The Fall

The Armed Childean masses Just before the Plough went to press we received the mews that Chile's left social democratic Unidad Popular (Popular Unity) coalition government -had been overthrown by a right-wing military coup, and that President Allende had committed suicide rather than let himself be captured. Chile was said to be 2 testing ground for the reformist concept thet certain ‘favoured’ countries could be changed -from @ capitalist society to a socialist one by purely @ectoral and parliamentary methods without the mecessity of a civil wer. T hat this test has failed is undenisdie. We in Ireland can do littie 10 affect es course of events in Chile, but ot least we can Sea Some eae eens oO Oe age ler Se Se see Sokarmeres seem a8 or In 1944 at Bretton Woods a new international monetary system was established to facilitate world trade, the whole edifice being structured” around the dollar, whose task was to act as the international reserve currency. This meant that the dollar would be used to settle debts between governments, and debts incurred during normal business transactions. The old system, the gold standard, under which debts had to be paid with gold was found by traumatic experiences (the inter-war depressions) to hinder world trade.

Under the new order of things, the dollar was to be backed by gold and could be exchanged for gold at an official rate of $35 per ounce. But because the dollar ‘was as good as gold’ debts were to be paid with this paper money.

The dollar was chosen for this role for the following reasons: 1, America was the only country to emerge from the Second World War in a stronger economic position than when it went in, all the other warring countries had been weakened. Ww rN . America had accumulated vast gold reserves.

. The productive capacity of American Industry was head and shoulders above the rest.

THE SYSTEM IS JAMMED This system worked tairly smoothly for a decade but it soon started to trip over its own laces. The basic pitfall of the dollar was that it acted as an international currency and at the same time was the national currency of a strong imperialist bourgeoisie. These two functions of the dollar came into contradiction with each other.

For international trade a ‘stable’ dollar is required i.e. if it does depreciate in value then it should do so at a slower rate relative to other currencies. A dollar which is rapidly losing its value obviously can put a brake on world trade. Businesses and banks will be reluctant to extend credit, which is necessary for a flourishing international trade, if the creditors are losing their profits through inflation. Only. the debtors would gain.

On the other hand the interests of the American economy dictate. a ‘flexible’ dollar. Since the war recessions have been prevented from degenerating into a 1929 S)

Fay IT Pe ee a "> é Pee P would have defended Allende had he let them Parties. The U.P.’s victory was seen to vindicate “the peaceful road to socialism” theory that is central to the political programme of the Moscow orientated C,P.'s. The fact that the Chilean C.P, __ was one of the main participants in the coalition and the C.P, adheres to Moscow/’s line on peaceful co-existence with capitalist countries explains why the U.P. received an enthusiastic seal of approval from Moscow.

But whet has happened in Chile since then 4a:

merely confirmed the opinion of those revolutionary socisiists who from the very start stated thet such 2 ODO aes Mee anc ~oOractca wher faced eth wart Carly taty Wer Demswe oe face Of style depression by Keynesian economic policies, Government have had to inject into the economy vast amounts of money in order to maintain a high level of purchasing capacity and thus keeping the economy buoyant. State expenditure ¢.g. On armanents, induces inflation, which is unavoidable if the wolves of depression are to be kept from the door.

This ‘deficit spending’ as it is called, requires a flexible dollar, i.e. one that is constantly losing its value through inflation. Therefore the inflationary policies of the Washington administration undermines the dollar’s role as an international currency.

Another contributory factor to the crisis of the dollar has been the massive deficit in America’s balance of payments which has caused a drain on her gold reserves. Her position as the dominant imperialist power and world’s policeman has resulted in a considerable outflow of dollar’s from the U.S. This outflow is caused by (a) military bases overseas (b) military engagement in Indochina (c) the propping up of reactionary regimes through aid programmes (Greece, Indonesia etc.) (d) overseas investment. While on one hand this indicates the strength of American Imperialism, the overall effect has been to weaken further the dollar.

Because of this dollar outflow foreign ‘ governments had accumulated large amounts ' of paper dollars whose value was constantly being undercut by inflation. So naturally commit suicide.

order of the day.

mcresmngly Gisorsentated.

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Waster in no way helped by the fact that first American trade deficit for this the export and import of not only services. maritime insurance-etc.) war, while being of assistance to the currency & hard knock.

AGONIZING DOLLAR Nixou could stabilize the dollar by * ‘beneficial to the working masses, Chile remained essentially a Bourgeois State. Most of the tactories owned by the Chilean capitalist were left ur-nationalised. The apparatus of the bourgeoisie, — the military, the police force, the civil service etc.

were not restructured or replaced by institutions whose loyalties would be towards the working class.

For instance no peoples militia were set-up by the U.P. to guard against counter-revolution, the Army:

being thought to be ingrained with a sense of duty to whatever government that was in power.

Of course such an attitude is nonsense for it takes more than a change of personnel in the Ministry of Defence to change an army originally set-up to defend capitalist property into a Model Red Army!

The bourgeois state machinery has to be completely smashed and replaced by a proletarian state structure based on democratically elected workers councils. If the Dictatorship of the Proletariat is not firmly established then the Dictatorship of the Bourgeoisie will reassert itself by the most brutal methods. Less than two weeks before the coup Allende made a speech in which he said that the military was loyal to his government and he told the working class that they could place their thrust in the Armed Forces. Their latest display of “loyalty” drove him to By not expropriating the capitalist class Allende sowed the seeds of his own destruction. They still retained their economic power, and they used their power to conduct a definite campaign of sabotage against the U.P.’s policies. The methods used have included cutting back industrial investment, transferring capital out of the country, hoarding commodities; with the result that the economy was in a bad shape with inflation spiralling ever upwards and food queues being the Such a strategy was designed to create economic havoc and thus discredit “socialism” in the eys of the petty-bourgeois layers and the least conscious sectors of the workers. Also it enabled the Christian Democrats (the main bourgeois parliamentary opposition party) to have pressurised Allende into making concession to the right-wing and watering Gown what socialist policies the U.P. did have.

This campaign by the reactionary forces to wear Gown the morale of the U.P. and the working ciass was highly successful. The middie classes had been modding im street Gemonstrations against Allende im the pest year and the workers were becoming The lorry owners strike, which for the last two months had literally paralysed Chile, wes the final sone - these governments started to exchange their, dollars for the more reliable gold, thereby dollars credibility. This vicious circle was America’s balance of trade was in the red to the tune of 2 billion dollars in 1971, the commodities but also includes overseas economic strength of the Common Market countries and Japan vis-a-vis the United — States. To combat the trade deficit Nixon has devalued the dollar twice in the last imports). These two broadsides in the.trade American capitalists, have logically given the dollar’s credibility as an international | U.P, couidn’t deal with the crisis the weakness of the government became clear, inflation was raging and the black market was flourishing. This inability to govern from a position of strength and his numerous concessions to the right encouraged the petty-bourgeoisie in its hostility to the U.P. while at the same time demoralising the workers. The time was considered ripe for the counter-revolution and the blow was struck.

Until recently the working masses had been combatative enough and resilliant enough to leave the outcome of a civil war very much in doubt for the ruling class. Now however they are confident that if a civil war does break out they will be able to crush the people’s resistance, The only way that the workers could have reversed the right-wing trend that was developing over the last year was to have taken the initiative.and organised workers defence militias on a nation-wide basis. Also popular workers assemblies based on the factories and work-places should hve been set-up to co-ordinate the struggles of the proletariat and peasantry. Such a course of action would have checked the counter-revolutionary forces and given the workers a fighting chance in defeating militarily the bourgeoisie when the battle lines were drawn.

Unfortunately the Chilean C.P., by virtue of its reformist policies, had been totally opposed to such a perspective. With the result that the armed forces were able to stage their coup virtually unopposed. Whatever happens in Chile . during the next period the future looks very dismal for the Chilean masses.

corrupt neo-colonial regimes in Asia and Latin America. But the only outcome of this course would be a severe depression at home, which the American working class wouldn’t take lying down, and at the ‘Same time making the Third World more vulnerable to revolutionary upsurges.

Such a thorough going anti-inflationary policy would entail great risks for American and.world capitalism and it is therefore a course of action very unlikely to be adopted. Recessions nowadays can only be stopped by increasing amounts of inflation but this means a very unstable dollar and an unreliable international currency, thus threatening world trade.

The basic contradiction of the dollar (stable verses flexible dollar) is becoming evermore glaring and it is this contradiction which has world capitalism by the throat.

CONTD. FROM P2 was agreed on by a two-thirds majority — pending ‘further negotiations’ to be launched by the Trade Unions.

It must be stressed tnat it was the lack of democracy within the Trade Union that led to the temporary defeat of the Cadbury Strikers. The Shop-Stewards who openly refused to represent the girls, do not represent any section of the factory adequately. Only 10% of the factory out of 1600participated in the elections of the stewards at the A.G.M. and only-an average of 16 workers attended at the monthly meetings in the factory.

The fight for democracy must begin now on the shop-floor. Refusal to represent the workers demands is a serious rejection and denial of workers democracy. The stewards who react in this way must be relieved of their position by the workers, who must go ahead and elect their alternative steward. They must refuse to acknowledge the authority of the undemocratic steward and fight for the’ Right of Recall and systematic annual , election of the stewards.

Few liberation groups in the Western world have been given the opportunity that faces | the Women’s movement in Ireland. This opportunity exists in the form of the Report on the Status of Women. Objectively a lever with which to bring life to the Movement, the report will soon be discarded and shelved by the Trade Union bureaucrats and politicians. Containing 49 proposals on the position of Women in Irish society, the report actually compiled mainly by representatives of the status quo, presents a very great challenge to the movements of radical women. But we must first ask the question — How can these women meet this challenge? We must answer the question — Why is it such a challenge?

THE REPORT: ITS WEAKNESS ANDITS STRENGTH A growing radicalisation of women throughout Europe, especially in Ireland has caused the capitalist class concern. Faced with a growing crisis of the Irish economy, the successive governments have had to take seriously, the question of women’s status within the framework of the Common Market, the contraction and expansion of industry in certain areas has already become quite apparent. Light consumer manufacture is increasingly the area where industry is expanding. Women mainly provide the labour-power in these industries and will be required to do so for the next period. But the status of these women will have to be rationalised. That is to say, certain concessions will have to be made, in order to make greater profit. If women are the mainstay of the family, which is in effect, an area of omens Struggle reproduction of human labour-power, to implement all the proposals would negate the . advantages for the capitalist class. So to actually carry out the proposals would be =gainst the interests of the status quo, ie. the capitalist class.

Therefore, the womens movement must recognise that while the Report exists on paper, it is an absolute certainty, that nothing or very little will be, or indeed can be done with it — by the capitalist class, However, the concrete opportunities.

UNITY CAN BE STRENGTH Report can do much for the womens movement. That is, if the movement recognises for itself, the contradiction between the Report and the possibility of its implementation; if it recognises the opportunity, this contradiction can present to our efforts to build the movement. Radical women in the movement, recognise and understand the oppression of women and why it is necessary to struggle. This Report is a practical example and presents real For all the diverse elements in the womens movement, the report presents a solid base on ‘which to unite. From the experience of other womens liberation movements, we can learn many lessons. Such movements have built their organisations around campaigns for basic human and civil rights, some of which automaticdlly call into question the role of all state institutions concerning the position of the female sex. But without unity (on a principled basis) the womens movement in Ireland is and will remain tremendously weak and will fail to expand, The Fownes Street organisation, consisting of several founder members of the original group has yet to realise this. Continuing to centre themselves on consciousness-raising meetings and around their journal (which is very lacking in an actual perspective) will not do anything to raise the consciousness of women outside the movement or draw women into the movement to any great extent. Women will be attracted to a movement that involves itself in the struggle for liberation, not to a movement which stays outside that struggle. The remaining founder ' members of the first womens movement, must also realise, without a central axis, any . movement will collapse in time. Their experience of two years ago, has proved this, Then, the movement was involved in every activity and demonstration taking place. But, without having defined for itself the central task, (Was it to fight for the right to family planning, contraception, divorce, all of which are equally important issues) but without a truely democratic structure and effective leadership from the founder members initially, the movement floundered. But to-day a central axis presents itself in the from of the Report.

‘To other radical women, particularly in political organisations, in the Republican movement, in revolutionary socialist organisations, we would say; it is vital that the organisation take the question of womens liberation seriously and understand its important role in the struggle for revolutionary socialism.

But it is also essential that women organise themselves into an autonamous movement, capable of launching a country-wide campaign through which centuries of submission, and their tremendous lack of confidence will be ' eroded and replaced by confidence and , self-determination. It is by experiencing first-hand the struggle involved, that women will gain a broader understanding of the very deep-rooted nature of their oppression.

The womens movement must unite in order to grow, to gain strength.

‘entirely pessimistic about this outlook, for when we accept that female sexual oppression is rooted

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reducing America’s gold reserves which resulted in a still further decline in the

century (the trade balance is the differehce ‘between the export and import of goods and is to be distinguished from ‘balance of payments’ which is the difference between

-military expenditure, foreign aid, banking " This trade deficit reflects the growing

two years, an 11% devaluation in 1971 and 10% one earlier this year. (Devaluation . cheapens a country’s exports and at the same time increases the cost of foreign —

slashing to the bone publit expenditure, ‘ and cutting off military and civil aid to