Talks and Bloodshed Continue

HILE the negotiators drive their hard bargains at Evian, the OAS steps up its offensive in Algeria in an atmosphere of racial war and hysteria. And in France, a farcical note enters the activities of the 'leaders' of the working class who called a half-hour general strike in protest Picket US embassy Saturday 'LIFT the Blockade', 'American bosses starve Cuban Workers' and Defend the Cuban Revolution' were some of the slogans displayed by a picket at the US Embassy on Wednesday morning.

The picket, organized by the London Area Committee of the Socialist Labour League, was the immediate response to the speech of Fidel Castro which disclosed the serious position in Cuba.

The windows of the embassy and the US Marine headquarters in Grosvenor Square were soon filled with onlookers as the picket marched in front of the embassy escorted by apprehensive policemen.

The London Area Committee is organizing a further picket at the embassy this Saturday, March 17, starting at 10 a.m.

It appeals to all workers and students to demonstrate their support for the Cuban revolution and their hostility to the American attempt to starve it into submission. • These are the first stages of a ' Food for Cuba' campaign planned by the Area Committee for the coming weeks.

Organizations and individuals wishing to join in the campaign should write for further details to: R. Perry, 186a Clapham High St., S.W.4, or telephone MACaulay 7029.

is Support the Cuban people and their Revolution in this hour of need.

The National Committee of the Socialist Labour League is calling upon the British Labour movement to set up Food for Cuba Committees, the purpose of which would be to raise money for essential medical supplies and foodstuffs for despatch to Cuba.

Yours sincerely, National Secretary at the latest OAS atrocities in Paris.

The unwillingness of de Gaulle to hammer the OAS reflects the weakness in his position. He is unable to control the European population in Algeria and is uncertain of the allegiance of many high-ranking officers and civil servants.

Technicians in the Sahara oilfields, for example, have declared that they will not work under a fifty-fifty arrangement with Algerians after 'independence' and will join the OAS if dual management is forced upon them.

NEW CRISIS But, while an attempt at a putsch seems out of the question for the present, the turn of events in Algeria may lead to a new crisis in which the existence of the de Gaulle regime will be brought into question.

The OASis weak in metropolitan France at present, but it would be wrong to think that a cease-fire will diminish the threat of fascism.

The OAS will redouble its efforts to win support from the middle layers of the population which may be inclined to move towards the stronger party— especially when they feel threatened from the working class.

MASS MOVEMENT

The repatriated colons and returned veterans from the Algerian war may form the nucleus of a mass movement of a fascist type. De Gaulle, or his successors, may thus use these forces to defend capitalism or be swept aside by them.

The lack of any effective link up between the struggle of the Algerian people and the working-class movement in France remains the key to the situation.

There is, however, a strong (Continued 1) page

age PEAKING in Trafalgar Square last Sunday, Pat Arrowsmith called for nuclear disarmament candiBY OUR POLITICAL By OUR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT only because no alternative leadership was shown by the apart and threaten the des- apart and threaten truction of humanity.

While we salute the courageous actions of people like Pat Arrowsmith, their ideas stem ar 7,1962