Right wing hails 'Democracy' in El Salvadoi Witch-hunters cash in on Hillhead PHOTO: JOHN HARRIS

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THE grotesque parody of democracy carried through with last weekend's "election" in EI Salvador has been eagerly greeted by reactionaries around the world.

American Secretary of State General Haig ludicrously claimed that:

"The Salvadorean people's stunning personal commitment to the power of a democratic vision is an unanswerable repudiation of the advocates of force and violence."

Haig of course knows that none of the gang of right wing and more extreme right wing parties offered the people of Salvador even the most remote prospect of a "democratic vision"

He knows that the left wing opposition parties whom he brands as "the advocates of force and violence" are banned in El Salvador, and that their leaders' names are on published death lists of the military and right wing paramilitary groups.

And he knows that a large proportion of the alleged 60% of El Salvador's (unknown) total electorate which turned out to vote last Sunday did so not through any "personal commitment" but under direct military threat from the ruling junta. Workers or peasants without a voters' stamp on their identity cards risk a beating or death at the hands of the soldiers.

But Haig's cynicism is typical of right wing reaction. Thatcher's observers -the only ones to watch the elections from any European country voiced their delight at the proceedings.

"We have been thoroughly enjoying ourselves," they told reporters. The elections, they claimed, had almost festive character"

As Financial Times reporter Hugh O'Shaughnessy pointed out, "Perhaps the delegates were not able to talk to orphans or refugees or to visit El Payon" (the dumping ground for the death squads).

In San Salvador, US ambassador Dean Hinton described the poll as "super fantastic" . And Reagan himself was said to be "pleased"

But it is hard to believe that the enthusiasm also applies to the results. which saw the Christian Democratie Party of junta head Napoleon Duarte take only 41% of the vote as against 59% to the more extreme right wing parties.

Death squad leader Major Roberto D'Aubuisson drew 29% of the votes - on a platform which included calling for the trial and execution of Duarte for treason!

There have been already major qualms in the US Congress over the huge level of American military aid to Duarte: were he to beausted from the right, it is doubtful if Reagan could sustain this support.

It is this possibility of diminishing aid which is Duarte's biggest asset in his struggie for survival in the aftermath of the elections.

In the meantime the struggle of the FMLN guerrillas poses sharply the need for solidarity action from the international working class.

Last weekend thousands of demonstrators marched through London to register their opposition to Reagan's war in El Salvador.

The campaign must be developed into the labour movement both in Britain and the USA to isolate the Salvadorean junta and support those struggling for its revolutionary overthrow. THE TERRIBLE trio of Labour moderation - Healey, Hattersley, and Shore - didn't wait long to put the boot in after the Hillhead by-election left Labour in third place.

Hillhead has always been a Tory seat. Though their general election majority was only 2,000, this was probably more to do with the incumbent, Tam Galbraith, than any collapse of basic Tory support.

While the opinion polls had Jenkins trailing for much of the campaign, you would have to look far in Scotland to find a constituency more suitable for an SDP victory.

The Tory vote did not collapse, neither did Labour's. The SDP, as could be expected, won votes from both, though more from the Tories than from Labour.

Labour's campaign was hardly extreme left. David Wiseman specifically denied the Bennite label, and attacked Militant in the wake of Pat Wall's speech on the State. The Labour Party Scottish Council was carefully and for the most part successfully) stage-managed to avoid any debate that could be construed as a threat to unity.

Biggest

The campaign never really went all out on Labour Conference policies. The high point was Benn's visit, which attracted the biggest crowds (explain that, Dennis).

So why is the Left getting the blame?

Healey's facile insistence that Labour could have romped home is an excuse for stepping up the witch hunt. Healey argues that the way to beat the SDP is to appear as similar to them as possible - to have the same policies in practice as the SDP, then try to score points them 1 by cheap abuse about having no policies.

To do that, he and his co-thinkers have to clear out the serious Left and cow the soft Left - and the witch hunt is designed to do precisely that.

They have to make sure no reselection produces Lett candidates. The witch hunt has already been used to do that.

Defend

They have to make sure that left policies agreed at conference don't get near the general election campaign - and they do that by witch hunting those who defend those policies most vocally.

But for sure mimicking the SDP is not the way to beat them. The middle of the road electorate, people looking for an escape from the turmoil of class struggle, will go for the real thing - the Alliance - rather than a Labour party apologising for its left wing.

Blood

Interviewed at the count, Wiseman talked of a general election based on the unity created by Bishops Stortford. Barely hours later the right wing were baying for blood.

To fall for false unity now will sabotage both the fight of the Left inside the Labour Party, and Labour's chances of beating the SDP.