Bolivian Fourth Internationalists fight for workers solution to the crisis power caused by galloping inflation. For the economic adopted in November, wages were increased by a little less than 40 per cent while the cost of living had
According to the y a reduction no, 1983 was marked by a reduction around 7 per cent in Gross Domestic Pro-
The military relinquished power to a civilian government in Bolivia in
The following interview by an International Viewpoint correspondent with a leader of POR-U (Bolivian section of the Fourth International) looks at how the political situation is developing and the reactions of the workers movement.
Question. What can you tell us about the governmental crisis that opened up on December 14 last year when all the min-
You should remember that government that just resigned was formed last August after a long crisis. the time it was a question of the MIR's (1) return to the government it had quit in January, although it had formally remained a member of the UDP. (2) But the attempt to reconstitute this at the governmental level did not succeed. The president Hernando Siles Suazo installed a government comprising 8 members of his own party, the MNR-I, two from the Bolivian Communist Party (PCB), two from the Christian Democrats (PDC) and two independents - a personality from the MNR-H and a military figure. Rightists predominated among the MNR-I
Alvarez Plata became minister of the interior, Fernando Baptista minister of finances and Colonel Cardenas Mallo minister of defence.
This operation by Siles - which did however close the door to participation by the Bolivian Workers Confederation (COB) and the Peasants Confederation -failed to stop the rightwing offensive. The right continued to exploit the relationship of forces it had, particularly in
The ADN's and MNR-H's technique, as well as the MIR's, is to rely on parliamentary questions, putting the time it is continuing the campaign it has been waging for months on the guerrilla operations that far leit groups are supposed to be preparing for. In fact a group of 7 people - five Bolivians and two Chileans - was arrested at the end of October while they were - according to the prosecution - undergoing military training somewhere in the province of La Paz.
What the right wants is not to put a stop to these events which are after all very minor, but to find pretexts for attacking the MNR-l as well as the PCB who are accused of complicity. The sister of a leader of the left in the MNR-I, Rospigliossi, was suspected of having Finally, the right launched attacks against the November 17 package of economic measures that it considered insufficient, although they favoured certain layers of
The whole rightwing campaign led up to a censure motion adopted by the majority of the Senate on December 14. Although they were not constitutionally obliged to do so the ministers resigned, provoking the present crisis.
It should be added that the Church took the opportunity to intervene in its turn. The bishops issued an appeal in which they preached a political pact with a social truce allowing us to look forward
In fact, the guiding motif of the party declarations and the comments in the bourgeois press is now for national unity or convergence and the social truce which will follow. The objective of this campaign is not in the short term to prepare for a military coup. What the bourgeois parties and the bosses organisations want is a government that has clearly shifted to
Siles Suazo, who had already in August outlined the perspective of a 'government of national convergence' to be set up precisely at the end of the year, has been quite cautious up to now. keep the present coalition while changing the ministers, return to collaboration with the MIR or include MNR-H representatives in the government. The situation is quite complicated. cause of the divisions that are tearing
Thus it is quite difficult to make predictions. In any case, there will probably be a shift to the right of the axis and orientation of the govern-
Its relationship with the masses will deteriorate further which particularly will create problems for the PCB -already wracked by rather sharp internal
The political crisis is to a very situation that, according to all the indicators, is going to continue worsening. you tell us more concretely what the
In fact the political crisis is sonditioned to an extraordinary extent by a deep economic and social crisis.
In March, while completely rejecting the idea of a fixing of a basic subsistence duct - other calculations have even put this at 10 percent. The private entrepreneurs say that only 50 per cent of industrial capacity was utilized. Unemployment is continuing to rise. October 1982 more than 200 enterprises
For medium-sized - have That's a lot in a country that is so little industrialised as Bolivia. It is unnecessary to also point out that the problem of the foreign debt remains extremely serious and weighs very heavily on the government's policies. This debt has now reached 6,000 million dollars.
The gevernment appears to be primarily occupied with giving assurances to the measures implied, among other things, that the Central Bank would itself take over the foreign debt of this sector. On the other hand it is manoeuvring to the detriment of COMIBOL, the state mining company, although it remains the largest source of foreign currency. May the government should have given COMIBOL 50 million dollars, in fact they have only given 7!
Such behavior is quite obviously inspired by the wish to create problems in an industry where majority workers co-management has been, in principle, you make a first balance sheet of workers co-management?
Up until now the workers majority co-management leadership has been formed at a central level, but the discussion has not yet started on the concrete norms of functioning. At the local level, the parity bodies installed following the miners action last April remain in
Movimiento de Izquierdo Left, traces its origins from pro-Cuban guerrillas but now a conservative formation standing on the right wing of bourgeois nationalism.
of the Communist party (PCB) and the two offshoots of the old bourgeois national-
The MNR-Izquierda (MNR-I) is led by the Alvarez Plata but this is opposed by the party apparatus and the left. Vicyo Paz Estenssoro, represents the sections of the former party that collaborated General Hugo Banzer dictatorship at the beginning of the 1970s.
International Viewpoint 30 January 1984
The international press only mentions in passing the struggles of the last few months. What can you tell us about
In August, on the 2nd and 30th, there were demonstrations organised by the COB in La Paz and others towns. These were centred on the objectives outlined in its economic emergency plan.
This opened a new phase of struggle characterised by a considerable growth of sectoral struggles. Strikes and demonstrations by industrial teachers, different sections of the service sector increased. The peasants in turn mobilised several times. In the Yungas region in particular they once again used the method of struggle that they consider most effective - roadblocks. Essentially, the demands concerned wages.
As the sliding scale with the minimum wage has not been introduced, every one on their own is fighting to get Huanuni workers as always play a vanThe Bolivian miners play a vanguard role (DR) International Viewpoint 30 January 1984 guard role - have outflanked the FSTMB (the miners federation) itself, demanding the regular supplying of their canteens which often lack the most essential consumer goods. They continue to demand a living wage and the sliding scale.
The peasants got concessions on the organisation of peasant markets, having to go into struggle again because the government does not keep the undertakings it has made.
The economic measures on November 17 provoked very sharp reaction. COB realised that a new wave of struggles was starting up. It retook the central initiative by proclaiming a national work stoppage for December 13 and 14. was an undoubted success. there was no demonstration organised in the capital city. On the other hand in the mining region there were massive mobiliparticularly there was a very militant march, the biggest since the UDP came to
Q. Are there discussions in the trade unions on the objectives and orientations for this stage of the struggle?
A. There are discussions and differentiations. On the crucial problem of the living wage and sliding scale there are two opposing positions. The PCB current - partially supported by the president of the COB Economic Commission - have come out against this demand which they consider 'unrealistic' in the present situation. The other current includes different forces - among them the Trotskyists. First of all it won in the FSTMB, and then in an extended meeting of the COB leadership. This forced the leadership - in which the PCB remain the
- to include this demand in their emergency economic plan. ever, it is one thing to have a resolution on paper - it is another to make it the focus of a real mobilisation. That's the problem at present.
It should be said in passing that the PCB paid a high price for its position. A lot of activists and organisers are against the official line. Even at leadership level
One effect of this has been the replacement of Ramiro Barranchea by the more malleable Horst Grebe as minister of labour.
Finally, there is a more general problem of orientation. Despite the sharp arguments and the conflicts the COB leadership has maintained a dialogue with the government. Others would like to have an open break.
Q. So the COB congress which starts on May 1 will be an important event...
A. Undoubtedly. Delegates representing all the workers in the country will meet to discuss the crucial problems we face and the line to adopt in the present situation. There will be very sharp discussions at every level. members or sympathisers of our organisation and who have responsibilities as organisers, or even sometimes as national leaders, will fight above all on the ques tion of the living wage and sliding scale as the central focus of mobilisation. same time they will insist on the urgency establishing a joint platform of demands for all sectors. This is the only way of avoiding the increase of dispersed sectoral struggles that would entail a risk of wearing down the workers.
They will emphasise the need to strug gle for majority co-management to be applied in practice in the nationalised sector, and for workers control to be introduced in the private sector
The battle for these objectives will go along with the battle for a united front of the left including the COB, the Peasants Confederation and all the parties and organisations of the working class. The COB will be the backbone of this front. Its congress should transform itself into a popular assembly that represents the alternative to a bourgeois parliament. From such an assembly popular power bodies could and should develop throughout the country.
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