As the September 1st Revolution enters its third month, its aims and objectives are gradually becoming clearer. Colonel Mu'ammar El-Qathafi, Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council and Commander General of the Libyan Armed Forces, has emerged as the chief spokesman and ideologist of the revolution. Like other leaders of the revolution, he is addressing mass rallies all over the country. Under the semi-feudal Senussi regime, politics was a subject barred to the ordinary citizen. The servile press only served up to the public what the rulers permitted it to print. Nearly every issue carried adulatory passages about the great King Idris with an occasional song of praise for ex-Crown Prince Hassan. Now all that belongs to the past. The people are beginning to feel that Libya belongs to them and not to the oil companies and their local stooges, or to those who enriched themselves out of the oil bonanza at the expense of the common people, True, they have not yet a voice in the government, and until theirs is the decisive word, the gains of the revolution and its promise for a future will not be secure. But with the growth of trade unions independent of the state, and the developing political consciousness of the workers and peasants such a development cannot be long delayed.
The principles of the revolution have been defined by Col. Qathafi as 'freedom, socialism and unity'. Addressing a mass rally in Benghazi, he explained how he interpreted these terms.
'By freedom,' he said, 'we mean freedom of our homeland and citizens in Libya, politically, economically and socially and the liberation of the Libyan individual from all restrictions, from humiliation, oppression, ignorance and slavery.
' ... also the liberation from poverty, backwardness, persecution ... from that big prison with its horrible walls in which the people lived.
'Regarding socialism ... all of us should participate in production, everyone has to take part in producing what he consumes.
'Socialism does not mean, as some believe, that poverty should be shared by all. On the contrary, it means spreading prosperity among all.
' ... The new era puts before you the great responsibility of building this community, There will be no one to tell you to do this and do that, for you alone will have to do everything for yourselves,
' ... alliance of the working forces, comprising workers, farmers, non-exploiting capitalism (sic), educated people and soldiers will build socialism, achieve social justice and spread abundance, not poverty,'
On the role of the armed forces, which Col Qathafi referred to as 'the vanguard of the people, faithful to freedom, socialism, unity and social justice', he gave this assurance in a speech at Sebha: 'the armed forces will not be placed above the people, who are the ruler, the lord and king of kings'.
In its short life of just over eight weeks, the revolutionary regime has begun to give effect to its words that the days of hollow promises were over, It has made a rigorous investigation of funds accumulated by ex-ministers, high civil servants, hangers-on of the royal Dewan, and local entrepreneurs who have enriched themselves at the expense of the people. These will result in subsequent legal proceedings. Former royal palaces have been converted into schools, hospitals, etc, The luxury homes of ex-ministers have been thrown open to the public so that the people can see how they were exploited by those who were supposed to serve them. Fraudulent public contracts have been exposed. For an example of these latter, miles of highway contracted for to be six metres wide were found to be only four metres wide — barely room for two cars to pass, The old system of subcontracting, with the resultant accumulation of profit for the middle-man, is now illegal. Minimum wages for the lowest paid workers have been doubled from 50 piastres to £1 Libyan (£1 Libyan = £1.3.0, sterling).
Ministers will not be able to use their offices to accumulate personal fortunes as in the past. By a decree of October 6th, no minister may take up any other public position or private career, purchase or hire state property, or lease the state any of his property; borrow funds from government or private banks; request the banks to guarantee a loan borrowed from others All these were common malpractices under the old regime, Furthermore, all ministers on assuming office must give a full and audited account of their financial standing and a similar account must be rendered when relinquishing their posts, Any differences to the advantage of the Minister must be accounted for.
In foreign affairs, the new Libya is firmly committed to the cause of Arab unity and the liberation of the Zionist-occupied Arab territory, When the new British Ambassador presented his credentials to Col. Qathafi, it was made clear to him that armed support for Israel would endanger Libyan relations with the United Kingdom.
The one weakness in the programme of the September regime is its declaration that there is no intention to nationalise the oilfields in the foreseeable future, But it is emphasised that this is a matter of expediency, and not principle. With a largely illiterate population of under 2 million, Libya simply has not got the manpower or technical know-how for a takeover. Such a step can only be taken in the context of a unified Arabia, or, as a first step, a united socialist Maghreb. But, as Col Qathafi has said, the unity of the Libyan people must first be consolidated. Nevertheless, the government is determined to obtain a larger share of the oil revenues for the development of the Libyan economy, especially agriculture, and the growing strength of trade unions in the oil fields will ensure a better deal for the workers who produce the wealth, As Al Fajr, an Arab-language paper, wrote on October 5th, We hoped that when the revolution came, these (oil) companies would change their attitude ... and no longer regard their Libyan employees as unimportant,' It particularly singled out the American-owned Esso company in this respect.
There can be no doubt that with the revolution of 1st September Libya is on the march, in the vanguard of the Arab nationalist revolution. To conclude with a quotation from another speech of Col. Qathafi:
'The orders of the people will be obeyed by the rulers without hesitation. The people have inspired the revolution and the armed forces are only the means to express this ...
'... We shall never monopolise chairs and politics, as we are part of this people, in whose service we shall always be.
'... we should also act fiercely and powerfully against those trying to rob the people of their gains, as international colonial powers are not pleased to see the people of Libya liberated.
'The destiny of the people from now on will be decided by the people themselves in the street, in the shop, at home, and everywhere,'
Long live the Libya Revolution!