[The following articles appeared in the November 2 issue of La Gauche, the weekly paper of the LRT (Ligue Révolutionnaire des Travailleurs - Revolutionary Workers League, Belgian section of the Fourth International). The translation is by Intercontinental Press.]
The Ghent section of the LRT organized a meeting on Chile on October 25. Until then it had seemed impossible to get all the workers organizations together for a joint meeting of solidarity with the Chilean people, and consequently different organizations have preferred to work separately. So our comrades decided to call on militants from various workers organizations to address the meeting. In fact, they believed that resistance to the Chilean junta is the business of the whole workers movement and that everything had to be done to unite the various groups on this issue.
Thus, the featured speakers included Ernest Mandel, member of the Political Bureau of the LRT; Jef Turf, vicepresident of the PCB [Parti Communiste Belge- Belgian Communist party]; and Piet Van Eeckhout, municipal councilor of the PSB [Parti Socialiste Belge - Belgian Socialist party]. Despite prior agreement, a speaker from the FGTB [Fédération Générale des Travailleurs de Belgique- Belgian General Federation of Workers] was unable to participate.
The public decidely appreciated such an initiative, as was proven by the large attendence. With an audience of some 400 persons, this event was by far the most important of all the Chile meetings that have been held in Ghent during the past few weeks. This was also the only meeting that was able to attract several dozen trade-union militants from factories in the Ghent region.
In his introduction, the chairman, E. Corijn, pointed out the twofold importance of such meetings. First, it could be the beginning of collaboration on a regional scale of various organizations in the framework of a Chile front. Secondly, the Chilean experience is of such crucial importance for the world working class that, after three years of the Allende regime, it is imperative that we draw the lessons for our own struggle against capitalism.
Each of the three speakers got half an hour to present his point of view. Ernest Mandel pointed out that the Chilean defeat proved once again that it is impossible to maintain a so-called mixed economy. Either the economy is capitalist, is centered on maximizing profit, and the workers wages are held as low as possible, or else the economy is planned, based on the collectivization of the means of production.
Mandel spoke of the role of the state as the second important lesson.
The state apparatus is an instrument controlled by the bourgeoisie to protect its economic system. When the class struggle comes to challenge bourgeois profit, the bourgeoisie will opt for a massacre, and in so doing will trample under foot all its laws.
In no way can the conclusion be drawn from this that the workers' only alternative is class collaboration or defeat. Victory is possible if the masses build their own independent organs of power, workers councils and peasants councils.
Jef Turf recalled the achievements of the Allende regime and spoke of the constant intervention of the multinational trusts and the CIA. They are the cause of the overthrow of Allende, who adhered to legality. However, it is impossible, Turf said, for us to draw lessons from something that happened so far away from us. The Chileans themselves must do that. We can only state that the rightist danger is also present here and that the only answer is a front of all progressive forces with the goal of broadening democracy.
Piet Van Eeckhout (PSB) quoted excerpts from Allende's address to the United Nations at the end of 1972, in which he described the way he would be overthrown. He vehemently attacked the attitude of the Belgian government, which despite everything had maintained diplomatic relations with Chile. Van Eeckhout also said he could not give an analysis of the recent events in Chile because not enough information was available. But what was clear, he said, was that people on the left must stop arguing and form a single front.
The floor was then opened up. A comrade from AMADA [Alle Macht aan de Arbeiders-All Power to the Workers] gave a forceful speech detailing the contrast between the PCB's attitude and Leninist conceptions, citing quotations from Turf, Lenin, and Dimitrov. Several of those speaking from the audience dealt with the problem of armed struggle, and reference was also made to the unprincipled stand of the Kremlin, which was still willing to play a soccer game for the World Cup championship in Santiago, right in the stadium of terror.
In some of their replies the speakers especially took up the question of unity. Mandel stressed the fact that we are concerned with uniting party leaderships at the top. A specific program is indispensable for unity.
In contrast to the other Chile meetings at Ghent, this one did not end with a moment of silence for the Chilean victims, but with the singing of the "Internationale" as a symbol of the desire for active solidarity with the resistance.
This meeting was an important step toward building a front in Ghent. Each speaker called for unity and indicated agreement with the main slogans for Chile; so it does not seem that there should be any difficulty in moving on to actually setting up a front.
Of course, differences persist, and they are being discussed in a lively but comradely way. It has become clear that the formation of an anticapitalist front must involve more discussion on objectives and means of action. Nevertheless, the possibility exists, and it was demonstrated that evening, too.
The next day, at the employment office in the port of Ghent, the discussion did not seem to have ended. Small groups discussed unity among the workers parties.
If a Chile front is formed in Ghent, and if the various workers parties keep on discussing problems that are basic to the workers struggle, this meeting will have achieved a long-lasting result.