WORLD

tran Tudeh Party united | | March 4 election
__ despite ‘barbaric assault’

The Central Committee of the
Tudeh Party of Iran recently con-
_ cluded its 18th Plenary session in
which it discussed a three-point
agenda under present difficult
conditions the party faces.

“At the present stage of our
People’s struggle,”’ a com-
munique issued says, “‘the hold-
ing of the 18th Plenary session
and its decisions are a big stride
forward towards the renewal of
the TPI’s activities and con-
solidation of its ranks.”’

The three point agenda com-

prised: 1. Analysis of the inter-
national situation; 2. Analysis of
the socio-economic and political
developments in Iran in con-
nection with the regime’s turn to
the right and determination of the
Party S$ new political and organi-
Zational tasks; 3. Election of a
new Political Bureau and Central
Committee secretaries.
3 communique continues:
“The political: report ratified by
the 18th Plenary Session outlines
_ the Most important national and
international events of the past
few years, proclaims the Central
Committee’s stance on these
developments and concretizes
the Party’s future tasks.

_ The resolutions of the ses-
sions reflected the Party’s readi-
ness to enter into a dialogue with
other revolutionary, _anti-
imperialist and democratic
organizations, aimed at working
out a common program of action.

“In view of the barbaric assault
of the pro-imperialist..and

(hes

at

The Tudeh Party’s Central Committee is confident it will succeed in

a8

uniting Iran’s democratic forces despite an all-out attack by the coun-
try’s Islamic leadership. Photo: Mass demonstrations in Tehran during

the Shah’s overthrow.

reactionary forces against the
Tudeh Party of Iran and the ar-
rest, torture and murder of its
members, based on fabricated al-
legations, the 18th Plenary Ses-
sion occupies a special place in
the history of our Party. This is to
be seen in the nature of its deci-
sions, its principled and deter-
mined stance as well as its highest
degree of unity.

“The 18th Plenary Session
strongly repudiated the ever
increasing hysterical campaign of
anti-Sovietism waged by the
leaders of the Islamic Republic of
Iran aimed at deteriorating Iran’s
ties with the Soviet Union. It ex-
pressed its gratitude to all frater-
nal Communist and Workers’ Par-
ties, above all to the Communist

Party of the Soviet Union, and to

all organizations and personalities
the world over for raising their
voice of protest against the brutal
suppression of our Party.

‘‘Contrary to the wishes of our
internal and foreign enemies, the
timely holding of the 18th Plenary
Session gives us every reason to
look to the future with greater op-
timism. It makes us ever more
confident that the cause of our
working class, working people
and patriots will succeed.

“It is our firm belief that despite
the present difficult conditions the
decisions made by the session will
enable Party members and sup-
porters to consolidate their unity
and carry the process of the
organizational revival of the Party
to. a successful end.

| day in the USSR

Millions of Soviet citizens will go to the polls March 4 to elect
members to the two chambers of the USSR’s Supreme Soviet —
the Soviet of the Union which represents the interests of all
citizens, and the Soviet of Nationalities representing the specific
interests of each nationality and national group.

All citizens 18 years and over may vote, all citizens 21 and over
may stand for election to the Soviets which have 750 deputies
each. Both chambers are equal and members are elected on the
basis of one for each 300,000 population. All ballots are secret.
Candidates are nominated on the basis of their proven record in
the workplace and in social life. Here are four:

Sergei Lukin, agricultural.
machinery operator from Nov-
gorod.

Ivan Roshka, construction team
leader from Moldavia.

Boris Patton, Director of an
electrical welding research
centre in Kiev.

Nina Lukyanova, a lathe opera-
tor from Saratov.

International Focus

Tom Morris

Voting day
in Nicaragua

The Sandinista government
announced this week Nic-

aragua will. hold presidential
oo legislative elections Nov.

The announcement was
Made by coordinator of the
Soverning junta, Daniel Orte-
8a, to a crowd of 130,000 dur-
ing celebrations Feb. 21 of the
50th anniversary of the death
of Augusto Sandino. “‘We took
Power in 1979 promising
democracy and we will fulfil
Our promise,’’ Ortega said.

Opposition voices

in

ministration have-been vocally
critical of the Sandinistas for
not holding elections up till
now, ignoring the fact that the
country emerged from bloody
civil war in 1979 with a leader-
ship chosen by a peoples’ war
and with tremendous-tasks to
undertake to overcome 50
years of Somoza rule.

The announcement, you
would then imagine, would be
welcomed by these defenders
of democracy.

Not so. Immediately, the
U.S. ambassador in Managua
grumped that the vote
wouldn’t be fair. Opposition
groups said they will boycott
the vote unless the state of

Coming elections.

Father carries son killed by Somoza’s troops during Nicaraguan civil
War. Now the “opposition” objects to the 16 year-old vote in the

emergency imposed in March,
1982 due to U.S.-backed mili-
tary attacks against Nicaragua
was lifted. They didn’t ask that
the attacks be lifted.

These ‘‘democrats’”’ charge
that the Sandinistas will win
hands down because 16 year-
olds will now have the vote.
They said nothing about the
fact that Nicaragua’s youth
fought and died in their
thousands in the civil war and
form the backbone of the coun-
try’s defence forces today.

The opposition says Nov. 4
doesn’t give them enough
time. Days before they were
clamoring for elections, saying
they were overdue. If nine
months’ campaigning isn’t
enough time then most coun-
tries on earth are rushing their
electorate.

The factis simple: Washing-
ton and its supporters in Nic-
aragua know damn well the
Sandinista government will
win, and it will do so because
the mass of the people support
it. It is their government, was
their government and will be
their government.

Now we will see the stark
paradox: Reagan will laud the
rigged vote in El Salvador
where a killer stands a good
chance of becoming president
while attacking with guns and

words real democracy in Nic-
aragua. |

Nicaragua’s vote comes just
two days before the U.S. elec-
tion. It could be that Reagan
will only have those two days
to comment on the results in
Managua.

Serenity

_ without a vote

The world needs more
monarchs, says His Serene .
(sic) Highness, Prince Rainier
of Monaco.

‘““Monarchy is a great
Stabilizing force,’’ His Serene.
proclaims. ‘‘With royalty you
don’t have all this campaigning
that you have in republics ...
(a president) isn’t able to form
_his successor.”

Rainier has taken care of
that little item. His son, Prince
Albert, is léarning finance in
the U.S. before becoming the
next Serene Highness.

The Prince, naturally, says
“communism is the greatest
danger in the world today.”’

When it comes to Serene
Highnesses, you betcha.

If it acts like a duck...

Someone once said, if it
sounds like a duck looks like a
duck and acts like a duck, any
reasonable person would be
forgiven if they assumed it is a
duck.

Sergei Batovrin is a 27
year-old Soviet emigrée living
in New York. He was, he told

the Toronto entertainment
weekly, Now, the leader in
Moscow of a group which co-
ordinated nine independent
peace groups in the USSR rep-
resenting ‘‘2,000 activists’’.
He says he still keeps in touch
with them ‘‘through weekly
phone calls and letters’’.

The interview is a yawn. It
contains every old tale of
“KGB crackdowns’’, Soviet

“political prisoners’’,
““totalitarian - state’’,
““psychiatric _hospitals’’,

‘‘Afghanistan’’, ad nauseum.
Old stuff.

To be sure, Batovrin feels
obliged to say something on
peace — such as hoping the
U.S. will respond favorably to
the USSR’s peace initiatives
and that U.S. policy in Latin
America ‘‘is just. helping the
Soviet Union’’.

None of this would be worth
either reading or commenting
on but for a short paragraph
near the end of the story:
“From his apartment in New
York he now writes for Rus-
sian language publications and
prepares scripts for Russian
services of Western radio net-
works. He recently received a
grant from the Rockefeller
Foundation to organize sup-
port for the independent Soviet
peace movement...” :

It actually is a duck.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 29, 1984 e 9