By B, TAFESSE

_ With the war in the Ogaden reg-
10n Coming to a successful end in
favor of Ethiopia, the American
imperialists and their allies are
focusing their attention on the
Secessionist war in the Eritrea re-
g10n of Ethiopia.

_The Western press is filled with
Vile provocations, distortions,
and slanders against Revolutio-
ary Ethiopia’s peace policy to-
wards Eritrea.

_ Unable to snatch away Ogaden

from Ethiopia, the Americans and
their reactionary Arab allies are
determined that the Ethiopian
S0vernment’s peace policy in
Eritrea will not succeed and that
the Secessionists continue to fight
against the workers and peasants
of Ethiopia.

The main purpose of the im-
Perialists in fanning up the war in
Eritrea is to deprive Ethiopia the
Necessary peace in which it can
Solve the question of

Lt. Col. Mengistu Haile-Mariam,
Ethiopia's head of state.

nationalities, in line with the Na-
tional Democratic Revolution of
Ethiopia, and build a socialist re-

PUBLIC
Fictitious History

Eritrea is the cradle of the an-
cient Ethiopian civilization.
There is no cultural, linguistic,
economic and psychological dif-

ference between the several .

nationalities who inhabit the Erit-
rean region and the rest of
Ethiopia.

This is a fact of history con-
firmed by archeology, ancient his-
torical records, as well as numer-
ous contemporary evidences.
Contrary to this, however, the
reactionary secessionists, Arab
reaction, and imperialism have

‘tried to invent a new and abso-

lutely fictitious history for Eritrea
with the sole purpose of suffocat-
ing the Ethiopian Revolution and
depriving Ethiopia of its Red Sea
coast and ports.

In an interview with the
London-based Africa magazine
(March 1978), the leader of Re-
volutionary Ethiopia, Mengistu
Haile Mariam stated Ethiopia’s
position concerning the internal
problem of Eritrea: ‘We are able
to solve our domestic problems
peacefully. The Ethiopian Re-
volution has a definite message
for the broad masses of Ethiopia,
including those in the administra-
tive region of Eritrea ... a Nine-
Point Peace Policy was issued on
May 16, 1976 to solve the problem
in... Eritrea in line with the prin-
ciples embodied in the National
Democratic Revolution Prog-
ramme.”’

Outside Control

Discussing the unwillingness of
the secessionists to come to terms
with the positive stance of the
Revolution towards Eritrea,
Mengistu Haile Mariam - said,
‘‘The response from the other
side, however, has not been posi-
tive precisely because these sec-
essionist movements are under

Ethiopia — our fight is with
_ those who oppose the masses

the control of Arab and other out-
side interests. The problem in this
region can be solved only if out-
side reactionary and imperialist
interferences are stopped. On our

part we will continue our efforts. }

for a peaceful settlement of the
problem.”’

He went on to state further that
Ethiopia has not only positive in-
ternal measures but also involved
the goodwill of progressive and
socialist countries in its effort to
solve the Eritrean problem:
“Progressive and socialist coun-
tries were asked to help in the at-
tempt to resolve thé problem in a
peaceful way. Neighbouring
countries such as the Sudan were
approached to be involved in the
effort to solve the problem in a
peaceful way. A number of dele-
gations were sent to different
Arab countries for the same pur-
pose. All this was in vain.

The reason for this lies in the
presence of imperialists who,
linked with reactionary Arab and
African regimes, have been in-
volved in the matter by financing,
advising, arming the secessionist
movements in order to liquidate
the Revalution and create a con-
dition to interfere in the internal
affairs of African countries for the
purpose of neo-colonial exploita-
tion.”

~ NATO Strategy

The secessionist forces who
are armed, financed, and encour-
aged by imperialism and Arab
reaction go under the names of
the...Eritrean...Liberation...Front,
Eritrean People’s. Liberation
Front, and the Eritrean Libera-
tion Front/People’s Liberation
Front.

Although they are charac-
terized by their hostility to the
Ethiopian Revolution, and their
factionalist squabbles, they are all
rallied around the American-
Egyptian-Saudi Arabian basic
strategy to overthrow the Ethio-

¢ 4 Ball ee, ff ¥
aor Aan ON

Ethiopians rally in support of government. Centre

‘

Ne
jacard reads:

“Secessionists do'not represent the oppressed masses of Eritrea.”

pian Revolution, dismember
Ethiopia, and set up a reactionary
grouplet of states in the strategic
Red Sea area.

The ominous implications of
this imperialist conspiracy is not
only tied up with the control of the
passageway from and to the Red
Sea, Middle Eastern Oil, but also,
and more importantly, tied up
with the Mediteranean-Red Sea-
Indian Ocean strategy of NATO
for world hegemony and against
the liberation causes of the
peoples.

‘It is thus clear how the matter
stands with the Ethiopian Gov-
ermment. Imperialism and _ its
cohorts want to fan up the war.
The Ethiopian Revolution, with
the support of its friends, has de-
veloped a very progressive policy
on the question of Eritrea, a pol-
icy of regional autonomy, peace,
and revolutionary progress. The
Shameful role of the imperialists
in trying to isolate and crush
Ethiopia is an open fact.

As in the Ogaden war, Ethiopia
will also be victorious in solving
the Eritrean problem, hopefully in
a peaceful way.

Socialist Solidarity

In the course of their struggles
against imperialist encirclement,
Ethiopian revolutionaries have

learned immense lessons on the
significance of peace for the con-
struction of a new social order.
The imperialist press’s slander-
ous campaign against the Ethio-
pian Revolution and its socialist .
allies, specifically the Soviet
Union and Cuba, is telling evi-
dence of the warlike nature of im-

‘perialism and its lack of under-

standing of the depth of the
Ethiopian Revolution and the
significance Ethiopia attaches to
peaceful development and sol-
idarity with the Soviet Union and —
Cuba. _

This friendship is also an im-
portant component of Ethiopia’s
peaceful policy toward the Erit-
rean problem and why it shall also
be victorious. ©

USSR-FRG TRADE

The Federal Republic of
Germany has moved into first
place as the USSR’s biggest
trading partner in the
capitalist world.

In 1977 the two countries
exchanged about $5-billion
worth of goods, about the
same as in 1976. During the
same period, U.S.-USSR trade
dropped by 28% to about
$1.75-billion.

Two dominating power groups? C7

Quite recently a Toronto-based
€conomist and an expert on trade
unionism from the standpoint of capital-
ism, Dr. Crispo, took to the air waves
with an explanation of why the Cana-

lan economy is stagnating, accom-
Panied with high inflation, a falling dol-
ar and over a million unemployed. Ac-
Cording to him this truly serious situa-
tion can be laid squarely on the door-
Steps of two power groups that domi-
Nate our economy.
€se two power groups are “‘big
labor” and “big capital’’, meaning the
big unions and the giant corporations.
* *. x

_ This is a favorite notion of capital-
\St-oriented economists who pretend to
Wear the mantle of reform. They con-
tend that these two power groups are
JOined in common effort to bend the
£Conomy to suit their own selfish aims.
ey argue that the big unions keep
Pushing wages, fringe benefits and pen-
S!0ns up and up, thus causing the giant
©0rporations to push prices up and up
JUSt to keep their heads above water. As
Consequence, inflation has the coun-
by the throat, industry prices itself
Out of the market, production is cut
ack and workers are laid off.
ey lay it out quite neatly in com-
-Plete disregard of reality. It starts just
here the corporations and govern-
Ment want it to start — with the big
Ons. The unions are made the

Marxism-Leninism in Today’s World

scapegoat for a situation created by big
capital and government as they try to
manage a sick and doomed system.

* * *

Such economists, while apparently
subjecting the system to critical exami-
nation and advancing prescriptions de-
signed to make capitalism more palata-
ble to the exploited masses, never
suggest that exploitation should be
ended.

Rather they seek to set up an illusion -

of “two dominating power groups”’
when they are well aware that there is
only one dominating power group,
namely, the monopoly capitalists. This
illusion is similar to the old myth that
capital and labor are partners in com-
mon enterprise. Ten years ago the then

minister of labor made a speech in the .

House of Commons which contained

these words: “‘My. department must

make labor, and management ap-

preciate the fact that they are not

natural enemies, but natural partners

...”” (my emphasis).
* * *

However, illusions based on the
labor-capital partnership notion tend to
dissolve when it comes to dividing the
economic pie between wages and pro-

fits, and in periods such as now when
_ the system is in deep crisis. Neverthe-

less, illusions fostered by these

apologists for capitalism, are an impor-
tant factor impeding the political
development of the working class.

Even many active militants in the
working-class movement have yet to
draw the logical conclusion in respect
to the system of capitalism, namely,
that wage labor is the.necéssary con-
dition for the formation and accumula-
tion of capital, which is ‘‘the essential
element for the existence and sway of
the bourgeois class.’’ (The Communist
Manifesto)

* * *

The very needs of modern industry
and society have combined to create a
much more knowledgeable and a much
more demanding working class. This
impels the workers to raise their sights
as their needs coincide more and more
with the social character of production.

Capitalism proceeds along this road
with increasing speed in its monopoly
stage. Monopoly has not only alienated
the laborer from the means of produc-
tion, it alienates the farmer from his
land, the professional from his private
practice, the small landlord from his
property, and the small capitalist from
his capital holdings. Monopoly has
taken unto itself the dominating control
of the state which, in the hands of the
monopolists, is but an instrument for

managing the common affairs of the
monopolies.
* * *

But in doing all of this, ‘monopoly
brings into being a large contingent of
dispossessed and _near-dispossessed
who are being impelled to join in com-
mon struggle with the working class
against the real villians who have run
the Canadian economy into deep crisis
— the giant corporations of finance and
industry.

The contradictions existing between
a handful of corporate monopolists and
the people are becoming more pro-
nounced with every passing day, along
with the sharpening of the basic class
contradiction of our society — that be-
tween capital and labor. For, despite
the fine words of a one time minister of
labor that labor and capital are natural
partners in common enterprise, this is
not so. Instead, under the conditions of
the system of capitalism, labor and cap-
ital. are natural enemies as indeed
monopoly capitalism is the enemy of all
who labor by hand and by brain.

“ok * *

To paraphrase the Communist Man-
ifesto, not only have the giant corpora-
tions. created conditions that bring
death to capitalism; they have called
into existence the forces that will usher
in a new and just social system, the
modern working class and the anti-
monopoly movement.
~ PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 7, 1978—Page 9