A touch of the Cold War
Franco-Soviet agreement on the gas pipeline. In addition, it was a way of showing the determination of the government to keep the French dissuasion force outside the Geneva negotiations on Euromissiles, despite the demands of as France expels 47 Soviet diplomats 'Red Spies: The Roundup'. This headline in the Paris bourgeois weekly magazine l'Express last week is a good reflection of the hysterical anti-communism which gripped certain circles after the expulsion of 47 Soviet diplomats by the French government. Le journal du dimanche, gutterpress newspaper, totally unafraid of making itself ridiculous, claimed that 'the KGB was preparing assassination attempts' against personalities as dangerous to it as Lecanuet (leader of the small bourgeois group Centre des democrates sociaux, which forms part of the pro-Giscard coalition, the UDF, of which Lecanuet is chairman).
As for Figaro-Magazine, weekly voice of the new right, it quite simply denounced the presence of '15,000 Eastern European agents in France. No less.
No one doubts that the different aspects of Moscow's diplomatic representation serve as a cover for espionage networks. Every state has the same pracA, aid destagense gatherine im-
President Reagan's stoutest supporter on the Continent for the past two years...a dramatic change from the time when his conservative predecessors tried to act as intermediaries between Moscow and the
In this sense, the expulsion of the Kremlin representatives is a new sign of this government's re-entry into the At-
Mitterrand had two immediate objectives in giving his action such a spectacular character. First of all, he wanted to get the maximum concessions from his American ally in the major bargaining that is going on between the Western powers in preparation for the Williamsburgh summit.
It was no accident that the decision in Paris happened a few days before the meeting of the COCOM (The Committee for Co-ordination of East-West Trade, the body which unites the Nato countries and Japan), which is to discuss the export of technology to the USSR and its
We know that American and European interests on this point are largely contradictory. This was demonstrated
In this affair Mitterrand and his government have acted as zealous defenders of the interests of the imperialist alliance, and the French bourgeoisie. whipped up a climate of opinion worthy of the Cold War. This operation offers arguments for the plans of those in the West who are engaged in an arms race that threatens all humanity.
By backing Mitterrand's line the Socialist Party and the Communist Party are widening the gap between themselves and the evergrowing anti-war movement
French workers have nothing to gain from this sort of thing. Moreover, there are quite a lot of people who have observed that, while the government has exhibited great determination on the diplomatic front, they have shown a good deal less in dealing with those who speculate or remove capital from the country. The cost to the country of such activities is however a lot heavier than the harm that can be done by a few spies. In fact, speculation and capital flight are costing the country tens of billions of
After the latest austerity plan there is a deep malaise at the base of the majority parties. The development of the sort of foreign policy represented by Mitterrand's action can only deepen by the open dispute over the recent (Rouge No 1059, April 15-21, 1983)
filtration, and destabilisation, perialist centres can hardly be said to lag
This is particularly so in this period of crisis, of increased
ENTERNASYONAL No 2 NOW OUT competition between the bourgeoisies of different countries, and international ten-
In July 1982 the director of the CIA
After the coup in Turkey on September since 1968, what they expect in the admitted to the Wall Street Journal that his agency was 'again active in clandestine operations'. France, whether before or after the election of Mitterrand on May 10, has hardly any lessons to learn. We remember the active service operations of the French secret servand the SDECE, in Africa: Katanga Biafra in the 1960s, the secret war in Angola in 1975 waged in concert with the CIA, the failed invasion of Benin in 1977, the coup d'etat in the Comore Islands the following year. And in the last few months we have seen the aid given to the groups most closely linked to the Quai d'Orsay (French foreign office) in Central Africa, Chad, etc.
One would have to be very naive to believe that the action of the French authorities was really motivated by the stealing of military and technological secrets from our country. The decision by Francois Mitterrand was motivated by other considerations. As the Christian Science Monitor, April 11, 1983, explained it, "The Socialist leader has proved 16
12, 1980, every form of opposition was
The most elementary rights of the workers and the Kurdish people were
This created a very difficult situation for the work of the Turkish left, and led to many deepgoing debates. of the stuggle against the military dictatorship shifted towards the two million Turks and Kurds who live in Western
Revolutionary Marxists are contibuting to this discussion with a new review published in Europe, Enternasyonal.
Following its first edition in January 1982 (see IV No 23) the second edition has just come out. Within this issue a large amount of space is given over to the revolutionary Marxists active in Tur-
In a text entitled "The evaluation of the situation and our tasks', our comrades in Turkey give their political analysis of the world situation, the effects of the economic measures applied in Turkey period to come, the state of the political movements at present, and the tasks of the socialist movement, and the resistance front'.
Thus Enternasyonal reflects the politMarxist movement in Turkey. This continuity, demonstrated above all by political coherence, constitutes an important step in the founding of a political articles in this issue include:
- The results of the referendum on the Constitution in November 1982
- The Constitution and political life
- On the military coup d'etat of September 12
- Order and the Constitution
- The LCR/LO electoral agreement in
- Fifty years ago: Hitler
Orders to Enternasyonal, Librairie La Breche, 9 rue de Tunis, 75011 Paris. Price: 8FF plus 2FF postage.