4 RO it Mims hadi d doll emeadde lll IE ; By MARGRIT PITTMAN } _ Antonio Dias Lourenco is the | (ditor-in-chief of Avante! (“For- Ward!””), publication of the Por- tuguese Communist Party (PCP), and a member of his party’s Political bureau. | _ He was interviewed by the ; US. Daily World correspondent | x Margrit Pittman. | = e | _Q A new government (cabi- _ het) has been formed in Lisbon, the sixth provisional govern- Ment. What is the PCP’s attitude _ toward it and the PCP’s estim- ate of its program? | _A. The formation of the sixth | Provisional government is the } Tesult of extended and difficult } Regotiations between the chief _ Stces participating in Portugal’s | Political life, including the PCP. | 7 Our opinion the new govern- | Ment is a compromise which, in | Tf present political situation, is the only possible way out of the isis, | One must understand the spe- Mal features of Portuguese poli- _ tics to understand why the sixth Government is no coalition gov-' | gament and why, at the same | me, members of various parties | Participate in it. The PCP has | “Onsistently refused to partici- | Pate in a new coalition govern- | Ment with the Portuguese Socia- "St Party (SP) and the Portus pee Democratic Party (PPD) in K Situation in which the Armed ;°rces Movement (AFM) has Ree Much of its character of a “Volutionary vanguard of the llitary, S Well known members of the 3 alee took part when fascist ban- 'S brutally attacked and even _ ,urdered members of our Party. E tig the same time leading func- | g aries of the SP fanned the a SS of the anti-Communist -;*Mpaign and thus clearly took Position against the revolu- Mary process. Hihe Coalition government with ;- a zd PPD ee mean the ; of a right-wing’ polic | abetted by the PCP. Hawegee T pon’, Patties know that it is im- B pee to solve the present “iltical crisis without the PCP saan 2 - tio — the most highly organized party in Portugal—or to resolve it in opposition to the PCP. It would therefore suit them if the PCP remained silent about their right-wing policies, if the PCP were to abandon its ideological and political principles. But. our party will not yield to such man- oeuvers or else it would cease to be the revolutionary vanguard of the Portuguese proletariat. No Alternative We Portuguese Communists fully realize that difficulties and inconsistencies will arise in the new government, but because we did not want to contribute to the continuation and deepening of the crisis, and because the alter- native was a right-wing govern- ment which would have led rapidly to a fascist dictatorship, the Communists proposed this compromise which has now been accepted. This means that the PCP will fight within and outside of the government against every anti- democratic measure and every attempt of conservative counter- revolutionary forces to reverse the revolutionary process. Therefore the PCP agreed only to have members of its party participate in the sixth provisio- nal government after the repre- sentatives of other parties pro- mised to adhere to a minimum program. This program contains — on suggestion of the CPC — the fol- Icwing four important points: 1. To defeat the fascist coun- ter-revolution, 2. To secure the defense of democratic freedoms, public or- der and democratic legality. 3. To strengthen and expand the policy of nationalization. 4. To continue the agrarian re- form as an important prerequi- site for building socialism in Portugal. ; We have no doubt that the majority of the ministers in the new government will attempt to sabotage the progressive planks of this program and evade the compromises they signed. One of the most difficult tasks of the Communists in the government ANTONIO DIAS LOURENCO will be to fight efforts to violate this minimum program. Q. What are your views about the development in the AFM? What is the situation regarding unity between the people and the AFM, which until now was the guarantcr of the revolutionary democratic process? .Move to Right A. The anti-Communist and divisive maneuvers of the Social- ist Party leadership have contri- buted to the split in the AFM, the military arm of the revolu- tion and the vanguard of the armed forces. The AFM has al- ways appeared ideologically as a nonpartisan movement united by their program. But the AFM did and does not stand above class differences. Therefore the splitting tactics of the SP leader- ship, with its definite bourgeois class character, has become in- fluential in the AFM. The AFM’s more conservative elements have changed the lead- ing bodies of the movement in their direction. Such consistent revclutionary military leaders as Gen. Vasco dos~Santos Goncal- ves, Brig. Gen. Eurico Corvacho and Maj. Jose Costa Martins were removed from the Revolu- tionary Council as were a whole number of Left-wing officers. These changes haye detracted from the revoluticnary character of the AFM and will influence its ~— Canadian-Latin American _ By ALBERTO RABILOTTA . ime Minister Pierre Tru- oe Slated visit to Venezuela, ae and Cuba will mark the Beatin American journey for Oh a high ranking Canadian : Cial. The tour which will Bey take place in January bet: Serve to tighten the bonds Ween Canada and these Latin Merican nations. A document regulating Cana- dh Policy toward this region Pines up in 1968 states that ‘on © Telations should be based a neutual respect.” It also men- ; muty that “advantages should be str ot and useful in order to ang 8then Canadian sovereignty | With independence, A dialogue | Prob these nations on world Fan; pe will help to improve dene 4S ability to play an in- tig, went role in the interna- ae affairs,” the document | *Pecifies, 4 - the three nations that Tru- P will visit, Venezuela: occu- pies the most important place in Canadian trade. In 1974 Venezuelan imports from Canada were worth $203- million and its exports, more than $2,290,000,000 (the largest part in petroleum). It is thought that one of the aims of Trudeau’s visit to that South American nation will be to try to compensate the trade — balance . deficit between both countries, comments the Finan- cial Times. Another aspect will be to guarantee the shipment of Venezuelan crude oil necessary to eastern Canada. Mexico occupies third place in Canadian trade. In 1974 imports from Mexico were $114-million and exports, $187-million. Rela- tions between industrialized cap- italist countries and developing countries will be amply dealt with by Trudeau and Mexican President Luis Echeverria, says the Financial Times. According. to the same publi- cation, in Cuba~ Trudeau “will harvest the results of Canada’s attitude toward this country in recent years.” It adds that while other governments followed the U.S. policy of an embargo against Cuba, Canada (and Mexi- co) kept up relations. Cuba occupies fourth place in trade with Canada. In 1974 the Caribbean nation imported prod- ucts worth $114-million dollars and exported $76-million. (Prensa Latina) 5 Hawker-Siddeley Canada Ltd. will build 50 Air Side Dump rail- way freight cars at its Trenton Works Division plant for export to Cuba. The contract with Em- presa Cubana Importadora de Ferrocarriles is valued at ap- proximately $3.1-million and in- cludes the supply of spare parts, machinery and equipment, as well as technical assistance. . Delivery is scheduled for com- pletion by April 1976. Financing has. been made political activities in the future. But in spite of these changes the AFM can still play a positive role in the solution of the crisis and the continuation of the revo- lutionary process. The condition for this is a strong mass movement which must. be _ consolidated and strengthened to defend and ad- vance the revolutionary process. In the course of the revolution its two main forces — the peo- ple and the AFM — did not al- ways have the same pattern of change. In the history of the alli- ance, the people’s movement was sometimes split when the armed forces were more united. At the moment, the greatest pos- sible unity force of the people’s movement can ‘prevent political inconsistencies which may show up in the AFM. The building of mass move- ments, the furthering of unity, the develcpment of solutions for the people’s problems, the integ- ration of the military, political and social activities of the peo- ple’s movement — all that can be developed and strengthened by the alliance of the people and the AFM. We should not be dismayed. The full re-establishment of the alliance between the pecple and the AFM can be attained by the democratic forces and the revo- lutionary military who support the defense and development of the democratic revolution. Important Tasks Q. What are the next tasks of the-PCR2. . A. The first and most impor- tant task is to alert the urban and rural working class and other people’s forces to the dangers of the present situation and to show them how they can be overcome. That requires a comprehensive educational cam- paign which will take place in daily revolutionary activities. From this flow other important tasks: 1. To pursue actively the fur- ther development of the trade union movement, strengthen labor unity so that it can par- ticipate even more effectively in the working class struggles for democracy and socialism, vigor- ously to oppose attempts to split the union movement and at the same time prevent sec- tarianism which might isolate the trade unions from the mass- es of working people; 2. To strengthen and expand the organs of unity on the basis of various people’s activities. That requires great attentiori to the formation of workers com- missions, neighborhood commis- sions, workers’ control commis- sions, commissions for the de- fense of the revolution and others needed for our life and struggle; 3. To strengthen and. extend democracy in the mass move- ment through people’s assem- blies in neighborhoods, villages and towns, to unite these demo- cratic structures and enhance their breadth and importance. Restore unity 4. To further the restoration of unity and to strengthen the AFM by attempting to reinte- grate those who removed them- selves temporarily from the re- volutionary process and by fighting against all forms of left- sectarianism which might rob the truly revolutionary forces of the ability to act and influence. Finally it is necessary — as a task of forces of the democratic revolution—to develop a strug- gle against fascist reaction, to destroy its centers of conspiracy and to weld together a broad front of all anti-fascists in order to prevent a return of fascism in Portugal, the fascism which enslaved the Portuguese people for nearly a half-century. In the struggle for the realiza- tion of these tasks the Commu- nists will warn the people, in- cluding those in uniform, against the criminal manoeuvers of im- perialism and the monopolies. It will augment its efforts in the struggle for national independ- ence, against foreign interven- tion in the internal affairs of Portugal and against the viola- tion of the people’s will. To unite and mobilize the people, that is one of .the most impor- tant tasks of the Communists in the present situation. trade prospects avaiable by the Export Develop- ment Corporation, a federal gov- ernment crown corporation in conjunction with the Bank of Montreal and the Royal Bank of Canada. ; Negotiations which began last fall have involved extensive meetings in both Canada and Cuba. These are the first rail- way freight cars to be exported to Cuba by a Canadian company. L. T. Corey, vice president and -R. C. Frost, export marketing manager, who were involved in bringing this contract to a suc- cessful conclusion, feel that re- lations with the Cuban represen- tatives are favourable. The purchase of the 50 rail- way cars from Hawker Sidde- ley’s Trenton division was just part of an overall loan agree- ment between Canada and Cuba totalling about $20-million and a previously announced air pact to provide scheduled service to Cuba. ‘ Trade Minister Alastair Gilles- pie said at a signing ceremony that the loan agreement is to support sales by four Canadian companies of equipment and ser- vices. 3 The agreements activate the first part of a $100-million line of credit extended to Cuba in March. Trade officials said the credits can be renewéd each. year to support up to about $500-million of potential sales to Cuba. The loan agreements also cover the sale of 20 diesel loco- motives by MLW-Worthington © Ltd. of Montreal, worth about $12.5-million; 73 electric power transmission equipment servic- ing vehicles worth about $2.2- million to be made by Wajax In- ternational Ltd. of Toronto, and a plant for pulp moulding equip- ment to make egg cartons that is to be supplied as a turn-key project by Roy W. Emfery Ltd. of Toronto and is worth about $1.2-million. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 10, 1975—Page 7 At i H Hi uf