elections, now finalised, confirm the Party, Mexican of the Fourth International). over million votes the party TIM WRIGHT 50,000 MARCHED Mexico City on 26 June in one of the most spectacular events of the PRT's campaign.
Busloads gathered at 4pm around Revolution 1910-l / revoiuton.
Red flags and banners waving, they marched the kilometres Tlatelolco Plaza where on 2 October 1968 hundreds of students were gunned down. by the Mexican Army and secret police.
The marchers came from 30 of Mexico's stales. thousands ocasallls in their cotton shawls and straw hats; workers from the huge plants run by imperialist corporations like Renault and General Motors; Indian artisans halting Spanish and shouting their slogans in their native tongue; office employees, leacners, sucet vendors, shantytown dwellers, former political relatives of the DisolcIs. peared', women's liberation fighters and gay rights activists; and militants from movements of solidarity with El Salvador, Nicaragua and Palestine.
As they stepped off, rived ana the neat, oreer y dissolved hundreds and thousands rushed greet 'Rosario Ibarra, candidata Sulllg proletaria'.
Rosario's candidacy has been the sensation of the presidential election campaign. She speaks directly those propelled into struggle against the stifling domination of the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary since the revolution virtually the sole overcll vally. ruling patronage and terror measures. startling section and through which comOI shirts or speaking 'disapRosario arPRI the Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared, holding a 30 foot banner covered in pictures of the victims of repression. tingent of more than 300 candidates running for seats in the PRT siate; then a marching band from the northern state of playıng 'Bandiera Rossa' and Mex ican fanfares.
After scores workers, casallls organised by the PRT came the other groups that had joined it to form an electoral alliance. But the overwhelming majority marched hammer and sickle flags of the PRT Huge banners announced the region, union or peasant federation of the contingents.
From the chair Margarito Montes, general secretary of the Independent Revolutionary dinating Committee leader, explained, 'This campaign has been around the big issues of Mexican politics; but it has also been a campaign against imperialism, in solidarity with all those fighting around the . world for their liberation. We want to dedicate this rally to the Palestinian people, who are being massacred by ally lal Lope ner perialism. He was continual shouts of 'Death to Yankee Chanting pueblo al peasants, the people to power') the march arrived in the late evening.
Mason the American Workers' Party, candidate for governor of California, denounced the US 'merciless offensive of hunger and war against the workers and farmers of the United States, Latin Ameríca and the world.' were read the crowd burst into applause and chants of 'Se siente, siente, la Cuarta esta presente'. (You can feel it, the Fourth International is present).
When it came to Rosario's speech no one had left, despite the late hour and intermittent rain. the rally the crowd had been chanting Rosario' Rosario, wild; all rose and remained standing throughout her speech. She began by of Le e re vo roą mak ing up the Palestinian Resistance Move• call for The resistance used to be based in Jor dan. In 1970 King Hussein launched a bar attack the help of Israel and the US massacre. known as Black September. left yu dead ana tens or inousanrs either imprisoned or escaped to Syria and The centre of the Resistance was forced to go to Lebanon various organisations Palestine Resistance Moremen: developei Why support the Palestinians? Exile. Thers strugales for na hana liberastruzie lor nalota. . ton, ineir rignt lo relurn to ralestine ls a , anti-imperialist struggle.
mccuca urecay. 1 nere rollowea a conZacatecas, proudly of contingents of aol cholell.
and students through workers, holding the LOWII sluucllls.
radical Peasants' Coorand PRT build one the Mexican US imtry! interrupted by May ('workers, the dwellers read out from Mel Socialist of this also independent government's After his greetings calling for a minute's silence for those killed on 2 October. Then, fist in the air, she shouted angrily 'Remembe! October the Second!' and fifty thousand took up the chant 'We have found, she said 'that the Mexican people are learning that it is not enough to fight for immediate demands, to shout that we want a plo: of land, food, that we are hungry that unemployment is high. That':
'The people have understood tha: only when they link their struggles solidarity, that walen the the peasants, the shantydwellers, men and women all together decide to ad vance hand in hand and organise then the scattered economic struggles become a revolutionary struggle to:
change this country 'Companeras and companeros we spoke with thousands of Mexicans, who although like me have no party, know that they are going io Thousands of them! We can tell you that we felt the socialism that lies waiting to spring forth from scorned by the PRI. So much the worse for them: because this people is going to make the socialist revolution in this coun'Very soon we will have the kind of Mav Dav we want — a jubilan Day, a May Day in which the workers will march hand in hand witi peasants, the shantytown Lic. wolucil . the sluucil They will raise their fists and sing and smile and laugh, for on the balcony o: the National Palace will be the poor country, its real represen tatives. Venceremos!' The crowd burst into shouts o 'Rosario, Rosario!' which subsided only when the band struck up the firs: few bars of the thousands of fists were raised in the air and thousands of voices sang ou the song of world workers' unity.
concert
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gains made by the PRT (Revolutionary Workers'
has at least 12 deputies in the Mexican parliament.
HANIBAL YANEZ report on the final rally.
werst d teat Sori darily wilh ther strugales