MASS STRIKES IN PERU

In the last two months, three Peruvian towns have been on General Strike. The first was in Arequipa against the sacking of miners and teachers, the second in Puno against the murder of workers, and in Trujillo in support of wage demands.

At the moment, conflicts are likely in the mines against the arrest of miners, in the textile industry against the closure of factories and in assembly plants against rationalization.

Both the capitalist press and official communiqués have kept a complete silence on the reasons for the June 27 demonstration in Puno against President Velasco's military government when his wife visited the In his press conference on July 5, Velasco described the demonstration as 'evil and scandalous'.

In fact, Puno is a department full of unem! soyment and extreme poverty. I Thousands of landless peasants are under attack from the measures in the so-called 'progressive' agrarian reform.

This legitimate public demonstration met with violent repression; three demonstrators were killed and many others wounded.

Demonstrators reacted by attacking the headquarters of the hated Republican Guard and a six-day General Strike followed.

These actions forced the government to retreat and troops and tanks were withdrawn. The city was controlled by the working class and the local radio stations only broadcast statements vetted by the working class.

There were only solidarity strikes in Cuzco and Arequipa.

The Stalinist leadership of the Peruvian trades unions has not protested about the military's attack.

This complicity allowed the military government to take control of the situation by murdering another worker, arresting many and declaring a state of emergency and the suspension of constitutional guarantees in the whole departThe Stalinists are working might and main to prevent a political fight against Velasco's repression.

The Peruvian CP is campaigning for 'the reorganizing of the Ministry of Labour' because 'the revolution has not reached there yet'. They claim the government's anti-working class policies are a result of The 'corrupt functionaries' of previous governments who still remain in office.

Yet Velasco's 'revolution' is aimed precisely at the destruction of the working class and its organizations in Peru-the preparation of a fascist corporate state. The Peruvian Stalinists are pursuing a policy which can only lead to their own destruction and the disorganization of the working class.

216L '1 18