stable food supplies, and price controls.
The 'democratic' SUU posedly left wing UDP it can't deliver. Instead it makes noises about an imminent coup from the right.
The economic chaos in Bolivia is hard to imagine.
If the most recent rate of price rises was to de continued over the year it would come out at 118,000 per cen audi clace.
Speculation and hoarding have uruuuceu acule shortages of food, cooking gas and other basic necessities. Many factory workers have not been paid for five months or more, whilst long before the strike began most buses had been taken off the road for lack of spare parts.
The exact course new strike is hard to ge clear as there are no normal communicato! working between Bolivia and the outside world. Only sporadic agency cables coming out. However, a high point was reached last week when over He then through Bolivia's capital, La Paz, demanding bread. work and freedom', led by 12,000 miners wno nad come into the capital from outlying pit villages • cariv me lue surike A rally in the capital's San Francisco Square rejected the government's offer of a 165 per cent rise in the minim um wage and a month's price freeze on four basic commodities. Instead denounced the Men commend dea with the country's problems and called for its immediate resignation.
At the same time, the Confederation of Peasant Unions, affiliated te the CÓB, issued a statement making clear that the government could not rely on buying off the peasants to break the strike. Tens of thousands of peasants, BOLIVIA'S miners are at the head of an indefinite general strike which has totally paralysed the country since Friday 8 March. Facing ferocious attacks on living standards and a near collapse of the economy, the workers, led by the Confederation of Bolivian Workers (COB), are demanding a minimum living wage with automatic wage increases to compensate for inflation, claimed, were already blocking roads In the countryside and were ready to march on La Paz to support the miners and urban workers.
In the course of the week the COB's demands broadened to include a state takeover private transport and suspension payments on the foreign debt to international private banks. All these demands are central planks of the COB's 'Emergency Programme'.
This is effectively a tranSilonal orosramme cluding workers' control in public and private industry; majority participation via the COB of workers in the government; direct popular astrucon or pascreces sities controlled by the neighbourhood committees to combat speculation and hoarding; Bolivian miners are leading the general strike and a series of measures Rate rest imperialist capital installed in Bolivia.
However, all is not simple. At last September's congress of the COB a left wing coalition, the United Revolutionar, beauership (DRU), ousted execulive committe LeD resentatives of those parties who the SUJJULI UDP government, prin cipally the Bolivian Com munist Party and the official MIR rightward social democratic Both the LyNc latter parties had lost much credibility the movement through their participation in a governmell which for two year has been un' policies.
The trouble is that the UDP government took power as the left alternative to the utterly corrupt and incompetent, cocainetrafficking military dictatorship of General Garcia Meza. For very many une UDP's failure has caused demoralisation illusionment with the left as a whole. So whilst the DRU may have gained a majority amongst militant workers peasants, it certainly didn't have majority amongst the population as a On the contrary, signs that dis illusionment with the chaotic UDP administration has strengthened support for the far right, Final a coalition right-wing nationalist (MNRH) and quasi-fascist military (ADN) parties was heading for a victory in elections due on 16 June • This is US certai Cure government has been bankIt is not clear how far the revolutionaries will have been able to shift this underlying balance of forces Worse still divisions aboarell DRU leadership of the COB. Such divisions seem to nave been responsible for ending we orevous benera surike last November Early the presen Walter Delgadillo, general secretary and num ber two in the COB, said the workers would increase Lted pressure on government every day until let demands weremer Thursday, he said the should fight WOrKer. establish a socialist govern ment in Bolivia On Friday, Juan Lechin. executive secretary and his toric leader of the COB, as well as at least nominally a fellow member of the DRU told a rally of 10,000 miners that, effect, this rubbish. He declared the workers panguard, which they didn t power without armed have UDP President Siles Zuazo clearly aims to play these divisions On Friday evening he met COB delegation and off ered co-government WIl the unions to resist jointly of fascist coup. No malori itself a tricky enough slogan, incorporated the COB's emergenc programme which the DRU endorses — and as such it is between the programmes of differen organisation the leadership of the COB Siles Zuazo will certainly not willingly permit that. But he may negotiate miners or brennie t2s means breaking hack of the strike and un loading partial responsibility for mess onto the unions. Lechin, historically, been associated with min. ority co-government.
The COB was due to discuss these proposals last week, and at the writing no news of their decision had come through. One thing, however is clear. this crisis is real. Neithe side can on in the old , and the right is only waiting for convenient moment to step in. It would rather wait and win the elections, but it is quite capable of trying to establish its rule by force if need be The coming ; days (perhaps s weeks) will be a supreme test for the maturity and initiative of Bolivian revolutionaries Not least amongst them are the revolutionary Marxists of the POR-Unificado, who Photo:
i play a central role DRU and in the COB
10 Socialist Action 22 March 1985