[We have translated the following
We have trondot flin article from the January 29 issue of the Belgian revolutionary-socialist weekly La Gauche.]
"To put a stop to speculation and hoarding, the Enragés (the far left] demanded that terror be introduced, that hoarders be punished by death, that the guillotine be set up permanently in the public squares..." (Daniel Guérin, La lutte de classes en France sous la Première République [Class Struggles in France Under the First Republic].)
In the November 27, 1970, issue of La Gauche, a few days after the abortive invasion attempt, we wrote: "In 1958, along with Algeria, Guinea took the lead of the independence struggle. Ten years later this country may become the symbol of the second wind of the African revolution."
And we added: "The advocates of neocolonialism, the advocates of a course on the Houphouet-Boigny pattern, are still numerous. The only way to put an end to their plotting and sabotage is to place all power in the hands of the people."
In fact, as the news from Conakry confirms, the formidable popular mobilization, which, after a few uncertain hours, inflicted a new Playa Girón on imperialism, created the conditions for a deepening socialist revolution. In particular, it produced a situation in which the first practical measures could be taken to eradicate neocolonialism.
Despite its revolutionary verbiage, and its real struggle against a certain kind of imperialism, the government that rules in Conakry remains fundamentally tied to American imperialism.
Moreover, these interests are gaining a firm footing in the coun- 164
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SEKOU TOURE
try through their bauxite mining in Boké. American capitalists are carrying on these operations under the cover of a mixed company in which the Guinean state is associated with the international trusts.
The class that holds power in these circumstances is a bourgeoisie being formed in the bureaucracy. By means of the levers it commands in the state apparatus, the government, and the party, and by basing itself on the support of American imperialism, this stratum has succeeded in capturing political power to the detriment of the popular masses.
The arming and mobilization of the people dangerously weakened the power of this bourgeoisie, which lacks capital and which has derived its strength solely from the support of foreign capitalism. Under the cover of mixed national companies, this ruling class has permitted foreign capitalist penetration of the country.
Ismael Touré, Sékou Touré's half brother, is notorious in Guinea as the No. I ally of the United States. Therefore it is, to say the least, paradoxical that he has set himself up as the great accuser of the counterrevolutionaries and the incarnation of revolutionary virtue.
No honest militant in Guinea, no worker, no poor villager has ever taken Ismael Touré's words for good coin. Everybody knows that for a few dollars this practiced griot [a kind of African family bard, or professional eulogist] will strike up the purest Maoist, socialist, or African exceptionalist tune, depending on who pays the piper.
Therefore, those who have set in motion a Jacobin terror machine in Conakry bear an immense responsibility before history. By erecting gallows in the public squares, they are trying to divert the people's anger toward scapegoats.
The fact is you can't promise the people the stars for ten years- while you take all the gravy, and engage in financial manipulation (currency deals), hoarding, graft, and speculation on a grand scale — without somebody having to pay a price.
A look at the figures who show up on the list of persons sentenced to death or hard labor shows what is happening. The Sékou Touré government has exploited the people's hatred of the Portuguese mercenaries and their African puppets to settle accounts with several rival factions of the Guinean bourgeoisie. (Although we might better describe the latter as elements who aspire to form such a class, since one did not exist, or existed only in a very embryonic form, at the time of independence.)
On this list we find Lebanese, the perpetual fall guys, always mere front men for the big Guinean merchants. There are also West German citizens, who make good trophies for those anxious to regain their anti-imperialist reputations. There are Touré's old ivals from the colonial period, representing a faction of the traditional chiefs (Ibrahim Barry, the so-called Barry III).
Finally the list includes some former members of the government who were too greedy in picking up quick personal fortunes (e.g., Camara Balla, former minister of foreign trade; and Seydou Conte, former minister of national education).
As regards the last category, it is significant that there has been no publie discussion of their "large-scale activities to undermine the national economy, in particular by currency speculation." Probing into these gears might expose the whole mechanism that makes the system run. Therefore, the authorities prefer to use the amalgam technique, dumping all the persons accused into the same sack.
The whole process of cultural revolution initiated in 1967 was supposed to lead to challenging the power of imperialism (including in Boké), of neocolonialism, and of the bureaucratic bourgeoisie.
Today the whole population has mobilized in one great surge against the mercenaries and the invaders. But from the Parti Démocratique de Guinée [Guinean Democratic party] organ Horoya and from the language of Radio Conakry, it seems that all propaganda for the Socialist Cultural propaganda for the socialist Cultural Revolution has been put under wraps. Even the word "socialism" is again being carefully expunged from official statements.
So the Guinean Democratic party lett wing has capitulated completely to the right, which favors an alliance with Washington. The left wing has missed a unique opportunity. The popular mobilization gave it the chance to strike substantial, decisive blows against the real causes of the country's stagnating in the web of neocapitalism, and against the bureaucratic bourgeoisie that is maintaining itself in power through an alance with American imperialism.
As a result of this failure, we are seeing a repeat performance in Guinea of the sinister scenario of the terror February 22, 1971
that France experienced under the First Republic, and whose mechanisms Daniel Guérin admirably illuminated in the light of the theory of permanent revolution.
A process similar to what occurred in the French revolution has started in Guinea. The extremely low level of the productive forces in the African country gives rise to particularly difficult objective conditions for beginning socialist construction. It is possible to begin building socialism in Guinea, but success would depend on unselfish aid from the most advanced workers states. However, the seizure of political power in these workers states by a bureaucratic caste means that only a trickle of aid is forthcoming and even that is dependent on diplomatic considerations. Thus isowill ultimately turn their anger against their most dangerous enemies.
The acolytes of imperialism, the hypocritical defenders of Western "civilization," are trying to take advantage of the terror unfolding in Guinea to discredit the revolution. They were less quick to protest when the allies of French imperialism, momentarily in power in the Cameroons, shot Ernest Ouandié and his companions. These men's only crime was to fight arms in hand against a corrupt and exploitive regime.
But these hypocrites would do well to stop and think before they weep their crocodile tears. Their friends, the American imperialists, who have just given a colossal gift of blood money to the very people setting up the gallows, will soon be totally unmasked.