Vol. 5, No. 6 February 10, 1967
100,000 WORKERS DEMONSTRATE IN MADRID
The street demonstration undertaken by 3,000 workers at Standard Electrica in Madrid at the end of December [see World Outlook January 20, p. 74] appears to have touched off a movement that has swept all of Spain, involving more and more workers and also bringing sectors of the students into action. The Franco regime faces a difficult situation, perhaps the most difficult since the fascist seizure of power.
Following the sitdown strike of 13,000 workers at four Standard Electrica plants on January 2, which succeeded in winning the release of six leaders who had been arrested for heading the street demonstration, workers in other areas went into action or began exerting more pressure in behalf of demands they had already advanced. In Bilbao, for instance, 600 metal workers on strike since the beginning of December decided to continue their action even if the government labor court decided against them. The decision was made at a meeting attended by a thousand workers. A message indicating the broad support
New York, N. Y. 10010. HPs
they were receiving was read. Sent by some Basque intellectuals, the message declared:
"The strike you are conducting is a symbol for all those who, like us, are struggling for the establishment of a worthy society. Strikes defend the interests of the country's democratic forces." .
In Madrid on January 24 and 25 thousands of clandestine leaflets were distributed appealing to the workers to assemble on January 27 at five different points to demand trade-union freedom and higher wages.
The authorities responded by banning the demonstration and announcing that both leaders and participants would be arrested. The police claimed that the workers' slogans “emanated from countries behind the iron curtain."
On January 27 Madrid witnessed the largest demonstration of workers since the end of the civil war.
Almost all of the workers in the industrial suburbs, some 100,000, refused to utilize the buses assembled every day to transport them to and from work. Instead they marched in long columns toward the city. This action was designed as a protest against the refusal of the government to consult them in drafting new labor legislation.
Armed police and gendarmes blocked access to the city and two helicopters directed operations aimed at breaking up the demonstration. Nevertheless thousands of workers managed to make their way into the city where they converged at certain points, shouting, "Freedom! Freedom!"
Skirmishes between the police and demonstrators broke out and a large number of persons were beaten.
The students utilized the occasion to show their solidarity with the workers. They organized a demonstration on the university campus. This was dispersed by the police. A thousand students thereupon barricaded themselves in the law and philosophy schools where they held out for six hours. The police smashed down the doors to break up the demonstration and arrested 20 students. They were carted off to jail where 150 workers were also being held.
The workers continued to demonstrate on the following day, about 30,000 of them in 11 of the biggest plants staging a sitdown strike. They demanded the immediate release of those who had been arrested the previous day. The response of the police was to make still further arrests.
In an airplane plant, 1,200 workers refused to leave. Around 7,000 workers in an automobile plant took similar action. At 4 a.m. the following morning squads of police were brought in to drive them out. By January 30, about 500 workers had been arrested.
The agitation continued January 31, again involving students in various areas. In Madrid the dean of the law school resigned in protest against the brutality displayed by the police and it was believed that the authorities were considering closing down the university indefinitely in view of the turbulence among the students.
In various parts of Spain protest actions were reported. In Barcelona, for instance, students were said to be preparing to broaden protest actions in behalf of Antonio Badia Margarit, a professor of philosophy, arrested January a4.
In face of the heavy pressure from the workers and. the students, the Madrid court of public order decided January 31 to release all those arrested in the disturbances in the massive demonstration of January 27.
Despite this concession, it was reported that tension remained high in Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona.
At the university in Madrid, closed for three days, hundreds of students denonstrated January 31, confronting the police assembled in the area with shouts of "Freedom! Freedom!" Anger among the students mounted still higher when it was learned that a student had allegedly committed suicide by hurling himself from the window of his sixth-floor apartment when police made a raid in search of "subversive" material.
In Valencia, 25 student delegates at a meeting preparing the first national congress of the Democratic Students were arrested. Their meeting had been banned.
In Barcelona January 31 the students decided on a 48-hour strike. Some 200 to 300
students began action immediately. They were attacked by police, who dispersed them and © arrested five of the demonstrators.
On the following day, 15,000 students were on strike in Barcelona and the police were faced with the problem of trying to contain them. The governor of Barcelona issued an ultimatum saying that the government would no longer tolerate the. threat to public order and would put down the demonstrators with “the maximum energy.
The Franco regime is meeting the new wave of unrest as it has every such movement -- with police clubs. It remains to be seen whether this will once again prove sufficient to put down the forces seeking fo break out of the fascist straitjacket.. :
FASCIST SHOOTS DOWN YOUNG COMMUNIST IN LONDON
Tony Bloom, 23, a member of the Young Communist League, was shot in the stomach while standing.on the pavement with a group of his comrades outside a pub in the St. Pancras area of London at closing time January 29.
The man charged with ‘the attempted murder,‘ Ronald Antioni Gaston Tielemans, a4, an electronics engineer, was part of a group which had given the Nazi salute some minutes before inside the: public house.
Besides Thielemans, police arrested Arthur Roy Smith, a4, a laboratory technician, and Edward Michael Groves, .24, unemployed. Smith and Groves were charged with unlawful possession of arms. Smith is: accused of having 492 rounds of ammunition, seven revolvers, four automatic pistols, three rifles, one rifle in three parts and one rifle action. Groves is accused of having 498 rounds of ammunition three rifles, one revolver and one automatic pistol.
As reported by the London press, Tony Bloom was with a group of friends’ in "The Dolphin." It was there that they first encountered the fascists.
Robin Wolfenden, 21, an engineering student.and friend of Tony bloom, deseribea the attack and the incidents leading up to it as follows, according to the January. aa ‘Evening Standard: :
"Four chaps and a girl came into the pub and -we started arguing politics with them. At closing time, the blokes stood up and gave a Nazi salute.
"The argument went on outside the pub and I saw a gun being waved in the face of one of our crowd."
The two groups separated and the fascists got into their automobile and drove off.
"We stood around chatting on the pavement," Wolfenden continued. "The van came along the street and as it drew near us an arm came out of the window holding the gun. Four shots were fired. Tony ~- standing only a foot away from me -~ fell to the pavement. ;
as don't snow how they missed me. It was a miracle I wasn't bit."
Police later located the Morris station wagon and chased it. As they closed in, they were fired at. The police confiscated a Mauser automatic pistol when they made the arrests. .
The January 31 Morning Star, the Communist daily, reported that Tony Bloom was recovering after a difficult operation to remove the.-bullet from his stomach. It had passed through his spleen. A few inches higher and it would have hit his heart.
"A member of the Young Communist League for five years," said the Morning Star, "Tony works. as a messenger at.the Sun newspaper. He is Lambeth branch treasurer of the Y¥.C.L., a chapel official of his union (Sogat) and an active supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament." His parents, John and Millie Bloom, -have been members (of the Communist party since the thirties. ; Messages can be sent to Tony Bloom at Ward 13, University College Hospital, Gower Street, London, W.C.1.
Interview with Peng Shu-tse
MAO'S "CULTURAL REVOLUTION"
‘[The following is the text of an interview which Antonio Farien obtained with Peng Shu-tse January 20 on the latest developments in the "cultural revolution" in China. Peng Shu-tse was one of the founders of the Chinese Communist party and a leader in the 1925-27 revolution which ended in a.tragic defeat at the hands of Chiang Kai-shek due. to the disastrous policies which Stalin compelled the young party to follow. Upon drawing the lessons of the defeat, Peng Shu-tse and Chen Tu-hsiu, the father of Chinese conmunism, were astounded to discover that Leon Trotsky had anticipated what had happened. For spreading this information and their approval.of Trotsky's analysis, they were expelled on charges of "Trotskyism." A little later the two leaders joined in founding the Chinese Trotskyist movement. During the thirties, they were arrested by Chiang Kaishek's political. police and imprisoned for many years. Many other Trotskyists were butchered by Chiang during this difficult period.
[Upon the victory of the revolution in 1949 the Chinese Trotskyist movement sought to work with the Mao:.regime; but Mao's pol~ icy was to arrest and imprison anyone even suspected of "Trotskyism." Some of the Trotskyists arbitrarily arrested in 1952 are still in prison in China. Despite this they MAO TSE-TUNG remain firm partisans of the Chinese Revolution to which. they dedicated their lives as revolutionary-minded youths. They are for the unconditional defense of China-against imperialism. At the same time -- and this is their real crime in the eyes of the regime -- they are protagonists of proletarian democracy in accordance with the program outlined in Lenin's work State and Revolution. Because of the antidemocratic practices of the regime, they have advocated that the Chinese masses undertake a revolutionary struggle to install proletarian forms of democratic rule such as soviets or councils. ]
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Question: Because of all the news accounts of the events in Peking and Shanghai,
that China might be on the brink of a civil war. What do you think about this possibility?
Answer: The struggle between the two main factions -- pro-Mao and anti-Mao -~- has developed to a very critical stage in the last few weeks. Such things as the recent strikes by the workers in the cities of Peking, Shanghai, Kwangtung and many other places, especially the fierce clashes in Nanking, where it has been reported that more than fifty people were killed and several hundred were injured, demonstrate quite clearly the seriousness of the conflict between the two factions.
If this news is true, then it is certain that the struggle inside the party has become much more critical and is finding expression in the toiling masses outside the party. If such a situation continues, it is of course possible that it will lead to a civil.war..However, in order to speak about the possibilities of a civil war, it is necessary to look at the evolution of Mao's so-called cultural revolution over the past several months.
Q: “Could you outline some of the’ most important aspects of that evolution?
: A: In order to explain the recent’ developments. it: is necessary to.recall the previous interview I had with you last June. [See World Outlook August 12, 1966.] In that interview I explained the development of the present divisions in the party which began at the time of the failure of the "Great Leap Forward" program when many intellectuals, and even a few top party leaders openly expressed discontent and were critical of many domestic and foreign policies arbitrarily instituted by Mao; and they even went so far as to call into question Mao's leadership capacities. This, then, was the origin of the
MAO TSE-TUNG
factions as they are more or less presently constituted.
What seems to have precipitated the present crisis and heightened it, however, >was the question of foreign policy -- the continuing isolation of China in general, and the defeat in Indonesia in particular.
Just after the Indonesian coup d'état there was a meeting of high officials of the party. At this meeting it was reported that Peng Chen said "everyone is equal before the truth" and that if Chairman Mao has made some mistakes, he should also be criticized. Tt seems that Mao suffered a setback at this meeting.
It was shortly after this that he left Peking for Shanghai -- the end of October or the beginning of November 1965 -- where he immediately began to secretly organize the "cultural revolution.
During the period when Mao was in Shanghai -- about.six months -- he was out of public view, and it was at this time that the press began to speculate about his health. It seems that Mao chose Shanghai as his base of operations because he thought the party officials there were loyal to him.
Mao began by attacking many cultural leaders, especially writers, such as Wu Han and Teng To, who had written many unfavorable things about him and his programs in the past. The campaign: increased in intensity until finally Peng Chen and the whole Party Municipal Committee of Peking were purged and the committee was reorganized. This was shortly followed by the purge of Iu Ting-yi and Chou Yang -- who were respectively heads of the Center of Propaganda Department of the party and Minister of Culture -- along with other high officials of the state and party in the cultural field...
Mao ordered all the universities and middle schools (high schools) closed, and many famous educators such as the presidents of Peking University, Wu Han University, Nanking University and others were purged.
Such large-scale actions and purges aroused many of the. top leaders such as Liu Shao-chi and Teng Hsiao-ping, along with many regional leaderships, and caused new antagonisms among the different tendencies.
Mao carried out his actions and purges by relying on the army, led by Lin Piao. For example, Lin Piao sent troops at the end of April 1966 to occupy the offices of the Peking Municipal Committee in order to remove Peng Chen and the other leaders.
“Under such conditions Liu Shao-chi and other leaders felt the situation to be very serious, and they began to unite against Mao's so-called eultural revolution.
Q: Are there any concrete facts which prove that: ‘some of the top leaders -began_to to organize at this time: against Mao and the “cultural revolution?"
A: Yes, there are. However, in order to be able to see it clearly, I must explain a ‘little about the structure of the leadership in the party. The decision-making body of the CPC [Chinese Communist party] is the Central Political Bureau. In addition to this bureau there are six regional bureaus -- the North Bureau, the Central South Bureau, the East Bureau, the Northeast Bureau, the Northwest Bureau, and the Southwest Bureau. Each of these bureaus directs several provinces or administrative areas. Each is very powerful. They are in charge of the direction of the party, the local governments and the army in their region.
The leaders of two of these six bureaus, that is the first secretaries, such as Li Hsueh-feng of the North Bureau and Liu Lan-tao of the Northwest Bureau, have in the past collaborated very closely with Liu Shao-chi.
Li Ching-chuan, first secretary of the Southwest Bureau, and Sung Jen-chung , first secretary of the Northeast Bureau, are close to Teng Hsiao-ping.
The removal of Peng Chen from office by Mao, with the help of the army, caused these bureau leaders, along with Liu Shao-chi and Teng Hsiao-ping, to be worried that they might suffer a similar fate, and they began to unite their forces against ‘Mao. The leaders of especially the Northwest and Southwest Bureaus took a passive attitude toward Mao's "cultural revolution," and at times even actively resisted it. For example, when Peng Chen was dismissed the beginning of last June, Mao organized a central "cultural revolutionary" group. Mao made his former private secretary, Chen Po-ta, the chairman of the group, and his wife, Chiang Ching, first vice-chairwoman.
This group sent. representatives to the provinces in order: to organize the "cul-—
tural revolution. However, many groups were resisted by the provincial leaderships, especially in oes ‘tou bureaus I mentioned earlier. This resistance was attacked in an editorial of the People's Daily (Jenmin. Jih Pao),: July 1,-1966. _. Ce
The most “important event, however, occurred in June-July 1966. During, ‘this. time. . Mao left Peking for south China. In his absence, Liu Shao-chi, as first vice-chairman of the party, prepared: to call an emergency meeting of the Central. Committee. in order to decide anew the policies of the "cultural revolution," to put.pressure on Mao and pos- | sibly to remove him. from the leadership of the-party. At about. the. same time Peng Chen. was sent to the Northwest and Southwest bureaus to talk with the leaders there about. the current situation, and about the emergency meeting of the Central Committee.
‘Around the tenth. of July Peng returned to Peking with the members of. the Central Committee from these bureaus for the emergency meeting, the date of which had been set by the Central Political Bureau for July 21. Mao, who was still in south China, sent a message. to the Central Political Bureau asking them to delay.the emergency meeting in order that he might be able to attend. At. the same. time, Lin Piao surrounded. Peking with many troops, and it was'under this’ threat that Liu Shao-chi and Teng Hsiao-ping x retreated by rescheduling the Central Committee meeting for the first of August. @
Lin Piao's army remained just outside the city during the plenum meeting of the Central Committee, and it was at. this time that the decisions "Concerning the Great Proletarian Cultural, Revolution" were adopted. The plenum also took decisions to organize.. the "Red Guards" and to reorganize the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau. It was through this reorganization that Mao was able to gain firm control.of the Standing Com-. mittee. by selecting and placing on it three of his closest supporters. ‘They were Tao Chu, Chen Po-ta and Kang Sheng.* — a.
-Mao, along with Lin Piao, also opened up a fierce attack on Liu Shao-chi, and they removed him from his post of vice-chairman. Lin Piao took over as first. vice-chairman.
This plenum gave the "cultural revolution" a furious boost, and outlined as its objective "to struggle against and crush those persons in authority who are taking the capitalist road. "**. n
Q: Why. didn't Mao organize the purge through the the party. and its youth group instead of organizing the Red Guards? | ; A: This:dis a very important question, and. it should be given special attention and clearly explained. The CPC is very large. The membership of the party and its youth group, ‘for example, is almost equal to the whole population of France. There are approximately 50 million altogether -- 20 million in the party, and 30 million in the youth group. If there really existed a procapitalist tendency in the party, as Mao claims, and if he had any ‘confidence at all in the masses of the, party,-he would organize a democratic discussion inside the party which would, it seems, resolve the question very easily. ;
» However, the reality is the opposite, that is, no procapitalist tendency exists. It is even: unimaginable that the same, leaders of the party who struggled so many years against capitalism are, after conquering powery now struggling for capitalisn.
The fact is that those people whom Mao accuses of taking the procapitalist road are against Mao because. they believe that many of his policies, arbitrarily taken on many foreign and domestic issues, have endangered the prospects of. socialism.
Many cadres of the party, such as Teng To and Wu Han, whom I talked about in the last interview, are good examples and reflect the opinions of most of. the. rank and file in the party. and youth. They feel that Mao has made some mistakes and that it is absolutely necessary to correct them in order that China might continue her development toward socialism.
If ‘Mao organized any discussions. in the party, he. would place himself in great danger; and therefore he has tried to suppress all criticism. This is the reason Mao has utilized the army since the beginning of the "cultural revolution. "
The decisions taken by the August plenum ‘were only formalities. Mao was able to;
_* Ghe Standing Committee carries on the day-to-day work of the party. Five members in all are reported to have been added at this time. The other two were Chen Yi-and Li Fu-chun. ** Quoted from Peking Review No. 33, August 12, 1966, "Decision of the Central Committee of the CPC Concerning the Great Proletarian Cultural. Revolution," p..-6.