El Salvador
Offensive
prepares
ground for
revolutionary
overthrow
By bombing of the FENASTRAS trade union offices on October 31, the ruling clique and military command signalled clearly to the labour movement and to the liberation fighters of the FMLN that, having been unable to repress the popular organisations through amending" the constitution in July, they were now prepared to launch a repression through extra-legal means.
The resort to tactics of physical liquidation of leading trade union members indicates that the far-right ARENA government clearly understands the threat it faces from the pincer of mass guerilla insurrection combined with mass urban popular movements. It is not only the FMIN that has learned lessons from the Nicaraguan Revolution. ARENA set out to decapitate the popular organisations before the FMIN was in a position to overwhelm the armed forces.
The necessary features for a decisive class battle have been ripening in El Salvador for some time. The collapse of the American scheme of stabilising the situation through land refom and a consolidation of the political centre was exploited by both the ultra-right and the forces of the revolutionary left.
The FMLN's demand for free elections in which all could take part - provided there was a six month postponement to allow for campaigning - won to them significent layers of the population who had previously been in the political centre. At the same time
UPDATE ARENA has grouped around it all those who were committed 'stabilising" the situation through mass repression and 'total war against the guerillas, as well as those who have an interest in seeing the preservation of the present social formation and can see no other option but ARENA.
The position of both sides has been quite similar to the extent that both had to win wavering elements of their social base over to an understanding that it was not possible to negotiate with the other. The protracted negotiations which have been taking place have been serious attempts by both sides to explain the legitimacy of their position at a mass level and to expose the intractability of the opposition.
At the same time the FMLN did publicly attempt to come to a negotiated solution, to explore every possible avenue that was open to them. This attempt was made for two reasons. Firstly, because there are undoubtedly layers of political opinion within the FMLN that want a negotiated solution to the social crisis and are prepared to go a long way in securing one. Secondly, because even those who see no hope for such a solution understand that if they are to have the sustained involvement of the workers and peasants in a bloody and violent insurrection that may last months and cost tens of thousands of lives, then it has to be clear that there was no other alternative. In addition, such a process can be used to win what remains of the middle layers and the petit bourgeoisie to the side of the FMLN.
It's war in San Salvador: and the casuaities are mounting
The offensive launched by the FMLN was not the first declaration of total class war against the goverment. This had come from the trade unions UNIS and FENESTRAS. In invoking such language the unions issued a challenge bothto the govemment and to the FMLN. On the one side they were demanding that the old conditions should end, and claiming that they were not prepared to live in the old way: and on the other they were demanding defence from civil repression by the armed forces of the people -the FMLN.
It should be understood that, by all accounts, the offensive that the FMLN launched was not at first aimed at seizing power. The FMLN wanted to force the regime to a the negotiating table in a very public manner to express the nature of dual power that exists in the country. The result of the offensive quite possibly took the FMLN by surprise with the level of mass support that it engendered.
The response of the popular organisations was to take to the streets, build barricades, take up arms and to join the military and political offensive. The general strike call by the unions added to the creation of the revolutionary conjuncture that now faces El Salvador. As the offensive developed and the cadres of the FMLN and the population grew in confidence, the ambiguity of the FMLN's position became apparent. While battalion leaders in the the suburbs of San Salvador were being interviewed by the BBC World Service and claiming that they were all out to sieze power, the FMLN were issuing official statements claiming that they wanted to force the regime to the negotiating table.
This hope was definitively quashed by the actions of the Salvadoran military in reply to the popular insurrection. The heavy bombing of working class areas by the Salvadoran planes flown by US pilots, the use of anti-tank weapons and helicopter gunships, and the ferocity of the counter-offensive on the ground show that the oligarchy understands that it is now in a do or die situation.
This was underlined by the torture and murder of the Jesuit priests, their cook and her daughter. That such an open act could be taken by the Salvadoran military, who have since followed up with a barely veiled threat to the progressive bishops through the good offices of the Salvadorean Attomey-General, shows that the normal rules of the game have been dumped for the 'total war' strategy by the majority of ARENA and the oligarchy.
The question for the FMLN is: who is there now to negotiate with that the population can take seriously?
The response of the United States has been as predictable as it has been bizarre. Pointing the