As regards the coming tests of the struggle, the FMLN remains cautious. It notes that the mass organization has reached a high level, but does not draw from that fact alone a perspective for an insurrection in the short run. The task of the hour is accumula. ting forces both in the guerrilla war and in the mass movement, an accumulation that combines with political and military initiatives. And the tightening of the unity of the forces that make up the FMLN now underway is also one of the keys to the future. Position of the workers' movement A LEADER of the independent union movement in El Salvador for 14 years, Bernabe Recinos is a bete noir for Duarte, as he was for the country's successive military governments. Imprisoned from 1980 to 1984, he was only released as a result of the international pressure brought to bear on Duarte. He is a member of FENASTRAS and in the leadership of UNTS. We have translated the following interview with him from the February 1987 issue of the Nicaraguan magazine Pensamiento Propio.
Question. In view of the war situation, what are the objectives of the Salvadoran workers' movement?
Answer. From our standpoint, the main problem in the situation is the government's refusal to respond to demands for dialogue and the policy it has followed since 1981, which consists of stepping up the war
4. Joaquin Villalobos, "The present stage of the war and its perspectives," 1986.
5. Ibid. International Viewpoint 4 May 1987
qualitatively and quantitatively. As a che goien ment is mining the alogue condition for opening up dialogue demand that the FMLN lay down its arms.
It is clear that the guerrillas are not going to do that, because they are an army, just like the one that they face. In El Salvador, there are two armies, and neither of them can demand that the other surrender.
This intensification of the war has resulted in a growing aspiration on the part of the Salvadoran people to be able to live in peace. The people are demanding peace, but the call for dialogue is not an isolated demand. It is wrong to think today that if there were dialogue it would soon be followed by peace.
This demand by the people is reflected by popular organizations at all levels, in the same way as the people chose other forms of organization after having been denied for many years any way of expressing themselves by electoral means.
If the rulers do not let the workers choose, the latter are forced to resort to violence, because violence is the government's only answer to the workers. As the workers improved their organization, the government responded by stepped-up repression.
For the workers, therefore, the question is one of self-defence, of a better form of organization. And in El Salvador, there is a tradition and an experience of armed defence of the masses. It is hardly surprising, then, that in view of the denial of any political road and of the increase of repression, workers' militias are reappearing in the urban zones.
The government accuses UNTS of being terrorist, a characterization that it also makes of the FMLN. What are the possibilities today for the development of the workers' movement?
A The economic crisis is very grave in El Salvador. It is hitting the workers directly and hard. With this worsening of the crisis, poverty is on the increase, but along with this, more and more demands are being made on the government.
The workers' movement has grown stronger, both quantitatively and qualitatively, and its united efforts are reflected in the formation of UNTS. The political consciousness of the workers' movement is increasing because this government's political alternatives have brought nothing for the people.
The government has always tried to discredit the united organizations of the workers' movement in the opposition, trying to portray them as mere appendages of the FMLN. This campaign has no other aim
International Viewpoint 4 May 1987 than to justify the repression.
We think that the government is stepping up repression against the trade-union movement because its political plan has failed. If it has any room left for propaganda on the international level, it can't be much. But despite that, UNTS is a strong alternative, able to compete for the Christian Democrats' social base.
Our policy is to seek alliances with other organizations around common objectives and thus to reinforce the unity of the workers' movement. With the UPD, which left UNTS for reasons of organizational independence, we maintain unity in action around a platform of demands.
We also have broad points of agree. ment with UNOC, which is close to the Christian Democracy. From our standpoint, the decisive element is the gravity of the situation, which is the same for all working people.
Q. How do you see the Salvadoran crisis ending?
A. With the earthquake, the crisis grew still worse. Economically, we have fallen back to the level of 1961, 25 years ago! The country is "consuming" more foreign currency than comes in. The United States is giving 300 million dollars a year in arms, and the war costs the country 2 million dollars a day. Last week, capital flight reached about 5,000 million dollars.
The closing of a lot of factories after the earthquake made conditions worse for the workers. Their buying power has fallen by nearly 30%. All these facts show the urgency of finding a solution to the conflict that El Salvador is experiencing.
Such a solution has to be sought in an agreement with the FDR-FMLN. All sections of Salvadoran society have to take part in the search for a consensus, and the solution would be to arrive at a government of national consensus.
Q. Are there real possibilities at the present time for establishing dialogue?
A. For the moment, we see no possibility of dialogue. But we think that in view of the deteriorating position of the Christian Democracy in El Salvador, the Reagan administration is going to try to recompose the political power by giving more room to private enterprise and the agrarian oligarchy.
The Christian Democratic government is in a grave state, since it no longer represents anything in the country, and internationally it is completely discredited. It is going all out to inflict a military defeat on the FMLN, which is out of its reach. In the working class, among the working
EL SALVADOR people, this attitude on the part of the government can only increase organization directed at achieving dialogue.
Q. Besides the government and the guerrillas, the two belligerent parties present, people talk about a "third force." Could it be a political alternative?