By JONAS ARTABAN

W Riga te in Portugal has a high de-
"ture involvement in industry. Joint
iy -S 8F€ common, for example in

bratuen under fascism the state ap-
| ae Was of regular assistance to
i ince of the monopolies’ collec-
1" sta: €tests. The most important part
hacig © assistance to monopoly under
an = Was the active suppression of
| Pncratic trade union movement
May, S8€Neral, progressive and demo-
tle Tremizations of the working
| he fa, he paternalistic appearance of

ton <cist theory of eonomic organiza-
ular the paper constitution were
Working” exposed by the brutal anti-
Bese 8 class practices of the Portu-
bisical tate. Monopoly capital was able
Tigi 'Y to do as it pleased, aided di-

None Y state labor, taxation, tariff,
7 ary, and fiscal policies.

Inia t°termination of particular state
thay. «? 2Nd the dllocation of state con-
1 Mens 88 frequently been a matter of

Roun, struggle among monopoly

long » It is well known that for a
‘oie Period ‘Salazar favored Groupe
Vatig Ver Groupe Champalimaud, for
Neetion Teasons, including family con-
Control With the Mello family who

ima CUF. Over ten years ago Cham-
Raine initiated legal proceedings
top se UF but these were obstructed
|e eral years by Salazar through
Wlimatce Department. Finally, Cham-
Where 2 felt compelled to flee to Paris
file, yy, mained about five years in
& eve...) Mitial responses to the April
Siphon s Were subjective and nearly
"ments in approval of the new devel-
) me 8, almost going to the extent of
the "sponsible, In general, however,
tou uoPOlies as a group (and no
*tady) @Mpalimaud in time, if not al-

are fearful of the developments
Meg Ways begun their resistance in lim-

0

"her; Of their first major efforts at
| “he 8 the democratic ‘movement
Sona) @. the few weeks of the Provi-
Ban Bi Overnment. The monopolies be-
Motken ME wage increases to their
“ i Which were astronomical by
ang thi ‘Son with previous increases,
ale, The Was done without even a strug-
n Medi Monopolies hoped that workers
"eyo, UM and small enterprises would
‘Itilae to the increases by demanding
Maggi, Wcreases. This would lead to
‘tej. Strikes, shortages; and bank-
“ite, ? Since the medium and smail
Opa seS did not have the finances
ton, it~ milar increases. In this situa-
One Was expected, the door would
the,” for a return of the right-wing.
*tteq puoPoly manoeuvre was counter-
W0tke.2 2 Mass campaign among the
Nts, |) led mainly by the Commun-
Mono Which resulted in exposing the

. AQ) . :
‘on, Polies and stabilizing the situa-

IMself as having been person--

One of the more significant signs of
increasing political organzation among
the monopolies was the formation of an
employers’ organization, the Confedera-
tion of Portuguese Industries (CIP) in
July. Under fascism employers organi-
zations were officially’ illegal, but
through various manoeuvres, the mono-
polists managed to maintain an organi-
zation, most notably, one called AIP.
CIP is a transformation of the AIP
{which comes from the 1930's). The CIP
is lead by Portuguese big business, al-
though about three quarters of its mem-
bers are medium and small industries.

ding medium and small indus-
ee onemic organization resembles
the Japanese zaibatsu-type form. The
smaller groups of industries are organ-
ized around the big groups and highly
dependent on them, | The - monopolies
hope to use their domination of the CIP
to prevent splits developing between
the big and smaller industries, some-
thing which is quite contrary to what
is actually happening from an economic
point of view.

ed observers believe that most
cpERe moriOnCllee! funds used in poli-
tics are being poured into the CDS, a
right-wing party not in the Provisional
Government. However, the monopolies
have political connections in other
right-wing and “centre parties and
movements, (This is not surprising giv-
en the present proliferation of over 50

parties.) a ie :

‘le Portugal has highly develope
es ie is also considered the
poorest country in Europe. In 1973 the
Gross National Product was. 263,800
million escudos (about 25 escudos ex-
change for one dollar). The popuation
was 8.9 million, of which about 3.2
million are included in the active popu-
lation and about 1.1 million are indus-
‘trial workers. Average per capital in-
come was 26,640 escudos.

Portugal is one of the few countries
in the world which have had a declin-
ing population, mainly through emigra-
tion. Now about three million (not in-
cuded in the 8.9 million figure) are
working outside Portugal, Emigration
also helps account for Portugal's rela-
tively low unemployment rate (which

is currently rising) of about 2%, now
about 5%.

At a level of approximately 40%,
Portugal has had one of the highest
rates of inflation in Europe. It has been
claimed that in 1973 there was a real
growth rate of 8%, but if this was the
case, the advance was enjoyed by big
business and not by the workers, whose
standard of living has been hit hard
by the inflation. The Portuguese balance
of trade has had a deficit for many
years. But the full balance of payments
was in a better position through “‘in-
visibles” such as tourism and the re-
ccipt in Portugal of emigrant workers’
remittances. Even so, the balance of
payments is not strong and showed
signs of weakening.

Official illiteracy figures are 35% as
decared for the 1970 census, although
since 20% declared that they could
“read” but, in fact, had never attended
any school, the figure for illiteracy is
probably over 55%. Social statistics—
when they are available — are also
grim in the health area.

The losing colonial war since 1961

was a major drain on the economy, and
weakened. the fascist state as well. It
was one of the major causes of dis-
affection among the armed forces and
population. It also contributed to reduc-
ing the supply of young workers; many
were killed or maimed, and thousands
more left Portugal as deserters or to
evade conscription.

Above all,'in the period prior to
April 25 there was a growing level of
class struggle in Portugal. In April, the
month of the liberation from fascism,
PIDE itself was reported to have esti-
mated the number of strikers in Lisbon
‘alone as between 18,000 and 20,000, and
hence a cause for serious concern.

With the increasing level of class
struggle in Portugal itself, the irrevers-
able development of the liberation
movements, and a deteriorating econo-
mic situation, fascism was incapable of
maintaining power — even with mono-
poly backing. One day we will know
the details of the development of the
Armed Forces Movement in the army,
who provided the immediate alterna-
tive to fascism on April 25. No doubt
some interesting connections will be
found, But whatever these important
details reveal, it should not be forgot-
ten that the struggle against fascism
was a long, painful, and arduous strug-
gle of half a century, a struggle of the
Portuuese working class led mainly by
the Communist Party of Portugal, of
the national liberation movements, and
of other democratic forces. It is not
sufficient that Portugal be recognized
simply as a weak link in the imperialist
chain. There has to be an alternative
class or classes capable of taking pow-
er. After their long struggle the work-
ing classes and the progressive anti-
monopoly section of the bourgeoisie
were able to provide this alternative in
Portugal. And for the future, it must be
said that as the weakness of Portugal
in the imperialist chain no doubt creat-
ed the conditions for this present
change in class power relations, the
weakness will also remain important
as the democratic revolution in Portugal
continues.

The direct dictatorship of Portuguese
monopoly has been ended. The process
of detaching monopoly from the state
and isolating it from other sections of
the bourgeoisie is continuing as part of
the general process of democratization.
The rapid organization of trade unions,
the growth of the progressive and
democratic movement, notably the
Communist Party of Portugal, and the
continuing progressive direction of the
Armed Forces Movement and the Pro-
visional Government are changing the
balance of class forces in Portugal. This
present period is a time for organiza-
tion and for the development of class
consciousness, in daily struggle for de-
mocracy and progress, and in preparing
for the major showdown against mono-
poly which is not far off.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1974—Page 7