Democrazia Proletaria in an impasse
ITALY get out of the rut in which it finds itself, hovering under two per cent of the vote, if it assumes the profile of the driving force of a non-violent environmentalist-pacifist movement." DP should reject any idea of the "centrality of the capital-labor conflict." Such a notion would be fundamentally economist and would lead to ignoring or
THE ONLY major survivor of the New Left in Italy,
Democrazia Proletaria (DP) remains a rather large organization with representation in parliament [see box]. In recent elections, it has made electoral agreements with the
Lega Communista Rivoluzionaria (LCR, Italian section of the
Fourth International). The following is a report of DP's recent national conference.
LIVIO MAITAN
HE SIXTH National Congress of
T
Democrazia Proletaria (DP) was held on May 5-8, exactly ten years after the founding of the organization. It was attended by 548 delegates and many Italian and foreign guests.!
The preceding congress, held in 1986, strove to define the organization better politically and programmatically. The aim of the 1988 congress was to make more progress in this respect and to develop a political project for this phase in the struggle of the workers' movement.
The national leadership document that opened the discussion did go in this direction. It reaffirmed adherence to Marxism and the need for an anti-capitalist alternative, opposition to the policy of the traditional working-class parties, criticism of the union bureaucracies and support for the anti-bureaucratic tendencies manifesting themselves at various levels, and for selforganization initiatives, such as those of the COBAS (rank-and-file committees).
The document took its distance from the political movement of the Italian Greens.?
It repeated the characterization of the world" and "New Left forces such as the Political Movement for an Alternative and the Revolutionary Communist League."5
The pre-congress discussion was marked by two developments, which also set their stamp on the congress. The first was the emergence of a minority current in the leadership, represented by deputies Edo Ronchi and Gianni Tamino. Their point of view was expressed in the Document of the 100.
This document starts off with a critical balance sheet of the DP as "a party that does not get major contributions from the outside, in which there is very limited renewal, which is lagging further and further behind in a situation that is undergoing rapid social and political change," which has only "a few working class cadres and an even more limited presence in the factories."
According to the 100, the DP can only underestimating the other contradictions, such as those between men and women, between human beings and nature and between the North and South of the globe. All these contradictions should be put on the same level.
The 100 maintain that the political and social movement for an alternative that the majority proposes is only one of the innumerable slogans raised when there is a congress, without any real practical implications. They contend that the party should look towards a "rainbow-type" process, founded on a "federal pact pivoting around a DP/Greens axis, but open to other alternative forces.
Minority current question
Marxist analysis
The document also rejected any hypothesis of building a new communist party and, in the last analysis, questioned the "party form" as such. It came out quite explicitly against democratic centralism, which the authors of the document said had "historically produced much centralism and little democracy." It proposed a new structuring of the leading bodies around the following three axes: First, a national assembly of delegates elected by the provincial federations, which would be the "party's real sovereign body" after the abolition of the "broad structure elected by the congress" (the national leadership). Second, a national executive, whose members would be elect-
Led individually by the congress on the basis of their functions, and could be recalled by the national assembly of delegates. Third, a national secre-
ERE POPOLACE
USSR as a "specific historical social formation governed by a specific statecapitalist mode of production." At the same time, it said that it was not "a capitalist country like those in the West," and stressed the importance of the turn represented by Gorbachev's course, even if it is
"inadequate." 3
Finally, the national leadership's document included a new element, the idea of a
"political and social movement for an alternative." It said that those involved in such an initiative would probably belong to "different political and social areas" and would be "structured in very different forms."
Such forces were expected to be critical sections of the Italian CP (the pro-
Soviets" and "radicalized supporters of Ingrao") 4, "democratic and left sectors of the
18
Catholic world, groups involved in the peace struggle and solidarity with the third
International Viewpoint #143 • June 13, 1988 tariat made up of three national coordinators, elected directly by the congress from the mem-
Founded in
1978,
Democrazia
Proletaria now has over 10,000 members
(DR)
DEMOCRAZIA PROLETARIA
AT ITS RECENT Sixth Congress, Democrazia Proletaria passed the threshold of 10,000 members. About 5,000 of bers of the executive.
The second development was the battle fought by the former secretary, Mario Capanna, who resigned in the wake of the June 1987 elections without at the time giving a clear enough explanation for his deci-
ITALY these are in the North, 1,700 in the central part of the counsion. Capanna, who did not oppose the majority project and was very critical of the try and 2,500 in the South. The strongest federation is in environmentalist-pacifist people, had taken
Milan with more than 1,500 members. Women make up several spectacular initiatives without con-
22% of the membership. DP has no youth organization.
sulting the leadership, such as a hunger with Palestinians in
Some 13% of its members are under 24, and 23% are bestrike in solidarity tween 36 and 40. Regarding occupation, 56% are wage
As the congress approached, Capanna gave more and more interviews to the naworkers, 12% are unemployed and 9% are students.
tional press, in which he made no bones
In the legislative elections held in June 1987, DP won about his criticisms. Subsequently, he exeight seats in the Chamber of Deputies and one in the Senpressed them in an internal bulletin and in ate. It also has a representative in the European parliaprovincial congresses in Rome and Milan.
He explained first of all that he would have preferred to resign earlier as a spectacular protest against his organization's marking time. He said that it had not applied the
1986 congress decisions consistently and had proved incapable of "coming up with dynamic proposals and initiatives."
He was not opposed to the political and social movement for an alternative, but he drew attention to the danger of seeing this as "'a combination of fragments of political and social realities, with the supposition that the party is only one subject among the subjects." In his view, it would be wrong to exalt the "movements" in opposition to the party and to forget the historical lesson that the movements alone "have never managed to produce revolutionary changes."
Differences in the leadership
Given the context, this warning was quite pertinent. But this was not the issue that
Capanna campaigned on. He preferred to create a stir over political-organizational questions. He opposed the electoral option adopted by the leadership, which, in his view, was at the expense of extending DP in southern Italy. He also concentrated on arguing for his personal initiatives, maintaining this stance during the congress.
1. Among the Italian guests were representatives of the
Communist Party and the Socialist Party, who chose not to speak since they felt they were attacked too sharply. There was a group of "radicalized followers of
Ingrao," that is a group of Communist Party members who sent a critical document to their party's Central
Committee a few months ago (the "Letter of the 70").
Other guests included a representative of the Greens and one from the Independent Left, whose members were elected on CP slates, as well as representatives of many movements and associations (lesbians and gays, democratic jurists, the anti-mafia coordinating committee, tenants and so on).
Among the international delegations, the place of honor was reserved for the PLO (whose representative opened the congress), the ANC and the Sandinistas. A representative of Solidar nosc sent a message from Amsterdam. There were also representatives of the German Greens, the rénovateurs and the Parti Socialiste
Unifié (PSU) from France, and the Greek Communist
Party-Interior-Left Renewal.
The Lega Comunista Rivoluzionaria (LCR, Italian section of the Fourth International) sent a delegation, and a comrade from its Political Bureau, Franco Turigment. *
The former leader of the Milan University student movement continued to give indistribute letters, focus the attention of the press, and even to obstruct initiatives taken by the outgoing leadership in the framework of the congress? Such an attitude could not fail to provoke very sharp reactions from most of the delegates, over and above more general polemics about the way that the media should be used and about whether it was appropriate to resort to a charismatic leadership for this
The report to the congress by the secretary, Russo Spena, basically recapitulated the themes of the majority project, sometimes in a more systematic and rigorous way. The validity of Marxism, especially its criticism and rejection of capitalist society, were reaffirmed. At the same time, the thesis of the withering away of the proletariat was refuted. And, in opposition to the environmentalist-pacifist people, the idea of the centrality of the capital-labor contradiction was maintained.®
The DP has no existing "model" of a socialist society, but the report, as well as the majority project and some speeches, hailed the revolution in Nicaragua and the Sandiliatto, spoke. A contribution to the pre-congress debate from a member of the LCR Political Bureau, Elettra Deiana, was published in the DP internal bulletin. I was invited to attend the congress as a member of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International. 2. The DP's member of the European parliament is part of the group that also includes the German Greens. An internal bulletin indicated that the balance sheet of this collaboration is not considered very 3. The project stated that "the best attempt at analysing" Soviet society was probably Charles Bettelheim's. It neglected to specify which of Bettelheim's many and contradictory analyses should be adopted. 4. The leader of the traditional CP "left." 5. The Political Movement for an Alternative (MPA) is a very small group that includes former members of the PDUP [a centrist formation] who did not want go into the CP when the group fused with it. The reference to the MPA, as well as to the LCR, was repeated in the report to the congress. But the final resolution mentioned only the LCR. We do not know whether this was a deliberate choice or a technical error. 6. In the June 1987 elections, Capanna was elected to nistas' ideas about the transition to socialism and the institutionalization of socialist детостасу?
Initiatives proposed on
NATO and 35 hours
The Movement for an Alternative was reformulated, for example, in the following terms: "Our proposal for a left alternative today is essentially a social course that combines the values of transformation with building mass movements and organization. We want to become increasingly a 'social' and a 'struggle' party, but one that will be able to step forward to the rhythm of the Long March, to look at things with a long-term perspective, with a world view." This implies that all impatience and shortcuts that could "impoverish the project" have to be rejected.
In referring to possible partners in discussion, Russo Spena made a more extensive analysis than the project did of the critical currents in the CP. One might share his assessment that the differences with the pro-Soviet tendency are ultimately graver as regards socialist democracy than as regards parliament both in Palermo and Milan. He would have preferred to opt to represent Milan, and let a representative of the Palermo federation get into parliament. The leadership decided, on the basis of a previous accord, that he should opt for Palermo, and thereby leave a place for one of the Milan leaders, Luigi Cipriani. 7. For example, Capanna organized a meeting with the press to present his book on 1968 on the same evening that a round-table had been scheduled with a certain number of foreign guests. The result was that the round-table got a very small audience. 8. The reporter stressed "rapid growth, even in its most classical form, of the proletariat" on a world scale. 9. It should be noted that according to Russo Spena the Nicaraguan experience has proved that Rosa Luxemburg was right against the Bolsheviks, a conclusion that would merit at least a few words of explanation. In the project, we read that Nicaragua "is for us the most advanced attempt so far to achieve a non-violent society struggling against imperialism." Unfortunately, both to liberate themselves from the Somoza dictatorship and fight back against the contras and the imperialists,
Lo andinisas have had no other choice than to resor 19
ITALY the nature of the USSR. But the balance sheet that he made of the Ingrao left seemed to lack rigor. Contrary to what he claims, this current has never differentiated itself substantially from Togliatti's conceptions.
Coming to the analysis of the situation in Italy, the report explained that the cycle opened in 1968-69 was initially an upswing for about a decade and then one of "retreat and stagnation," lasting about the same time. Today, a third phase has begun to take form — the period of stagnation is being overcome. However, "the political and social relationship of forces" remains "very unfavorable for the left and for the workers." It is necessary to set out long-
The reporter relaunched the proposal for a big national demonstration for Italian withdrawal from NATO on the fortieth anniversary of the signing of the Atlantic Pact in 1949. Another proposal was advanced in the project and reiterated in the final resolution. It called for organizing a European-wide strike for the 35-hour week on the anniversary of the 1890 international strike for a shorter workday. Finally, DP put forward the right to vote for immigrant workers, but the final resolution mentioned only local and European elections.
The debate brought out rather clearly the different components and positions in the DP. I will not go back over the environmentalist-pacifist people, who repeated the themes of their document but avoided overly sharp polemical tones. It is likely that in the context of an unfavorable relationship of forces (only about 30 delegates supported their document), they did not want a confrontation. At the same time, they could bring strong pressure to bear on the majority and get it to shift its positions. I will not go back either over Capanna's role. He spoke only on the last day, keeping a low profile. Very few people (including Senator Guido Pollice and, partially, the international department chief Luciano Neri) backed him up. "DP unprepared for revolutionary crises"
However, a third viewpoint was manifested at the congress. The positions of this current were characterized by those who did not share its orientation as "workerist." It was represented essentially by leaders of the Milan federation, which remains by far the strongest. The secretary of this federation, Barzaghi, criticized the theses of the environmentalist-pacifist current much more severely and systematically than the reporter. Reaffirming the centrality of the workers' struggle, he rejected any perspective of a rainbow alternative or any sort of shortcut.
According to Barzaghi, DP suffers from a gap between its general statements and its 20 activity on the social level, and from now on it will be necessary to put much more International Viewpoint #143 • June 13, 1988 stress on mass activity than on electoral work and even national campaigns. So far, he said, the working class has not suffered any major defeats, and the trend is toward new social conflicts erupting, even though it has to be said that we are still in a defensive phase. In this context, the DP has to realize that it is a small force fighting against the current, and it has to make a very big effort to become a different sort of party than it has been up until now.
Another Milan leader, Luigi Cipriani, took up similar themes. You have take for granted, he said, that there will be other revolutionary crises, and that it is necessary to prepare for them. But in its present state DP would be totally incapable of facing such tests. In order to prepare itself, it had to first of all recover the theoretical gains of Marxism, which are being challenged within its own ranks. Positions pointing in the same direction but tougher in form were put forward, for example, by a delegate from Bologna and by a railway worker from the Venice region.
"A party with a nice image"
Some delegates (from Rome, for example) interpreted the majority project in a way more favorable to the social movements, while others who also supported the project of the outgoing leadership and the report expressed a point of view that lay basically between the majority and the environmentalist-pacifist positions.
For example, Michele Nardelli, a national leader of the organization from the Trento region, came out for building a "culturally pacifist," and "non-violent" and rejected any idea of democratic centralism. A delegate representing the same region, Tonelli, argued that that it was necessary to build "not a combat party but a party of inquiry, one with a nice image...an image of goodwill, as personified by Secretary Russo Spena."
The document adopted by the congress of the Trento federation was even clearer. It included phrases like "working for a perspective of liberation and democracy means flying higher than the historic horizons of the left, combining the lofty values of political cultures and practices that are also different from those of Marxism.... To the cult of violence [sic!], coercion and force implicit in applying what is called the dictatorship of the proletariat, which permeates the communist culture, we counterpose consensus and hegemony [that is, the domination of ideas in the Gramscian as the essential factors of
"Our struggle for transformation is a struggle not for power but for winning over the majority to the values of egalitarianism, solidarity and freedom as the basis of human happiness....All peoples are sovereign in relation to the forms for their liberation, but the exaltation of violent forms coincides with militarist political and moral conceptions and projects for society in which the fundamental role belongs to the coercive apparatuses."
Revealing discussion on statutes
The discussion on the new draft statutes lasted all night long, involving innumerable votes. It revealed other important differences. The Italian media played up the proposal that members of parliament should be limited to two terms in office. This seems reasonable after all, especially given that the national assembly of delegates will have the right to make exceptions to the rule (by a two-thirds majority vote). But other decisions were much more interesting.
The reporter for the commission responsible for examining the mass of amendments adopted in the local assemblies summed up the spirit of the statutes in the statement that they were completely different from the "Third International type." As is usual for the DP, the reference to the Third International was sweeping. It covered up the difference between the Leninist and revolutionary phase and the phase of Stalinist bureaucratization, and it is hard to believe that this was out of ignorance. The essential features of the statutes adopted were the following:
• The accent was put on anti-centralism and federalism. 1°
• The financial responsibilities for members were only token and left quite vague (an amendment proposed that only paid-up members have the right to participate in decision-making was rejected).
• The leadership system calls for a national leadership elected by the congress and a standing national assembly made up of members of the national leadership and delegates elected at the provincial level, which would meet twice a year.
• Factions and tendencies are banned (the draft explicitly banned only factions, but the congress voted to maintain the previous norms which stipulate "organizing components inside the party is forbidden"). The only right recognized is to consult and coordinate before congresses.
At the beginning of the congress, there was a proposal for giving special speaking time to a representative of the Document of 100. This was rejected, but the reporter for the outgoing leadership had spoken for three hours. The statutes stipulate that "in the event of alternative political motions portional representation." sion, there was a single slate of a hundred candidates for 60 places.)
• Members of the outgoing national leadership are automatically delegates. Not 10. The organizations in certain regions — Friuli, the Trento region, South Tyrol, Sardinia — have a special status. They are considered "federated parties."
only can they speak, but they vote as well. Considering that at this congress there were 63 such delegates out of 548, and that many votes were quite
ITALY The Lega Communista Rivoluzionaria (Italian section of the FI) have had electoral alliances with Democrazia Proletaria (DR)
uri il PS dal governo y close, the practical implica-
Unità P-PSI per un 'alternativa tions of such a system are
Finally, while a majority of delegates managed to get a reference to communist society and breaking with the bourgeois system included in the preamble, the same preamble contained references to a violent" and "pacifist" conception. This also revealed the existence of many different components in DP.
On women's participation in the congress, few of the speeches were given by women, about 10 per cent of the total, and they were generally limited to feminist questions. The leitmotiv was playing up the difference between the sexes both in the present struggles and from the standpoint of a new society. But seven women circulated a document which reaffirmed that "the difference between the sexes has to remain the point of departure for the various theories of the female condition," but rejected "the hypothesis that leads to constructing two different sexual models."
Positive action for
As regards the thorny question of quotas, the solution finally adopted was that the number of women in congresses and the leading bodies should be in proportion to the number of women in the organization, plus five per cent by way of positive discrimination. If this quota cannot be met, the places not filled by women should remain vacant, thereby revealing a weakness of the organization and that the problem remained to be solved. In fact, while 22% of the membership are women, 24% of the delegates at the Sixth Congress were women, and 19 women were elected to the new 60-strong leadership, thus exceeding the
The final part of the congress was the most disconcerting. The congress had already agreed a proposal from the congress' political commission to table the outgoing leadership's project and to submit a new resolution for a vote. The political commission resolution was given to the delegates the night before the final session. The object of the exercise was to pass a document that could be accepted by all the various components of the organization, or at least
The groundwork for this operation was laid by the speech of a regional councillor and member of the outgoing leadership, Emilio Molinari. While he belongs to the
Milan federation, he was definitely not on the same wavelength as the other delegates from that region. In his contribution to the written debate, he had already expressed a conciliationist position, which he relaunched in the congress in a very demagogic style." Secretary Russo Spena's conclusions followed the same drift. He fudged over the themes in the introductory report and advocated a "recomposition, even if precarious."
The resolution, which was adopted by a very large majority!?, showed its true colors in the introduction. It stated that "the congress takes on board [sic] the secretary's positive report, which, on the basis of the congress document, the document of the 100 and other contributions and political materials drawn up by the provincial congresses, made possible an effective, frank and open debate that moved the party's political elaboration forward."
Concessions made in final resolution
What is more, the resolution made major concessions to the 100, for example, by downplaying the centrality of the contradiction between capital and labor and by characterizing DP as a "social party of inquiry," one that was "culturally pacifist" and "where diversity is expressed at all lev-
The leading group's desire for conciliation showed up even more clearly when some delegates proposed replacing the expression "takes on board" with the word "approves." The reporter himself opposed this proposal - opposing the approval of his own report! Finally, the change was accepted after some very close votes. 13
The election of the national leadership could not help but reflect the differentiations and conflicts. The main artisans of the final attempt at recomposition, Russo Spena and Molinari, got almost all the votes. But about 200 delegates out of the 489 voting did not vote for Capanna. The representatives of the Milan "workerist" wing got still more modest scores. pacifist current got only In fact, the congress concluded in a morose atmosrecrimination and sour comments. 14 Big difficulties arose immediately afterward in the election of the national secretariat. No solution was found, and the election was postponed for a month. The secretary was not elected either, although it is almost that Russo Spena will be reconfirmed.
No coherent strategy
Since its beginnings, DP has been marked by numerous conflicts, which have led to the formation of currents, different trends and pressure groups. The choices that it has had to make and still has to make unquestionably involve major problems:
• Should it build a real party, or should it rely on a convergence or federation of various mass movements?
• Do the fundamental conceptions of Marxism remain valid, should they be combined with other (pacifist, non-violent, environmentalist) conceptions, or be abandoned?
• Is the contradiction between capital and labor, between capitalists and wage earners still at the center of society today, or should it be put on the same level as "new" contradictions? 11. Molinari's speech included remarks that we might share, for example, a questioning of the far-left's interpretation of "Marxism" in the 1970s. Unfortunately, the conclusions they drew from this went in the wrong direction. Likewise, he was right to criticize formulas such as "the DP is the party of the COBAŞ." But we cannot go along with him when he raises similar criticisms of the COBAS to those of the CP (saying that he agreed with the remarks of the CP representative at the 12. A group of delegates from Brescia, Bergame, Bologna and Milan came out against it. 13. According to the press, the amendment was accepted by 193 votes to 191 and 11 abstentions. According to other versions, the difference was larger. I had to leave the congress a few hours before the end and I still do not have the official minutes. I hope that readers will excuse an inexactitude or possible error on this fi14. For example, according to some papers, the head of the DP parliamentary group, Franco Russo, said: "The DP's problem is that it is not capable of making a 15. After this article was written, we leamt that Russo Spena was elected national secretary. At the same time, a national secretariat of nine members was elected, but without the participation of the ecological-pacifist current or those around Caparna. There are no women on the secretariat. June 13, 1988 • #143 International Viewpoint
ITALY
• Should the workers' movement continue to pose the problem of power in the perspective of a revolutionary qualitative leap, of destroying the bourgeois state apparatus and replacing it root and branch by a qualitatively superior socialist democracy, or is it possible to envisage a gradual transformation of society?
• In a new society, should it opt for democratically centralized planning, or for "self-centralized economic development"?
From this summary of the congress, it should be clear that leaders and members of DP offer very diverse and even opposing answers to these questions. Even when there seems to be a consensus, the interpretations of it are not at all the same. Two examples are particularly significant in this respect. The first concerns the question of power. As I said, the preamble to the statutes adopted by a large majority is quite eclectic and leaves the door open both for those who hold the Marxist conception of the state and revolution and to the gradualist-reformist interpretation of the nonviolent and the environmentalist-pacifist currents.
The project of the outgoing leadership talked about "breaking up the state as a centralized complex representing the combination of all bureaucratic, military and ideological apparatuses." But at the same time, it introduced the idea of building up as of now "a counter-power alternative to capitalist compatibilities as a new consciousness of ourselves and our own needs. " The report did not clarify this question any further. More generally, it is significant that although DP often claims to be Marxist, there are no references to Lenin and Leninism in its documents. "Self-centralized economic development"
A second example is that of a central theme in all DP's programmatic documents — that is, self-centralized economic development. To use the words of Russo Spena's report, this is supposed to involve "reappropriating the ends and means of production through decentralizing and deverticalizing the territorial economy at all levels by encouraging local self-sufficiency as much as possible." It's a safe bet that no two members of DP would explain this concept in the same way.
In fact, at the congress itself there was a whole gamut of positions. They ranged from quite a vague notion of a "cooperative economy, that is a socialized and democratically-managed one tending to operate on a world scale" (the leadership's project) and a decentralization option carried to the extreme, underestimating the needs of centralization inevitable in any planning, to gradualist notions of progressively building up an alternative economy, and even to outright reformist conceptions relying on 22 , the organization of cooperatives and voluntary associations. This last idea harks back International Viewpoint #143 • June 13, 1988 to the better traditions of the old reformist socialism.
Finally, there was another approach revealing the conceptions that are going around in DP. Since DP has roots in real movements, it cannot minimize the importance of immediate objectives. But at the same time, its members are conscious of the fundamental problems that arise, often acutely, in present-day societies.
No concept of transitional demands
Thus, they have been been impelled to carry out telescoping operations reminiscent, for example, of those engaged in by the Il Manifesto current when it was founded, which put the accent on the "timeliness of communism." They alternate and combine projects for the immediate future with ultimatistic ones. To bridge the gap, whether they realize it or, they end up with gradualist notions. They are led to this in particular since they make no use at all of the revolutionary Marxist concept of tran-
The motley picture presented by the DP congress obviously reflects the reality of the organization, but it also reflects a broader reality. It reflects the reality of an organization that emerged from the convergence of former leaders and cadres of far-left groups in the 1970s, but with an overwhelming majority of members who did not come out of such organizations.
Secondly, DP has a large and diversified working-class component, from activists whose experience is formed out of work in workers' strongholds such as Alfa Romeo in Milan to activists involved in the present struggles at Rome airport. But it also includes many more activists who come from the various mass movements.
Democrazia Proletaria is marked, moreover, by the presence of a strong component of Catholic origin. This current can contribute political and cultural experience that is enriching for Marxists and transmit a valuable moral inspiration for renewing the workers" movement. But at the same time it is marked by idealist or semi-idealist conceptions that are not helpful in defining a strategy and a revolutionary program.
The statistics on the age groups of members that were presented to the congress also elucidate another dimension of DP's problems. Almost 60% of its members are under the age of 35. That means that they did not experience the 1968-69 period, and have been formed mainly in the 1970s and 1980s, a period of growing difficulties, retreat and ideological disarray in the workers' movement. They cannot have the same memory, the same approaches and the same reflexes as those who awakened to political life during the big upsurge (who make up less than 30% of the total membership, but are a large majority of the lead-
Caught up over a long period in constant struggles that were often victorious, the older activists have had a hard time adjusting to the new phase that set in after the 1974-75 economic crisis and even more so to setbacks in subsequent years. They had a feeling of swimming against the stream, While previously they thought that they best expressed the "spirit of the age." This is why they often talk about "crossing the desert," and "terrible years."
This is obviously exaggerated when you consider that in Italy struggles have never ceased, political and cultural battles are still being waged on a large scale, and police repression, for the most part, has fallen on the initiates of the Red Brigades and other militarist formations. Such gloomy views can only evoke smiles from activists of other times and countries who have suffered far more severe trials. But they express a certain underlying pessimism and a weariness that is by no means justified by age.!
Bourgeois leaderships face repeated crises
I said that the congress that has just concluded also reflected a broader reality. In fact, other sectors of the revolutionary left, in particular in Europe, are running up against the same kind of difficulties.
Despite the setbacks and structural weakening that the workers' movementhas suffered, it is far from having been smashed. On the contrary it has unleashed great struggles in most countries in recent years. Mass student, anti-war, environmentalist and other movements have developed. The bureaucracies of the big workers' parties and unions are facing sharper and more widespread criticism and are often being outflanked on a mass scale. The bourgeois leaderships are experiencing repeated crises and have not succeeded in rolling the
Inevitably, in these circumstances, the fact that after an ebb the revolutionary left is continuing to mark time and has not succeeded in gaining recognition as a credible political alternative is engendering doubts, uncertainties and feelings of disarray. These sentiments throw up two opposing solutions, both of which are wrong. One is to try to "broaden out" through risky operations that are generally mirages of concrete policies. The other is to pull back into your own well reinforced armored shell.
The understanding that the problems troubling Democrazia Proletaria affect other revolutionists keeps us from having a condescending attitude toward them. But that does not prevent us from saying clearly that the orientation outlined at the recent congress offers no basis for beginning to overcome the present difficulties and for solving the big problems that we will have to face. * 16. Some delegates themselves made this parallel. 17. Russo Spena, who often used such expressions, is only 42 years old.
"We have to reorient national force.
•So, you have both the Sinhala chauvinists on one side and the Tamil separatists on the other who are prepared our thinking to the to deal with the four-party group by
That's right, on the basis that they are entire Indian traitors, either to the Tamils or to the Sinhalese, and on the accusation that they are really collaborating with JR Jayawardene subcontinent" and with the Indian army.
• Are there any Tamil groups besides the LTTE that oppose the accord?