Obviously the big political question behind all of these debates is the perestroika process in the USSR and the political conflicts it is unleashing. For a party used to cultivating the image of a brotherly Soviet paradise on earth, the recognition of Stalin's crimes and of modern contradictions in the USSR has come as a severe shock. Moreover, Gorbachev's popularity and the opening he proposes immediately enabled all the critics in the party to identify with his political positions, arguing that the Stalinist heritage was at the root of the PCP's bureaucratic functioning and the major cause of its loss of influence. Incidentally, one of the arguments for expelling Seabra from the Political Commission was that she had been in contact with two Soviet citizens living in Portugal.
The attitude taken towards the Soviet Union has always been a litmus test for the leadership of the PCP. The contradiction was very clear during the congress itself. Vadim Medvedev, the Kremlin's representative, presented a conciliatory message at
FRANCISCO LOUÇA T WO ORGANIZED groupings, appearing as de facto factions, confronted the historic leader, General Secretary Alvaro Cunhal. The "Group of Six" was the first to publish its positions. Six well-known PCP cadres were involved in it, notably an ex-member of the Central Committee, a former minister, former regional heads and a judge from the Constitutional Court, who is also one of the country's best known Marxist theoreticians.
They put forward positions that overall represented an alternative to the leadership's document for the congress. But they decided not to come to Oporto, pointing to the lack of democracy in the preparation of the discussion. They are beginning to be increasingly pushed to the sidelines within the party.
The second group was formed later on, and calls itself the "Third Road." It brings together a widely representative group ranging from former student leaders, to a member of the European Parliament, trade unionists, journalists, intellectuals and many active workers. This group even managed to win a majority in a meeting of 16 the intellectuals' branch in Lisbon, and ended up with between 30 and 50 delegates
(theoretically, the ratio is one delegate to 100 members). It is a heterogeneous group, united in criticisms of bureaucratic centralism, but containing political positions that differ significantly.
One of its best known leaders, the European MP Barros Moura, was the first to advocate a position differing markedly from the PCP's initial intransigent opposition to the Common Market. He displayed a favorable attitude to the integration of Portugal into the European Economic Community (EEC). This new position was first adopted by the Portuguese General Workers' Confederation (CGTP), the union federation linked to the PCP; and then finally by the PCP itself. On this occasion, moreover, the PCP showed its great capacity for incorporating the most right wing of internal criticisms into its line.
On the other hand, some spokespeople of this Third Road have developed a very interesting critique of Alvaro Cunhal's conception that the Portuguese revolution is an ongoing process, continuing without interruption since 1974-75. Obviously this is a crucial question. This position might seem to be radical and surprising, but actually the PCP leadership has substituted the reflexes of a besieged fortress for political
International Viewpoint #156 • February 6, 1989
PORTUGAL the beginning of the Congress, extolling the institutional relations between the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), the president of the Portuguese Republic and the Portuguese government. The delegate from the Hungarian CP also presented a vigorous defense of the economic liberalization, and the economic reforms underway.
It was Georges Marchais, general secretary of the French CP, who appeared to speak for those who had reservations about Gorbachev. In his intervention, immediately following that of the Soviet delegate, he stressed that perestroika was a fine thing, so long as it stopped at the borders of the Soviet Union. Even if Cunhal now wishes to appear more enthusiastic about the CPSU leadership's policies, in fact, he is among those who have reservations, and is aligning himself with the France-East Germany bloc.
Throughout the whole period of preparation for the Congress, in each debate, Alvaro Cunhal reiterated that there was no crisis, large or small, in the PCP. The leadership tried systematically to minimize the impact of internal contradictions, not however, meeting with much success. All of the major documents of the opposition groups had already been published in the bourgeois press, thus easily accessible to all Communists.
However, the bureaucratic machine went into action, and the overwhelming majority of 2,000 delegates (thus, theoretically epresenting 200,000 members) was of course already won over to uncritical support of all of the leadership's positions. Nonetheless, it was a surprise for them to watch critical currents speak up and even cast their fifty votes against, or abstain, in the case of the election of the new Central Committee.
Some of the themes raised by the oppositions were incorporated into the Congress' final document. But the leadership concentrated its efforts especially on presenting the concept of "advanced democracy" as a wonderful theoretical innovation capable of giving the party a new strategic profile. Curiously enough, this is the same great discovery of the French CP's Eurocommunist period, in vogue during the Union of the Left in 1972, and today it is being rediscovered by the same Portuguese CP which criticized it harshly back then.
### Weakening of PCP's electoral strength
However, the open debate in the PCP at least had the merit of bringing into question all of the essential points of the new program. Among these were the stagist conception of revolution which is fundamental to the document on democracy, the concept of "advanced democracy" and that of taking power through electoral means, which are presented as substitutes for a struggle for power based on the direct action in working-class struggles. The situation is all the more contradictory since there is obviously a long-term weakening of the PCP's electoral strength.
Once again the struggle against monopolies is being prioritized, and the class nature of the bourgeois democratic regime which came to power on April 25, 1974, is being treated as an abstract question. What is proposed is the creation of a new society lacking either any socialist option or the capability for responding to potential for mobilization that was revealed last year by the mass movement, especially during the general strike of March 1988 (see /V 139). Opposition to entry into the Common Market has been dropped in favor of a debate over how efficient this or that formula is for influencing regional or sectoral policies. The PCP refuses to place itself in the context of international struggle for building a strategic alternative to the EEC and the unification of workers' struggles on a European scale.
These are some of the themes debated during the congress in Oporto, where oppositionists, of course, criticized the official line. But still more important new developments also took place and were, in fact, the most surprising aspect of the meeting. For the first time in the history of the PCP, some union leaders and members openly took a critical position. The case that drew the most press and television coverage was that of José Judas, the central leader of the CGTP, who spoke briefly at the very beginning of the Congress in order to protest the internal regime of the presiding Central Committee and to propose the election of the new CC by secret ballot.
This was considered by all oppositionists as one way of enabling the congress to show its true feelings about the choice of a new leadership and the continuation - or not — of the older historic leadership core. The proposal was immediately defeated, but remains very important. In this way, Judas clearly came out in favor of the criticisms coming from the Third Road and as the spokesperson for the proposal that has been hardest fought by the Cunhal leadership.
DA MAIS FORÇA
A LERDADE vota
PCP
CP's crisis reflected in trade-unions
From the social and institutional point of view, this position in favor of opposition currents taken by a major trade-union leader will carry great weight in the future debates in the party, and demonstrates that a section of its cadres is sensitive to concrete experience and to pressure from the mass movement. In fact, the PCP's internal conflict had already come out into the open in the union confederation itself, when the Communist leaders divided at at the time of the struggle over the government's proposal for changing the labor code. One section of the CGTP leaders was in favor of calling a general strike jointly with the General Workers' Union (UGT, the confederation 17 that has been influenced by the Socialist
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Party and the right) for a general strike. This section ran up against other Communist leaders who insisted on the traditional sectarian position of having nothing to do with the UGT.
The current that was most open to unity in action was able to enforce its point of view, which permitted the CGTP to support the call for a general strike against the government issued by the UGT. Aware of the deep divisions that have existed workers' struggles, Judas and other Communist leaders tried systematically to come up with new ways of calling strikes, notably large united factory assemblies. This experience weighed heavily, no doubt, during the final discussion of the Oporto congress.
It is also significant that the Communist leader who came out of the congress incontestably the number two figure in the party was Domingos Acrantes, who was the leader and major advocate of the most sectarian current of CP trade-unionists.
In this sense, the debate and current crisis in the PCP has a point of departure quite different than that of the French CP. After a preliminary wave of protest centered primarily on the undemocratic methods of discussion and leadership, real strategic problems came to the fore. They were discussed under the pressure of the need to choose a political orientation for the mass movement, and most importantly for the unions. This question is all the more urgent since the second general strike is being prepared for the early part of 1989.
Growing isolation and loss of members
Despite its weakening, the CP maintains its basic core of social control, the CGTP, and its influence in the area affected by agrarian reform. Its room for maneuver has nonetheless been reduced, and it is faced with growing problem of isolation and a significant loss of members. The situation is such that today, for instance, the vast majority of the Lisbon regional organization, the most important part of the party, has an average age of over fifty!
A reaffirmation of the continuity of its leadership and policies therefore seemed to the congress to be the best response to the current and future crises. This attitude is, however, not incompatible with other, more surprising innovations, as for example in the area of friendly relations with other organizations. For example, during the closing session of the Revolutionary Socialist Party's congress (PSR, Portuguese section of the Fourth International), the representative of the PCP, a member of the Central Committee, allowed himself to be photographed with Alain Krivine, leader of the LCR (the PSR's sister organization in France), and even stated to the newspapers that he found it incomprehensible that a similar discussion at this level could not 18 take place in Paris, between the LCR and the French CP... *
PSR congress THE REVOLUTIONARY Socialist Party (PSR), Portuguese section of the Fourth International met for its sixth national congress on November 26-27, 1988. The agenda included discussions on the political situation, the preparation of an anti-militarist campaign involving youth, and finally an organizational plan and a concrete work calendar. The political theses and the organizational resolution were unanimously approved, but the document on anti-militarist work (It covered a change in the PSR's traditional position and a defense of the slogan "No to the Army" as a general rejection of militarism) was criticized by some delegates, and finally passed with 80% of the votes, 10% against and 10% abstentions.
A few days later, the fifteenth anniversary of the foundation of the International Communist League (LCI), the predecessor of the PSR, offered the occasion for a public meeting in Lisbon, to publicize the results of the congress. During the day-long anniversary meeting, the PSR also organized a debate around the changes taking place in the USSR, with an opening talk by Alain Krivine, leader of the French Revolutionary Communist League (LCR), in front of around 200 people.
The Portuguese Communist Party was represented by a member of the Central Committee, and the Green Party sent their deputy. Other left organizations were also present, as well as trade unionists, former officers from the Armed Forces Movements [MFA, the political-military grouping that staged the coup d'état, beginning the "revolution of carnations" in 1974, a grouping including a wide range of political positions] and members from other currents.
A message from Imprisoned comrade Natercia Campos was read. Campos was the PSR's candidate in the last legislative elections, and is now in prison for 13 years, accused of belonging to the same "terrorist" organization as Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho. Lieutenant-colonel Otelo de Carvalho, who was one of the strategists of the 1974 "revolution of carnations," was condemned to 15 years of prison in December 1986, accused of being one of the "major leaders" of the clandestine left organization "People's Power - April 25" (FP-25) which is suspected of carrying out twelve assassinations and around twenty bombings since it was founded in 1980. Carvalho, who has always denied these accusations, also sent a message to the PSR rally, from Tumari, the military prison where he is being held. We publish extracts below. Comrades, The PSR is holding its sixth congress and commemorating its fifteenth anniversary. On this occasion, it is a real pleasure for me to offer hearty congratulations to all party members and leaders, sending to all my warmest fraternal greetings.
It Is commonplace to say that the Portuguese left must find new paths, new forms of expression, and a new language that is the product of the intelligence and moral values that we hold, as well as the principles for which the left fights. I believe that, in this sense, the PSR is the party which is working the most for this change within this ideological sphere, which is so divided and fragmented today.
We have seen great examples of what I just described both in the perseverance of its candidates in the last series of electoral campaigns, as well as the documents published in its excellent paper Combate, without a doubt, the best left paper put out in our country. Vaccinated against the terrible sectarian poison that has destroyed all of the attempts to work together in a common framework of a non-aligned left, the PSR has always stayed open to the free debate of ideas, respecting those of others while continuing to fight non-stop for its own.
I hope that the PSR will win a large place among political parties, and that its young leaders will have a large role in the national political
To everyone, militants and leaders of the PSR, I would like to express my thanks for the serious actions and steady pressure which have continued in the fight for my release and that of my companions, and in the struggle to find a just solution to this situation where the right of dozens of Portuguese citizens to that fundamental element of wellbeing, liberty, is being denied. *
International Viewpoint #156 • February 6, 1989
SOUTH KOREA