Not only forward but backward, too. But we Communists

uphold the government. We believe this policy makes an

important contribution to ensuring the process of democ-

ratization. : .

The second trend is the very complex problem of de-
Colonization. Definite positive steps have already been
taken in this direction, but many difficulties still remain.
For Portugal to pursue a just policy and render affective
assistance to people still under Portuguese colonial domin-
ation, political force, personnel and finances are needed.
This is a very serious problem for a country with a small
Population, with economic difficulties, and with a rapidly
changing political situation where democracy is just com-:

Ing into being. :

: Reactionary forces are still quite strong in Portugal,
and in Angola and Mozambique. They are trying to coor-
dinate colonialist activity in Africa. with counter-revolu-
tionary actions in Portugal. Attempts have been made to
engineer goups in Portugal and Africa simultaneously.
There is no doubt that we will encounter even greater dif-
ficulties in carrying out the policy of decolonization.

The third trend conterns economic issues.

For half-a century we have been living under a dic-
tatorship which defended the interests of big business and
latifundia owners. During that time several monopoly
groups emerged in. Portugal. They controlled the coun-
_try’s economy, all the resources, while the demands of the

‘People were suppressed. State-monopoly capitalism was
§rowing rapidly. That is why the monopolies oppose the

. New policy of democratic transformation. 5

* Actually, they have already forfeited all political

Power, but they by no means have lost their economic

Power. Banks and industry are still in their hands, and

they are still able to interfere directly and effectively in

the country’s economy. Banks are curtailing credits, the

. Outflow of capital from the country has increased and

firms curtail production and reduce investments. On oc-

Casion, some capitalists have closed their factories. All

- this is done to undermine our national economy, and to

Create economic difficulties, to turn the masses against

the government and democracy and to pave the way for

Ccounter-revolution.

We consider it to be our duty to maintain the utmost
Vigilance and to be aware of attempts to undermine our
. democratic policy by means of economic levers.

These difficulties, however, can and should be over-
come. Not only political measures, but. also economic
Measures are needed. Realizing that Portugal is econom-

ically underdeveloped we are convinced that a number of _

basic democratic reforms should be carried out: agrarian
reform, as well as other structural reforms in the social
and economic fields. The government program contains
the principles of anti-monopoly strategy. If we take into
- account the economic situation and the balance of forces
Within the country, as well as the international situation,

We believe that we can advance in an anti-monopoly and-

anti-feudal path.\ :

In accord with the adopted program, it is not possible

_ to put through major social reforms before the Constituent

Assembly to determine the political regime in Portugal. _

Naturally this will be a democratic regime which will
grant our people the right to decide their own future, in
a democratic way and, if they so desire, to vote for pro-
found reforms. :

We Communists completely agree with this program,

which was agreed by all the forces of the coalition. But

We agree on condition that the elections really express our
People’s wishes, that there will be no moral or economic-
Pressure, no reprisals against the free will of the people.
Should our people wish profound social reforms, they will
Set them. It is our duty to ensure this process.
_ These, then, are the three main trends in our domes-
tic policies. me

Concerning foreign affairs, the Portuguese govern- -

Ment has announced that it will pursue a policy of friend-
Ship and.cooperation with countries with which the fas-
Cist government had no relations. The Portuguese govern-
Ment has established diplomatic relations with the social-
ist countries and a number of developing countries. —

. As for our- traditional ties, the coalition government
has stated that it will remain loyal to allied commitments.
Portugal has not withdrawn from NATO and the Ameri-
Can base in the Azores remains. ee

What is the position of the PCP in this connection?

We believe that what is needed is a policy of friendship _

8nd cooperation with people throughout the world, and at
Present we do not raise a question about withdrawal from
NATO or about the bases in the Azores. These issues will

Solved in time, in conditions of positive changes that
are even now seen in the struggle for peace and security
'n Europe and in the establishment of large-scale interna-
tional cooperation. Here we display patience.

Q. What is the result of your delegation’s stay =

A: We have come to the Soviet Union with the first
government delegation of Portugal, the first since the for-
mation of the Portuguese Republic and the first since the
October Revolution. This is a very big event in relations
between our countries. First contacts have been estab-
lished between the young democratic Portugal, that is
coming into being, and the great socialist country.

These feelings of friendship have always existed be-
tween the people of our two countries, despite the half-
century domination of the fascist dictatorship in Portu-
gal. The fascists never succeeded in suppressing affection
for the Soviet people and solidarity with the first country
of socialism in the hearts of workers. But there had been
practically no official relations between our countries, and
the Portuguese. government had pursued an anti-Soviet
policy both within the country and on the international
arena. That is why the visit of the first Portuguese delega-
tion to the Soviet Union symbolizes the cardinal changes
that have taken place in our country and paves the way
to a new phase in relations between our two peoples.

We discussed in detail these prospects with a widely-
representative Soviet delegation headed by the Foreign
Trade Minister N.S. Patolichev. We also had useful con-
tacts in other spheres with representatives of culture, sci-
ence, technology and education. In conclusion, we had a
very important meeting with N.V. Podgorny, member of
the Politbureau of the CPSU Central Committee and Pres-

-ident of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, B.N.

Ponomaryov, an alternate member of the Politbureau of
the CPSU Central Committee and Secretary of the CPSU
Central Committee, and I.V. Arkhipov, vice-chairman of
the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

As could be expected, we have met -with deep under-.

standing on the part of the Soviet Union and have felt the
spirit of solidarity, comradeship and support for the demo-
cratic process going on in our country. We are convinced
that this will contribute greatly toward the consolidation
of Portuguese democracy and to the process of improving
the Portuguese workers’ living standards, toward ensur-
ing our country’s independence and toward developing the
transition period into a durable democratic regime, in
accord with the aspirations of all the working people in our
country.

Lisbon, April 25, 1974.

Q. ‘World public opinion compares the Chilean and the
Portuguese-revolutions. What conclusions have the demo-

cratic forces of Portugal drawn from the Chilean exper-

ience? :

“A: We have followed closely the Chilean experience.
We have learned much from the example of the Chilean
revolution and counter-revolution.. Portuguese reaction,
too, has learned something. Quite often it tries to make
use of similar military, economic, political and ideological
schemes. It is natural, therefore, that on very many issues
we turn to the Chilean experience and study thoroughly
everything that reaction was able to use in the struggle
against the Chilean revolution. We realize the need to

_strengthen the democratic movement and to maintain

vigilance; we realize the need to solve problems concern-

ing various social strata and we cannot and should not for-_

get the great Chilean tragedy.

Nevertheless. we believe that our conditions are dif-
ferent. Let us take the army. The Portuguese army is the
force that accomplished the revolution of April 25. It has
put an end to the fascist dictatorship. started the demo-
cratic process and established close ties with the popular
mevement in order to achieve success in the struggle for
democracy. In the Portuguese armed forces, there exists

The armed forces are linked with the people. They
trust the people and the people trust them. This is the first
factor which differs in our country from Chile and which
enables us to make a definite judgment concerning a pos-
sible attempt of a coup, Chilean style. Such a venture can
always be expected. But should it be attempted — and

“even if a difficult situation were to develop after a first

blow by reaction, with casualties and so on — we are nev-
ertheless convinced that the reactionary forces would be
smashed. :

Another factor is the alliance of the armed forces with
the people. There are not mere words. This is reality in
Portugal today. And the main thing is that there is the
broad unity of the democratic and popular forces. Under
the fascist dictatorship we had few parties. Actually, there
were two political parties: the Communist Party of Portu- |
gal, which functioned underground, and the Socialist Party
which had no clear-cut organizational structure. These
parties collaborated during the fascist regime and con-
tinue to cooperate now. Of course, there are certain diffi-
culties: Socialists are not Communists, ahd Communists
are not Socialists. We have different views about the fu-
ture, a different interpretation of what socialism is and a
different understanding of the process now taking place.

At the same time we have much in common with the _
Socialists. Both parties believe that Portugal should Be a
democratic country and we agree about the definite re-
forms which are necessary in the visible future. That is

' why we are doing all we can to strengthen the unity with

the Socialists, and also with other coalition parties; such
as the Popular Democratic Party, which was formed un-
der the old regime, and the Portuguese democratic move-
ment which, and since 1969, has included broad demo-
cratic forces, like the important progressive Catholic
movement and many unaffiliated anti-fascists.

~ Of course, the people’s democratic movement also in-
cludes the powerful trade union movement. We have two
million trade union members in the country united in one
trade union center. We are working now to preserve trade
union unity. We believe that democracy within trade un-
ions should be the basis for trade union freedom. Workers
should solve trade union problems and.trade unions should
have every opportunity to decide their program, elect
their leaders, choose their orientation and pursue their

’ policy. If we Communists can not persuade trade unions

to agree with our opinion, we should not set up other trade
unions but should continue to work in the existing ones and
try to convince workers of our point of view. It is only on
this basis that genuine freedom of trade unions can be en-
sured that interference in their affairs by employers and
other alien forces can be prevented.

Many organizations, which are allegedly acting on
behalf of the workers, are in fact defending the interests
of the employers who are doing their utmost to prevent
trade union freedom. They demand pluralism in the
workingclass movement and the formation of many trade

unions. It is significant that the workers themselves ac-

tively oppose this policy. We think that the unity of trade
unions will be strengthened and that new legislation will
will not allow the formation of other trade union centers.
This demand is in the program of many big trade unions,
including the powerful union of the iron and steel workers.

We think that the working class should not be divided
into as many trade unions as there are parties, into small
groups which, in the hands of the employers, would be-
come a tool to split the workingclass movement. We want
the trade unions to be autonomous and democratic and
united in one trade union center.

At present, peasants are setting up their own organi-
zations, peasants’ leagues -and associations. In work

_ among the small peasantry, quite a few dificulties have

been encountered so far. There are extremely backward
regions in the country where we have not been able as yet
to win the small and middle peasants to the side of the
democratic revolution. Here a definite role is being played
by the church: There are many small parishes where the
reactionary priests have a big influence. However one
can see the positive evolution of the Portuguese church
and the Catholic circles in general. We respect religious
feelings and do not want to persecute even the reactionary
priests. But we do not stop our struggle for solving real
problems in order to win over to our side the majority of
thepeasantry.

The broad popular movement includes many compo-
nents, among them the women’s movement and the youth
movement. All these forces, which have joined the ac-
tive struggle for democracy, are growing and strengthen-
ing. They are uniting to win common democratic goals;
they feel with every passing day the indomitable force of
international solidarity of all fighters for democracy, and
we believe that what happened in Chile will not be repeat-

ed in Portugal. ian

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1975—Page 9