Barreiro was undoubtedly chosen as
e congress site by the PCP because
the workingclass character of the city

Makes it compatible with the working-.

Mass character of the party itself —
More than 57% of the party’s member-
Ship are industrial workers and 13% are
*8ticultural workers.

thee tteiro is near Lisbon, just across
re broad expanse of the Tagus River.
jlleast it seems near until you try to get
tia, © — which involves either a ferry
de-plus-bis from near the Praca
ecto downtown or a roundabout
ve which begins with the crossing of
€April 25 Bridge (formerly named for
hated dictator, Salazar).
uch water has flowed under that
Saceful bridge since the April day in
an that witnessed the ‘(Carnation Re-
Ution.”” The reactionaries were
tik own into disarray by the democratic
ae of that event. But they have
fhreually recovered their boldness. In
us they have been assisted by the
“Cialist Party leadership.
yt having like traditional European-
: p € social-democrats, they refused to
ae as part of a majority parlia-
| ey government with the smaller
manuBuese Communist Party parlia-
hed contingent of 40 deputies, and
: ad permitted control of the gov-

‘tnment to pass into the hands of a

‘cties of right wingers. This culminated
ie despised government of Mota
Poe (who resigned the day after the
t Congress ended).
, All the maneuvering of the reat-
onaries has not succeeded in reversing
ti, achievements of the April Revolu-
n. But the declaration in the Por-
d Guese constitution that the nation is a
€Mocratic state on the road to
“0cialism has not been honored and, in
i Stegard of the constitution, efforts
; oe been made, not always unsuccess-
Y, to subvert April’s gains.
met despite these efforts the major
Ae the revolution, while impaired,
ref ain in effect, notably: the agrarian
rm and the nationalization of the
maj 8, the insurance companies and
rhea, Sections of basic industry. The
rey ution also helped expedite the ir-
€rsible decolonization of Portugal’s
“an empire.
State ot need not speculate on what the
have 5 the country would be if it did not
helped = Communist Party. This party
const; to achieve the most democratic
Burpaution of any country in Western
that Pe and has sirice sought to defend

ments. “Balities of rightwing govern-

liam It has led this struggle in par-
tk tent as well as among the masses in
 ;8Ctories and farms.

| reput € course of its work it has won a
t % n for honesty. It has thus won
hem; rect of its friends and its
: oie

accounts — at least in part—for
rom amie growth of the PCP. It went
Congr 15,000 members at the Eighth
“the fee (November 1976) to 165,000 at
largeat — a growth of 43%. It is the
Porty and most influential party in
Voteg AR (The Socialists get more
ie are a much smaller party.)
Make ,unist-Socialist unity would
Proble Possible the solution of many
Seeking The PCP, while constantly
rj ay Such unity, at the same time
Pg — the opportunist antics of the
by stat ently the Socialists are trying
Starteg to institutionalize what they
"~@ when they set up a labor federa-

ahs "

and Constitution against the maneuvers —
]

:

es ae

Two congress participants

tion to compete with the dominant In-
tersindal. The Socialists have drafted a
law which would, among other things,
legalize company unions. The many re-
trogressive features of this measure led
José Vitoriano, speaking on the trade
union question at the congress, to de-
nounce the proposed statute as having
been modelled on the fascist National
Work Statute. The existing unions are
being harassed in the factories by the
bosses in defiance of existing legisla-
tion. The unions will be ill-served by the
statute the PS is trying to put over on
them.

Three rounds of elections lie ahead
this year and next. In December 1979
thousands of officials and representa-
tives will be elected to local govern-
ments. Next year, perhaps even sooner,
a new parliament will be chosen. Then
will come the election of a president.

All this the Communist Party faces
confidently, even eagerly. This confi-
dence was evident when the Party Con-
gress opened in Barreiro. The delegates
had been preceded by thousands of vol-
unteers who — with paint, light, and
cloth streamers — transformed a drab,
stark athletics arena into a cheerful, at-
tractive and comfortable meeting place
for thousands of people (complete with
closed circuit TV and simultaneous
translation equipment). :

As one viewed the 1,750 Ninth Con-

Leaders and international guests on the dais att
* from the right.

gress delegates from the vantage point
of the press box, one could not help being
impressed not only by the confidence
they so obviously manifested but also by
their combativeness and determination
in the construction of a democratic Por-
tugal. These delegates conveyed an im-
pression of youth and discipline. They
were representative of a party in which
one-third of the members are under 30
years old and only 21.4% are over 50.

Fifty-eight fraternal foreign parties
were represented at the congress. The
delegates poured out their hearts in
welcome to these visitors. They came
from small progressive countries like
Afghanistan and Yemen; from the large
countries of Western Europe like Fr-
ance, Italy, and Spain; from the former
Portuguese colonies like Angola, Cape
Verde and Mozambique; and from the
great countries of socialism like Bul-
garia, Cuba, Czechoslovakia and the
Soviet Union. An especially moving
welcome was given to the Vietnamese
who were told, ‘‘The defeat of the
Chinese aggressors in heroic Vietnam
fills with joy the heart of the Portuguese
Communists.”

Emphasis thoroughout the Congress

was on the working people, the princi-
ples of Marxism-Leninism. and work-
ingclass internationalism.

In athree-hour address, Alvaro Cun-
hal, the PCP general secretary,

sketched the party’s growth and its
work since the Eighth Congress. He also
outlined the proposed course of the

party in the period ahead.

Antonio Gervasio reported on the ag-
ricultural. question, noting that ‘“‘land
reform has been the object of violent

‘hostility from the most retrograde

classes in our country.”’

Reaction is aggressively striving also
to reverse the important gains made by
the workers in industry. This was re-
lated by Domingo Abrantes, a member
of the party secretariat, who said: ‘“‘The
employers do not accept the deep trans-
formation made by the Revolution of
April.”” But he had no doubt that the
workers’ struggle ‘‘will finally impose

the democratic alternative necessary

for the construction of a democratic
Portugal, towards socialism.”

Carlos Carvalhas, an alternate
member of the central committee,
spoke on the proposal to integrate Por-
tugal into the Common Market. The
PCP strongly opposes this, seeing it as a
means to restore Portugal to the grip of
the large capitalists and landlords
under a system of state monopoly
capitalism. The fight against involve-
ment in the Common Market is part of
the PCP struggle against imperialism
and for Portuguese independence an
democracy. ;

Scores of delegates reported to the
congress on all areas of work and all
parts of the country. Before adjourning
on Sunday, the delegates, foreign repre-
sentatives, observers (plus, it must be
admitted, a few of us ladies and gentle-
men of the press) sang a few songs
which included the PCP anthem, Av-
ante and the Internationale.

During the singing each person put
an arm around the shoulders of the per-
son on either side of him or her. Thus
united, the bodies swayed to left and
right in the rows of delegates, row upon
row, scores of rows deep, so that —
viewed from above — the Ninth Con-
gress of the Portugal Communist Party
looked like a restless, powerful sea. It
was a mobile symbol of the party’s
unity.

As the delegates crossed back to Lis-
bon over the April 25 Bridge they could
see the mighty U.S. aircraft carrier
Eisenhower anchored in midstream
down toward the wide mouth of the
Tagus River. This powerful visitor from
NATO served as a reminder of what the
continuing struggle in Portugal is
largely about.

SRS RSS SS as °
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JULY 27, 1979—Page 5