By MEL DOIG

“Com a Democracia para o
_ Socialismo"’ —— Through Democ-
 facy to Socialism. This was the
Slogan of the 8th Congress of the
Portuguese Communist Party,
held in Lisbon November 11-14.
It expresses the struggle and the
_ Objective of the working class and
_ Popular masses in ‘the new demo-
_ Cratic Portugal:

With tremendous revolu-
_tlonary enthusiasm the 8th Con-
ress met at time when Por-
_tuguese democracy is at a new,
: decisive moment in its existence.
_The Congress was a mighty
demonstration of — inter-
_ hationalism. The PCP held its first
_ Congress precisely 53 years ago.
_ The 2nd PCP Congress, called for
the 29th of May, 1926 was inter-
_ tupted by the fascist military coup
unleashed by reaction the day be-
fore. After that, the first congress
of the PCP to be attended by dele-
Qations of the fraternal Com-
-Mmunist and Workers’ parties and
by democratic and _national-
liberation movements of other
countries was this 8th Congress
— 50 years later. Sixty-three frat-
€mal delegations from all over the
world attended the 8th Congress.

Original Characteristics

_ The Portuguese Revolution of
Sebne 25, 1974 put an end to Por-
1 ese fascism and colonialism.
'In the Portuguese Revolution,
democracy — through the initia-
tives and actions of the masses led

_ as the revolutionary vanguard —

_has created the basic conditions"

for its development, toward
_ Socialism.
It did this by not only changing
_ the form of the political domina-
tion of Portuguese’ monopolies
_ and the big landowners. The Por-
_ tuguese Revolution liquidated the
fundamental bases of their
_ €conomic power. But the revolu-
_ tionary transformations in the
economic structures were ac-
complished by the revolutionary
forces-without their possession of
Political power. The foreign
Monopolies and multi-national
Corporations were left virtually
_ Untouched. These are two of the

; Alvato Cunhal, general secretary

‘

_ by the working class with the PCP ,

of the Communist Party of Portugal.

Ones

Mel Doig attended the Por-
tuguese Communist Party’s 8th ©
Congress as a fraternal dele-
gate from the Communist Party
of Canada. ;

many original characteristics’ of
the Portuguese Revolution.

In his address at the 8th Con-
gress, Alvaro Cunhal, general
secretary of the PCP, said of these
specific characteristics: “‘The
Portuguese Revolution confirmed
and is still confirming that there
are objective laws. of develop-
ment ... that there are experi-
ences of the. revolutionary
movement which are of universal
validity. But the Portuguese
Revolution also confirmed and is
still confirming that each revolu-
tion has its own particularities and
originalities.

A Political Democracy

The alliance established be-
tween the people and the armed
forces made it possible to with-
stand counter-revolutionary at-
tempts and to further the democ-
ratization of the national life.
Intervening in this democratiza-

“tion are two different and contra-

dictory processes: ‘‘the electoral
process, in a country not yet
completely freed from reaction,
and a revolutionary process
based on the strength of the popu-
lar masses and of the military of
the 25th of Apnil.’’ This contra-
diction continues in spite of Por-
tugal’s institutionalized democ-
racy. Today’s regime is neither
parliamentary. nor presidential
nor a people’s regime — but it has
something Of each of these.
Neither a dictatorship nor a
bourgeois democracy exists. In-
stead, there is in Portugal today
‘ta political democracy with an
economic basis which leads it to
the road toward socialism.”

The Portuguese Revolution es-
tablished a Constitution for the
nation that enshrines wide liber-
ties and citizens’ rights, makes
the nationalizations, agrarian re-
form and workers’ control ir-
reversible, and recognizes that
the road to socialism is inherent in
Portuguese democracy.

- The Portuguese Revolution
dealt deadly blows to moriopoly

©. development can and should only -
be made on the road indicated by

z vv :

capitalism with the nationaliza-

tion of the banks and of the basic | ;
sectors of the national economy.

The agrarian reform — ‘‘one of
the greatest conquests if not the
greatest of the Portuguese
Revolution’’ — led to the exprop-
riation of approximately one-fifth
of the arable land and has opened

in agriculture the way toward ~

socialism. As, one of the charac-
teristic traits of the revolution
process, workers’ control in in-
dustry and agriculture -has a
highly democratic content ‘and
meaning.

Transitional Stage

Both capitalist and non-
capitalist sectors exist today’ in
Portugal. ‘‘On considering only
the economic situation,’ Alvaro
Cunhal said in his address, “fone
may say that the Portuguese
economy as a whole finds itself in
an intermediate, transitional stage
between a capitalist economy and
a socialist economy, thecapitalist

economic type being still domin-

‘ant but with the non-capitalist
type as the determinant factor.”
A sharp class struggle is being
waged, accentuated’ by the
economic and financial situation
that deteriorates daily under the
pressures of imperialism and
reaction. Big capital, the big land-
owners, the Christian Democratic
Socialist’ party, the Popular
Democratic Party and other reac-
tionary groups openly defend —
against the Constitution — the
road to the restoration of mono-
poly- capitalism. The Socialist
Party government, formally dec-
laring that it stands for the social-
ist perspective, is carrying out a
policy for the restoration of
monopoly capitalism and large
land ownership.

First Condition

In this decisive moment, the
PCP 8th Congress declared the
defence and consolidation of
demecracy to be the first con-
dition for the solution of the exist-
ing serious problems. Through
the emergency measures it prop-
osed, the Congress has shown

that the way out of the economic

difficulties cannot be separated
from the defence, consolidation
and progress of the great con-
quests of the Portuguese Revolu-
tion: the nationalizations, agra-
rian reform and workers’ control.
As the Congress theses state:
“‘The PCP supports a policy that
corresponds to the democratic
Portugal of today, to the existence
of a mixed economy with dif-
ferentiated sectors, but whose

the Constitution, the road to
socialism.””
Two main questions thus con-
front the Portuguese working
class and popular masses today.
How can the Portuguese Revolu-
tion and its conquests be de-

fended? How to ensure the build-_

ing of Portuguese democracy on
the way to socialism?

immediate Tasks

To meet these decisive chal-

lenges, the 8th Congress’ Political

w
I

.

=
4

Resolution defined as the im-
mediate tasks of the PCP: the de-
fence of thé gains of the working
people; building the unity of all
democratic forces, including the
unity of Communists and Social-
ists; extension and deepening of
the unity between the Portuguese
people and the armed forces; ac-
tivization of the mass organiza-
tions of the people in all fields; and
strengthening of the work of the
PCP as the revolutionary van-
guard of the working class and all
Portuguese working people.

In the struggle against fascism
the PCP was the main resistance
force. After April 25th, 1974 it

"Acommunist worker In a factory In Portugal. ;

aw

was the party that made the
greatest contribution to the
revolutionary transformation in
Portuguese society. Today, : as
Alvaro Cunhal declared, there
can be no democratic solution to
the existing serious problems in—
Portugal without the PCP and

even less’ against it. eats |

The 8th Congress most power- ~—
fully demonstrated that the policy —

of the Portuguese Communist

Party is based on positions of
class and of principle, thatitisa
party of patriotism and of proleta-
rian internationalism, always
guided by the great principles of
Marxism-Leninism.

By TOM MORRIS
An embarrassing and difficult
problem has arisen for North
American Zionists concerning the
destination of Soviet Jews who
emigrate from the USSR. The
massive campaign, under the slo-

- gan “‘Let Our People Go’’ is ske-

wered over the question of where
they are going. -

““'o the dismay and embar-
rassment of Israeli officials;’’
writes Time magazine in its Nov.
22 issue, ‘‘a growing number of
‘Russian’ Jews are reluctant to go
to Israel. While the vast majority
of refugees in the early 1970s went
to Israel, 59% of those who today
arrive at halfway house in Vienna
expressed a desire to settle in the
LS

This, says Time, has led to a
dispute between Israeli officials
and U.S. Zionist circles. More

than 10,000 ‘‘Russian’’ Jews have"

already arrived in the U.S. and
this is called ‘‘rank ingratitude
and an affront to the Zionist faith”’
by:Israel. Its officials have termed
these people ‘“‘defectors’’ and
“dropouts” and are pressuring
North American Zionist circles to
cut off all aid to such people at the
Vienna halfway house, thus forc-
ing them to head for Israel.
Zionist ‘‘humanitarianism’’,
however, is somewhat undercut
by a revealing editorial in the
latest issue of The Jewish Stan-
dard. Calling the decision before
Canadian Zionists ‘“‘agonizing’’,
The Jewish Standard’s editor and
publisher Julius Hayman writes:
‘There can be no compromise
with Israel’s desperate needs.

Whatever financial help is availa-

depends on where they go, not —

‘Zionist hoax, becomes lost in the

sar

ble in the Diaspora must be di-
rected to Jewish education at
home and the State of Israel ab-
road.”” ;

Hayman then gets down to the
real matter: ‘‘Helping Soviet Jews
to migrate to Israel provides Is-
rael with manpower, with work-
ers who can build the state. The
money spent to get these Jewsto
Israel helps Israel’s economy, an
economy which is sputtering —
fitfully and in danger of collapse —

While regretting that nothelp-
ing emigrants to go where they
choose might be an injustice,
Hayman’s position is clear — __
gee se

‘“‘We have an’ obligation to
them to Israel.”’ :
‘*Let My People Go’’, then, ac-
cording to the Jewish Standard,

where they want to go. Theemo-
tional slogan, which has fooled __
many people in this country, in
reality hides the actual aim of its

originators — to bring trained =

people to salvage a war-geared

economy which can grind them

up. The anti-Sovietism that gen-

erates from the campaignisalsoa

valued side-product for Zionism. _
Arguing against the ‘‘Israel on- —

ly’’ approach, U.S. Zionistleader

~Moshe Decter asks another em-

barrassing question: ‘“Why don’t

these (Israeli) officials run after

the 250,000 Israeli citizei.. who
are living in the U.S.?...” pes
In all this, the tragic state of —

many misguided ‘and gullible

emigrants, victims of this giant —

smoke. — s

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—DECEMBER 10, 1276—Page 7 €

atk. ®

ee.