portugal: LCI RESPONSE TO MFA PACT sie and the only way to prepare the road for the socialist revolution. The Liga Comunista Internacionalista was contacted by the Council of the Revolution and asked to state its position on a "public platform" that was to establish an agreement between the MFA and the "parties committed to the application of the principles of the program of the MFA and to the deepening and consolidation of the democratic conquests that have already been won." In the proposal of the MFA it was stressed that "account must be taken of the situation resulting from the crushing of the counterrevolutionary coup of March 11, " that this platform "must make possible the continuation of the economic and social revolution initiated on April 25 (1974) within a framework respecting a political pluralism compatible with the socialist road, " and, finally, that "the armed forces are the guarantor and motor force of the revolutionary process leading to the construction of a real economic, political, and social democracy." 1. First, we must make a preliminary observation.
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PORTUGAL The fact that the LCI, as well as other workers and revolutionary organizations, was contacted by the Council of the Revolution and asked to sign a "pact" is objectively the product both of the relationsnip of forces unfavorable to capitalist reaction that was created by the anticapitalist mobilizations of the masses and of the strengthening of the revolutionary organizations. That is how the recognition of all these organizations as integral components of the mass movement that routed the reactionary coup of March 11 was imposed. 2. Likewise, another sort of consideration cannot be left aside. The objective function of this "pact" - inasmuch as it is proposed not only to the workers organizations, whose role was fundamental and decisive both in crushing the reactionary attempt and in imposing and defending the measures nationalizing the banks and insurance companies, but also to the parties of the capitalist right, and even to the fascists and reactionaries of the CDS - can only be to seek to conceal through an agreement between bourgeois and workers organizations the contradicfions that counterpose the irreconcilable interests of the exploited and the exploiters on the social and political scene. 3. The revolufionary workers organizations - that is, those that always intransigently defend the immediate interests of the workers as well as their historic ones: the elimination of capitalist exploitation and of bourgeois political rule - cannot accept historic compromises or pacts with the forces of capitalist reaction. On the contrary, they must fight for the independence and unity of the movement of workers struggles and for strengthening the united front of the working class as the only means of rallying to the camp of the workers the social forces that con identify with the workers objective of liberation from the domination of the exploiting bourgeoisie. Only the unification of the ranks of the working class and its trade-union and political organizations can make possible the defense, consolidation, and extension of the economic, political, and social rights and conquests of the working masses and of the same time can prevent the "middle layers" from becoming an object manipulated by the reactionary forces of capital. In addition, only this unification enables all the progressive forces inclined to struggle for the liquidation of capitalism and the building of socialism to be gathered around a consistent program of emancipation. 4. All that we have said so far suffices to explain why the LCI refused to sign the "pact" proposed by the Council of the Revolution. In fact, the implications of this pact - perpetuation of a policy of class collaboration between the reformist workers parties and the bourgeois parties - in themselves prove that such a path is incompatible with the defense of the 10 rights and conquests of the working masses (as is shown by the heavy balance-sheet constituted by the aggravation of the living and employment conditions of the toiling masses, the limitations on their social and political conquests, the maneuvers of economic sabotage, and the reactionary attempts). The lessons of March 11, the participation of big capital and of sectors of the army in the reactionary attempt, the nature and extension of the response of the workers in and out of uniform, the powerful mass demonstrations demanding the ouster of the capitalist ministers from the government, and the nationalization measures imposed by the mobilization all prove: a) that big capital, capitalist reaction, is not disarming, that the big capitalists are ready to launch new attacks against the rights and conquests of the workers, and that they will take advantage of any truce and any pact with the reformist workers parties to prepare new reactionary attempts; b) that it must be recognized that the secret of the rout of reaction lies in the close alliance of the struggle of the workers in the factories and the streets and the struggle of the soldiers in the barracks, who refused to be enlisted in the putschist operations and managed to isolate the reactionary officers; c) that all the measures limiting the economic and political power of big capital and "leading to the construction of a real economic, political, and social democracy" can be imposed (and have been already!) only by the pressure of the working masses, by their independent organization and combativity, and by the raising of their class consciousness; d) that these measures can be the fruit only of a deepening of the anticapitalist battle of the masses and that the workers, their struggles and their independent mobilization, will be the sole true "guarantor and motor force of the revolutionary process"; e) that, in conclusion, it will not be possible to take new measures against the economic power of the capitalists through collaboration with the bourgeoisie and its parties that objectively and subjective ly prepared the economic and political ground for the March 11 coup (the PPD and CDS being examples); rather, this goal will be attained by measures that the workers will demand: nationalization of the big industrial and agricultural enterprises, nationalization of foreign and wholesale trade, agrarian reform (giving the product of the land to those that till it), establishment of workers control over production and capitalist commerce. Hence, only a government of the workers — d govemment of the workers parties and organizations,
resting on the mobilization and permanent organizafion of the working masses - will be able to effectively combat capitalist reaction and prepare the conditions for the abolition of capitalist exploitation and for the building of socialism. The experience of March 11 and what followed demonstrates to the workers and the revolutionary forces that it is not possible to bequeath the title of "guarantor and motor force of the revolutionary process" to the armed forces and the MFA (as the MFA demands in its pact); it also demonstrates that the "consolidation and extension of the democratic conquests already won" must not be sought through concluding such agreements. Finally, it proves that the parties that are really interested in such "consolidation and extension" are those that rest on the ground of the unity and independence of the struggle of the workers for the socialist revolution and do not pursue the policy of class collaboration. 6. Finally, it is more important for us to offer our principled position against a compromise of principle that is demanded of us than it is to discuss the internal logic of the constitutional platform proposed by the MFA. But there is one concrete point we would not like to ignore: the predominant role as center of political decision-making in the constitufional structure of the country that is to be played by the MEA and the Council of the Revolution, at least according to the MEA's draft agreement. Whatever may be the intentions of the authors of the project of institutionalization and whatever significance progressive elements of the MFA may at-
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tribute to the institutionalization, sooner or later there can be but one resuit of such a process (inasmuch as it presupposes the absence or elimination of the contradictions between the irreconcilable interests of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat and envisages the conquests of the working class and its organizations as occurring through collaboration with the bourgeoisie, under the tutelage of the MA): the MA's de facto acquiescence in the regrouping and recomposition of capitalist reaction; hence, the institutional strengthening of the right. within the government apparatus can enable the right to use this situation increasingly to limit the conquests of the workers and to block the revolufionary process. 7. Thus, at the same time as we refuse to sign such a pact with the capitalist political parties, we also address an appeal to the progressive elements of the MFA: Let them strengthen their adherence to the enticapita list movement of the workers, pass to the camp formed by the alliance of workers and soldiers, and, in this way, not oppose themselves to the independent organizations of the soldiers in the barracks, to the soldiers' democratic right to hold meetings, discuss, and organize trade unions; let them refuse to repress the struggles of the workers in the factories and in the streets; let them combat any new attempt by reaction to launch an attack on the rights and conquests of the toiling masses, whether it comes from inside or outside the armed forces. Liga Comunista Internacionalista (sympathizing organization of the Fourth International April 4, 1975 just out-vol.2 no.4 ..Workers Self-Management
The Economic Impasse of British Imperialism •.....Portugal - One Year of Turmoil
•Decolonization in "Portuguese Africa"
The Class Struggle in Europe
Chile: The Coup and After
Britain: One Year after the Miners' Strike
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