevolutionary role it is prepared to play in the region. The example of Thailand is there to show that a change in personnel, or even in regime, does nothing more than open a new phase in the struggle for socialism.
The most immediate task today remains the struggle to save the lives of the political prisoners in South Korea and to obtain their re lease from Park's jails.
The very dependence of the Park regime on imperialism means that it is sensitive to the development of international solidarity. The case of Kim Chi
Ha, who was initially condemned to death but had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment (along with three other prisoners) after many protests around the world, is an example of what can be done.
The Fourth International reaffirms its support to the struggle against the Park regime and for saving the lives of the South Korean political prisoners. It calls upon all anti-imperialist militants to join that struggle. O
October 22, 1974