WORKERS OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!
SPECIAL ISSUE
Volume 14, Number 10
VOICE OF THE MARXIST-LENINIST PARTY OF THE USA
September 1, 1984
Step up the fight against U.S. intervention in Nicaragua!
Support the Nicaraguan workers' press!
MAP-ML gains entrance into Nicaraguan State Council
Workers! Anti-imperialist activists!
Ronald Reagan is wielding the big stick against the people of Nicaragua. Congress is sending more millions for the CIA mercenaries and Honduran generals to unleash terrorism and provocations on Nicaragua's borders. And the Pentagon generals are not-so-secretly boasting of their plans for a U.S. invasion to crush revolutionary Nicaragua.
The growing U.S. intervention against Nicaragua has aroused the anger of millions. Even the opinion polls of the capitalist media show that the majority of people in this country are opposed to this intervention. Large numbers of workers and progressive people are looking for the best way to fight the U.S. aggression and to express- their solidarity with their class brothers south of the border.
What is needed is hard work to bring the masses into the struggle and to orient this opposition towards a militant fight against imperialism. With this aim the MLP appeals to ail working people and all anti-imperialist activists to take up the fighting tasks of the struggle against U.S. intervention.
Militantly Condemn Reagan's Crimes Against the Nicaraguan People
The Nicaraguan people must have the right to self-determination -- to be free of the threats, bullying and aggression of the U.S. government. The growing U.S. intervention must be fought every step of the way.
The dispatch of CIA mercenaries to raid Nicaraguan villages; the mining of Nicaragua's harbors; the crude provocations by the Pentagon's Honduran puppet army; the ominous U.S. military buildup and preparations for an invasion -- all these criminal atrocities of the U.S. government must be exposed and condemned.
The fight against this intervention calls for demonstrations, protests, pickets and other mass actions. The mass struggle is essential. This is a lesson learned in the fight against the U.S. aggression in Viet Nam. Militant demonstrations and protests show that the American working people will not sit by while "our" government goes to war to strangle the working people of other lands. Mass actions galvanize the opposition; and they are a powerful means of raising the consciousness and militancy of the working people and bringing them into struggle.
Target Imperialism as the Source of the Criminal War on Nicaragua
U.S. intervention against Nicaragua is not simply a fluke or ill-conceived policy. No. It follows a definite logic -- the logic of the imperialist system.
This is a system which thrives on the exploitation of the working people at home and on the plunder of the oppressed peoples abroad. Imperialism seeks to trample on the Sandinista government for the crime of resisting the U.S. dictate. It seeks to crush the revolution of the Nicaraguan workers and peasants under a new U.S.-backed dictatorship, restoring Nicaragua as a paradise for the U.S. banks and corporations.
The Republicans and Democrats are the twin parties of imperialism and aggression. In the midst of the 1984 election campaign it is important to combat the lies of the smooth-talking capitalist politicians. The arsenal of crude lies used by the Reaganites to justify intervention against Nicaragua must be exposed as the demagogy that it is. No less important, the hypocritical Democratic "opposition" must be laid bare as just the "humanitarian" face of the same imperialist intervention.
The struggle against Reagan's war on Nicaragua will not advance a single step by voting in one gang of imperialist politicians to replace another. The imperialist system is the source of this aggression and must be made the target of the anti-intervention struggle.
Strengthen Solidarity With the Nicaraguan Workers and Peasants
The working people of Nicaragua are not only the victims of the U.S.-backed mercenaries and intervention -- they are also the bulwark of defense against this aggression.
The workers and poor peasants are the mainstay of the struggle against the CIA-backed counterrevolution of the big capitalists and landlords. The Sandinista government, although resisting U.S. imperialism, is a petty- bourgeois government that vacillates between the revolution and the pressures from the bourgeoisie and world imperialism. It is the workers and poor peasants that are the classes capable of overcoming the vacillations of the government and carrying forward the revolution against the rich exploiters and their U.S. masters.
To strengthen the struggle against U.S. intervention the class struggle taking place within Nicaragua has to be taken into account. Solidarity with the workers and peasants will greatly strengthen the fight against U.S. imperialism.
Support the Campaign for the Nicaraguan Workers' Press
The workers' press is a vital tool for building up the independent revolutionary forces of the working masses. The party of the Nicaraguan working class, MAP-ML (Movement of Popular Action/Marxist-Leninist), and its trade union center, the Workers' Front (FO), are striving to rebuild the Nicaraguan workers' press.
The revolutionary workers of Nicaragua used to publish the daily El Pueblo (The People) in 1979. This paper played an important role as the voice of the workers during the final months of the struggle against Somoza and in the period right after the victory of the revolution. But in January 1980 El Pueblo was arbitrarily shut down by the Sandinista government.
The Nicaraguan Marxist-Leninists have for some time now been putting out the monthly paper Prensa Proletaria (Proletarian Press). This too has faced censorship and other restrictions by the government. In the meantime, MAP-ML and the Workers' Front have been fighting for the reopening of El Pueblo. Just recently it has been announced that the Marxist-Leninists have won the right to bring out El Pueblo again.
The revolutionary workers have been demanding an end to censorship and repression against the workers' press because it is the working masses who have carried out the revolution. At the same time, the Nicaraguan Marxist-Leninists have also been fighting for revolutionary measures to check the capitalist newspaper La Prensa and the other mouthpieces of the U.S.- backed counterrevolution.
Besides government discrimination, the workers' press in Nicaragua also faces critical shortages of printing equipment and supplies as a result of Reagan's economic blockade.
As part of the work to fight U.S. intervention against Nicaragua, the MLP is initiating a campaign to build political and material support for the Nicaraguan workers' press. Besides popularizing the workers' press and supporting its demands, the campaign is also aimed at assisting Prensa Proletaria and El Pueblo with printing equipment and supplies.
Supporting the workers' press is a concrete act of solidarity with the Nicaraguan working people in the face of the U.S. aggression and blockade. It is part of building the solid bonds of internationalist solidarity between the workers and revolutionary forces of Nicaragua and the U.S. in our common struggle. All workers and activists opposed to the U.S. aggression should take part in this work.
Take the Struggle Against Intervention to the Factories, Communities and Schools
The struggle against U.S. intervention in Nicaragua must not be restricted to an "enlightened" few. To build a powerful fight we must work to bring the struggle to the widest masses of working people. The literature against the U.S. imperialist aggression should be spread to the factories, communities and schools. The workers should take their place in the demonstrations and actions and strive to lend them a militant anti-imperialist character.
Workers and anti-imperialist activists!
Let us meet the challenge of Reagan's criminal intervention. Let us take our stand shoulder to shoulder with the courageous workers and toilers of Nicaragua.
No to the CIA War on Nicaragua!
Solidarity With the Nicaraguan Workers and Peasants!
Support the Nicaraguan Workers' Press!
[Graphic.]
[Photo: 9,000 march in Washington, D.C. to protest U.S. aggression in Central America, July 1983.]
Today the Nicaraguan revolution is under siege from U.S. imperialism and the U.S.-backed counterrevolution. This calls for the workers and progressive people in the U.S. to link arms with the revolutionary masses of Nicaragua.
The Nicaraguan revolution has been created by the workers and poor peasants. It is they who suffered most under Somoza, who mounted the barricades of the insurrection, and who today form the bulwark in the war against the U.S.-backed contras. It is the workers and toilers who have a great stake in carrying forward the revolution against the exploitation and poverty they suffer at the hands of the rich exploiters.
The party of the working class, MAP-ML, which played an important role in the workers' struggle against the Somoza tyranny, is today organizing the working masses as an independent class force to carry forward the revolution.
The workers' press plays an important role in the struggle inside Nicaragua. It shows how to build up the strongest defense against the U.S.-organized aggression. It shows how to combat the treacherous big bourgeoisie. And it works to free the masses from the illusions fostered by the petty-bourgeois Sandinista government.
The Marxist-Leninist Party is organizing a political and financial campaign to support the Nicaraguan workers' press. It calls on all workers and anti-imperialist activists to participate in this concrete act of solidarity with the Nicaraguan working masses.
Please send your contributions to: [Address.]
The U.S. government is waging a criminal war on Nicaragua. Reagan has ordered the mining of Nicaraguan harbors; the CIA is arming 15 to 20 thousand mercenaries to the teeth; and the Pentagon has turned Honduras into a big U.S. landing pad for military provocations and a possible invasion. U.S. imperialism is making it known to the whole world that it will stop at nothing in its drive to crush the Nicaraguan revolution and to put the Nicaraguan people back under the U.S. jackboot.
The working people of Nicaragua are heroically confronting this aggression. The popular militias are showing that the contra mercenaries are no match for the armed workers and peasants. The working masses of Nicaragua are aroused and determined to defend the gains of their revolution which brought liberation from the bloodstained U.S.-backed dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza.
In short, revolutionary Nicaragua is locked in mortal combat with U.S. imperialism. At the same time, this bitter conflict against U.S. aggression is bound up with the internal class struggle that is gripping Nicaraguan society.
The press plays a vital role in this class struggle; it is followed keenly by the people and has a big political impact. There are a number of papers that represent the different class forces within Nicaragua.
The largest of the three dailies in the country is the bourgeois La Prensa. This is the newspaper of the big capitalists and landlords -- the mouthpiece of the U.S.-backed reaction. This newspaper is an active participant in the bourgeois counterrevolution and is linked with the terrorist contras.
The other two dailies -- the Sandinistas' Barricada and the pro-Sandinista El Nuevo Diario -- support the government's petty-bourgeois vacillating policy. Since coming to power through the revolution that smashed the Somoza tyranny, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) has sought to find a reformist middle ground in between the two classes which are irreconcilably antagonistic to each other, the working class and the big bourgeoisie. The FSLN government has refused to surrender in the face of the U.S.-backed capitalist reaction, while at the same time it has sought a reformist solution to the conflict with this reaction. It has carried out a number of vital and popular reforms, while at the same time these reforms only go so deep, stopping at any step that would fundamentally challenge the profits and property of the capitalists and landlords. Barricada and El Nuevo Diario support the petty-bourgeois FSLN policy of attempting to balance between the revolution and the counterrevolution.
But there is yet another press that takes part in the Nicaraguan political struggle -- the workers, press. Not long ago, the Nicaraguan workers had experience with having their own daily newspaper, El Pueblo. El Pueblo was put out in 1979 under the guidance of the party of the Nicaraguan workers, MAP-ML (Movement of Popular Action/Marxist-Leninist), and its trade union organization, FO (Workers Front). Although the paper was shut down by the government in January 1980, it has continued to have a place in the consciousness of the workers and other toilers. Just recently, it was announced that the revolutionary workers have won the right to put out El Pueblo again. In the meantime, the workers' press has been represented by MAP-ML's monthly Prensa Proletaria.
El Pueblo -- Voice of the Working Peoples' Struggle Against the Somoza Tyranny
El Pueblo was launched in March, 1979. This was in the midst of the revolutionary crisis engulfing the U.S.- backed dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza. The paper took advantage of the cracks in the disintegrating tyranny and used a cultural society as a cover for its production. For the first time in Nicaraguan history the workers had broken the monopoly of the wealthy over the daily press.
El Pueblo provided a great school in class consciousness, putting forward the proletarian standpoint on the tasks of the revolution. It championed the class independence of the working masses in the anti-Somoza struggle. El Pueblo helped to liberate the working people from the influence of the hypocritical bourgeois opposition, an opposition that was out to rescue its positions of exploitation and domination in the face of the popular revolution, out to escape going under with the other rats aboard Somoza's sinking ship.
El Pueblo advanced the perspective that the fight against Somoza and U.S. imperialism must not be cut short at some type of Somocismo without Somoza, but must take on the character of a thoroughgoing revolutionary struggle of the toiling masses against the big capitalists and landlords. This orientation was essential to ensure the most favorable outcome of the anti-Somoza struggle, to bring the workers and peasants to power, and to open the way for carrying the revolution forward to socialism.
The production and distribution of El Pueblo required a big mobilization of the revolutionary workers and a wide network of support among the masses. While putting forward its own political orientation, El Pueblo also opened up its pages to all militant fighters against Somocismo. The daily El Pueblo took on the role, which it later shared with the FSLN's Radio Sandino, of being the voice of the people's struggle against the tyranny." It was a weapon in the hands of the workers for preparing the mighty insurrection of the working masses that swept the hated dictatorship off the face of the earth.
The Independent Voice of the Workers for Carrying Forward the Revolution
July 19, 1979 marked the triumph of the people in the war against the savage dictatorship. The next day, El Pueblo, which had been suspended during the last weeks of the final insurrection, resumed publication. It saluted the glorious victory of the people in arms. At the same time it posed the questions: Why were the big capitalist chieftains being brought into the country to participate in forming the government with the FSLN? The workers and toilers were the ones who fought on the barricades against the dictator, why shouldn't they be the ones to come to power?
The overthrow of the tyranny unleashed a powerful class surge of the workers and poor peasants against the factory owners and landlords. Factory takeovers and land seizures were the order of the day. El Pueblo backed up the demands of the exploited masses. And it championed the political independence of the working class to play its role of deepening the revolution against the big capitalists and landlords.
But the coalition government of the petty-bourgeois FSLN and the bourgeoisie could not tolerate this independent voice of the workers. In January 1980, urged on by reactionary elements within the government, the editors of El Pueblo were thrown in prison, the army closed down El Pueblo's offices, and its printing equipment and materials were confiscated.
Several months after this episode, Alfonso Robelo and the other big capitalist chieftains broke the coalition with the FSLN and went into open opposition to the government. In response, the Sandinista government sought to balance off the growing pressure of the U.S.-backed reaction by reaching an accommodation with the left forces. With this turn in the political situation the repression eased somewhat against the Marxist-Leninists and the El Pueblo editors were let out of jail.
Since then MAP-ML and FO have been working to rebuild the workers' press. They pose this as an essential part of organizing the independent forces of the toilers to carry forward the revolution. Over the last period they have been publishing the monthly paper of MAP-ML, Prensa Proletaria, the bulletins of the FO and other publications. Now, with the lifting of the government's ban, the workers' press is due to be reinforced with the resumption of El Pueblo. Resuming publication after more than four years of suspension will not be an easy task. Among other things, there will be difficulties because of the shortage of printing supplies due to government discrimination against MAP-ML and FO and the imperialist economic blockade against Nicaragua. Nevertheless, despite various obstacles, the Nicaraguan Marxist-Leninists have taken on this responsibility with determination.
The lifting of the ban on El Pueblo comes as the fruit of years of struggle by the revolutionary toilers in Nicaragua for full political rights for the Marxist-Leninists of MAP-ML and FO. It comes alongside the granting of legal rights to MAP-ML to take part in the general elections this November and to sit in the State Council, which has been functioning as a provisional parliamentary body since the 1979 revolution. This opening for the proletarian party in Nicaragua comes in the midst of a sharpening of the attacks of the internal front of the counterrevolution. In recent months, a major conspiracy involving figures of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church has been exposed and the rightist political forces have stepped up their pressure on the government by calling for a boycott of the upcoming elections. The Sandinistas have relaxed some restrictions on MAP-ML as part of their appeal to the working masses in the face of the bourgeois offensive.
What the Workers' Press Stands For
On the burning questions facing the Nicaraguan people today, Prensa Proletaria puts forward the revolutionary working class stand. Let us briefly examine the attitude of the different papers in Nicaragua on some of these critical issues.
* On the attitude towards U.S. imperialism:
The reactionary La Prensa is shamelessly pro-imperialist, sympathizes with Ronald Reagan and appeals for accommodation with the CIA's Somocista bands.
The Sandinistas' Barricada (which on all major issues is backed up by El Nuevo Diario) calls for militant defense against the contra bands and the other naked acts of imperialist aggression. At the same time, it spreads every type of reformist illusion about how the contradiction with the U.S. can be resolved. Among other things, on the front page of Barricada you will find glowing praise for the American capitalist politicians of the Democratic Party. It even, finds opportunities to praise such rabid imperialists as Daniel Patrick Moynihan. The two-faced gentlemen of the Democratic Party are portrayed as friends of the Nicaraguan people who are supposedly doing their best in Congress to stop the U.S. war on Nicaragua.
The Marxist-Leninist Prensa Proletaria takes a consistent stand against imperialism. It teaches the masses the truth that it is the imperialist system that is unleashing aggression on Nicaragua; and it exposes both the open and disguised faces of this aggression. It denounces Reagan and his plots. And it tells the Nicaraguan people that their true friends in the U.S. are neither the Democrats nor Congress, but the American working masses who face the struggle against the same U.S. imperialist enemy.
Prensa Proletaria combats illusions in the reformist maneuvers of the imperialists, showing the need to confront imperialism by deepening the revolutionary struggle of the masses. It appeals for strengthening defense against imperialism by strengthening the class struggle of the workers and poor peasants against the big exploiters who are the Trojan Horse of this aggression. It calls for building up the Sandinista Popular Militias by increasing the participation of the workers and poor peasants, and for mobilizing these classes to place their class stamp on all tasks of defense.
* On the attitude towards the Contadora Plan:
The reactionary La Prensa describes itself as the real champion of the "peace" plan for Central America that has been put forward by the so-called Contadora Group that is made up of the capitalist governments of Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Panama. It attacks the Sandinistas for not adhering to this plan, and makes repeated proposals that the big bourgeois governments of Contadora should be allowed to come into Nicaragua to create conditions for "restoring democracy" -- that is for strangling the revolution and putting the big capitalists back in power. It should be noted that in championing Contadora La Prensa is taking the same stand as the Reagan government.
Barricada also preaches loudly that the Contadora plan is the best way to peace. But Barricada argues that it is the Sandinistas, not the forces of the bourgeois opposition, who are truly adhering to a policy in line with the Contadora plan. As evidence it points to a number of the government's policies: its measures to safeguard the political and economic interests of the big capitalists and landlords; its offers of reconciliation to the counterrevolutionaries; its willingness to cut off support for the popular forces in El Salvador; and other conciliatory policies.
For its part, Prensa Proletaria exposes Contadora as the other face of imperialist aggression. It shows how Contadora is a plan of the regional bourgeoisie to check the revolution in Central America in general, and in particular to put out the fires of insurrection in El Salvador and to strengthen the internal capitalist front in Nicaragua. It points out that the counterrevolutionary nature of the Contadora plan is based on the class nature of the big capitalist and landlord governments of these countries, governments which are all closely linked to U.S. imperialism.
* On the class struggle within Nicaragua:
La Prensa demands "freedom and democracy." It demands unlimited "freedom" for the capitalists and landlords and the U.S. multinational sharks to super-exploit the workers and peasants. It demands "democracy" for the Somocista contra chiefs so that they can come join up with the internal bourgeois opposition in rigging up a new Somoza-style tyranny under the auspices of the CIA and the Pentagon.
Under this banner La Prensa combats even the mildest reforms in favor of the working people or essential measures of defense against U.S. intervention. Any obstacle to crushing the working masses under the iron heel of the exploiters is branded a violation of "freedom and democracy." In short, La Prensa advocates "freedom and democracy" of the Reagan type.
The Sandinista's Barricada preaches against the class struggle in favor of class harmony. Under the signboards of "pluralism" and "mixed economy," it calls for national reconciliation of all classes in the new Nicaragua -- workers, peasants, and the "patriotic" bourgeoisie. Barricada argues for winning over the hearts and minds of the capitalists and landlords by showing them good will and granting them political concessions and economic incentives. It continues to argue for this policy even though it has been demonstrated a thousand times over that such concessions have only fueled the class offensive of the exploiters against the revolution. Despite the fury of the counterrevolution, Barricada continues to advocate seeking a reformist middle ground, a class compromise, a reformed capitalism without its sharp conflicts and excesses.
Prensa Proletaria, on the other hand, champions the revolutionary class struggle. It fights openly for the class interests of the workers and poor peasants against the interests of the big capitalists and landlords.
To overcome the severe economic problems facing the people, and to strengthen the defenses against U.S. intervention, Prensa Proletaria calls for taking revolutionary measures against the big exploiters. To ensure the freedom and democracy that the masses fought for on the anti-Somoza barricades, Prensa Proletaria advocates that the workers and poor peasants should hold political power over the capitalists and reactionaries. In short, Prensa Proletaria advocates carrying forward the class struggle to the proletarian revolution and socialism.
The Working Masses Who Made the Revolution Must Have Freedom for the Workers' Press
These conflicting standpoints of the press of the different class forces are a clear expression of the political struggle raging within Nicaraguan society. Strengthening the workers' press is a vital part of strengthening the hand of the working class in this struggle.
To build up the independent political forces of the Nicaraguan working class and poor peasants; to liberate the masses from the ideological and political influence of the bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie; to carry forward the revolution against the U.S.-backed reaction of the capitalists and landlords -- the revolutionary proletariat must have its say, its voice, its workers' press.
Unfortunately the work to rebuild the workers' press has been confronted with the ongoing repression and discrimination by the petty-bourgeois government. Though the repression has eased since El Pueblo was first shut down, the government has until recently maintained its ban on that paper. And it still refuses to return the essential equipment for El Pueblo's production. The workers' publications are also put under official censorship and must overcome a number of other obstacles put in the way of printing and distribution.
As well, the authorities have run a vicious slander campaign against the integrity of El Pueblo. With this aim they have tried to create a cloud of doubt about where the funds came from for the launching of the workers' daily. This slander has also been echoed internationally by apologists of the government's repression against the Marxist-Leninist workers. For example, the British author George Black, in his book on the Nicaraguan revolution, hints ominously that "the FSLN leaders began to wonder aloud who had paid for the MAP-FO's expensive printing equipment." (G. Black, Triumph of the People: The Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua, Zed Press, London, p. 339)
This malicious slur is taken up and repeated despite the fact that it is a secret to no one where the funds for El Pueblo came from. As a recent issue of Prensa Proletaria declared: "Although some want to bury the daily El Pueblo in calumny, we say today with pride that the financial source for the project was the most pure and legitimate: it was taken by the force of popular arms from a bourgeois, landlord, pro-imperialist and genocidal regime, taken from the Somocista military dictatorship by the way of the popular revolutionary violence." And Prensa Proletaria pays homage to the MAP leader killed by Somoza's National Guard, Hernaldo Herrera Tellez, who took part in the action at the Bank of America and to the other working class fighters "who made the plan for the newspaper possible." While El Pueblo's printing equipment has been confiscated and the workers' press has faced repression, the petty-bourgeois government has been treating La Prensa with kid gloves. It bends over backwards to avoid stepping on the toes of the pro-imperialist and reactionary press. This goes further than just tolerating La Prensa. It goes to the point of providing it with U.S. dollars, despite the government's critical shortage of hard foreign currency, to help La Prensa import newsprint in the face of the paper shortage caused by the U.S. blockade. (New York Times, November 28, 1983) In other words, the government gives financial assistance to La Prensa so that it can put out newspapers in the face of the U.S. blockade, even though these papers support this U.S. blockade and the U.S. drive to strangle Nicaragua.
The petty-bourgeois government argues that its censorship policy is even- handed towards the press of all tendencies. But in practice it hurts the workers' press the most and gives the bourgeoisie every opportunity to broadcast its views. What the capitalist reaction cannot say in La Prensa it can say on its private radio stations, or from the pulpits of the reactionary hierarchy of the Catholic Church.
To defend and advance the revolution, MAP-ML calls for bringing the masses into struggle against the reactionary media. It demands that the working people who created the revolution are the ones who should have freedom of the press and expression, while La Prensa and the other tools of the capitalist and pro-imperialist reaction should be checked with revolutionary measures.
Overcoming the Obstacles Put Up by the U.S. Blockade
As part of its plans of subversion and aggression the U.S. government has thrown up a partial economic blockade against Nicaragua. This has brought on shortages of many necessities for the masses. It has also caused acute shortages of newsprint, ink and printing supplies of all types, some of which are not available in the country at all and have to be imported with expensive foreign currency.
La Prensa is able to cope with these shortages because it has the backing of the rich inside the country, generous government assistance, and the assistance from the capitalist reactionaries of the U.S., West Germany and elsewhere.
Barricada has the resources of the state power behind it.
But the blockade and shortages place an exceptionally heavy burden on the workers' press as its primary financial base is the support of the poor, the Nicaraguan working masses. Just to procure the essential materials to produce the monthly Prensa Proletaria poses acute problems.
Support the Nicaraguan Workers' Press!
In this situation the MLP,USA is initiating a campaign in support of the Nicaraguan workers' press. This campaign is being built on the shoulders of the American class conscious workers and anti-imperialist activists.
The purpose of this campaign is to build international working class solidarity with the Nicaraguan working people who are fighting bravely against our common enemy -- U.S. imperialism. La Prensa and the Nicaraguan reactionaries have the full backing of the U.S. imperialists and international reaction with all its vast resources. The petty-bourgeois FSLN government has its sources of international support. Therefore it is only natural that the workers of the U.S. and other countries come to the aid of the Nicaraguan workers. It is only natural that they lend their arm of solidarity to the independent forces of the Nicaraguan working masses which are striving to carry forward the revolution against the capitalists and landlords and their U.S. imperialist masters.
The campaign aims at building political support for the Nicaraguan workers' press. Let the American workers and activists lend their voice to the demand of the revolutionary Nicaraguan workers for an end to all forms of discrimination against the workers' press and for revolutionary measures against La Prensa and the other mouthpieces of the U.S.-backed reaction.
The campaign combines this with building financial support for supplies for the Nicaraguan workers' press. This will help provide the workers' press with acutely needed printing supplies and equipment. Today, when the revolutionary workers of Nicaragua are preparing to resume El Pueblo after years of suspension, such assistance is more important than ever.
Providing material support for the Nicaraguan workers' press is a concrete act of international solidarity with the revolutionary Nicaraguan workers. It is an excellent reply of the American workers and anti-imperialist activists to Reagan's economic blockade.
[Photo: One of the columns of the Popular Anti-Somoza Militias (MILPAS), led by the Nicaraguan Marxist-Leninists, that participated in the liberation of Managua from the Somoza dictatorship in the 1979 revolution.]
[Photo.]
[Graphic: The seal of the Frente Obrero. It carries as its legend the words of Karl Marx: "The emancipation of the working class is the work of the working class itself."]
MAP-ML is the party of the class conscious workers of Nicaragua. It is this party which stands for organizing the workers and poor peasants as an independent political force to advance the revolution towards socialism. MAP-ML actively takes part in the struggle against the CIA-directed contras and shows that it must be connected to the class struggle against the big bourgeoisie, the Trojan Horse of the counterrevolution.
As a result of its consistently revolutionary stand, the Nicaraguan Marxist-Leninists have suffered from various forms of persecution by the petty-bourgeois Sandinista government, which vacillates between the bourgeoisie and the working class. Thus, part of the activity of MAP-ML has been the struggle for full political rights for the revolutionary workers. Recently this struggle was successful in winning a number of concessions from the government.
The Nicaraguan revolutionary workers have won the right to reopen El Pueblo. This was the daily published in 1979 which functioned as an important voice of the toilers both in the final months of the Somoza dictatorship and in the period right after the victory of the revolution. It was arbitrarily shut down by the government in January 1980.
MAP-ML has won a number of rights as a legal political party. It has won the right to take part in the upcoming general elections in November and it has been given a seat in the State Council, which functions as a provisional parliamentary body. Over the years, MAP-ML became the only party that was refused positions in the State Council; in the meantime, every right-wing political force in the country was granted positions even though they were supporters of the counterrevolution.
These victories for the Nicaraguan Marxist-Leninists are a result of the successes of MAP-ML and its trade union organization, FO, and their struggle against persecution. This year the Nicaraguan Marxist-Leninists organized a wide-scale campaign across the country for their political rights. In this campaign MAP-ML also received the solidarity of Marxist-Leninist workers and anti-imperialist activists from around the world, including Europe, the U.S., and Latin America. In this country, the MLP,USA supported this campaign.
The rights that MAP-ML has won represent a wider political opening for the activity of the Marxist-Leninists of Nicaragua.
MAP-ML will use the rights it has gained to step up its work in defense of the class interests of the toilers and for their independent organization.