[THANK you for publishing. an historical resume for…]

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THANK you for publishing. an historical resume for El Salvador. I confess that I, for one, had been having difficulty trying to recall past developments there. However I think that the article as published suffered from not being put in a more international context.

Unless Socialist Organiser is never sold to casual readers who have never studied the past machinations of Stalinism and reformism, there are bound to be people who will not easily read between the lines of Paul Muddle's article.

Thus when we are told of the Salvador Communist Party's denunciation of Arturo Araujo in 1931, it ought to be mentioned that this was the year of the RedBrown Referendum in Prussia. Stalinism, world-wide, was pursuing the line that all non-Stalinist socialists, particularly those of the Left, were Social Fascists, and it was ready to enter into open alliances with real fascists against these "social fascists"

Moreover, this sheds a rather different light on the attempted "Revolutionary Military Committee" rising. Given that Martinez only took power after the December elections and that the rising was planned for January 22 it follows that either the rising was planned in an adventurist manner at extremely short notice without proper planning, or that it was initially planned as a rising against the reformists.

Either way the Stalinists, who were strong enough to consider a rising in January, saw no reason to come out for united action to prevent a right wing rising in December.

I don't know what Trotsky said about that at the time, (as an anarchist 1 am not, of course, an uncritical admirer of his) but I cannot imagine that he would not have stressed that Stalinist policies must have contributed to the right wing rise to power there as they did in Germany.

Similarly when Muddle talks of the PCS rebuilding itself after 1936, this is presumably as a Popular Front-based CP; it would be interesting to know whether (as in most of the world) the earlier leaders had in the interim been denounced and - where alive - expelled, or (as in Britain) they had stood on their heads, changing their policies completely. A small point, but indicative, since the latter process, presumably makes for a peculiarly gutless leadership, and this explains much of the CPGB.

It may well be inexpedient and dangerous to give a comment on the strengths of positions of whatever Trotskyist curtents there may be in El Salvador, but if Socialist Organiser is to pide itself on presenting a clear-cut revolutionary policy that is practical under the circumstances of differing political situations, then in order to do this for El Salvador it must, in some way, contrast its advocated policies with what other groups are offering.

Fraternally, LAURENS OTTER Send letters to Socialist Organiser 28 Middle Lane, London N8. No longer than 400 words, please: longer letters are liable to be cut.