WORLD STRUGGLE IN Excerpts from a recent interview in Santiago with Jaime Inzunza a public leader of the Communist Party of Chile: * * * Q: Would you describe the effects of the last 10 years of fascism on the Chilean people? A: Our people have lived through the worst 10 years in their history. The decade has been a permanent violation of human rights and a violation of everything achieved in this century ... Q: How has the opposition been work- ing these 10 years? A: It should be understood the strug- gle began the first day of the fascist coup. The struggle has been extremely ' cruel and difficult which cost the lives of many fighters. Despite all, the people have expressed the will to struggle, and here the role of political parties has been important because they have - stimulated the anti-dictatorship fight. Q: What was the impact of the first National Day of Protest in May, 1983? A: The protests brought out two main facts: first, they showed the role the , popular movement has played. The protests mean that in Chile today there exists a country-wide, organized, determined, heroic popular movement. Second, that this is now possible be- cause the working class and the labor movement have been playing a greater role in this process. It is also important to note that the people have been able to develop the necessary means to con- front the violence of the dictatorship and have developed their right to de- fend themselves. Q: There appear to be two alternatives today: one is bourgeois democratic led by the Democratic Alliance', the second is popular democratic led by the Popular Democratic Movement”. What is your view? ‘We share work, laugh A: More important today than dis- cussing political alternatives, we be- lieve, is to create conditions for any alternative. This means ending the dictatorship. Our main task is to reach agreement with all democratic forces for this purpose. The question of alter- natives will be resolved by the Chilean people after the dictatorship is de- feated. Q: You’re on record opposing a dialogue with the regime. Why? A: We don’t believe the people need a dialogue with the regime. What does it produce other than creating confusion and prolonging its time in power? Re- pression is growing. The solution is to end the dictatorship. The Communist .Party absolutely opposes any dialogue with Pinochet. The dialogue we support is the one between democratic forces looking for a solution to the question of ending the dictatorship. Q: Has the Popular Democratic Movement emerged as an alternative to the Democratic’ Alliance? A: Not in absolute terms. We say the PDM is different because it seeks the widest unity. We don’t believe the issue today should be competition between democratic forces. The PDM’s goal is to reach agreement with the Demo- cratic Alliance. Q: What stands in the way of such an agreement? A: Questions related to narrow, sec- tarian, non-unity attitudes. We argue that the main issue is not the particular interests of political parties in the broad movements, but to build the anti- dictatorship struggle. We argue that the unity process must come not only from political parties but also from the masses themselves. The regime today tries to divide the move- ment by saying it contains a passive and violent opposition and that the violent Some 61 Canadian volunteers have now settled into The long night of fascism is ending. opposition is led by the Communist Party. Q: For tactical reasons do you think the Communist Party should postpone its popular rebellion policy to allow for unity of the opposition? A: We believe that policy has helped the Chilean people in the process of ending the dictatorship, that it isa unity policy which assigns to the people the main role in the anti-dictatorship strug- ' gle precisely because it says the people have the right to use any means of struggle to achieve their goal. The only idea we emphasize is that mass struggle is the determining factor and that this mass struggle can express itself in civil disobedience, active vio- lence, mass self-defence, strikes, land seizures, etc. No form of struggle against the dictatorship will be denied. Q: Is there a solution to the dictator- ship in the near future? A: The regime is isolated. The ob- jective conditions exist to end it. But its CHILE continuation, we believe, is linked to the question of unity. How much time Pinochet has left is not up to the regime itself but depends on the unity of the democratic forces. Q: Has Argentina’s return to democ- racy influenced Chile? A: Undoubtedly. All current process in Latin America help our people’s struggle — Argentina, Uruguay, the victory of the Peruvian democratic forces, the process in Brazil and, of course, events in Bolivia. Q: The Chilean Communist Party marked its 62nd anniversary Jan. 2, 1984. What message do you have for party militants working abroad? A: That we have succeeded in strengthening our struggle and in build- ing a broad unity of the people to finish the dictator. And here the responsibil- ity of our Party is important. I would ask all militants, all sympathizers, to continue building the highest level of solidarity with the Chilean struggle. Our task is to end the dictatorship in the shortest time. Here the individual responsibility of each party member is fundamental. We must understand that Pinochet’s permanency in power is our . responsibility and his overthrow is also our responsibility ... ‘I. Democratic Alliance: non-fascist, right wing coalition comprising Christ- ian Democrats, Radical Party, Social Democratic Party, elements in the Socialist Party, a sector of the Leftist Christian Party and the Unitarian Popular Action Movement. The DA ex- cludes the Communist Party and Rev- olutionary: Leftist Movement (MIR) from any post-Pinochet government. 2. Popular Democratic Movement: coalition of the Communist Party, Revolutionary Leftist Movement and Socialist Party. ine their temporary lodgings at a cotton farm in the-heart of Leon province in northeastern Nicaragua. Members of the Canadian work brigade, which has yet to formally name itself, come from virtually every part of Canada — from PEI to Vancouver Island — and a diver- : sity of political and social backgrounds. We have come here to Hacienda Dos Montes, a small and desperately poor state farm, expropriated from American owners in 1979, to show material solidarity with the Nicaraguan revolution by helping to bring in the cotton crop. There is an acute labor shortage here today, particularly due to the continual strain of mobilization against external aggression. The work provided by the brigadistas is therefore a significant factor in relieving pressure on the country’s fragile economy. Our brigade goes into the fields every morning at 6 a.m. and works picking the fluffy balls of cotton until around 10 a.m. Everyone rests during the heat of mid- day and then returns to the fields for an evening shift which lasts until dusk. Production has been climbing steadily since we ar- rived: the first day we all picked barely a thousand pounds, after a week the daily harvest is up to well over a ton. We eat rice and beans three times a day, every day — it’s all the farmers we live with have to eat — and sleepin huts with concrete floors and electricity which were constructed by a Cuban brigade which recently passed through this area. The deprivations are more than offset by the astonish- ing warmth and openness of the campesinos. Everyone toils in the fields together sharing work, water, laughter. 8 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MARCH 14, 1984 From Nicaragua Fred Weir and friendship; filling sacks with cotton and hauling them off to be weighed. Signs of the present state-of-emergency in Nicaragua are everywhere. Farmers work in the fields with rifles slung over shoulders, pistols stuck in belts. All night militia units patrol the perimeter of the village. Last Saturday (Feb. 11) there was a grim reminder of the danger that Nicaragua faces from CIA-backed contras in Honduras. Two small aircraft coming in from the north attempted to bomb a geothermal electrical generator situated in the large volcano that overlooks our fields. The raid failed and one contra aircraft was damaged. This episode, however, showed us that the constant mobilization and vigilance is nothing short of vital. The Canadian presence has definitely made itself felt at Dos Montes. At a recent cultural evening, we traded theatrical skits, songs and speeches with Nicaraguan students and campesinos. One play presented by our brigade — and enormously enjoyed by the village chil- dren — depicted the four seasons of the year in Canada. Another portrayed a mean, ugly Uncle Sam having his beard plucked by International Brigade cotton-pickers. Two Canadian doctors accompanying the brigade have begun work on a new clinic which, when finished, ter and friendship’ Canadians in the cottonfields. will greatly upgrade medical care in the community. The construction workers in the group are beginning to build the first playground the children have ever seen. Other Canadians put in extra time helping in the kitchen, the machine shop, and accompanying the militia on night- ly ‘‘vigilance”’ patrols. Many of us participated last Sunday in the national polio vaccination campaign. Two medical students armed with lists of village children and oral vaccine applicators, came out from Leon. By nightfall every baby in the community had been vaccinated and issued with a little document which has on the cover the slogan: “*The Revolution is Health’’. The anti-polio drive is only one of several which has been held against measles, cholera, typhus, etc. .