AROUND THE WORLD
Europe Eurono Political Bureaux meet A MEETING of the Political Bureaux of the European sections of the Fourth International was held in November 1985 with delegations from the French, British, Portuguese, Spanish state, German, Belgian, Dutch, Luxembourg, Swedish, Austrian, Swiss and Italian sections. On the agenda was the analysis of the economic crisis; its social and political effects; and the consequences flowing from this for the construction of revolutionary organisations.
The first report, given by comrade Ernest Mandel, dealt with the breadth of the economic depression, its effects on the different branches of production, the employment situation in each sector and the different developments in manufacturing and the service industries as well as the development of workers living conditions.
Mandel also spelt out the impact of new technology on the main industrial concentrations and on the organisation of work; the effect of this on the level of trade-union organisation, and this in line with the capi5727 talists' notion of the 'dual society' He showed how capitalism used unemployment and the increase in precarious employment and part-time work (notably amongst women) to impose divisions among the working class and to provoke long-lasting demoralisation amongst sections of the youth.
The report finished on the responses of the working class, which, although different in different countries, had a certain defensive and fragmented character. In this context the process of recomposition of the workers movement will be a long one during which revolutionary organisations must prove themselves capable of presenting a programme of struggle against austerity, against the ideological counter-offensive and to counteract the neo-liberal offensive which accompanies the attacks of the bosses and the bourgeoisie. An overall socialist propaganda must be developed.
This general introduction was complemented by two other, more specific, reports; one on the crisis in and the restructuring of the car industry and the responses in the trade union movement, by comrade JC Bernard; and the other on flexibility of employment, precarious employment, and the the eitects effects on negotiations negotiations and collective agreements and what our orientation should be, which was given by comrade D. Raymond.
After these three reports and discussions, the second part of the meeting was given over to the problems of construction of revolutionary organisations. Reports were given by comrades from the Spanish state, France, Belgium, and Denmark.
There were also different commissions working on different topics. A women's commission was held twice to discuss the specific attacks which women are victims of and the problems posed by the development of part-time work and what responses to give. The commission also discussed the problem of women in the sections.
A 'youth' commission discussed the problems of the youth organisations and the preparation of the third International Youth Camp in summer 1986.
A commission on South Africa and the need for solidarity work was also held.
The discussion on all these themes should be continued in preparation for the 1986 meeting of the International Executive Committee [IEC] of the Fourth International. / Poland Borusewicz arrested ON SATURDAY January 11, Polish radio and television announced the arrest of Bogdan Borusewicz, a member of the leadership of the underground Solidarnosc (TKK) in Gdansk.
Bogdan Borusewicz began to be politically active in March 1968 during the youth mobilisations. In 1976 he was one of the founders of the Committee for Workers Defence (KOR) and then he began to devote himself to the construction of an independent trade-union movement. In August 1980 he was a member of the central strike committee in Gdansk in which he played a leading role.
When Solidarnosc went underground in December 1981 he took a full part in its reconstruction. Within the TKK he tended to support the most radical positions. In particular he violently criticised the TKK for not having taken the leadership of the spontaneous strike which broke out in the naval shipyards in Gdansk in October 1982, which he believed could have been the start of a general strike.
Cuba Havana conference THE SECOND conference of Intellectuals for the Sovereignty of the Peoples of Latin America was held in Havana from November 29 to December 3, 1985. More than 300 delegates participated. The opening speech was given by the Brazilian Catholic priest Betto, the author of the book Fidel y la religion, of which 45,000 copies were sold in Havana in three days.
Betto said that it was necessary to strengthen the alliance between Christians and Marxists, which he considers fundamental for the success of a social revolution in Latin America.
Subsequently, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the well-known Colombian writer, expressed his regret that discussions at previous conferences of the same nature had not had any practical implications. His view was that these meetings should have adopted "practical resolutions and assured a continuity of work."
For his part, the Cuban minister of culture, Armando Hart, stressed that the meeting in Havana pointed up the fact that the Cuban revolution was open to all revolutionary and progressive currents of thought as well as various artistic and scientific points of view.
The work of this conference was carried on in three commissions. The first discussed the theme "culture, democracy, sovereignty, and peace in our America," the second took up the problem of "science and art as factors of cultural development in Latin America and in the Caribbean," and the third was devoted to "the domination of information and its consequences for the sovereignty of our peoples."
The Cuban daily press published extensive accounts of the discussions that took place at the conference.
Luis Vitale, a Chilean historian and member of the Fourth International, proposed in the first commission that a history of the Latin American foreign debt be produced before July 26, 1986 (the anniversary of the attack on the Moncada barracks in 1953). At the same time, he drew up a detailed list of all those who should collaborate on such a project.
This proposal was adopted by a majority of the participants in the commission and unanimously during a plenary session of the conference. D
International Viewpoint 27 January 1986