“implemented. for each day). of the clinics to stay…”

implemented. £250 for each day). of the clinics to stay open. who need the service badly either dont't Know about the clinics or would feel intimidated about going in to them. :

CAP, who have been selling nonmedical contraceptives each weekind at the Dandelion market, is inder severe threat with the new aw. CAP sells to over 700 people zach weekend, the majority of whom are single working class youth. These people will have no access to contraceptives after the lawis The fines and sentences for breéexing this law are enormous, Fora first offence the fine is up to £500. The sentence is up to six months in prison; however both fine and imprisonment can be imposed, Fora second or subsequent offence a fine of up to £5,000 (if the offence continues on a daily basis the fine is Cap intends to continue running the Dandelion stall. The demand and March need for easy acess to contraceptives will not disappear just because of this new law. If the state wishes to repress this protest activity, Cap intends to resist and fightback, As CAP has to date been the main political voice for changing the law on contraception, it is of extreme importance that the Family Planning Clinics would support, and play a major role in the defence campaign. Likewise, if any of the clinics are attacked, CAP would be at the centre of the campaiyn defending the rights Jacinta Deignan.

Over half a million people turned j out in Managua, the capital of Niceragua to celebrate the first year of the revolution lead by the FSLN, For a country witha population of 2.5 million it was a huge mobilization and an impress— ive demonstration of the FSLNIs popularity. There was every — reason to celebrate with confidence. Since the overthrow of the infamous dictator Somoza, the Niceraguan workers and toilers have made steady gains, GAINING TIME These gains were not made without sacrifice, however. The revolutfonary insurrection swept away the old political order of capitalism., But the country was also left in ruins, 120,000 people were depends) was not planted; much of industry was shattered, Famine ‘and stagnation faced the nation.

The intensified struggle for survival promised inter necine and sectional strife among the workers and toilers themselves, The industrialists and landowners , used the economic chaos as their trump card. By threatening to close down business altogether, and throw the country headlong into disaster, they were able to gain a stay of execution, In return ‘ the FSLN permitted a continuation of private enterprise and even gave two of the five seats in the new government to the pro-capitalists, The industrialists/lamdowner s, (backed by the United States, government, feuding among themselves, powertul right-wing regimes in Central America and the 5,000 members of the crack National Guard who escaped fully armed into Honduras) hoped to use these concessions to regain power.

FSLN PUSHES FORWARD The people of Niceragua, lead by the the FSLN, were not blind to this manouevre, While not provoking an economic confrontation, they set about the building of an alternative political power based on local councils, a popular militia and a professional army all under the command of the FSLN and not the This gave them leverage in the economic arena as well. 20% of industry and 40% of land is already expropriated. In addition a series of price, production and trading controls, monitored by the mass organizations have been imposed, Needless to say, this has not pleased the pro-capitalists, They have responded by withdrawing from the government, exporting their assets (ie. cutting production) and refusing to plant the cotton crop, Moreover the international situation is not very favourable for the procapitalists. American intervention is made less likely by their inability to intervene in Iran; the rightwing regimes in El Salvador and Honduras are busy fending off their own revolutionary opponents and In this situation the FSLN has been SOCIALIST REPUBLIC PAGE 7 able to take strong measures, in the form of more factory and land seizures, against the pro-capitalists.

DIVISIONS AND DEMOCRACY The only wéak plank of the Revolution at this stage is the possibility of internal division. As the economy remains weak and living’ standards become flashpoints, The FSLN has not always resolved these differ-— ences smoothly. For example, the FSLN unions have carried out mass mobilizations against trade union leaders (mainly the pro-Stalinists who themselves are jockeying for position) of the more established and stable industrial workers, who have been demanding better wages, Many of these trade union leaders were arrested and briefly impris— oned, Such actions can only jepordize revolutionary unity.

In general the FSLN has recognized this, and in nearly all cases has conceded wage demands and restored. unity with the non-FSLN unions, In doing so the FSLN recognizes that the needs of the workers are real and urgent, and that the problem lies elsewhere- in the increasing sabotage of the economy by the proCapitalists. .— Despite inevitable errors the FSLN has a strong commitment to popular democracy. Such democracy alone can facilitate maximum mass unity which allows full concentration against pro-capitalist sabotage,

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dead or wounded; the cotton crop (on which Niceragua heavily

are low sectional differences within the "WOPKEF s and toifers tend to