LCR fuses with of alternative trade unions. They already scrambling to save themselves.
Democrazia Proletaria passed a resolution at the end of July calling on trade-union committees to take the side of the workers in strikes...once the strike has become inevitable. The Keme-
Na Quo
THE ITALIAN SECTION of the Fourth International, the Revolutionary rovo regional trade-union council has proposed the elimination of special benefits
Communist League (LCR), held a special congress at the end of July for officials.50 to make the final decision on the collective entry of its members into
It remains to be seen what, if any, con-
Democrazia Proletaria (DP). Discussions had been going on for tacts the intelligentsia will establish with several months both in the LCR and DP (see /V 163 and 164).
the committees. The challenge is now
Collective entry was approved by the National Leadership of DP, and squarely before the socialist wing of the an agreement was achieved on the organizational conditions for
"informals" and the established intelli-
On July 22-23, 1989, a special congress of the LCR was called to
Strike has opened a new act assess whether the conditions envisaged by the February congress in perestroika had been met and to decide on the dissolution of the organization.
At least as important are the coming elections to the local soviets. After the experience of this strike, and in the presence of militant workers' committees, it will be much harder in the mining towns
- and in other industrial centres — to get away with the undemocratic election procedure used to choose the Congress of
People's Deputies and the Supreme
Soviet. There is here a direct threat that genuine soviet power (that is, totally independent of the party bureaucracy) will be re-established in the localities. It is anyone's guess how long it would be before these soviets took on the regional party bureaucracies.
In the Kuzbass town of Berezovskoe, the workers' already committee has non-confidence in the local expressed soviet, and in particular in the chairperson of its executive committee. The Mezhdurechensk committee called on the population to demand reports from their soviet deputies and recall those who do not enjoy authority. The people's deputies of the
Kuzbass recently met in Prokop'evsk and resolved: "Considering the demands of the strike committee, to examine ure question of elections to local soviets. in
October." The oblast' party committee, however, would not hear of this. 51
The miners' strike has opened a new act in perestroika: the working class now makes its appearance on the stage as an independent political actor. *
49. Trud, August 3, 1989.
50. Ibid., August 2.
51. Sotsialisticheskaya industriya, August 3, 1989.
unification. LIVIO MAITAN B Y A UNANIMOUS vote, the delegates to the July congress declared in favor of entry into DP. The LCR was thus dissolved, and its members became members of Democrazia Proletaria. Eight LCR comrades became members of the leadership of this organization. They are Sergio D'amia, Elettra Deiana, Roberto Firenze, Franco Grisolia, Franco Turigliatto, Fabrizio Burattini, Lidia Cirillo and Livio Maitan. The last three have consultative status. Comrade Elettra Deiana has a standing invitation to attend meetings of the Secretariat.
According to the terms of the accord with DP, the LCR comrades will remain collectively members of the Fourth International. They will be organized in a political-cultural organization called the Fourth International. The founding assembly of this association took place immediately after the end of the July conference. Statutes were adopted, and a National Council was elected. It in turn elected a Presiding Bureau.
The tasks of the association were defined as follows by the resolution of the July congress - the organization of debates and participation in the life of the International, publishing a magazine, publishing books, organizing political and cultural initiatives, organizing educational conferences and maintaining archives concerning the Fourth International and the workers' movement. The magazine will be monthly, and will retain the title of the LCR's organ, Bandiera Rossa. Finally, there will be two categories of members of the association -those who have an individual and collective relationship with the Fourth International and those who, while not taking on such a commitment, want to participate in the activity of the association.
The youth organization in solidarity with the LCR, the OGR, also decided on the entry of its members into Democrazia Proletaria. One of its members will have a major task in coordinating the DP's youth work (it has no youth organization).
In July, the DP leadership decided to call a congress for November that would determine the organization's orientation after the crisis caused by the split of the right wing. This split took a definite form on the occasion of the European elections, when a wing of DP refused to support the organization's slate, which had been decided on by a very broad majority, and participated instead in the Rainbow slates.
This split does not seem to have led to the departure of many members. On the other hand, it has had very serious consequences for DP's elected representatives. The organization has lost four of its eight deputies and is ocal senato, as well as a 17 large number of local councillors. *
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LEGA USSR • ITALY LOCRAN • 0