Part 5 - DW062 001 027 005

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THE WORLD SCENE ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE THE DEATH OF SOBUKWE Azania (South Africa) has lost one of her great- est sons. Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe died on 26 February in a Kimberley hospital at 53 after facing 18 years of imprisonment and restric- tion by the white suprema- cist SouthAfrican government Mangaliso Sobukwe grew up in a family which faced grinding poverty. He was self-educated and although he became a university lecturer after a long struggle, he never forgot the plight of his people. He fought against the de- gradation and humiliation faced by the African people and consistently asserted their dignity and pride. Realising that only theBlack people could free themselves and that to win this libera- tion required political struggle, he joined the African National Congress Youth Wing, but later broke away to form the Pan Africanist Congress. It was the PAC which in later years inspired tens of thousands of Black youths to dare to oppose the white racists and strike terror in their hearts Mangaliso Sobukwe will always be remembered. He is regarded as the father of Pan-Africanism in Azania (South Africa). The PAC and the whole BlackConsciousness Movement up to the present day has drawn inspiration from his ideals. He showed that the self-conscious assertion by Black people of their own worth wasessential for their liberation and that the liberation of Black Azanians was the prerequisite for the liberation of all Azanians. This has remained the unquenchable spirit that will reassert itself again and again until nat- ional liberation is won from the racists, imperial- ists of all hues and their running dogs. IZWE LETHU!!! (THE LAND IS OURS!) LONG LIVE THE AZANIAN PEOPLE *** 5 French Contract On March 12 and 19, France will be holding a parliament- ary election. The ruling co- alition is composed of two groups which are fairly clear- ly identified with capitalism - the RPR (Gathering for the Republic) led by Jacques Chir- ac, and the UDF (Union for French Democracy) which sup- ports President Giscard d'Est- aing. They are being opposed by the PS (Socialist Party) and the PCF ("Communist" Party), both of which also represent capital, but pretend to repre- sent the working class. This is to some extent a struggle for power between rival factions of the ruling class, all eager for a major share in the profits gained by exploiting working people. PHONEY LEFT The phoney "left" opposition (which is really every bit as Right as the group in power) plans to nationalise a number of key industrial sectors, so as to strengthen state mono- poly capital and thus provide a lot of valuable jobs for their own leading bureaucrats This is resisted by business interests represented by the parties in power. CLASS AGAINST CLASS At the same time, all sec- tions of the ruling class are united in wanting to use elec- tions to give people the im- pression that change can be brought about through the Par- liamentary system. Unlike in Britain where the two major parties alternate in power, in France more or less the same ones have been in power since De Gaulle set up the Fifth Republic 20 years ago. This makes it rather difficult to cultivate the il- lusion of change, so it could suit the bourgeoisie if the opposition were to win. SOCIAL CON For quite some time, French bourgeois politicians used to say: "at least the economic situation here is better than in Britain". But over the past few months they have shown increasing admiration for their British counterparts The British capitalists were the first to produce a "social contract", by which the Trade Unions are enlisted to help state in holding down the liv- ing standards of the working class. Now in France, Prime Mini- ster Raymond Barre has for some time been carrying out a "plan" to keep down living standards and find artificial ways of reducing the number of unemployed who appear in sta- tistics. But this "plan" is rather weak unless it can be backed by a social contract "a la française". UNION BOSSES The top bureaucrats in the two main trade union confede- rations are under the influen- ce of the two opposition par- ties which pretend to be "soc- ialist" and "communist". Therefore, if some kind of social contract is to be set up, they will have to be invol. ved in running the country to some extent. On the other hand, some capitalists are worried about bringing the phoney communist PCF into power. This is part- ly because, the sooner the wor king class sees the PCF for what it is, a representative of capital, the sooner they will turn to genuine revoluti- onary politics, Thus Giscard and Farre are working towards an alliance with the Socialist Party and trying to detach them from the "communists". This plan is backed dis- cretely by the USA. Soviet strategy is complicated. Gis- card doesn't suit them too well because he favours Euro- pean unity. The Russians are ready to capitalise on any gains to be made through the 6 (continued on p. 6) Countries Want Independence, Nations Want Liberation, People Want Revolution! Austrian 'Aid' Not many months ago the Soviet ruling class made the curious and boastful claim that unemployment in Western Europe could be alleviated by those count- ries accepting more orders from the Soviet Union. For even longer they have been begging for big loans from the West and taking full advantage of the difficult- ies of the EEC - like purchasing butter and meat 'mountains' for a song. Now it is reported by the revisionist 'New Worker' that Austria's economic crisis has been "cushioned" because 150,000 Austrians are working on 'socialist orders'. This claim has been made by the chairman of the Austrian revisionist party as he extolled the virtues of this situation which he said was far better than trade with the U.S. or EEC countries and which attacked Austria's economic independence. The claim is utter non- sense. What is the point of the Soviet Union "cushion- ing" the Austrian crisis ? Is it concerned to save Austrian capitalism from collapse? Who is naive enough to believe that these orders are placed to keep Austrian workers in work? Are not these orders placed because the Soviet Union itself is getting a good deal? AGENT OF SOCIAL-IMPERIALISM It is a short step from saying that 150,000 jobs depend on 'socialist orders' to saying that there should be 'socialist investment ' in Austria to provide even MORE jobs! Thus would Soviet social-imperialism penetrate Austria with the help of this revisionist 5th-column. The bitter experience of Anschluss would be repeated. The Austrian people can see quite clearly that East- ern European countries such as neighbouring Czechoslov- akia have become Russian vassal states. Funnily en- ough, they are developing their trade with the West to counter Soviet depend- ence! Austria is a non-aligned country belonging to the Second World. At the First National Congress of the Communist League of Austria held in Vienna in January, in endorsing MaoTsetung's theory of the differentia- tion of the three worlds, the communique stated that (Cont'd on p. 6)

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