AUGUST 24, 1979 25 CENTS VOLUME 43/NUMBER 32 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY/PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF THE WORKING PEOPLE Carter stalls aid, seeks to strangle freedom fi9ht -- Mit;t.. ntll=rArl MANA~UA, August 3-Thousands of Nicaraguans from working-class and poor neighborhoods rally in support of revolution. on-the-scene reports Fidel castro -Workers & peasants calls lor rebuild country -PAGE 2 ·Sandinista leader appeals SOlidaritY for support -PAGE 16 wnh Nicaragua ~Statement by Full text-Pages 10-14 Fourth International-PAGE 6 In face of U.S. imP-erialist threat orkers and peasants By Pedro Camejo, Sergio Rodriguez and Fred Murphy MANAGUA, Nicaragua-The social­ ist revolution has begun in Nicaragua. Under the leadership of the Sandi­ nista National Liberation Front, the workers and peasants have over­ thrown the imperialist-backed Somoza dictatorship and destroyed its army and police force. Basing itself on the power of the armed and mobilized masses, the San­ dinista leadership has begun taking a series of radical measures-a deepgo­ ing land reform, nationalization of all the country's banks, seizure of all the property held by the Somoza family and its collaborators, the formation of popular militias and a revolutionary Pedro Camejo, a leader of the Socialist Workers Party, and Sergio Rodriguez, a leader of the Revolu­ tionary Workers Party of Mexico, went to Nicaragua to gather first­ hand information for the United Secretariat of the Fourth Interna­ tional, the world Trotskyist organi­ Victorious Nicaraguans drag statue of Somoza's father through streets of Managua zation, and for Trotskyists around the world. Fred Murphy is a corres­ and what kind of society they want to property relations in the countryside. The youth of Nicaragua are being pondent for the 'Militant' and 'Inter­ construct to replace the Somoza ty­ For now, the Sandinistas say they integrated into a new revolutionary continental Press/lnprecor,' who ranny. are limiting the land reform to the army. And the people in the workers has been in Nicaragua covering the The Nicaraguan workers, peasants, Somocista (Somozaist) holdings. How­ districts and in the countryside who revolutionary developments there. and semi-proletarian masses are com­ ever, when reporters asked INRA direc­ carried on the anti-Somoza struggle ing onto the center stage of history. tor Wheelock what they will do if the are being organized into militia units. They are led by a revolutionary cur­ lands run out and there are still needy The Sandinista leaders are trying to army, the organization of commmit­ rent, the Sandinista National Libera­ peasants, he answered: "We'll take the move as rapidly as possible to build a tees in the factories and neighbor­ tion Front (FSLN). rest of it." strong, well-equipped, and well-trained hoods, and other steps. The land reform is crucial for the army to meet the threat of foreign An active solidarity campaign Land reform Nicaraguan revolution, because sixty intervention and to put a stop to terror­ among working people throughout the A high percentage of the arable land percent of the population lives in the ist snipers. world is urgently needed. Supplies of in the country was owned by Somoza countryside. Nicaragua's main export In the cities-especially in the food, medicine, and other basic necessi­ and his immediate circle. This land products are all agricultural-cotton, working-class and poor districts­ ties are critically low. Massive aid is has been nationalized. Under the direc­ coffee, sugar, and beef. Sandinista Defense Committees are needed to begin the process of recon­ tion of Sandinista leader Jaime Whee­ In addition to all the Somocista prop­ being formed on a block-by-block basis structing the country. lock, the Nicaraguan Institute of erty, the new government has also to oversee the distribution of emer­ The imperialist powers, most notably Agrarian Reform has been set up. nationalized all of Nicaragua's banks. gency food aid, organize the recon­ the United States, are implacable ene­ INRA is supervising the distribution of This gives it control over the vast bulk struction of housing and other build­ mies of this revolution. They are with­ these vast holdings to the thousands of of the country's industrial wealth. This ings destroyed by Somoza's bombings, holding material aid, seeking weak Nicaraguan peasants who have histor­ will be ·crucial for reactivating the and work with the Sandinista militias. points in the revolution, and preparing ically eked out a subsistence on tiny economy, providing jobs, and meeting Workers in the factories, stores, their countermoves. plots. the needs of the workers and peasants. banks, and other workplaces are also An immediate military threat exists. Those sections of land best suited for The Ministry of Social Welfare, forming committees. These are usually Entire units of Somoza's National large-scale farming are being used to headed by Lea Guido de L6pez, has elected by assemblies of all the Guard left the country and are being set up state enterprises that will pro­ announced decrees against all kinds of workers. They are to form the basis of maintained intact in neighboring Hon­ vide permanent employment for thou­ speculators and profiteers, decrees a new United Federation of Sandinista duras and El Salvador. The slogan sands of agricultural laborers. characterized by a detJply egalitarian Workers, which will integrate the trade "Hands off Nicaragua!" should now The land reform is being enthusiasti­ spirit. The large number of buildings unions that existed under the dictator­ become the international rallying cry cally welcomed by the peasants and formerly owned by Somoza and the ship with the new workers committees. for all those who support the right of farm workers, who have mobilized in Somocistas will not be monopolized by It is to include the agricultural prole­ the Nicaraguans to determine for large demonstrations. Peasant militias private individuals or government ad­ tariat as well. themselves what kind of government are being organized to defend the new minstrators for personal use. Instead, The government has decreed that all they are to be transformed into wages lost by workers during the June­ schools, child-care centers, sports cen­ July insurrection must be paid in full. ters, museums, and cultural centers. The workers committees are organiz­ Subscribe to Perspectiva Mundial Government control has been estab­ ing to see that this is enforced. lished over all important exportable The FSLN has called on Nicaraguan 'Perspectiva Mundial' Is the agricultural commodities, including youth, who were in the front lines of Spanish-language sister publication cotton, coffee, sugar, and fish. the war against Somoza, to organize of the 'Militant.' It, like the 'M illtant,' Is Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega has themselves in the "July 19 Sandinista launching a campaign to get out the announced the refusal to pay the debts Youth." There are also plans to form truth about the Nicaraguan revolu­ 1•1 LIIITERIEICIOI that the Somoza dictatorship accumu­ the "National Union of Nicaraguan tion. Fidel Castro's speech, along with YIIQUI El IICIRIOUII lated in buying arms used against the Women," which is to be based on other material that Is in this special people. AMPRONAC, a group that mobilized issue of the 'Militant,' Is available In women against the dictatorship. Spanish in the new special Issue of Army and militia 'Perspectiva Mundial.' 'PM' will con­ The capitalist army and police Literacy campaign tinue its coverage of Nicaragua with force-Somoza's National Guard-was The revolution's leaders have also eyewitness accounts from reporters completely routed by the popular insur­ announced some longer-range plans to on the scene, reprints ·from 'Barrlcada' rection. There is nothing left of the improve the living conditions of the (the Sandinista newspaper) and more. Guard inside the country except for Nicaraguan people. Chief among these 'Perspectiva Mundlal' also contains terrorist bands that continue to stage is an ambitious campaign against news and analysis of interest to work­ IOUDIRIDID COl nighttime attacks on unarmed civili­ illiteracy modeled on the example of ing people, a special emphasis on LA LUCRI SIIDIIISTI ans and on Sandinista patrols. This is what was done in Cuba after the 1959 news of the workers movement In the similar to the terrorist policy Washing­ revolution there. U.S. and Latin America. ton carried out against Cuba, but it is Some 60 percent of Nicaraguans do D $5 for 5 months far more intense. Firing can be heard not know how to read and write. To D $12 for 1 year nightly in the center of Managua. remedy this situation, 1980 had been D $25 for 1 year (air mail, Latin Amer­ Send check or money order to: 'Pers­ But outside of these small bands, the declared the "Year of Education." Bri­ ica) pectiva Mundial,' Box 314, Village capitalists have no armed forces with­ gades of teachers-many of them high­ D $30 for 1 year (air mail, rest of the Station, New York, New York 10014, in the borders of Nicaragua. The entire school and college students-will soon world) USA. military apparatus has been dissolved. begin being trained to carry out the The masses are being armed. literacy drive. They will fan out to all 2 fight for new Nicaragua the cities, towns, and villages of Nica­ ragua to teach basic skills. Other steps being planned include the construction of clinics and child­ care centers, and the introduction of family-planning programs to make safe methods of birth-control available to all women. Revolutionary mobilizations The way for all these revolutionary measures was opened by the mass upheaval that brought down the imperialist-backed Somoza dictator­ ship. In the course of the struggle, the Sandinista National Liberation Front came to the head of the insurgent masses.