REAL Hsue really iks. it will have far that the ers and soo- sabotage. ands on new regime.* Du mat wee but the milies, des of exme, sums RULE i capitalists, banks, ist political orkers of the largest ALU MEER a national* Espirito members co Expirito mitteespects of the bank's operations, under the very noses of their bosses. The results of these investigations have heen gathered into a comprehensive and damning indictment of the big capitalists involvement in a network of fraud, reactionary political patronage, and economic PPD One thing which the workers' committees uncovered was a vast and complex network of overdrafts and loans through which the Espirito Santo Family had used hank funds to underwrite the activity of every significant capitalist party that has appeared in Portugal since the downfall of the old regime. Hundreds of thousands of pounds have been doled out to groups ranging from the so-called 'Progressive Purty" (a positive vipers nest of former fascists directly implicated in the reactionary mobilisation of the silent majority last September) through to the Popular Democratic Party (PPD).
The case of this latter party is particularly important. because the PPD is a member of the Government and has spent the past year trying to tart itself up with a socialist image for the benefit of the voters. It officially describes itself as "social democratic" and has applied for membership of the Socialist International. But the bank workers' investigations have uncorered clear evidence that this party bad more than E100,000 placed at its disposal by the fascist grouping on the scene.
BLOBLE. unier the fascist regime. same hands that were feeding every right wing and These revelations certainly vindicate the good class Instinets of those militants who have been demon strating against the meetings of the PPD. such as those who suffered one death and many wounded at the hands of the police in the town of Setubal earlicr this The worken enquiries have also uncovered even more damaging dirt about the operations of the banker over the past year. It turns out that all mem bers of the Espirito Santo family, as soon as the April coup lad ousted the old regime, armed themselves with extensive overdraft facilities. Tweary one meenbers of the family cook out overdrafts totalling about *4 million- which they promptly exceeded -just un case the Portuguese working class sould decide to reappropriate the blood and sweat that the Espirito Santo family and their bank had drained from them But the Espirito Santos were not prepared to pull out with a small slice of their ill-gotten pains until they bad put up a hard fight to bold on to the lot. Their massive sulsidies to the capitalist parties was oue prong of their strategy, but a second (followiny the example of their class in Chile) was massive economic sabotage designed to crente the sort of anarchy which would fuel the political demagogy of the far right.
Faced with serious economic problems and rising unemployment after Aptil, the Government tried to pump t700 million into the economy through the banking systeur The Espirito Santos prompily mabbed their share-and poured it down every available bog Records examined by the workers show that the Espirito Santos used the money to Increase the total capital of a number of their subsidiary companies, but without attempting to ruise production or increase employment. One firm continued to sack workens while its capital shot up four-fold in less than a year! Undoubtedly the Espirito Santos would have done cren more damage had not the workers at one of these factories-the Central Beer Company, one of Portugal's leading breweries-caught on and occupied the plant, demanding immediate nationalisation of the firm.
This goes to show who are the real wreckers and powers of anarchy in Portugal the capitalist class. It also demonstrates the tremendous power diat the workers movement could wield if it used the information it bas got from opening the books to establish workers control over the economy Workers control in the banking and financial systemt is a massive gain for the workers-one which could lay the foundation for a planned socialist economy, once the working class has forged its own organs of political power to coordinate and direct such a system