New Stalinist Betrayal By TOM KEMP

was the militant of the follow THE thirteenth HE thirteen of February is alre: February is already a long time ago!' This Inno tima aanl ' comment of a French worker on the failure Communist Party to up on the massive demonstration at the funeral of the victims of police brutality two weeks ago.

The impression of class power which participants gained from the demonstrations is something which the leaders of the Communist Party have been quietly trying to dispel. Their weapons are the usual weapons of Stalinism and they are worthy of close consideration.

THEIR OWN KIND In the first place, behind a smokescreen of critical phrases, the Communist Party is effectively in support of the de Gaulle dictatorship. Thorez is now calling upon all 'good Frenchmen, including "gaullists', to rally in the spirit of the Resistance against the OAS. All wage and other class demands have been dropped.

The Algerian sell-out is strongly supported, with the only proviso that if people had listened to the Communist Party the war need not have taken place.

There is no word of solidarity with the Algerian revolution; for the CP there is no revolution in Algeria. The party chiefs recognise in the FLN leaders, on the other hand, men of their own kind.

Nevertheless, the hold of the CP over the working class remains complete. It has a powerful apparatus with extensive ramifications in the class. It lacks an effective rival. The Mollet 'socialists' have long ceased, in any real sense, to command the support of any important sections of workers. Their capacity for betrayal is thus strictly limited. They serve as an alibi for the Stalinist leaders and live largely on anti-communism.

The 'new left Unified Socialist Party has little influence outside the ranks of intellectuals and sections of the petty bourgeoisie. Only the CP can organize demonstrations of more than a few thousand and its own demonstrations are supported only by the party activists.

In a crisis, however, many workers turn to the CP or follow its directives. Its leaders are conscious of this power and are determined to maintain it. Yet, since their policy is an undeviating one of compromise and opportunism, there is always the danger that the currents of criticism which arise within the party will be attracted by those who stand for a consistent policy of opposition to the Gaullist regime.

ATTACKS

There is already a strong undercurrent of dissatisfaction in the working class, and especially in the party ranks, with a policy which is seen as stemming from Khrushchev and which leads to sympathy for the Albanians and the Chinese parties.

The sensitivity of the CP leaders to the situation is