Dynamics Revolution

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SOCIALIST ACTION JUNE 1988 13 referred to as the "aristocracy of labor." Many things which have been written about the involvement of the CIA, the reactionary role of the leaderships of the striking unions, and the manipulation by the capitalists of the strike are undoubtedly true.

But it would be extremely short-sighted to limit the discussion of the strike to its manipulation by the bourgeoisie, as most uncritical supporters of the Sandinistas usually do. To do this is to ignore the deep underlying causes of the strike.

Such superficial analyses, moreover, fail to recognize that the misguided policies of the FSLN concerning the mixed economy and the role of trade unions in a transitional society have greatly contributed to driving sectors of the working class into the arms of the capitalists.

To illustrate this point, projects (such as the Olaf Palme Convention center) to be built in record time and had therefore allowed loopholes in the law. Building trades workers, for example, were permitted to receive special incentive pay for extra work—a provision not stipulated in the SNOTS.

Of the approximately 400 auto mechanics who went on strike, all but 60 belonged to unions affiliated to the Sandinista-led CST. (Each shop has its own union). The other 60, all workers at the Volkswagen repair shop, were members of the anti-Sandinista Federation of Trade Union Unity and Action (CAUS), which is led by the Communist Party of Nicaragua (PCN).

Because of the opposition of the CST leadership to the strike, the CAUS union, representing initially only 15% of the workforce, became the political leadership To order and for list of other titles, write to: i435 Army St., Rm. 308, SF, CA 94110 pamphlets Dynamics of the Nicaraguan Revolution by Alan Benjamin and Jeff Mackler ($1.5l The Legacy of Malcolm X Somburu ($1.25)

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"Distributing the land to these peasant families will require making deep inroads into the property rights of the agroSubscribe today to Socialist Action 14 SOCIALIST ACTION JUNE 1988 (continued from page 13: “Glossary of Abbreviations”) willing to tighten their belts even more, as are most Nicaraguan workers."

"But what they cannot accept," Morales continued, "is that the burden of the sacrifices be placed on their shoulders while the capitalists receive government handouts."

Indeed, if the Sandinistas are to avoid driving more sectors of the working class into the arms of the bosses, it will be essential that they understand that the austerity policies they have implemented are misguided, that the economic demands of the striking workers are legitimate, and that a distinction must be made between the misleaders of the strikers and the actual striking workers.

Fissures among reformists

Another aspect of the strike which has failed to get much media attention is the fact that within the ranks and even the leadership of the strike there has been considerable resistance to the interference and manipulation by the capitalists and their supporters.

A number of leaders of the SCAAS building trades union, led by union veteran Francisco Medrano, have begun to publicly distance themselves from the union leadership's political alliance with the parties of the bosses.

Speaking before rallies at the Ministry of Labor, Medrano has obtained loud ovations from the crowd when he has insisted that the strike maintain its economic focus and refuse to take up political demands of "those forces outside the labor movement."

In addition, a split has occurred in the top leadership of the pro-Moscow PSN as a result of the strike, with five leaders of the PSN's Central Committee, led by Juan Gaitán, publicly opposing the PSN's political alliance with the capitalists in the bloc of the 14 political parties.

The resistance to the intrusion of the bourgeoisie in the strike may also help to explain a peculiar editorial which appeared in the right-wing daily La Prensa on April 23 attacking the strike leadership and pointing out that the strike was doomed to failure unless it became a rallying point for the 17 constitutional reforms and "democratization."

La Prensa's editorial, which was titled, "Workers on strike: Victims of the revolution," states:

"The workers on strike have been victimized by everyone, including by their trade-union leaders who have led them down the wrong path. These leaders called for a partial strike, which doomed the strike from the beginning. ...

"Moreover, the strike has been for the elimination of the government-imposed SNOTS. But the elimination of the SNOTS will not signify an end to the economic crisis the country faces. Our only hope lies in pushing for 'democratization."

Hence, according to the major voice-piece of the Nicaraguan capitalists, the economic demands of the strikers are essentially misguided.

Nonetheless, despite the fissures in the counterrevolutionary apparatus, it is obvious that there is still a hard-felt absence of a current within the Nicaraguan workers' movement that is able to 1 months for $8. 6 months for $4 Enclosed is a contribution.

Address export capitalists..

solidarize with the just demands of the strikers, offer an anti-capitalist program of struggle, and at the same time wage a relentless fight to expose the collaboration of the strike leaders with the capitalists and U.S. imperialism.

Proletarian internationalism

The Nicaraguan Revolution is at a critical juncture. With the implementation of the provisions of the Central American peace plan and the adoption of economic policies aimed at bolstering the capitalist mixed economy, the class struggle between the workers and the peasants, on the one hand, and the capitalists, on the other, is bound to heat up.

The FSLN government, if it is to meet the needs of the masses and prevent the dynamism of the revolution from being continually eroded, must break out of the bonds of the mixed economy and take the path the Cuban Revolution took in 1960. This will require the overturn of capitalist property relations, with the working-class and mass organizations, in alliance with the peasantry, becoming the fundamental and democratic decision-making bodies of the new state. [] Send me more information about Socialist Action. [] I'd like to join Socialist Action Tel.

Many of the tasks of the revolution, such as the distribution of land to the landless peasants, remain unresolved. Approximately half of the 124,000 peasant families have yet to benefit from the government's agrarian reform.

Distributing the land to these peasant families will require making deep inroads into the property rights of the agro-export capitalists, who have sabotaged economic production while receiving handsome government subsidies. This would ensure the support of the land-hungry peasants for the revolution and would cement their alliance with the workers, who would be the new ruling class.

It is illusory to expect that foreign investment from the European countries or from the United States will provide the needed input to prop up the economy and salvage the revolution.

Imperialist investment comes with a myriad of strings attached. For the American or European capitalists to provide aid and investment will require what they call a "political climate conducive to investment"-and that can only mean the reversal of the Nicaraguan Revolution.

Deepening the revolution by proceeding Send to: 3435 Army St., Rm. 308, San Francisco, CA 94110. on a socialist course and instituting a planned economy is a vital necessity for the Nicaraguan Revolution today.

But even if the Sandinistas were to break with the mixed economy (and therefore with their alliance with sectors of the capitalist class), the dependent and backward character of the Nicaraguan economy underscores the fact that, by itself, Nicaragua cannot break out of the straitjacket of underdevelopment imposed on it by the international capitalist system.

It is illusory-and potentially very dangerous—to believe that Nicaragua can develop economically within the confines of its national borders.

In the last couple of years, for example, whatever progress achieved in increasing agricultural production was more than canceled by the sharp drop in the world price of cotton, one of Nicaragua's major export crops.

In the long run, as well as the short, Nicaragua's fate is tied to the struggles of revolutionary people throughout the world who seek to replace capitalism with a system of social organization and production rationally planned to meet human needs.

Nicaragua can only find the road to genuine economic and social development through the extension of the revolution to the other nations of Central America in the framework of a socialist federation of Central American states.

The vast majority of the workers and peasants of this region suffer under oppressive regimes not unlike that of the Somoza dictatorship, which was removed by the Nicaraguan masses in 1979. Their liberation will require mass revolutionary mobilizations to replace the rule of the minority—the capitalists and the landlords —with the rule of the majority.

The fate of the Central American revolution, moreover, is ultimately connected to the need for the victory of socialism in the developed countries and ultimately on a world scale.

The Central American revolution has received a significant blow with the adoption of the peace plan submitted by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias. This plan has effectively isolated the Nicaraguan Revolution from its natural allies: the workers and peasants in the rest of Central America.

The plan's goals—to "pacify" the region, deny any legitimacy to the guerrilla fighters in El Salvador and Guatemala, and isolate Nicaragua-have gone virtually unchallenged. Even the Sandinistas joined the contras in hailing Oscar Arias and Representative Jim Wright (D-Texas), one of the peace plan's most fervent supporters, as they signed the cease-fire agreement in Sapoá last March.

The Sandinistas' endorsement of the Arias plan and their commitment to coexist with the Nicaraguan capitalists within the mixed economy flow from their "nationalist" approach to the problems of the Nicaraguan Revolution and from their reliance on and support to the Latin American capitalist regimes.

This, for example, explains why the FSLN gave political support to Mexican President Miguel de la Madrid in his 1982 election campaign. FSLN Commander Jaime Wheelock while on tour in Mexico stated that Mexico was a "model of true socialist democracy."

De la Madrid, however, proceeded to cut off all oil shipments to Nicaragua under pressure from the U.S. State Department. He also supported the contras' demands for "democratization."

Lenin, Trotsky, and the Bolsheviks saw their victorious workers' state as the "advanced outpost of the world socialist revolution." They understood that the workers' conquest over Russian territory must be subordinate to the extension of the revolution, particularly to the developed countries of the world.

Their example is the one revolutionists in Nicaragua must follow if the revolution is to withstand all the pressures it has encountered and if it is to be ultimately victorious.

Alan Benjamin, editor of Socialist Action, recently returned from Nicaragua, where he compiled most of the information for this article.