malpractices, or insulting behavior toward the masses." (24)
Despite this massive purge, Le Duan notes in his report to the Fifth Congress:
"There are people who, from all evidence, do not deserve to be party members but have not yet been expelled." (25)
Finally, it is clear that on many questions of national or international political line there is far from political unanimity today inside the VCP. It is certain that a sector of the expelled party members were excluded for being "soft" on the Chinese leadership. In his report Le Due Tho moreover violently criticised "certain Maoist elements who have betrayed the enemy and had put themselves in the pay of the enemy" and "opportunist elements who have tried to divide the
But it must also be noted that the ambassador to Moscow (Nguyen Huu Mai), his predecessor (Nguyen Huu Khieu), and the president of the Vietnam-
Association (Xuan Thuy) were not re-elected to the Central Committee-which seems to confirm the existence of serious tensions between Hanoi and Moscow.
ONE-PARTY SYSTEM AND BUREAUCRACY Vietnamese leadership called for a moral and ideological rearmament of the party. shut on the opportunists. role of the party must be maintained but at the same time the masses' "right to be the collective master" must be defended. The party organisations have to be separated more strictly from those of the state in order to allow the latter to fully play its administrative role and to avoid the frequent accumulation of posts by the same person. According to Doan Ket (May 8, 1982), that was one of the main proposals contained in Le Duc Tho's report; and consequently the Council of Ministers has been reshuffled so as to slightly reduce the proportion of Poli-
Bureau members on that body. On the economic level Pham Van Dong recommended the adoption of: "A dynamic mechanism of management, capable of eliminating bureaucratic centralism" and able to "develop a spirit of initiative in local, regional, and sectoral structures, and at the same time permit the central structures to take control of manage the business and coordinaIn a general way it is necessary to "stimulate the revolutionary mass movement" and initiate a "vast emulation campaign "..."the working people exert their right of collective master under the leadership of the party"..."in the first place through the National Assembly and the Peoples Couneils at different levels." It is important therefore to fight against the "formal character" of certain of these "elected bodies" so that they really accomplish the functions, tasks, and attributions the Constitution has devolved to gress thus, on these points, touch on real problems. But the general conception the regime has of the proletariat" (and above all the role of the party in society) remains unchanged. Now political problems that the Vietnamese leadership against. How, for example, do you block the entry of "opportunists" who infiltrate the party? During the revolutionary struggle for power, to join the Communist Party is to run a considerable risk, to accept severe sacrifices. Opportunists did with applications for membership. This inevitable tendency is reinforced and encouraged by the role the CP has in Vietnam, as in other "socialist countries."
In practice, Vietnam has a one. party system. Furthermore, the major debates on political line are restricted to the top leadership; they do not reach the Peoples Committees or even the party rank and file. Party members do not therefore gain experience or test themselves in the framework of a free debate among the masses. The party, which has the majority of political power, is generally "protected" and therefore cut off from "living" society. Except when there are very strong tensions, everything is sorted out between "comrades" , in secret at various levels of the apparatus. scale and the advantages (legal or otherwise) that go with positions held follow the party's political hierarchy. the party and to hold down a post there is still one of the most effective ways of climbing the social ladder, of having pri-
How then does one block the path of the careerists?
Perhaps the right of the masses to be the "collective master" must be guaranteed. Le Duan notes that the privileged arena for the action of the masses is the state (the National Assembly and the Peoples Committees). However, the leading role is assigned to the party and the role of "management" to the state. Furthermore, the power of the single party system is institutionalised in the Constitution itself; the state is subordinated to
Doesn't this mean that the masses are not only deprived in practice of the right to real discussion of the major political options, but further that they see themselves formally subordinated on the institutional level to the party? How can they therefore benefit from this in.
"collective master?" So how can the arbitrary power of the cadres and administrators be broken, how can one stem bureaucratic develop-
What is involved in the development of a bureaucracy in Vietnam are very deepgoing causes which cannot be simple swept aside: the country's extreme backwardness and great economic poverty; imperialist pressures; dependency vis-a-vis the Soviet Union, etc. But the Fifth Congress of the VCP neverthe less recognised that subjective factors (particularly the action of the party and state) also play a very important and oc casionally determinant role in the development of a bureaucracy in Vietnam, in the demobilisation of the masses. The reports very much centred on the relattionship between the party, the state, and the people; and this is indeed one of the key problems of the transition to socialism. But they did not question the party leadership's monopoly of debate, the single-party system, the subordination of the state to the party, the National As sembly being cut off from the People's Committees, nor the structures of salaries and advantages that go with the posts of
However, there seem to be differences even inside the Communist Party apparatus on these questions also.
More generally, the Vietnamese leadership presents a very restrictive analysis of the roots of the bureaucratic phenomenon. They see it as a legacy of the past and of the weight of small commercial production in society and of people's "mentalities" (which is not so very different from the first analyses of the Soviet Left Opposition). Therefore, the response to the danger of bureaucracy resides above all in ideological rearmament, an organisational better leadership of mass work and in the long term the development of large-scale socialist production. Moreover, the experience of the USSR, China, and the "Peoples Democracies" show that the bureaucratic phenomenon has its roots also in the very contradictions of a society in transition to socialism. viously exacerbated in the existing workers states by economic and social backwardness, poverty, and the relative international isolation caused by the failure of revolutions in the imperialist centres
It is true that economically and socially, in the long term, industrialisation is indispensable for the stabilisation of a regime of real socialist democracy. But the example of the USSR proves that a progress in industrialisation does not necessarily result in a pushing back of the bureaucratisation process. The bureaucracy can perfectly well draw advantage from any economic development for a whole period.
These are the specific contradic tions of a society in transition to socialism which bestows such an importance on the form of political regime-on the political content of the dictatorship of the proletariat. The existing constitutional regime in Vietnam facilitates the progres sive strengthening of the bureaucracy's power instead of countering it. But this fundamentally important debate was not dealt with in the reports given to the Fifth National Congress of the VCP. 24. Doan Ket, Paris, April 14, 1982, p. 3. 25. Le Duan art. cit., p. 145.
Quoted by Nayan Chanda, Far Eastern Economic Review, April 16, 1982, p. 17. 27. Pham Van Dong art. cit., p. 67. 28. Le Duan art. cit., 1982, pp. 87-88
Death sentences in Malaysia Since March 1980, thirty-one people, most of whom are political dissidents, have been hanged under special security laws in Malaysia.
Essential (Security Cases) (Amendment) Regulations 1975 (ESCAR), under which they were tried, carries a mandatory death sentence.
Tan Chay Wa, a Singapore citizen aged 33, is very likely to be the next to hang, according to his wife who visited him in prison. Tan has been detained by the Malaysian government since 1979 under the Internal Security Act (1960) by which the government detains its political opponents indefinitely and without trial. Two years later, without his having laid a foot outside the prison, the government charged him with possession of a gun and ammunition, and revoked his detention order.
Tan was tried under the special procedures provided by the ESCAR There were serious discrepancies during the trial, one of them being that the serial number of the gun given by the prosecution when laying the charge did not correspond to that of the gun that the prosecution produced in court as evidence! Yet Tan was found guilty and sentenced to death.
The ESCAR is an exceptional law in that it does not safeguard, but removes the basic legal protection for the accused. It is a fearful law in that it lacks every single essential of justice. Among other things, the special procedure allows witnesses for the prosecution to give evidence in camera; it restricts the right of the accused to cross-examine prosecution witnesses; it admits hearsay evidence.
In ESCAR trials, the judges' discretionary power of sentence is removed and they are bound by law to impose the maximum penalty-the death penalty. Unlike other Malaysian trials, the judge is chosen by the Public Prosecutor and sits alone without a jury.
The irregular features of -the ESCAR procedure are proof of the extremely political nature of the trials. Such a procedure constantly and almost inevitably leads to conviction of any person whom the police may name. The most blatant outrage of justice is that all persons who have been, by chance, acquitted have been immediately rearrested and detained under the Internal Security Act (1960) for which there is no trial. There are only two outcomes to an ESCAR trial: death or continued inde-
There have been 31 hangings under the ESCAR in the last two years, after 11 years of none at all. There are another 33 people in Malaysian jails convicted under ESCAR awaiting their turn at the gallows. No one knows exactly how many more security cases are pending before the courts to be tried under the ESCAR.
Unlike military juntas or dictatorial regimes elsewhere who eliminate political dissidents through covert assassinations, the Malaysian government assassinates with legal finesse.
CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE ESCAR A campaign has been initiated by the Federation of United Kingdom and Eire Malaysian and Singaporean Students Organisation (FUEMSSO) to save the lives of Tan Chay Wa and others convicted under the ESCAR laws, and to campaign against the law itself.
Despite the offers of foreign organisations to adopt' Tan the Malaysian government has not released him. This is in contradiction with their earlier statement that they would allow detainees under the Internal Security Act (which includes ESCAR) to leave the country if foreign organisations were willing to accept them.
The campaign has won the support of many individuals and organisations, who have called on the Malaysian government to repeal the ESCAR and stop the from trade unions; human rights organizations, including Amnesty International; the United States Congress Human Rights Sub-Committee; and groups of members of Parliaments in Britain, Holland, and West Germany.
### Telegrams protesting against gross injustice of the ESCAR trials, calling for its repeal, and calling for the re lease of those sentenced under it can be sent to:
The Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir bin Mohamed The Prime Minister's Office
Jalan Datuk Onn
Kuala Lumpur
MALAYSIA Send copies to:
FUEMSSO c/o NUS International Section 3, Endsleigh Street London WC1
### Release
Samuel Roche
The regime in Haiti is without doubt one of the most repressive in the world. Its thugs reach not only all oppo nents in Haiti itself, but they also undertake operations against Haitians who are refugees in other countries.
One of the worst cases is that of Louis Samuel Roche. He has lived for many years in the Dominican Republic and is a member of the Union of Haitian Democratic and Patriotic Forces. Roche disappeared on June 4, and every attempt to find out his whereabouts has proven useless. But a solidarity committee r tablished in his defence has been • •e to find out the truth: Roche ha: ween kid. napped, and forcibly taken to Haiti five days after his disappearance. He is now in the Croix de Bouquets Prison in Haiti.
A campaign is growing in the Dominican Republic to demand his freedom and his right to return home. The Dominican authorities have not till now made any official statement.
The Defence Committee for Samuel Roche asks for protest telegrams to be sent to: Presidente de la Republica, Palacio Nacional, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Black workers growing militancy
The independent black trade unions in South Africa are playing an increas ingly important role.
The most recent indication of their strength was the strike which shut down Fords, General Motors, and Volkswagen car plants on July 15.
The strike was organised by NAAWU, an officially registered 'multiracial' union. This union is part of the Federation of South Africa Trade Unions (FOSATU), which is the largest and most important of the independent black union federations, organising almost 100 thousand workers.
The strike was called in support of the demand for a wage rise from the present 2 rands per hour (£1 sterling) to 3.5
21
rands. The employers are only offering a
This strike followed a wave of violent protests by black workers in the gold
Like the car workers, the miners were demanding increased wages, and parwages-whites earn about eight times the
Both sectors of workers also face increasing threats of redundancy. thousand miners have already been laid off. Projections for the next year forecast a marked drop in car sales.
However, the car industry employers have discovered that it will not be easy to put an end to industrial struggles by sacking the militant
The loss of the skilled workers would be a serious blow to the productivity of the industry.
needs of the industrialists do not run in easy harness with the policy of the government. The recent declaration of independence for the Batustan and Ciskei homelands deprived black workers assigned to these homelands of South African citizenship, and thus made them liable to deportation. However, the loss of these workers would cause severe problems for industrial production.
This position of strength, combined with the growing organisational strength and history of struggle of the black work. ers (see International Viewpoint, No. 8) will bring future and increasing independent struggle by the black workers in
Union repression
in Uruguay
Six militants are about to be taken to court in Mondevideo. tened with three to eighteen months imprisonment under the anti-union legislation of the dictatorship. berto Rodriguez Suarez, 60 years old building worker; Jorge Frutos Oliva, 28 years old, textile worker from the Suitex unionised workers, as the mineowners South Africa.
factory; Angel Diego Nigro Ortiz, years old, building worker; Ulises Marchall Nigro Ortiz, textile worker from the
Alpargatus factory; Jose Bruzone
Miguel Matos Fangio, bankworkers.
To all who refuse to capitulate
Echevarren, 28 years old; and Alicia Locatelli Miserocchi, 33 years oldboth clerks-have been detained since March in the headquarters of the Montevideo police, accused of 'illegal association'
STATEMENT OF THE REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST GROUP, LEBANESE SECTION OF THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL Comrades and Brother Fighters,
The last days have shown to those not already convinced that the official PLO leadership was serious about seeking a way "to surrender with honor."
It is in fact public knowledge that this leadership is prepared to accept the principal condition of the Zionists and their American sponsors-that is, to re-
Palestinian armed presence It is also obvious that new Jarashes and Ajluns (1) to which the Palestinian fighters will be led if they follow the orders of the leadership to surrender will at best be a giant prison and at worst a that a very great responsibility for the present state of affairs, in which defeatist proposals are openly or officially proclaimed falls on the majority of the leaderships of the Lebanese national movement.
If the main fighting organisations of the national movement had adopted a firm patriotic attitude, rejecting the Zionist conditions, and insisted on keeping the Palestinian fighters in Beirut-as the InMurabitus) have done till now-no Palestinian leaders, regardless of their political views, would have been able to accept
However, the majority of the lead. erships of the National Liberation Movement have shown that they are not only ready to countenance a withdrawal of the Palestinian resistance from Beirut but that they are even anxious to see this, and are bringing pressure to bear to assure that it is done as soon as possible, under the base pretext that it is necessary to "save Beirut'. 22
Comrades and Fellow Resistance Fighters, time is running out, and we have to begin taking measures to block the surrender before it is too late. In order to do this, we have to bring together all the forces, groups, and currents that are determined to fight on to victory and which reject the shameful capitulation that an evacuation of the entire Palestinian resistance from Beirut would re-
These forces must unite around a national accord that can be the basis for
Lebanese-Palestinian Patriotic Resistance Front. Such an accord must include the following points:
1. Rejection of all capitulationist solutions, especially a withdrawal of the Palestinian resistance from Beirut.
2. Continuation of an unrelenting struggle against the Zionist army of occupation, denying it a moment's respite, moment it occupies our land
Announcing the decision to militarily any attempt, American army or the official Lebanese torenter Beirut in collusion with the Zionist army.
This, comrades and fellow resistance fighters, is what we think represents a genuinely patriotic platform in the pre-
A historic responsibility falls on those forces that refuse to surrender. This responsibility demands that they demonstrate their determination and join their forces for the battle in which our national destiny is at stake.
Ever onwards to the victory! We will win! • In 1970, after the resistance had been evacuated from the towns in Jordan, it was concentrated in the Jarash and Ajluan plains.
They are accused of having had contact with Bibiana Duffau, a militant of Pax y Justicia (Peace and Justice) and with Gustavo Vasquez, a union militant in a textile factory. Amnesty International denounced the brutality against these comrades in its bulletin Urgent Action in April 1982
DU EST MON FILS?
Rafael Lezawa
Uruguayen Détenu et Disparu 1° octobve 1976 Uruguayan 'disappeared' (DR)
A defence campaign has been set up in Latin America, notably in Brazil where a petition signed by a great number of union leaders is being circulated. The organisers of the campaign intended to present their petition on June 27, the anniversary of the military coup in Uruguay in 1973.
Telegrams and petitions demanding the immediate release of the detainees, total amnesty, and information on the condition of the Uruguayan disappeared in Uruguary itself, and in Argentina and Paraguay, should be addressed to: His Excellency The President of the Republic Lieutenant General Gregorio C. Alvarez, Casa de Gobierno, Plaza Independencia Montevidio, Uruguary.