The following consists of extracts from a resolution passed by the Working Committee of the L.S.S.P. , Coylonese section of the Fourth International.
"The most important feature in the present political situation in the country is the fact that the working class has beyun to enter the political arena as an independent force. The importance of this fact is in no manner minimised by the other fact that the present independent actions of the workers are as yet centred on essentially trade union demands; for it has already become clear that in the present economic and political context these trade union actions have unavoidable political implications.
"The working class thus moving into action has shown two important characteristics. On tho one side it has shown a determination to pursue its objectives whatever the difficulties, On the other hand it has shown itself cxpable of uniting massively in action. Both these factors point to a new lovel of class consciousness.
'The blows nlready struck by the workers have transformed the political situation md set it developing in a new direction. No longer is the conducting o the attack upon the Governnont policy centred within the Right. It is the working class that is increasingly at the centre of tho attack on the SLFP Government's policies, inadequacies and incapacitios..coece
" ,.eeeln this connection it is essential to realise that in the develop— ment of the present situation on,the one hand, extra-parliamentary action can well be carried out successfully by the working class, and on the other sthat such extrayerliamoentary action may become necessary for tho working class independent of its own volition in certain circumstances.
"To begin with thero are signs that the SLFP Government and Party are shaken and can bo broken up. Tho cabinet has shown itself uncertain as to the course of action it should take in relation to working class struggles and in this connection it is to be stressed that the zig-zags are not due to any basic division of opinion within the cabinet botween Right and Left but primarily to differences of opinion as to the question of how best the Government can survive without major political concessions to the working class.
"The division probably woes desper in the SLFP Parliamentary Party. There are signs that a leftish moving action is bowinning to crystallise within the SLFP Parliamentary Party, and on®of the tasks facing us is to assist this differentiation, It should be stressed that the rate of differentiation will depend upon the weivht and success of working class direct iction.
‘Faced with division within its ranks and following, the Government may not only zig-zag but also crack ultimately. Should it crxck up by force of prim arily its internal development, those in control aro likely to turn to the Parliamentary solution of a Goneral .ilection. Should that indeed eventuate, the electoral tactic of the party in relation to the general left including leftward moving groupings and elements of the SLFP will be of the utmost importance in determining the outcome of the olection,.
“Howover, the Party has to aim at a different process of the solution of the crisis, and this aim can bein to be implemented in the present situation itself, The working class cannot aim to solve the crisis through the parliameriary process but must resort to the direct action process. This has to be tho guiding line of activity for the Party in the presont situation.
"Let it be noted at once thit this is a guiding perspective 2nd that the application of the line requires and will require oxtrome care in the developing Situation. Today, for instance, in relation to the strikes that are taking place, it would be a mistake to suck to impose upon them any political objectives. ‘ven the harbour strike is o trade union struggle for economic objectives, and the conduct of the struggle must be related to those objectives. Any attompt to fore the development or to divert such struggles from their prosent objectives would only upset the whole development. Tho essential task hore is to conduct these str—uggles in such a manner that they can on the one hand be co-ordinated and inter— linked and on the other through the increased understanding and clarification of the political implications the political perspectives can stvadily emerge.
In the application of our line we must be constantly prepared for two kinds of direct counter action. The first kind of countor action is repression by the Government. They can move the army and police against the working class and the Left. It will be the task of the Party to kstp the masses warned and prepared
continued/
against such eventualities but also to keep the masses warned and prepared for prompt, powerful, united and sustained action in such an event.
"The other type of counter action which can come, not only through a section of the Government but also from outside it, is a Rightist coup. This, as it happens, is a move with the possibility of which the masses have long been familiar, and it should be easier to prepare them against that possibility than against Governmental repression to which they have boon in some dogree accustomed bu cause of the almost continuous iimergency situation since May 1958. We mst make the massos understand the difference between Governmental repression and a Rightist coup and teach them to be as vigilant and active against repression as against a coup. The preparation for the ovent of a coup must, of course, be for & prompt and massive counter blow. The Party should realise that such a development carries with it tho possibilities of loading dirsctlyto a struggle for power itself.
"Should neither repression nor coup take place, the development of the essentially trade union action of today into political action, that is,actions with primarily political objectivos, will be less rapid and tumultous but nevertheless along these lines development can open the perspective of a struggle for power. The prospect of this development flows from the fact that the present militancy of the working class in relation to its trade union objectives comes up from the beginning against the obstacle of the deteriorating financial and economic situation which makes it impossible for the Government and the capitalist class to make sither timely or sufficient concessions. By reason of this obstacle the working class in struggle for its trade union demands will quickly come up against the need for political action and solutions as the means to their very trade objectives. To assist this development, to provide it with the appropriato slogans at cach stage so that tho struggle acquires tho correct perspective, to prepare tho mass actions and to co-ordinate and unify them into mass onslaughts which can be,incroasingly directed against tho contres and citadels of power, these are tasks which the Party must bend all its energies in the coming period, The appropriate organs of the Party will, of course, turn immediately to the preparation of the Party organisation.
"Finally what is the over-all slogan which will correctly epitomise the perspectives of this struggle? What is the govornmental slogan which we will put forward as tho struggle drives towrads political objectives?
"The slogan mist appear realisable; that is to say, it must stem from today's consciousness of the working class and the general masses. It must attract to itself the progressive forces in and around the SLFP who aro moving away from or are dissatisfied with the SLFP' Govormont's policies, It mst fit in with the mass action perspective and yet be flexible enough to enable its contents to be adjusted to the situation and the alignment of forces, It must not contrast the mass action process to tho parliamentary proceés in such a mannor as will necessitate it being jettisoned in the event of a Genoral lection,
'The slogan which would appear to answer all these requirements and also the requirement that it should not appear sectarian in rolation to other Left parties iss
"For a Government of Socialist Concontration"
(A Gonuine Socialist Government of all Progressive Forces).scees
~ ye este