Discussing El Salvador at Socialist Action forum.
CLP)R THE brutal US-backed dictatorships in Central America are crumbling. The struggles of ordinary people have changed the face of countries like Nicaragua and Grenada. As Reagan sends in more "advisors" and arms, El Salvador too laces a chuca ponie Last month, a Socialist Action forum discussed the freedom struggle there. GREETINGS The meeting heard Phil Hearse of the El Salvador Solidarity Campaign, who brought greetings from representatives of the Revolutionary Democratic Front of El Salvador.
Tracing the history of the struggle, he El Salvador has been concentrated in the hands of a few families. has kept the people in absolute poverty thanks to the unremmitting support of US and Western imperialism.
But over the last few years there has been a resurgence in the mass struggle.
Revolutionary organisations have grown and formed the FDR-FMLN which has the support of most Salvadorans.
Hearse called for the support of all progressive forces in Britain to join in solidarity with the Salvadoran people.
INTERNATIONALISM Gary Erlisker of Socialist Action explained why internationalism is a central feature of the struggle for socialism.
The international ruling class, led by Reagan and Thatcher, take El Salvador very seriously. In them, the working people of El Salvador and all countries share a common enemy Our support for the struggle in El Sala moral duty. It is a totally necessary part of a common struggle to fend off an oppressive class of international rulers.
Erlisker also pointed to the working-class nature and base of the struggle. This has enabled the revolutionary leaders to launch several general strikes.
He pointed to the courageous solidarity of Cuba, Nicaragua and Grenada with El Salvador, explaining how these countries are also on Reagan's hit list.
Also of crucial importance, he said, was the widespread antiwar views of American workers which had made a farce of Carter's registration for the draft and acted as a major brake on keagan Erlisker called for stepping up solidarity in the British labour movement:
"By doing this we can contribute significantly to the victory of the Salvadoran people, we can help lower the cost they have had to pay with their lives in their showed that since the 1930s the wealth of fight against their and our enemies "We can deal a massive blow to the This ruling clique attempt of Reagan and Thatcher to bring us closer to the day when they hope workers of different countries will kill each other on the battletielas createa Dy capitalism, the battlefields only the ruling rich have anything to gain from "We can deal a massive blow to Thatcher and Reagan's power, making it harder for them to attack our rights to jobs, to social services, to democratic rights and to human dignity."
Pointing to Fidel Castro's call for an emulation campaign of aid to Nicaragua, Erlisker said, "We'd like to take a leaf out of Fidel's book, because we think it's a pretty good book.
down a challenge to all socialists, to all progressive-minded people in Britain.
"Let's see who can do the most to build broad solidarity with El Salvador.
Let's work together and compete in that healthy way.
Socialist Action supporters will be takvador is not an "act of charity" or simply ing the issue into their workplaces, union and Labour Party branches and putting it up front in the paper, he said. We will be urging the broadest possible campaign.
Socialist Action sees as its central aim building, within the labour movement, Continued from Page 1 more in arms and equipment was announced.
Scores of US "advisors" are in El Salvador, giving assistance to the dictatorship's army in torture and murder of working people.
US HYPOCRISY At the same time as the Reagan regime - like Carter's before it — is trying to batter to death our wor king class brothers and sisters in El Salvador, Washington is trying to make out that the peoples' struggle is engineered by Cuba and the USSR.
This is barbaric hypocrisy.
When fighting a regime armed to the teeth by Washington, the Salvadoran people have the right to get arms wherever they can. This is what people fighting for their rights have always done, including the American people when they fought for their independence from Britain.
Moreover, as the recent ITN eye-witness report on El Salvador and the arms issue concluded, most of the arms are captured from the dictatorship or bought on the international arms market.
Most of the Salvadoran guerrillas who have any military training, the programme showed, did not get it from the USSR or Cuba.
They got it from Washington, and have since gone over to the side of the working people.
TERROR Continued television and newspaper reports have confirmed that the bulk of El Salvadoran people oppose the dictatorship and back the Revolutionary Democratic Front-Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FDR-FMLN), We'd like to throw which is leading the freedom struggle.
They have shown that the US.
backed junta is carrying out mass murder to terrorise the population into submission. They and Reagan know there is no hope of the junta winning the hearts and minds of