THE EIGHTH National Congress of the Bolivian Labor by a leader of the Oruro district of the
Confederation (COB) was held September 18-28 in Ururo. It
COB. Also present were guests from the
French General Workers' Confederation began with a Great United March of the Exploited People.
(CGT), the Portuguese CGT, the Argen-
Thousands of miners, metalworkers, railroad workers, tinian CGT, the Federation of Unions of manufacturing workers, peasants, university teachers, and
People's China and the World Confederastudents took part in this action, which culminated in a rally at tion of Trade-Unions.
The work of the congress was carried out in six commissions - on politics,
The choice of destination point was not arbitrary. One of the economic affairs, social questions, education and cultural affairs, internal function-
"symbolic" acts of the García Meza dictatorship was to ing and defense of the coca growers. The remove the gun from the hands of the bronze and tin statue of first four commissions were chaired by a miner. On this occasion, in the midst of general enthusiasm miners, the fifth by a factory worker and and the echo of dynamite blasts, the symbol of the struggle of the last by a peasant.
The first point on the agenda was a the Bolivian proletariat was again placed in the hands of the report by the outgoing National Executive miner. In this way the participants expressed their
Committee (CEN). In reality, this report determination to re-appropriate the best of the revolutionary was not an honest balance sheet of two years of leading the COB. It served in fact arsenal accumulated over nearly a half century of struggles. In to cover up the failure of the COB leadermore than one sense, this spirit inspired the congress, its ship. Rather than a critical review of the discussions, definitions and appeals.
struggles of the working masses, it was an inflated account of the victories of the oligarchic government.
Correct considerations and false assessments
Divided into four headings, the report mixed up correct considerations with false assessments of the situation of the trade-union movement. For example, it began by noting that at the beginning of the leadership's term of office, the workers' and people's movement was in an ebb, and that this made it impossible to
"score big victories." In fact, we would say, there were neither big ones nor little ones.
In its anxiety to justify itself, the outgoing CEN used the traditional argument of bureaucrats: "the conditions did not exist"
and gave a false impression of the mood of the masses: "Calls for action could not succeed when the forces of labor were decimated and dispersed by an implacable social policy," "the class enemy demobilized the masses and rescinded calls for action [sic]." A delegate asked, quite rightly, what the leadership had done to change this situation. It engaged in dialogue, social partnership and dialogue again, without mobilizing the masses.
It is false to say that the movement has been in an ebb; witness the struggles that have been waged in the last four years by the miners, factory workers, professionals and teachers. The tens of thousands of
24 workers who took part in walkouts, hunger strikes, street rallies and mobilization, as well as in blocking streets and roads, resoundingly refuted the outgoing CEN's version. The real situation is that the spirit and struggle of the masses were not centralized or led by a leadership which was compromised by its view of "dialogue-social-partnership." No one denies that the balance sheet is negative. But it is not the working people who are to blame, but rather the reformist and capitulationist conceptions of the COB leadership.
Report useless for understanding the past
As might be expected, the report did not satisfy people. Firstly, the delegates criticized its scanty, telegraphic character, which they said made it useless for understanding the past, let alone for arming people for the present and future. They went on immediately to deepen their criticism of the reformist socialpartnership line of the leadership. In this way, they highlighted the divorce between the tops negotiating constantly with the government and the ranks in constant conflict with the oligarchy.
The delegates criticized the leadership's inability to unite sectoral conflicts into a single mobilization, an incapacity that frittered away the exceptional efforts generated by the struggle of the working people. The plenary session divided bethe Miners' Monument. HUGO GONZALEZ MOSCOSO tween the revolutionary current that attacked the report and the "establishment" current seeking at all costs to justify the work of the outgoing leadership. But at the same time, the revolutionary current divided between those wishing to censure the leadership and put it on trial, and those who proposed simply rejecting the report and drawing up another. Besides this split, many delegates got tired and left. Both factors played into the hands of the outgoing CEN, and finally, in the morning of Friday, September 22, the report was approved by the vote of only 160 delegates.
Atmosphere rife with dissatisfaction
The atmosphere was still rife with dissatisfaction and oppositional feelings. For the great majority of the delegates it was essential to make a balance sheet pointing to the forces mobilized in recent years, and the possibilities for the future. There is no doubt, however, that this was a task for delegates rallied around the revolutionary current. Broad sections of the working masses have in fact been calling for such unity in a concrete organizational form.
Fourteen documents were presented to the Political Commission by trade-union organizations and political parties. Initially, 60 people put their names on the speak-
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oppressed
December 25, 1989 • #176 International Viewpoint ers list, but the democratic climate of the congress opened the way for many more to take the floor.
From the start of the work of this commission, the aim of the MIR, a government party, to control the course of events became obvious. Thus, one of the first to demand the floor was Heriberto Mamani, co-general secretary of the outgoing CEN and a MIR deputy. But as soon he started to present the MIR document, a dramatic conflict exploded. A shout went up of "Government agents out of the COB!" The great majority of the delegates participating in the commission rose to their feet and prevented Mamani from speaking, some even striking him. The MIR representative felt the workers' fierce rejection of his party's role in running the government directly.
### Congress rejects establishment parties
After that, no "establishment" delegate was able to speak. This was the first political dividing line the congress drew — it would have nothing to do with the establishment and its parties, nothing to do with a government policy that means continuing the neo-free enterprise line instituted by the government of the MRADN.2 With the "establishment" isolated and defeated, the debate polarized between the revolutionary and reformist currents. Besides their opposition to the MIR-ADN government and their rejection of 210603, they had nothing in common. The reformist current, rallied around Izquierda Unida (IU — United Left), took as its point of departure the report presented by the outgoing leadership. It therefore stressed the ebb of the mass movement and the wide margins for maneuver enjoyed by the MIR-ADN government.
The revolutionary current, on the other hand, reaffirmed its assessment that the workers were ready to struggle, and explained the need for centralizing forces in a national mobilization that could defeat the government's policy.
Although not a homogeneous or organized force, the revolutionary current managed to put across its points of view. The fact that it represented a majority was shown by the passage of the document submitted by the miners as the Political Declaration of the Congress and the election of López Arias as the new general secretary of the CEN. Mineworkers call for socialist revolution
The document submitted by the Mine Workers' Federation of Bolivia (FSTMB) was entitled "Bolivia Will Not Be a Base for Yankee Aggression; It will Be the Battlefield of Liberation." Approved with the support of 252 delegates, this document is a cry of anticapitalist and anti-imperialist rebellion and a call to socialist revolution.
Aside from limitations and points that should be deepened, the militant and optimistic spirit inspiring the Political Statement, its overall view of the national reality and its understanding of the way the relationship of forces is becoming more and more favorable to the workers, 1. Of left origins and with an important tradition of active resistance to the various military dictatorships in Bolivia, the MIR has evolved toward an outright rightist position. On the basis of a shameful alliance with ADN, the 1989 elections. 2. The MNR headed the Bolivia revolution of 1952, one of the most radical anti-imperialist revolutions in
BOLIVIA make it a real weapon for the struggle of the working people.
The main lines of the document are the following:
a) A vigorous indictment of imperialism, ending with a call for renouncing the foreign debt and for opposing the US government's attempt to "Honduranize"
Bolivia.
b) A clear definition of the class nature of the MIR-ADN government, which serves as a basis for calling on the population not to accord it any sort of confidence.
c) A clear understanding of the revival of the workers' movement, which foreshadows new confrontations with the oligarchy and its starvation economic plan.
d) An urgent appeal for changof struggle, ing the methods in the slogan of summed up
"active resistance to subversion."
of internate) Reaffirmation ionalism, which found its best expression in calls for support to, and solidarity with, the peoples fighting to liberate themselves (Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Chile) or that have begun to build socialism (Cuba).
Identification of workers with all the oppressed f) A deepgoing assimilation of the vanguard role that the working class plays as a result of its position in the process of production, an identification of the workwith those of the ers interests other oppressed sectors and reference to their leadership in struggles for more than half g) A correct and fundamentally impor tant call for building a political leadership of the working people, that is, a mass revolutionary party, the synthesis of revolutionary theory and practice.
Few commissions aroused as much interests or drew as much participation as the one on economic questions. From the villages and cities, from the highlands and valleys, even from the Amazon jungle, complaints, denunciations and initiatives were reported that expressed the Bolivian people's anxiety and indignation at the
IMF economic model adopted by the
MNR-ADN government and continued by the MIR-ADN regime. There was hardly any sector or region that did not send petitions, demands or draft resolutions to be considered by the commission.
Latin-American history. An outstanding achievement of this revolution was the nationalization of the mining industry, the backbone of the Bolivian economy. After
30 years, however, the MNR, in alliance with the
ADN, backtracked and applied a drastic IMF austerity plan, closed the big tin mines, sold other others, backed the private mine owners and dismantled the Bolivian
Mining Company (COMIBOL).
3. Dete of omispicy previously mentioned "egal. 25 izes" the economic policy previously mentioned.
International Viewpoint #76 • December 25, 1989
BOLIVIA
The delegates who spoke knew what they were talking about. The family shopping basket was studied with realism and responsibility. In this way, the official version that higher prices had had only a
"slight" impact on the cost of living was
exposed. There was a discussion of the enormous social cost arising from factory closures, unemployment and the paralysis of agricultural production owing to the loss of a market brought on by the shutdown of mines. Programme of demands put forward This discussion led to the raising of the following demands:
a) Higher wages.
A minimum wage, indexed against inflation, of 929.50 Bolivian pesos* per month, an amount sufficient to cover the expenses for food, rent, clothing, education and transport for a family of five.
- Restoration of the bonuses, including seniority payments, that were in force until 1985.
— Prompt payment of wages to teachers, health workers and public employes.
- Immediate payment of independent miners who work on the basis of leaseholds [arrendatorios].
b) Defense of jobs.
- Reopening and rehabilitation of the mines and factories closed.
- Getting the Catavi and Siglo Veinte mines working again on the basis of the plan submitted by the FSTMB.
- Opening and immediately starting up the Karachimpampa complex.
— Reactivation of the productive apparatus through involving the workers.
- Trade-union organization of unemployed workers and the creation of new sources of work.
- Stopping the policy of layoffs and giving job security to workers in work.
- Payment of severance pay through the duration of unemployment.
c) Mine workers and cooperatives.
- Respect for the integrity of the nationalized mining companies and cooperatization of the private companies.
— Creation of a revolving fund to promote mining cooperatives.
- Exclusive responsibility of the Banco MInero (BAMIN for sales of minerals, without any involvement of multinationals.
— Withdrawal of representatives of the middle-sized mining companies from BAMIN and the involvement of representatives of the cooperatives.
- Confirmation of the unity between cooperative members and mine workers, the pillars of the Bolivian economy.
3) Credits and banking.
- The creation of a Professionals' and Craftsmen's Development Bank. 26 interest vanthout morerage collateral, - Guaranteed long-term loans at low insured on the basis of production, for peasants and craftsmen.
- Developmental credit for small producers of coffee, cacao and other tropical products, with equal treatment in export.
3) Professionals and craftsmen.
— Abolition of the double or multiple tax burden on professionals.
- Encouragement of craft production and the creation of a gold-cup prize for jewelry and watch makers.
stands out in the list of demands is the way the workers from various places and sectors came to the
COB congress with proposals and in search of solutions. There could be no more resounding refutation of those who in the pre-congress discussion that the COB had lost all its relevance.
Moreover, the Political and Economics Commissions' resolutions will be incorporated into a single list of demands that will constitute the axis for mobilizing the masses in the period ahead.
The work of the Social Commission turned basically around three points -defense of social security, reinstatement of those fired and respect for the trade-union statute.
Defense of the Railway Workers' Fund
Resolutions were adopted demanding full restoration of social security; a majority of workers' representatives in insurance fund councils; defense of the Railway Workers' Fund, which is in crisis today because of the failure of the National Railway Company (ENFE) to pay its contribution; abolition of the National Reserve Fund (FONARE), whose way of functioning has been prejudicial to people living on pensions; abolition of the Housing Fund (FONVI); and return by the Ministry of Urban Life of all the property of the miners', factory workers', railway workers', teachers' and building workers'
As regards the trade-union statute and job security, it was agreed that the new centralize complaints and organize defense. In the immediate period ahead, the struggle will be for reinstatement of all trade-unionists fired for political reasons, among whom are some rank-and-file oil workers and leaders and
In opposition to the neo-free enterprise educational model established by the government, the Education and Culture Commission adopted the "People's Education Project." The starting point of this scheme is transforming Bolivian education into a force for liberation by giving the people a central role. On this basis, calls for technical, scientific, rounded, productive and intercultural and bilingual education. Likewise, it demands that 33% of the national budget be appropriated for including university education. It also calls for defending the present
Code for Education and the Siglo Veinte
Workers' University, as well as opening teachers' colleges and universities in El
Chaco and Camiri. Finally, it repudiates the privatization of education. With the agreement of the commission, these resolutions are to be applied immediately, based on a reactivization of the Committees to Defend and Improve Education.
United States agents attack coca workers
The work of the Commission to Defend the Coca Growers was marked by a clearly anti-imperialist content. The coca-leaf producers came to the congress feeling the impact of their clashes with UMOPAR troops commanded by Yankee officers and the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). The casualty list was dramatic. Many compañeros were killed, wounded and imprisoned. Roads were bombed in an attempt to isolate the zones where coca is produced. But the delegates were also inspired by the unanimous support they got at the Fourth National Peasant Congress held a few days before in Tarija.
The following stand out among the resolutions adopted by this commission:
a) A firm defense of the growing of the coca leaf as part of the ancient culture of the Andean peoples and of the traditional consumption of acullico. The defense of coca, the resolution points out, is part of defending national sovereignty.
b) Sale of coca through cooperatives, trade-onion federations and CORACA, as well industrial processing of it for food c) The formation of self-defense committees to prevent armed attacks by UMOPAR and the DEA and the destruction of crops through the use of noxious chemid) The calling off of the unjust and illegal prosecutions hanging over many peasants, as well their immediate release. On this point, the resolution stressed the need for forming a COB Human Rights Commission to investigate this situation.
e) Trial and punishment of those responsible for the attacks, murders and massacres perpetrated against the settlements in f) Holding the Fifth National Meeting of Coca Producers with the immediate objective of planning all the tasks related to the g) Condemning the internationally orga nized drug traffic directed from the imperialist centers that consume the drug. The coca leaf, it was pointed out, is not a narh) International condemnation of the US government's criminal under the pretext of fighting the drug traffic, is invading Bolivia and repressing its people. The resolution points to the need for demanding that US troops and DEA agents get out of El Chapare
Parallel to this, the commission dis-
December 25, 1989 • #176 International Viewpoint cussed the point on nationalities. Among its more important conclusions, it agreed a) The right of oppressed nationalities to self-determination. b) Compulsory instruction in the mother tongue in schools. c) The formation of a multinational d) Inclusion of the rights of nationalities in the program for national and social liberation.
Conclusions
1) Without any doubt, the Eighth Congress of the COB has been the most important social and political event in the recent period.
The holding of the congress was an objective sign of the revival and interconnection of the workers' struggles. Refuting those who talked about an ebb, loss of identity and dispersion of the mass movement, the congress highlighted the vitality, strength and militant spirit of the Bolivian people.
Far from losing its ability to rally people, the COB continues to be the framework and point of reference for the working masses. Two facts indicated this: the participation of a larger number of delegates and the incorporation of new sectors. As regards the first point, the presence of 631 delegates marked a signiticant increase from the 559 present at the Seventh Congress held in Santa Cruz. As regards the second, it is important to take note of the incorporation into the COB of the social security workers, the Light and Power Federation, the Confederation of University Professors, the Organization of Coffee Growers, the regional federations of workers in El Alto, Villamontes and Bermejo, as well as the Confederation of Rural Area Students. The problem, therefore, was not a loss of the ability to rally people but the relationship between the leadership and the ranks and methods of
Increase in number of delegates
The discussions, the resolutions, and above all the political declaration that were approved laid the bases for strengthening the COB organizationally and for a political ripening of the mass movement that can lead to a pre-revolutionary situation.
Rising above the so-called legitimacy of the parliament, the congress showed that the COB is the real representative of the interests of working people. For ten days, delegates from all regions and sectors of the country discussed the national problems and proposed solutions for them more knowledgeably and with greater political and moral authority than the discredited deputies and senators. Without exaggerating, we can say that millions of workers and peasants focused their attention and hopes on this congress.
2) Three political tendencies operated in the congress — the pro-government tendency rallied around the MIR and the vestiges of Maoism; the reformist current, grouped around the IU, dominated by the Communist Party of Bolivia (PCB) and which held the outgoing leadership of the COB; and the revolutionary current consisting of the independent left, the CP-Fifth Congress, the Socialists, the Axis organization, the various Trotskyist groups and some radicalized peasant previous accord and with an incipient coordination acted together around some questions.
The pro-government people were isolated from the outset of the congress. The discussions polarized between reformist and revolutionary currents. The relationship of forces between them was fluid The IU based itself on the apparatus of the COB and the PCB, with tight control of its delegates and the advantage of some arbitrary rulings by the presidium.
Revolutionary current pays for lack of organization
The revolutionary current, for its part, paid the price of its lack of an organizational structure of its own. Although it won some important victories (the adoption of the miners' document as the Politsecretaryship of the new CEN), it could not keep the IU from grabbing the lion's share of the secretaries in the new COB become dangerous. In the wake of the congress, some representatives of the IU made statements that in practice amounted to calling on people not to respect the Political Declaration, as well as challeng-
THE 51855 LIGHT AWA SIR!
BOLIVIA ing the legitimacy of the general secretary's election. Afterwards, they backed off from this thoughtless attitude and did not let themselves become a transmission belt for the government's positions and the attempt by the Ministry of Labor to create another confederation of labor, a project in fact that does not differ much from those undertaken by all the military dictatorships from Barrientos to García Meza.
### Need to concretize worker-peasant alliance
3. The Eighth Congress of the COB is a clear victory for the masses. It is now up to the new CEN to respect the will of all the delegates. It has, in the first place, to concentrate all its efforts on concretizing the worker-peasant alliance. It has, also, to take up the task of building the instrument, or the leadership, that will lead the struggle toward the building of socialism. From our point of view, this task requires building a united front that can bring together together the COB, the unions, the federations and the democratic and revolutionary political parties.
Neither objective is by any means easy. And one of the primary preconditions for achieving them is to drop all the bureaucratic and elitist attitudes that marked the work of the previous CEN. All discussions have to be taken to trade-union assemblies, and the CEN has to base itself on the ranks and the intermediate leaderships.
Only such a process will generate the strength to carry through all the resolutions adopted by this historic Eighth Congress of the COB.*
4. The ratio of the Bolivian peso to the US dollar is
2.90:1.
5. This Quechua word refers to the act of chewing coca. 27
28
1989 INDEX
1989 INDEX
(Issues 155-176)