after the last rebel units had surrendered. Communist ministers were jubilant.
i ne. Azevedo government nas reason io be jubilant. The coup, sparked off by ultra-lent groups sucn as ine Mas & PRP, has played into their hands. i nas civen unem a fone-awaited excuse to re-establish their crumbling sower through a series of repressive moves they would never have dared undertake in the preceding weeks. By purging over a hundred left-wing officers and dissolving all rank-and file opposition - as in the SAVs -they have already gained monopoly control in the armed forces. Guaranteeing a 'loyal' army is a vital first step in altering the balance of class forces in Portugal.
It provides the government with a key lever in beginning to curb the upsurge in ine workers movement which reduced it to near paralysis in november - an uosurce culminating in the mass metal workers! sirike or ine seice or ine covernment by ine construction workers calling "or a narona minimum wader Although this will be no easy task, "ne Azevedo covernment nas aireddy begun to erode democratic rights won A CUTeW has been imposed in Lisbon, leftwing leaders hunted and the press is being censored as left-wing sympathsers are purged from editorial boards of papers in Lisbon and in Oporto.
Whatever the pretext offered for the The abortive coup by left-wing army units in Lisbon last November marks a major set-back in the ongoing struggle in Portugal. Reporting only a few days the Guardian wrote that inonThey felt the main obstacle to orderly progress- the chronic disunity in the armed forces - had at last been removed.
shortly afterwards in the New York made it clear that even thouah most ot ine known lettists in ine multiary nave been ourced. tne military must lead ine revorution'. Popular Front Thegroups engaged in the coup didn't realise that, althougn the stalinists appeared more radical than ine socialist Party which had organised mass rallies in the north in support of the Azevedo regime, very little to choose between them politically. boin partles were merery manoeuvering to curry favour with the multary - ine true government in Portugal since the April 1974 coup -in order to boost their own number o The left's inability to grasp this is surprising since such squabbling over aaining portfolios in a capitalist government is not new. back to the period just after the Spinola coup in 1974 when both parties rushed to pledge support to the new Provisional government.
In the early days, the Communist Party which was prepared to make the most concessions to the Arm in its attempt to curt 'economic anarchy'. with ine millary, support anti-strike laws (calling the postal workers strike a provocalion'), drop all economic demands on benait or ine workers in ine 'ballie for production' and back the AFM's neo-colonial policies towards Mozambique and Angola.
It was this role of the Stalinists as the too ot ine ement which brought about their growing unpopularity. of workers, they thrust them towards and contributed towards the latter's election success in April 1975.
Sensing this lack of support, the AFM realised that the Stalinists were less effective in curbing the the workers' movement than the Socialist Farty wnicn was, success, manoeuvering for greater representation. that eventually led to the downfall of the Concalves government, the CP, in favour of the Azevedo one by T.Roberts he still felt that the entire movement.
Alternative within such a situation, which they have there was in reality ineir sectarlan such a position.
left of the Communist and It can be traced of course, it was Marian campaign launched, To curry favour of course bv the AFM between uner.
AFM in the labour movAlienating large layers United Front upsurge in after its election It was this recognitior relying on One of the key tasks for socialists, would nave been to call upon the workers parties to unite against the military (to pandered) and cease squabbles, The fact that in the April elections last year almost 60% of the electors supported the two main workers' parties would seem to indicate that there would be a great deal of popular support for Unfortunately, those groups to the Socialist parties were totally unable to offer such a perspective. Far from trying to break the workers parties Trom collaboration with the military, Une) were themselves captivated by the demagogy of 'left! leaders such as Carvalho. Groups such as the MES and PRP totally supported the sectlast vuly, by the 'lefts! of the AFM against the Constituent Assembly and in tavour of 'revolutionary councils', dominatec Far from trying to create a united front of the workers! parties, they themselves became increasingly instrumental in deepening the split The creation ot ine FUR last August (the Revolutionary United Front involving groups from the MES to the LCI) was essentially a tool in the hands ot ine communis Party in their sectarian campaign against the socialists who were soon designated as 'social fascists!.
Ine coup towards the end of November represented the impasse of such a political line which has helped to set back the entire workers' movement.
Far from tying the workers movement to the AFM, as the left groups have tried to do by boosting figures like Carvalho, the main thrust ought to have been to fight to break the workers' parties from the military by calling on them to form a workers! government. This thrust is even more important today as the military use the excuse of the 'coup' to clamp down on ine workers' movement.
The way to implement such a government is by centering all attention on the right of the Constituent Assembly - reduced in the pasteto a rubber stamp by the military - to exist and function as the sole democratically ele orders go poment, based on Calling for a workers' government, tne constituent Assemory. gives a focal point to the workers' movement independent of the military and unites it in opposition to any further acts of repression, The neighbourhood and workers' commissions that exist in various parts of the country - enthusiastically endorsed by the ultra-lett as part of the CP/AFM 'Peoples! Power' scheme of last April - offer no alternative at this stage. hese commissions small, fragmented and often dominated by small groups, layers or workers wno see inem ds undemocratically trying to impose the will of a minority. by using inese oreans to insultute coventurist acts a such as bie coup itself - the ultra-left have sought to avoid the central question in Portugal today: how break the allegiance of the masses to Cunhal or Soares? Calling for a workers! government, •basec or the Constituent Assembly, to defend the democratic rights and economic interests of the workers & their allies could begin to do just that.
It could begin to show increasing layers the bankrupcy of both parties in practice and, thereby, open up the wav for a real socialist solution. Up to the present, instead of putting the reformist leaders on the spot, they have been allowed to get away with their class-colladorationist policies almost scot-tree
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Soares! Socialist Party (which made great play about defending democracy)