many’s aggressive drive for

on of frontiers and

of influence” equally

| the German people and
else.

after their defeat in
they face a changed

it Germany has enormous
mic strength, necessitating
markets, sources of raw ma-
‘and spheres of influence.

s contradiction between

jormous economic power

BACHMANN, chairman of the newly founded German
munist Party, talks about the German situation and the
jongress of his Party, in an interview with Alan Winnington.

war. Social Democratic collab-
oration with the enemies of the
working class has largely disarm-
ed the working class itself.

6

It is no longer enough to put
forward proposals. Each demand
must be realized by political ac-
tivity and struggle.

Now that a Communist Party
exists again, there is an alter-
native, not only for the workers
but for all progressive elements
in society, and especially the
youth whose revolt has spread
into diverse streams of “revolu-

i KAMPF

va Pboceenecns ERNEVERUNS

1M START UNO GRBELLOCHAFT

ee

>
rae
5:

of comparable political
is the hallmark of West
lan imperialism today.

) recent setbacks in
alist countries, the gen-
ency in the world is of
growth and the break-
colonialism.

o

changed world balance
West Germany’s expan-

answer is greater eco-
= concentration fused with
!power, while incorporating
ry aspect of social life cen-
authoritative systems to
in mastery at home and
domination abroad.
fest Germany's aggressive-
§ reflected in a new all-per-
® form of militarism. It is
iger possible to distinguish
the armaments and oth-
ries. All are fused to-

Ss

pansionist road has led
an people into catas-
‘twice. This is why the
ask now is to block this
ind open up an offensive
policy of peace.

parties in the Bonn Par-
it are united on a policy
only be achieved by

of resistance are grow-

il against the military

tship and the torture of
prisoners.

P unions are reappearing
ities, as workers‘ anger
against the arbitrary re-
the military authorities
ected union leaders.

countryside, rural asso-
are becoming active

Onal conference of bish-
Sao Paulo in February
an open letter to the
demanding re-installa-
| democratic rights.

ice by intellectuals has
ed. Musicians and ac-
formed an organization
regime. Student pro-

7) ee

tion” and “anarchy.”

Democratic renewal through
action is the core of the declara-
tion which our new Party has
made at its congress on the
weekend of April 12 and 13.

We fight for concrete immedi-
ate aims which can develop a
movement strong enough to
scotch the plans of West German
monopoly capital and bring so-
cial progress nearer.

Of greatest importance is the
call of the Warsaw Pact Powers
at Budapest for an all-European
conference for peace and securi-
ty.

Bonn plans to sabotage this
appeal by imposing unacceptable
conditions in exactly the same
way as they are trying to wreck
the non-proliferation treaty.

2

A step toward relaxation would
be an agreement with the other
German State — the German
Democratic Republic — over the
non-use of force, the renuncia-
tion of nuclear weapons and
arms limitation.

Bonn has tried to weaken the
G.D.R. but the G.D.R. simply
grew stronger. Any real secur-
ity in Europe demands an intel-
ligent policy toward the G.D.R.

tests in universities have taken
place, although on a small scale.
Underground student newspap-
ers circulate in the universities.

In the principal cities, in the
workers’ sections, universities,
church circles and among intel-
lectuals, a new underground
newspaper, ‘“Resistancia,” ex-
poses the torture of church offi-
cials and other political prison-
ers.

Hundreds of political prison-
ers, held without trial or protec-
tion of any lawyer, are put to
torture as horrible as anything in
the Middle Ages, except that to-
day electricity is used.

An example is given in a re-
port by a 16-year-old left-wing
student, held and tortured from
Jan. 16 to Feb. 5. His father, a

United action is necessary and
possible against the threat of
neo-nazism, for the defence of
democracy.

Together with the Emergency
Powers Act, the plans for “pre-
ventive arrest” include the cen-
tralization of police and secret
police and the registration of all
citizens in a computer system.

e

A perfect police State with
electronic control is in fact to be
realized in capitalist West Ger-
many in 1970,

Our struggle against neo-na-
zism is not limited to the Na-
tional Democratic Party, but
must embrace the whole social
structure which makes _neo-
nazism possible.

We want no more coalitions
of the old style. What West Ger-
many needs is an entirely new
coalition based on the people and
standing for a policy of Euro-
pean security and democracy at
home.

a

Such a government can devel-
op from the trade unions, the
Social Democrats and bourgeois
democrats, But any basic change
will only be possible if such
forces unite in joint action.

They exist in the Social De-
mocratic Party, youth and stu-
dent organizations, Church cir-
cles of the Christian Democrats.

In the fight for democratic re-
newal, the working class is the
main strength, and above all the
trade unions.

In this respect today no work-
er’s job is safe, profits soar and
real wages sink.

We shall seek every oppor-
tunity at every level to win unity
with the Social Democrats for
policies in the interest of the
working class.

We shall approach the Social
Democratic Party’s congress next
weekend with a proposal for
talks on united action at every
level. At all costs we must not
allow—as in 1933—such talks to
come when it is too late.

8

In the next Federal elections
we shall campaign as part of the
newly formed Action for Demo-
cratic Progress.

Our first Party congress on
April 12 and 13 has been a great
success, and this success rests
on the work that our members
have done in the six months
since its establishment was first
proposed.

In that short time we have al-
ready become a force to be rec-
koned with and our strength is
growing.

risoners tortured in Brazil

former municipal councillor and
deputy is still in the same pris-
on.

The teenager was questioned
by three police agents who, after
each time that he denied he was
engaged in political activity, sent
an electric charge through his
arms or legs.

They then took him into an-
other torture room where he
saw his father, half dead, tied,
naked, head down, to a metal
post and tortured with electric
shocks. In front of his father,
the boy was submitted to the
same torture.

The Communist Party of Brazil
is sending out appeals to all
countries urging committees of
solidarity be formed to help
Brazilian prisoners.

sical extermination.

becomes intolerable .

From a Greek prison

Below we publish a document which was smuggled out
of the Averoff prison.

The Appeal reads in part:

There are some 200 political prisoners in the Averoff
prison. The Junta government, as if our illegal arrest, sen-
tencing and imprisonment are not enough, has created
for us inhuman conditions, obviously aimed at our phy-

Despite such a large number of prisoners in the jail
there is actually no isolation ward. As a result sick people
with a temperature of 102 degrees remain in the cells with-
out any attention given them. We are kept locked in small
cells with gratings instead of windows 17 hours a day and
we breathe the stench of the cell can.

Due to the absence of heating in the winter and insuffi-
cient ventilation in the summer the situation in the cells

Actually the supervision of visits of relatives which are
restricted to 15 minutes has been turned over to the poli-
tical police in order to intimidate visitors.

It is prohibited to buy fresh products and to improve
one’s diet. Any intellectual work whatsoever is prohibited.
Lately the guards more frequently conduct searches. In
general, everything which to the slightest degree could
lighten our jail life has been banned.

We appeal to all citizens-democrats, to people of good-
will to raise their voice of protest in order to bring to
nought the plans of the Junta which is striving to achieve
our physical annihilation, and to still more resolutely de-
mand the freedom for all political prisoners and the res-
toration of a normal parliamentary life in our country.

Political Prisoners of the
Averoff prison,

March 20, 1969.

Averoff Prison.

U.S. backs down in
fight against Peru

By TOM FOLEY

When the U.S. backed down
from launching economic war
against Peru for its expropria-
tion of U.S.-owned oil proper-
ties, Peru’s president, General
Juan Velasco Alvarado, called it
“a triumph . . . a great victory
for Peru.” And last Thursday
Peru issued a commemorative
postage stamp marking the day
of the expropriation as a “Day
of National Dignity.”

The expropriation of the pro-
perty of a Standard Oil subsid-
iary in Peru last October was
the first action of its kind since
socialist Cuba began to national-
ize U.S. and other foreign prop-
erty 10 years ago.

What stiffened the resistance
of Peru’s military junta to enor-
mous U.S. pressure was the sup-
port of Peru’s working masses.
The General Confederation of
Peruvian Workers, formed last
June, made no secret of its op-
position to the junta’s internal
policies while it threw its full
support to the military leaders’
defense of Peruvian national
sovereignty.

The Peruvian Communist Party
which recently ended its 5th
Congress in Lima, issued an
appeal for a united national
front against imperialism. It
pointed out that Peru’s junta
differed from other Latin Ameri-
can military ruling groups, since
it was defending the national
interest in the oil expropriation
conflict. Formation of a united
anti-imperialist front, it said,
would counter any possible re-
actionary influences from the
Peruvian oligarchy on the junta
and keep it steady on its course.

Chilean, Argentine, and Col-
ombian observers at the Peru-
vian party congress stated they
would rally their peoples to the
support of Peru in the impend-
ing conflict with the U.S.

Expressions of support for
Peru came from every country
in Latin America, from Mexico
to Chile. And progressive forces
all over the world began to rally
public sentiment to back up the
small South American country
in its unequal battle with the
U.S. government.

Peru also defied the U.S. by
establishing trade relations with
a number of socialist countries
in mid-February of this year.
This gave Peru at least the pos-
sibility of successfully resisting
U.S. trade and aid cut-offs. For
U.S. policy-makers, it raised the -
horrible spectre of the socialist
world backing up a general La-
tin American struggle against
U.S. imperialism.

It may never be known pre-
cisely why the Nixon Adminis-
tration abruptly executed a 180
degree turn in its Peruvian poli-
cy, hastily cancelled its ultima-
tum to Peru’s government, and
re-interpreted its definition of
what constituted “reasonable”
negotiations.

However, the combination of
anti-imperialist forces behind
Peru was a vital factor in “help-
ing” the Nixon Administration
to make up its mind. U.S. State
Dept. sources indicated that the
probability that a U.S.-Peru
showdown would unleash a wave
of anti-imperialist actions all
over Latin America was one im-
portant consideration U.S. deci-
sion-makers took into account.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MAY 2, 1969—Page 7