[The following is a translation of "El PC Portugués, Guardián del Capitalismo," which appears elsewhere in this issue.]
Lisbon
Portuguese capitalism was committing suicide with the Caetano regime. As a result, the armed forces had to overthrow it as the best way to save the system.
However, they could not prevent the masses from launching a struggle to achieve their most urgent demands. The military government preferred not to resort to violent repression. They preferred, instead, to use the Socialist party and, above all, the Communist party to restrain the masses.
The CP is devoting all its energy to carrying out that task. CP General Secretary Alvaro Cunhal is one of the ministers without portfolio. Another Communist, Avelino Gonçalves, is minister of labor. Unfortunately, the Intersindical, the embryo of a trade-union federation, is also in the hands of this party and is its main instrument for braking the struggles.
In an interview published June 4, Gonçalves made some very telling statements:
"Ideological homogeneity in the government would not serve the national interest better than the differentiations that characterize the provisional government at this time. The fundamental thing was to establish a new governmental coalition that would win the confidence of the great majority of the Portuguese people."
This means that it is better to have a bourgeois government where the CP acts to "win the confidence" of the workers, than a socialist government with "ideological homogeneity."
When asked about the "points of tension" between his ministry and the Ministry of Economic Coordination, Gonçalves answered:
"It would not be correct to speak of points of tension among the ministries. There does exist a serious contradiction between the level of the just demands of the workers and the degree to which it is possible to satisfy them. To overcome this contradiction, a close collaboration between the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Economic Coordination is necessary. This collaboration must be tied to a
ALVARO CUNHAL
clear unity of objectives among the ministries and to a strong popular support. I would say that if 'tensions' exist, they are the road along which a common effort at national recovery must pass."
Who is this minister of the economy with whom a "close collaboration" is necessary within a "clear unity of objectives" and with whom "a common effort at national recovery" is to be made?
He is Dr. Vasco Vieira de Almeida, who has successively been underdirector, general director, and administrator of the Banco Português do Atlântico [Portuguese Bank of the Atlantic]; administrator of the Sociedade Anónima Concessionária da Refina- ção de Petróleos em Portugal [Portuguese Petroleum Refining Corporation, Inc.l: vice-president of the Chamnon, Inc.]; vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce; head of commercial missions to Japan and Brazil; author of various articles published in the Financial Times, the American Banker, etc.; administrator of the Sociedade Nacional de Petróleos SARL [National Association of Petroleum SARL]; vice-president of the administrative council of the Banque Franco-Portugaise d'Outre-Mer [Franco- Portuguese Overseas Bank]; administrator of the Lissabon Bank A.G.
[Lisbon Bank, Inc.]; and president of the Crédito Predial Português [Portuguese Real Estate Credit Association].
As is clear, this gentleman did not do so badly during the previous regime. But now he is serving his class better from the Ministry of Economic Coordination.
Gonçalves, who was a bank employee and union leader during the previous regime, is now serving his bosses' interests better.
We should not find it strange that the minimum wage 3,300 escudos [about US$150] a month, which is not applicable to rural and domestic workers) does not satisfy the needs of the workers. The minister of labor explains it to us as a function of the interests that granted the increase:
"You must not forget what economie system and conjunctural context these measures are part of. In the very logic of the capitalist economic system, starvation wages end up causing serious disturbances sooner or later. Any economic breakthrough necessitates the eradication of starvation and the establishment of minimal living conditions for all workers. This is the reason why the need for a national minimum wage was posed. It will take the form of a progressive scale starting from a reasonable base, which will begin to function immediately."
When asked why the government was permitting a handful of persons to obtain exorbitant profits in a country where the wages are so low, Gon- çalves answered:
"With regard to the exorbitant profits of a tiny minority, well... these gains do not have the same economic consequences as the small salaries of the masses."
To the question of whether the new labor law would prohibit firings without justifiable cause, he answered:
"I would not be able to give any categorical guarantees on that. To prohibit firings without justifiable cause is a beautiful aspiration of the workers. But we ought to distinguish punitive firings from simple unjustified firings. Any law that is not adapted to the social realities always runs the risk of not being carried out."
Lest it appear that these are personal positions of the minister of labor, the Communist party editorialized in its paper, Avante:
"The Communist party has already made its position clear on the previously mentioned events [strikes]. The Communist party does not have two political lines — one inside the provisional government in which it participates in its own right, and another outside it."
And later on: "The task of the provisional government is not easy. The steps that it has energetically taken up to now are an important factor in cleaning up the political, social, and economic scene. But now the workers have the floor. They have to prove their political maturity and their sense of responsibility."
The slogan of the Communist party is, "Against anarchistic strikes that favor fascism."
And what are these strikes that "favor faseism"? Strikes in which the workers fight for their most elementary demands, which they could not do for forty-eight years. Strikes demanding the kicking out of the servile bosses of the former regime, who are now venting their anger on the workers. It is clear that those who "favor fascism" are not the rank-andfile workers, but those who put a brake on, and fight against, their strikes.
Here are some examples of these strikes, which supposedly favor fascism:
- The workers at the PROPAM yeast factory were demanding the resignation of the current administration for incompetence and abusiveness. They called the Intersindical-and the police appeared instead.
- Tannery workers in Oporto also asked for the dismissal of some administrators linked to the previous regime.
- The workers at the Manuel Gon- çalves textile plant asked for wage increases and fringe benefits. They explained that "management cannot and should not complain about a lack of financial resources. Not only because this is the largest factory of its type in the country, but also because last year they ended up with a profit of close to 200 million escudos."
- FIAT reported to its workers that the rejection of their request was in compliance with the directives of the Ministry of Labor, the Council of Ministers, and the Intersindical.
Finally, on the colonial question, the slogan of the CP is not to demand an end to colonialism, or anything like that. They call for "a political solution," which does not rule out the continuation of colonialism.