We think they made two main errors. The first was that they didn't form a vanguard party before the mass movement and secondly there were the endless clashes between the left-wingers. We want to overcome primitive anti-Communism, and try to build the embryo of a mass revolutionary party. But, of course, we are just creating some preconditions; there is no guarantee that we will succeed. * claim to his heritage. COLIN MEADE
N THE subways people are collecting for petitions. One for the outlaw-
Wing of the Communist Party (KSC), another in opposition to the proposal from Slovak parties that the name of the Republic should be changed to emphasize Slovakia. In any case the word "Socialist" has been removed from the country's name. An appeal is being circulated calling for a token general strike on April 11 to demand that the KSC should hand back most of its property to the state.
The changes are not just cosmetic. On Wednesday March 28 the Czechoslovak government announced the following reforms: the convertibility of the currency; the freeing of prices and the ending of subsidies by the end of the year; elimination of central planning and the creation of an office of privatization. In a thoroughly nationalized economy such as Czechoslovakia's these measures will have incalculable social and economic consequences on living standards, public services and employment.
There were reports that differences existed in the government on how fast to introduce these reforms between populist First Deputy Prime Minister Valtr Komarek, urging a slow approach and the Finance Minister Vaclav Klaus who wanted to move fast. Klaus wants to make the changes before the June elections, thus creating facts that the Czechoslovak people, should they wish to do so, will find hard to reverse. President Vaclav Havel is rumoured to prefer the Komarek approach.
Whatever the tensions in the government there is wide agreement, including the new leadership of the Communist Party (KSC), that the way to solve Czechoslovakia's grave economic and ecological problems is through some sort of market reform and an opening to Western capital. April 23, 1990 • #183 International Viewpoint
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CZECHOSLOVAKIA This is also the view of the population.
According to an opinion poll in the second half of January, 68% of the respondents expressed support market reforms and 63% the rapid development of the private sector. Only 10% and 18% respectively firmly rejected such developments. Such figures express heartfelt rejection of decades of bureaucratic mismanagement, which has led to growing backwardness and dilapidation in every area of economic life as well as a tremendous ecological crisis, apparent at the most superficial level in the air pollution in Prague. Every evening the news programmes end with figures on the level of toxic gases in the atmosphere, providing figures many times above accepted national and international safety standards. Despite 42 years of a supposedly socially conscious "socialist" system, the West seems, simply, cleaner!
### Civic Forum produces depressing statistics
A booklet issued by Civic Forum entitled Czechoslovakia at the Crossroads, gives a depressing picture of the coun try's economic decline over the past decades. In 1937 production per head in Czechoslovakia expressed in SUS was 200, in Austria 220 and in France 255. The figures for 1987 are (estimated) 5,000 - 8,000 in Czechoslovakia, 11,647 in Austria and 12,739 in France. These figures, furthermore, do not include the amount of resources used for each unit of production or the quality and usefulness of the products. For example in Czechoslovakia some two and a half times as much steel is consumed for each unit of domestic product as in the West. As Vaclav Havel explained in his New
"Whole branches of industry are turning out things that noone is interested in, while what we need, we don't get."
It takes a Czechoslovak citizen two and a half times as long as her/his West German counterpart to earn enough for basic foodstuffs and the relative figures for electrical goods are vastly greater. Such figures translate into daily life as longer working hours for a lower living standard. To achieve the West's prosperity, it is necessary to use the West's methods. This simple proposition dominates all discussion of economic questions.
However underneath this pro-market consensus there are significant tensions within the society around questions of democracy, including economic democra-
In November's "gentle revolution" millions of Czechs and Slovaks decided to take back control of their country from the arrogant and incompetent clique of bureaucrats who had run it for their own benefit for 42 years. Every institution and B one degree or another. workplace was affected by this upsurge to International Viewpoint #183 • April 23, 1990
This democratic tide continues to flow. Hundreds of political and interest groups have emerged. The whole gamut of political parties exists, including social democratic, Christian democratic, green, liberal and conservative parties. example of the political ferment is the appearance of both a cultural association and a political party to represent the interests of the country's large and much discriminated against Romany population. A strong nationalist sentiment has reawakened in Slovakia, complicated by the existence in the region of a large Hungarian minority, which is also organizing itself.
The Communist Party - which has both suffered a significant split and lost more than a third of its membership since November - has radically changed its programme and now calls for a multi-party system while opposing privatiza-
An article calling for actions to win rights and social acceptance for the coun try's "forgotten minority" of homosexuappeared in a widely read often related to personnel issues. A bus and tram drivers strike in Bro took place about a disputed planning decision in the city. The action was organized by the enterprise committee of the independent trade unions that have developed out of the Factory committees set up to mobilize for the November 27 general strike that sealed the fate of the
Mass movement of conscripts develops
Pressures have been building up for changes in the conditions of military service - alternative service has at last been while there have been embryonic and controversial moves towards the formation of trade unions in the police force. It is reported that on January 20 this year some 650 delegates met to form a Union of Young Soldiers, although I do not know details of its programme. The January edition of the Bul-
Independent Peace Association (NMS), a group active in the dissident movement for some years, prints excerpts from letters from the barracks about how, even after November, conscripts have been unable to get newspapers other than the KSC daily Rudé Právo and the official armed services publication. It reports on hunger strikes in the army in favour of immediate application of a shorter period of conscription.
The NMS calls on local Civic Forums and students to make contacts with the barracks. The journal also complains that the central leadership of Civic Forum has been indifferent or even hostile to these developments. On December 18 the Defence Ministry issued a decree forbidding the activity of all political parties, movements and churches in the army.
Throughout the country Civic Forums (OFs) exist in the districts and workplaces, attempting to give a voice to the demands of all currents and groups with no attachment to the bureaucracy. The OF in the Prague 3 Zizkov district, for example, organizes commissions on issues such as building — engaged in a survey of empty properties in the district - the environment and security. The OF is involved in a campaign for the removal of a radio transmitter (for jamming purposes I was told) that has been constructed on the ruins of a local park.
The Zizkov OF had taken seriously the Federal Assembly's decision to remove the leading role of the party from the constitution, and launched a campaign for the recomposition of the committee of the local National Committee (ONV). The existing Communist Party (KSC) dominated ONV refused to cooperate; by not turning up they made the meeting formalCitizens assembly in Prague
The OF invited local people to turn up to observe the meeting and the session became a "citizens assembly". After negotiations, the KSC finally down and now has only three out of the 15 seats on the committee. OF organizers that there are not enough activists and that outside Prague the OFs are often dominated by recycled bureaucrats. The Zizkov OF also advertises the existence of the petition for outlaw-
Those involved at the grass roots are often suspicious of what is going on at the higher levels of the OF, in particular in relation to negotiations with the KSC.
Many of the tensions have been brought to the surface by a an apparently minor dispute in Bro between two longterm dissidents, now leading members of the city's Civic Forum, Jaroslav Sabata and Petr Cibulka.
Sabata is the head of the Brno Civic Forum and, according to Le Monde of March 28, "had reached a modus vivendi with the town's KSC mayor Josef Pernica in the run-up to the June elections". Accusing Sabata of "goverment behind closed doors" Petr Cibulka organized demonstrations against him in the name of direct democracy. "The Civic Forum must listen to the voice of the people", Cibulka stat-
The incident was widely commented on in the press and by leading spokespersons of the Civic Forum and government. A meeting of Charter 77 applauded Cibulka When he accused the OF leaders of manipulation, but most of the speakers criticized his methods. Cibulka is now independently of the OF in the June elec-
There is a real danger that frustration at
the stalled progress of the democratic revolution will give rise to a strong current of right-wing radicalism, reflected in the petition to ban the KSC and in attempts to drive individuals previously in the KSC out of public life or even their jobs. There communist" infiltration of new or renovated parties, with who knows what truth.
The networks of the bureaucratic elites — who executed a 180 degree turn after November, electing Havel unanimously to the Presidency as they would once have denounced him — are quite capable of finding new homes outside of the KSC. The discovery that many of new leaders in East Germany were working for the Stasi should remind us that, whatever present policies, the old satellite parties of the Communist dominated national fronts were part of the old regime. But it is precisely these parties in Czechoslovakia — the People's Party (SL) and Czechoslovak Socialist Party (CSS) in the Czech Lands and the Democratic Party (DS) in Slovakia that are tipped to do well in time, we won't suffer from the complex of those who must constantly thank somebody for something. Now it only depends on us whether this hope is fulfilled and whether our civic, national and political self-confidence will awake in an entirely
Furthermore in his visits abroad Havel has not hesitated to mention issues such as the withdrawal of American troops from Europe. However his belief that "politics is not simply the art of the possible" will be drowned in short order by the realities of political power if it is not backed up by a global democratic conception, which is not tender towards the powers that be anywhere on the planet.
Havel may well become increasingly isolated within the government — or his enthusiasm for playing the presidential role simply
CZECHOSLOVAKIA German orbit, leaving Moravia and Slo-
Another area where the optimistic prognoses of the new government will face a major challenge is in relations with its neighbours. According to Havel, the East European "approach to the West must be coordinated". The feasibility of such unity will be tested by how the new Hungarian government deals with the issue of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia.
Furthermore there is a contradiction between the desires of the democratic movement for open government and demilitarization on the one hand and the pro-capitalist programme on the other.
On the economic front belief in the market as the just measure of the value of human activity excludes conscious control over economic policy. It also means tolerance of speculation and the use of political positions for profiteering. Furthermore at the political level the preservation of a "liberal" state separate from and above society requires that the repressive forces are not too serious-
OBCANSKÉ FÓRUM the June elections.
Fingers of suspicion have even been pointed in the direction of the social democrats and greens as well as the newly formed Agrarian Party. This unease is intensified by the rumours continued functioning of the secret police (StB). In the first post-November government the KSC attempted to hold onto the Interior Ministry, but was forced to cede it to a non-Communist Richard Sacher. A fortnight after his appointment the StB was abolished - long enough to get rid of incriminating material.
The danger is that justified anger that "they" are getting away with it, and that vital elements of the old order are being protected and preserved, will be channelled into rightist radicalism. This in its turn will give a new lease of life to the revamped KSC and its left unity projects.
The elements of the old opposition who are now part of the government are aware of this problem. The new expressed his opposition to a revanchist policy towards members of the KSC and in his major speeches, has eloquently emphasized political participation as the basis for the new order. Again in his New Year's address Havel insisted that the force which would allow Czechs and Slovaks to overcome the past was the human energy revealed in November. As he underlined "after centuries nations have straightened their backs by themselves, depending on no assistance from stronger states or on either of the great powers. It seems to me that this is the great moral investment of moment: it has within it the hope that next radical democratic instincts — especially if, as seems possible, the Civic Forum movement starts to fragment.
Already the social democrats have stated that they will stand independently of the OF in the June elections while a broad Christian Democrat regroupment, with backing from the West German CDU (party of the FRG's Chancellor Helmut Kohl has been formed. If recent elections in East Germany and Hungary are anything to go by this latter force has a strong chance of capturing the popular mood for a rapid alignment with capitalism - and above all West German capitalism.
But desire is one thing, reality another, as East Germans are already finding out. Apart from the obvious economic and social problems attendant on full scalemarketization and opening to the West, Czechoslovakia may also face in the medium term a crisis of the unity of the state, as Bohemia moves into the West human being the centre of politics, which Havel expounds so eloquently, prevail comes to a conflict with the interests of potential foreign investors or the demands of domestic profiteers? And will the government "open the books" of the police to ensure that the old networks are unable to operate in secrecy and admit the validity of demands for the demilitarization of society? The answer to such questions does not lie solely or even mainly in the government itself. The small forces, such as the Left Alternative and oth democracy and are not prepared to sacrifice the gains of November on the altar of realpolitik, can have an impact far beyond their confirmed supporters, attracting the radical discontent away from the right.
But the answer lies also in the ability of the rest of the European left to propose their own forms of aid to the East which are both more effective materially and respect the right to self-determination of these countries. Anti-militarism and the whole range of issues relating to an concept of human raised by the womens liberation, lesbian and gay, and anti-racist movements will
For a period of time the — real and genuine - attractions of access to the world market will probably overshadow the attraction of such themes. But the Czech and Slovak nations will find themselves let down by their rich Western "friends" before the end of the century and the possibility of a second, more profound stage C of the democratic revolution will open. * April 23, 1990 • #183 International Viewpoint
underlines crisis of gar Square rally and got by far the biggest reception - bigger before he spoke than anyone else afterwards. He took a strong line on breaking the law and non-payment. He said "there are times when conscience comes above the law and this is such a time." He went on to say that
Thatcher government although non-payment is an individual decision, those who refuse to pay should be given full support and their houses defended when the bailiffs come. He also pointed out that if the demonstration had been called by the LP and TUC there
ON MARCH 31 the hated poll-tax was introduced Into England and Wales with the biggest demonstrations and battles seen In Britain for decades. 200,000 people marched through London and 40,000 In Glasgow. The London demonstration ended in pitched battles and hand-to-hand fighting with the police. London's West End was smashed up as demonstrators fought back after being attacked by the police in Trafalgar would have been a million people on the streets.
Benn's position is in complete contrast with the statements following the march made on behalf of the Labour leadership by Roy Hattersley. He not only called for those charged to be convicted but for them to be given "exemplary sentences". No wonder the Birmingham Six' went to jail under Labour! In reality, it is Thatcher and
Square. THERESA CONWAY AND ALAN THORNETT
W HILST in the past the Tories
have attacked one section of the working class at a time, with the Poll Tax they have attacked and united a big majority of the population against them. The London march was extremely broad in scope — packed coaches arrived from the remotest parts of England and Wales, with banners from Bikers against the Poll Tax, Middle Class Moderates Against the Poll Tax, Individuals Against the Poll Tax - even groups of Tories against the Poll Tax. One banner was carried by Finchley Tories Against the Poll Tax - from Margaret Thatcher's own constituency. It was a genuine mass popular movement ranging from disaffected Tories to anti-poll tax groups from every part of the country, the far left and anarchists. It was overwhelmingly young, working class people who have not previously been involved in demonstrations.
What made the size of the demonstrations even more impressive was that they were organized not by the trade union movement or the Labour Party, but by the National Anti-Poll Tax Federation - a loose federation of thousands of anti-poll tax groups. Many of these groups are organized by the far left outside the structures of the labour movement. As a result there were comparatively few trade union banners.
The main slogan of the march was "Can't pay — won't pay", in sharp contrast to the position of the Labour Party and Trade Union Congress (TUC), who believe that the tax is wrong but that nonetheless people should pay it and wait for the election of a Labour government. Even then the Labour Party has said that it
10 will not scrap the tax for two years after it
International Viewpoint #183 • April 23, 1990 comes into office.
The police and authorities completely underestimated the size of the demonstration and its explosive nature. They refused requests from the organizers earlier in the week to re-route the march to Hyde Park on the basis that Trafalgar Square would be too small. The result was chaos and a series of deliberate, brutal and unprovoked attacks on the demonstration, by both mounted police and police in vehicles, which triggered the main battles and involved thousands in them. Since the demonstration there have been many reports in the press complaining about the behaviour of the police and pointing out that it was police actions that started the violence.
Fury of most deprived sectors boils over
The fighting was qualitatively different from previous battles, such as during the miners' strike or the printers' strike at Wapping, in that there was clearly a layer of people who had little regard for the consequences or for their own safety and who engaged in hand to hand combat with the police over a prolonged period. In some ways it was like the inner city uprisings in Britain in the early 1980s. Many of the demonstrators were from the most deprived section of young white society living on the margins of the economy and in squats. Not only do they now have to pay the poll tax, but being forcibly registered for the tax is a huge infringement of both their civil liberties and their economic position.
Tony Benn MP, the traditional leader of the Labour Party left, spoke at the Trafalher poll tax that have created the conditions for violent confrontations, and the provocations of the riot police and cavalry that made it virtually inevitable.
Mechanism for attacking Labour councils
The poll tax is the centre-piece of ten years of Tory attacks on local government. It is designed to destroy local services and whatever local democracy remains, and provide a mechanism by which central government can attack Labour councils by manipulating government grants. The Tories have sold off public industries to give tax concessions to the better off. Now that there is not much left to sell, they are shifting the burden back onto the poor via the poll tax.
The tax has become the catalyst for an escalation of hatred of the Tory goverment which has been brewing up for years — and it is an effective catalyst because it affects and mobilizes so many people. Many of those fighting with the police were people at the bottom of the heap economically who are furious at the bills they are going to get and the regressive principle of the tax, according to which a millionaire is charged the same as someone on the dole.