Building a new society

Angola, the road to reconstruction ~ :

By MICHAEL WOLFERS

LUANDA, six months of
peace have cleared most of the
signs of war from the southern
Angolan countryside, which ex-
perienced occupation by South
African armed forces and inter-
necine strife between the ostensi-
bly allied factions of FNLA and
UNITA. \

With the Popular Movement
(MPLA) now in full control, the
only remaining military problem
is South African aided incursion
across the Namibian border nota-
bly around N’giva.

I have just completed a two
thousand mile tour by road over
the southern provinces I last vis-
ited in February, travelling
in the wake of the liberating ad-
vance of the People’s Armed
Forces for the Liberation of An-
gola.

Numerous social problems are
still being tackled, but the im-
provement in the security and
economic situation is dramatic.

sf! will cite praticularly the pro-
vince of Mocamedes, a typical
case which has Angola’s, third
most important port and in the
route from Mocamedes to
Menongue — formerly Serpa
Pinto — one of Angola’s three
major railways.

x ee Ok

In February nearly all produc-

tion and services were at a
standstill, but life now is returning
to reasonable conditions.

The railway has resumed op-
erations, with a provisional ser-
vice of trains almost every day of
the week from the coast to the
central high plateau and with a
shuttle service to carry workers
and their families between
Mocamedes and nearby centres
of employment in the agricultural
and fisheries sectors.

There is an active program of
road and bridge building.

Of Projeque’s. two industrial
fishing boats, one is in operation
with a work force of 32 and the
other boat is immobilized by
technical faults. The fish meal
processing plant is operational
but the expressed oil cannot be
collected because of other techni-
cal faults.

ok * *

In the town of Mocamedes,
where in February I saw the rem-
nants of the colonial police
force calmly and openly looting
abandoned homes, there is now a
forty strong contingent of the
People’s police force (CPPA), en-
suring normal law and order and
including a traffic section which
even issues tickets for parking of-
fences. :

The mineral port at Saco,
which served the German-run

CPC 23rd Convention

‘Make detente irreversible’

“This 23rd Convention of the
Communist Party:of Canada wel-
comes the meeting of represent-
atives of the Central Committees of
the Communist and Workers’ Par-
ties of Europe held in Berlin in
June, 1976.’ So begins a resolu-
tion passed at the Party’s Con-
vention, October 9-11, the re-
mainder reads as follows:

We declare our support of the
policy enunciated in the’ unanim-
ously adopted document of that
Meeting, which reaffirms that the
Communists of Europe are in the
front ranks and form a reliable

bulwark of the struggle to defend -

and extend the principles of
détente that are embodied in the
document adopted at Helsinki
Conference of the heads of State
and Governments of the Euro-
pean countries, to which Canada
also is a signatory.

_ “We greet similar decisions ta-
ken at other regional conferences

and at conventions and meetings
of the» Central Committee- of
Communist and Worker’s Par-
ties. We reiterate our opinion in
favor of calling a World Meeting
of Communist and Workers’ Par-
ties when conditions are rfpe for
it. :

“The forces that would like to
return to the cold warrelations or
at least to prevent détente from
being implemented in all areas of
the globe and extended to the
military sphere and disarmament
will be defeated by the peoples
fighting for peace, with the Com-
munist Parties in the front ranks.

“We redidicate ourselves to
that cause and urge all people of
good will in Canada to exert every
effort along with us to make our
country a firm force in the effort to
make détente irreversible, to
bring peace and security for our
people and the generations to
come.” eo

The Helsinki Conference embodied in it’s document safeguards for

future peace in Europe and detente. This document was upheld by the
Conference of Worker’s and Communist Parties of Europe in Berlin and
was supported by the 23rd Convention of the Communist Party of Cana-

da.

PHOTO — PL

iron mines at Cassinga, has not
yet resumed operation, but the
commercial port at Mocamedes
with a force of over four hundred
workers is in operation and handl-
ing a coastal export trade of meat
and fish and vegetables.

* * *

The workers hope that the former
international traffic to and from
the port can be resumed, particu-
larly as the relations between An-
gola and Zambia are gradually be-'
ing normalized.

The fishing industry is being
revived, with direction from the

PHOTO — TASS

overnment’s fisheries experts, .
g <

although as yet it is on a scale well
below that of the pre-crisis pro-
duction.

The output is mainly of half-
dried or fully dried fish as much of
the freezing equipment was
sabotaged during the occupation
of the region.

At the small Projeque enter-
prise for example, where in Feb-
ruary we found the body of the
murdered owner lying in the sand
dunes and the work of the plant
paralyzed, production has re-
sumed of fish and fish meal.

) Se Oi ,

A British reporter looks at Angola six months after the revolution.

Projeque’s one hundred land-
based workers are handling about
8 tons of fish a day though the full
potential is 50 tons a day.

Projeque was a small privately
owned enterprise. Other indust-
rial fisheries in the region were
‘part of the huge holdings of Ven-
ancio Guimaraes Sobrinho, a Por-
tuguese monopolist who fied the
country. :

His holdings included planta-
tions for agriculture and cattle
exploitation and large food pro-
cessing plants. It is likely that all
these enterprises will now come

under state control.

The fish processing plants are
partly in operation, but the seven
best of the fishing vessels were
reportedly hijacked to Brazil and
their return is being sought by
Angola. :

Gradually the huge plantations
are being put back into working
order by the MPLA, using some
voluntary labour and some per-

manent labor and with aid to the.

workers from specialists in de-
partments of the movement and
of the government.

— Morning Star

Communist Party issues statement
concerning developments in India

NEW DELHI — The Central
Committee of the Communist
Party of India, which met Oct.
24-27, issued a resolution for deal-
ing with threats to the parliamen-
tary system by reactionary forces
both inside and outside the ruling
Congress Party.

Calling the situation ‘“complex

and complicated,” the CPI resol- Mi

ution pointed to both positive and

negative aspects of the govern-.

ment program.

It said that ‘‘the government’s
attitude toward the needs and
demands of the people (were) . . .

taken advantage of by the reac- |

tionary caucus inside the ruling
party to try to scuttle the constitu-

tional amendment bill before the -

parliament which brought about
an extremely. dangerous situa-
tion.”

While approving the ‘‘anti-
imperialist positions of the Gov-
ernment of India’’ in the interna-
tional sphere, including Prime
Minister Gandhi’s tour of the Af-
rican countries ‘‘and her forth-
right support to the fighting
peoples of Africa,’’ the CPI con-
demned the ‘‘pronounced”’ nega-
tive features in India’s economy.

Despite a commendable
five-year plan, the government
has begun to water it down, and
“continues to give concessions to
the monopolists in the name of
boosting production and exports.
It also continues to welcome
foreign capital though, simul-
taneously, some steps are taken
against multi-nationals.”’

The reappearance of inflation,
the resolution said, is “‘most
alarming.”

Because of the dual policy of
the national bourgeoisie, says the
resolution, ‘“‘our Party pursues
the policy of unity and struggle.”
More ‘“‘independent work and
bold initiatives on the part of our
Party and the mass organizations
led by it,”’ are needed now “‘to
defend the interests of the work-
ing masses.” /

The Communist Party of India has criticized the Congress Party for
watering down the country’s five year plan, for giving concessions to
monopolists and for the reappearance of inflation. The Party termed the
growing right-wing reaction to the parliamentary system “complex and

complicated”.

There are, it says, ‘‘vast patrio- .

tic and democratic forces inside
the ruling party though they are
not cohesive and sufficiently as-
sertive. But they can be mobilized
to beat back the offensive of reac-

tion.

“If the positive features, to- .

gether with the favorable interna-
tional situation are properly
utilized, the negative features can
be overcome and the country ta-
ken forward,” the CPI asserted.

Of particular concern were at-
tempts engineered by the reactio-
nary caucus of the Congress Par-
ty, aligned with some outside the
party, at “‘undermining the secu-
lar democratic setup of our coun-
try and capturing political power
_.2? This was undertaken while
Mrs. Gandhi was touring Africa.

They sought to arouse Con-
gress Party committees in various
provinces to demand the conver-
sion of parliament into a con-
stituent assembly.

They wanted to scuttle the par-
liamentary system, forestall the
passage of the 44th Amendment
Bill, to make the pretense that
parliament had not the power it-
self to amend the constitution,
and to delay national elections by
turning the present parliament
into a constituent assembly.

The CPI, while criticizing nega-
tive features of the 44th Amend-
ment, put up a vigorous fight for
its passage, which coincided with
a battle by the democratic forces
of the Congress Party, and the Bill

‘was passed.

India’s Communist leadership
has called upon the Party to “help
the mass organizations to conduct

. struggles on the burning de-
mands of various sections of the

people ... to build the unity of the .

patriotic and democratic forces.
... change our style of work and
adopt grassroot work as our Na-
tional Council has been enjoining
on us.” :

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—DECEMBER 17, 1976—Page 5

J