Workers Confederation after the sixth congress interests and aspirations of the poorest sections of the population.
This aggravated both the social and the programme which aimed to get structural changes at the economic, political and
The sixth congress of COB (Central Obrera Boliviana - the Bolivian
Central Trade Union), took place in Cochabamba from September 3 to about 1,000 people in attendance (about 600 of whom were
As the organisers' report by the outgoing leadership full delegates).
pointed out, according to the statutes a COB congress should be held
But the workers' movement in Bolivia has often been every two years.
forced to work underground, under severe repression.
its founding in 1952, the COB has only held six national congresses.
The sixth congress of the COB was marked by a change in leadership and in particular the rejection of the slate of the Bolivian Communist
Party (PCB).
The Cochabamba congress was marked, more than on previous occasions, by profound internal differences and some stormy sessions. It was formally opened with a speech from the outgoing general secretary, Osvaldo Sanjines, a member of the Bolivian Communist Party who was greeted with howls of abuse.
The business of the congress was held up for four days because of discrepancies in several of the delegations' credentials.
The final session to elect a new National
Executive Committee (NEC) dragged on without a break for 19 hours.
Throughout the congress there were two opposing factions. One, the majority of the previous executive, was under the hegemony of the PCB, which is now more more tied by its position in the
(Democratic and Popular Union)
government of Siles Suazo.
was made up of various trade-union and tendencies grouped together under the umbrella of the DRU
That is why, since established by the NEC, where differences existed special general meetings should have been called to resolve them and to elect delegates to the COB congress itself. This norm was not always
The fact that the credentials commission had to spend so long discussing the composition of delegations such as industrial workers, oil workers and other shows the scope of
Once the squabble over credentials was over, the congress went into three sessions: a discussion on the report on activity, a session of commissions and report-backs from them, and the election of
The report on activity summed up the course of the trade-union movement since the last congress in 1979, highlighting the struggle against the military dictatorship of General Garcia Meza. In analysing the change represented by the coming to power of the UDP government, in Octosocial levels. But the UDP government -which was dominated by the banks, big business and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) — did very little to introduce
It was in the work of the political commissions that the differences that characterised the whole congress really came out. The discussion was centred on four different documents. presented by Oscar Salas of the PCB. It advocated the 'deepening of the democratic process' which, he said, represented a necessary learning stage for mass democracy on the road to national liberation and socialism'
In other words, the PCB was reaffirming their traditional thesis of revolution by stages, the practical consequence of which has been their participation in the UDP government.
A second contribution, defended by Filemon Escobar, explained, on the one hand, that the COB had to fight for the application of the programme and present itself as an alternative power, even play ing the role of the revolutionary party. On the other hand, it explained that the time to replace reformism had not yet arrived and it was necessary to seek an alliance with 'nationalist progressives in the military' in order to defend democ
A third position was put forward by Ascencio Cruz in the name of the Lora group (a group which calls itself Trotskyist) that had no delegates at the con-
Leadership), which had been set up a few months pre-
Statement adopted by the sixth viously.
congress of the COB
All attempts to put forward positions or form groupings intermediate between
The sixth congress of the COB reaffirms the socialist theses approved by these two rival tendencies got nowhere.
A clear example of this polarization was congress further recognises once again the willingness of the.
Filemon Escobar, one of the chief memworking class and poor peasants to defend and preserve democracy.
tect their rights and liberties against all attempts, either from parliament or through bers of the outgoing executive committee, an ex-Trotskyist, who has abandoned the
The economic crisis inherited from the previous fascist military regimes concept of the Leninist party: in prachas been aggravated by the economic policy imposed by the IMF and applied durtice, during the congress, he found himing the period of government of the UDP.
self lining up with the PCB. The same sation of the country favourable to the preparation of a coup. Imperialism and the thing happened to the so-called third forces of reaction are behind this. All these features, combined with the dispersal alternative made up of a section of the of the popular forces, create an imminent danger of the destruction of the cur
Socialist Party-1 (SP-1) and of the rank- and-file Trade Union Bloc which was pro-
Faced with this danger we workers in the mines, the countryside and the
UDP and sponsored by, among others, towns put forward the COB emergency plan with the aim of uniting our forces, the leader of the Santa Cruz COB, Felipe strengthening the workers and peasants organisations and crushing the counter-
Caballero.
This will put us on the road to emancipation.
COB agrees to launch an appeal to all revolutionary and democratic par-
The lengthy organisational wrangles ties, to all those within the military who are nationalist-inclined to urge them to over credentials reflected broader differences of orientation that had already appeared in the regional and industrial confederations. According to the rules
10 the fourth congress.
a fascist coup, to roll them back.
- rent democratic system.
revolution.
clutches of fascism.
They will pro-
It has become a factor in the destabili-
International Viewpoint 12 November 1984
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BOLIVIA
gress. Their view was that the democratic dictatorship and the fascist dictatorship were two sides of the same coin and that the workers' movement should oppose both and fight for the dictatorship of the proletariat.
The fourth position was that of the DRU, put forward by Carlos Borth, a militant in a section of the PS-1. We have published extracts from their document on page 12.
The position of the DRU obtained a narrow majority in the policy commission. Two reports were eventually presented to the plenary session of the congress — one by a representative of the DRU and the other by Filemon Escobar.
The meeting decided to nominate a commission charged with drawing up, not a long document, but a final statement. This was eventually adopted by the congress. It represented, in effect, a compromise between conflicting positions (see
The representatives of the DRU expressed reservations about the final point of the statement which contained the appeal to the 'progressive nationalists Economic issues
The debates in the economic commission intersected, in part, with the themes of discussion in the policy commission. The main conflict was over the question of the minimum wage and the sliding
The PCB spokesperson defended the official stance of the government, according to which, in the present context, the introduction of the minimum wage with a sliding scale would provoke inflation and would also threaten the democratic proservices by the National Transport Company (ENTA) to the application of the general labor law to categories of workers who do not yet benefit from it. The congress also urged the UDP government to rapidly put the agrarian bill drawn up by the peasant's organisation to the vote at the legislative assembly.
The leaders of the housewives com-
COB leaders at miners' assembly (DR) representation to the different currents in the leadership of the COB, the majority slate took all 34 seats on the executive.
The DRU greeted the results of the congress as a very dramatic success for the left. The POR-U newspaper, Bandera Socialista, gave its assessment under th heading Revolutionar Victory. The bourgeois press and the PCB could not hide their annoyance and their concern at
The DRU, however, argued that the mittees that have sprung up in the poor struggle for this demand was the only way to fight hunger and destitution amongst the masses. It was the best way to combat the speculators and hold back the raging economic crisis that is engulfing the country.
Moreover, the minimum wage should not be considered separate from the other demands contained in the COB action programme concerning, in particular, the nationalisation of the banks, the monopoly of foreign trade, etc.
On the economic issues, the congress eventually adopted resolutions demanding, among other things, the following: the immediate application of the COB plan; the introduction without delay of a minimum wage with a sliding scale for all workers; a restructuring of wages with open to the COB; immediate measures to enable the Bolivian Mining Corporation (COMIBOL) to overcome its critical financial difficulties; the cancellation of all contracts signed by the National Oil company (YPFB) with the multi-nationals; condemnation of the policy of monetary devaluation being pursued by the government.
The congress also put forward other demands ranging from the expansion of International Viewpoint 12 November 1984 neighbourhoods of La Paz intervened into the discussions to demand that the congress amend the constitution to provide for a women's secretariat of the NEC to deal with women's issues and that one woman should be elected to the NEC
The differences that had marked the entire congress were finally brought to a head in the elections to the incoming NEC of COB by the presentation of two
The first, proposed by the DRU, ineluded Juan Lechin, the longtime leader of the COB, as the candidate for executive secretary, once again, and other representatives of the organisations or groups supporting the DRU for the different posts. Eulogio Sanchez, a militant of the POR-U, Bolivian section of the Fourth International, four members of the PCB who disagreed with the line of the party and the secretary of the Peasants Confederation, Genaro Flores.
Juan Lechin came out 91 votes ahead of his direct competitor, with a total of 474 votes cast. Also, because of the application of a traditional norm of funetioning in the Bolivian workers' movement, which does not give proportional
The leader of the PCB, Marcos Domic, announced that a major confrontation had taken place at the congress, 'between forces who, in the workers' movement, represent...the real positions of the working class and the petty bourgeois ultra-
In his opinion, Lechin had suffered a 'historic defeat', because he was not re-elected unanimously.
However, the PCB leader did add that an agreement was possible on the basis of the political statement, and he expressed the hope that Lechin would think twice before letting himself be dragged into adventurist actions'
The periodical De Todos was quick to point out that within the DRU, two Trotskyist groups (the POR-pie and the POR-U) wield considerable weight and that 'you can see the influence of the POR-U on the DRU text'.
Undoubtedly, the congress of the COB represented a radicalisation of important layers of the Bolivian workers' movement and the PCB did suffer a resounding defeat. Bolivian revolutionaries have gained huge opportunities. But they have also huge responsibilities towards the workers and peasants' movement.