First Published: The Call, Vol. 5, No. 26, November 1, 1976.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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Iceland is a small, island country in the North Atlantic. Its 250,000 people are descendants of the Vikings and still speak a relatively unchanged version of Old Norse. Fishing and other maritime occupations are the most important source of the people’s livelihood.
The small size of their country, however, has not stopped the Icelandic people from carrying out exemplary battles against their enemies, including the two superpowers and their own imperialist ruling class. The following are some of the major confrontations that have taken place in the past few years:
* A growing number of wildcat strikes, including some with active participation of Marxist-Leninists, is shaking Iceland’s ruling class. Icelandic workers have faced a situation of 50 inflation recently, while wages have only moved up 25. A wildcat strike of national-power station workers against these types of conditions has inspired struggles in factories and. state-owned enterprises.
*Seamen and fishermen have carried out armed resistance to British warships and trawlers violating Iceland’s 200-mile limit and plundering its fishing resources. This has been described in the U.S. bourgeois press as the “cod war.” Despite brazen interference and threats by Britain, West Germany, the U.S., and especially the Soviet Union, Icelanders have insisted on defending their sovereignty by every means at their disposal.
*Some 15,000 workers and fishermen organized mass demonstrations against NATO last May. Angered by the stand of their country’s so-called “NATO allies” on the fishing rights question, the militant workers erected barricades on the main highway connecting the U.S. NATO base at Keflavik with the capital City of Reykjavik.
*Some 30,000 Icelandic working women held a one-day strike and demonstration in 1975, demanding equal rights and an end to discrimination. In relation to the size of the population, this was one of the most massive mobilizations of women in any country in the world.
There is a young and growing communist movement in Iceland, and while it has not yet established a single, unified party of the working class, the Marxist-Leninist movement plays an important role in the mass struggles.
The Callspoke with the Communist League of Unity (M-L), known by its Icelandic initials EIK-ML. The EIK-ML has taken the struggle around the 200-mile limit and the defense of the country’s sovereignty against imperialism as its main mass campaign. Within the struggle, its task has been to advance the line and aims of the Icelandic proletariat.
“This struggle has two aspects,” explained Ari T. Gudmundsson, chairman of the EIK-ML. “First, an overwhelming majority of the people are militantly in favor of the 200-mile limit. It is a life and death question, given the nature of our economy.”
“The second aspect,” he continued, “is that Iceland’s bourgeoisie, its monopoly capitalists, are presently leading the struggle. This has several implications. One is that the need to defend their own profits, as well as the necessity to take into account the sentiment of the masses, has compelled them to take a stand on this issue that is against the interests of the superpowers. To that extent, it is a progressive step and is in alliance with the third world.”
“But it is also true,” he added, “that just because they are fighting to maintain their profits above all else in order to preserve capitalism, they inevitably vacillate and mislead the struggle. Rather than consistently defending the national interests of the Icelandic people, they push a line of reconciliation and submission to foreign imperialism. They want to bow down to Britain, the EEC and the superpowers at the first opportunity, pursuing a course in negotiations which would sell out the country.”
“Thus our task within the struggle,” EIK-ML stated, “is to wage class struggle, to aim our main fire at the Icelandic bourgeoisie. We criticize their line and expose the class interests behind it, pointing to the need for revolution. ”
What role are the revisionists playing in this struggle? Iceland, of course, is a sharp point of contention between the U.S. imperialists and the Soviet social-imperialists. While the U.S. is already there, the USSR is trying to weasel its way in through the back door. The revisionist party, which is a substantial minority in the parliament, is an important instrument to carry out this subversion.
“The revisionists are in an embarrassing situation,” said EIK-ML. “In words they have to support the 200-mile limit. Meanwhile, Moscow has vociferously opposed it. At first, the revisionists tried to ignore the stand of the Soviets either by saying nothing or glossing over the matter lightly. But soon they began to apologize for them, claiming that ’the Soviet people have to eat.’ ”
“Their role adds up to sabotage of the struggle from within,” EIK-ML explained. “They work against any real mobilization of the masses, by trying to channel the struggle completely into the parliamentary arena, where they can push a line of reconciliation with the superpowers. Our line, on the other hand, is to rely on the masses, opposing both superpowers, as well as our ’own’ capitalists.”
The EIK-ML is a young organization, founded in 1974. It now exists in the main cities in Iceland, and has its own newspaper, Verkalydsbladid, and publishing house. “Our newspaper,” explained Chairman Gudrnundsson, “has been an important weapon for consolidating our growth. At first, we were only study groups. While our line was generally correct, we initially developed a deviation of the ’local circle type.’ This we corrected by going over to mass agitation.”
“However, this too produced some errors,” he explained. “We did agitation everywhere, but with little or no propaganda. This was a right deviation. We are correcting it by enhancing the role of our newspaper, using Lenin’s Iskra as a guide.”
“There was also a theoretical basis for this error,” he added. “We lacked clarity on the nature of the principal contradiction in our country. Was it between the people and the monopolists? Or was it between the working class and the bourgeoisie? The second formulation is correct. This has been very important for us to grasp, for it has only been by deepening our struggle against revisionism that we have been able to move forward. As we continue to do so, we are bound to advance even further.”