The LCR is obviously happy with the results. But party leaders are well aware of the campaign's shortcomings. Portugal Left Bloc, blo
Portugal and Greece are the only two EU countries where a majority opposed the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, writes Luis Branco. Antiwar sentiments gave a welcome boost to the newly formed Left Bloc. But anti-war mobilisation was hindered by hardline Communist Party (PCP), which refused to criticise Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.
In any case, the election results confirmed the slow decline of the PCP, which lost one of its two MEPs (the vote declined from 11.2% in 1994 to 10.3%). In the party's heartlands, most disgruntled voters switched to the ruling Socialist Party.
The three-month old Left Bloc (Bloco de Esquerda) did surprisingly well, winning 3% in the main urban areas, and 4% in the capital, Lisbon. The alliance of ex-Communist and "Trotskyist" groups won 60,000 votes-more than its component parts attracted in the previous
The LO-LCR list fell into the trap of a duel with the Communist Party. This was partly the result of simplistic media treatment, but also the result of LO insistence on "the urgent need to rebuild a real communism... a revolutionary communist party." LCR leaders are convinced that few left-wing voters can be attracted to the revolutionary pole of politics through any discourse on "real" communism. Certainly few young people will be won over in this way. It would be better to find other ways to articulate and make credible our anti-capitalist alternative.
The campaign was too often presented as a single slogan: "Vote farlef! Vote revolutionary!" It would have been better to identify our candidates with the four or five key measures that we propose as a European emergency plan against unemployment and social crisis.
The Kosovo war also reduced the popularity of the LO-LCR list. Debate on social questions was very subdued during the campaign, as a direct result of the war. And the campaign failed to convince potential voters of the need to oppose NATO bombing. It seems that 60% of potential LO-LCR voters were in favour of an intervention against Milosevic... * *The author is a leading member of the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR), 4* International. We will be keeping a close watch on the LO-LCR deputies parliamentary work in future issues. cked left election. If this success continues, the Bloc may win one or more seats in the September 99 parlamentary elections. Though, as in other countries, abstention was noticeably higher in poorer districts. According to the Bloc's spokesman Miguel Portas, "in Lisbon, we are about 3,000 votes short of a second seat in parliament."
A dynamic campaign for peace in the Balkans, decriminalisation of drug addicts, integration of immigrants and refugees, and a more social Europe, enabled the Left Bloc to win a large section of the youth vote, and attract those Socialist Party voters who were disgusted by their party's sabotage of the 1998 abortion referendum. * * The author is a leading member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party (PSR), 4* International. The Left Bloc can be contacted at 13 rua Febo Moniz ric esq., 1150 Lisbon, Portugal, tax 01/3144790, <[email protected]>. www.bloco-de-esquerda.pt Contributions to the election fund can be sent by cheque, or directly to account #32116257-000-001, BPI/Saldanha. International Viewpoint #314 September 1999 5
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