A. M. Khaykin (member of the council of the Socialist Party, manager).
A. V. Shubin (co-chair of the Moscow organization of the Green Party, historian).
S. B. Sheboldayev (Co-president of Moscow Memorial and people's deputy in the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation and the Moscow City Soviet). *
The name
of the
thing
THE crisis of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) entered a new phase at the meeting of its leadership which took place October 10-12, 1990. The meeting saw party general secretary
Achille Occhetto present a "declaration of intent" which explained why it had become necessary to build a new party. And at last, the
Thing' was given a name.
LIVIO MAITAN
T HIS meeting of the PCI leader-
ship drew exceptional attention from the media. Occhetto's declaration was transmitted direct by the party's radio, so that militants assembled in the party's offices could listen to it.
were especially absorbed by Occhetto's proposed new title for the party. The PCI is to be re-baptized the "Democratic Left Party". Its symbol will be an oak, and - both a concession to nostalgıa for the past and an electoral sub. terfuge — the old emblem, inscribed PCI, will be found at the foot of the tree.
The political content of the speech held no surprises, reiterating themes elaborated by Occhetto after the fall of the Berlin Wall and contained in the resolution of the
According to the "Declaration of Intent" in 1989 "the history of the world changed." It has thus become necessary for the party to change its spots and go beyond all the traditional approaches and conceptions, not only of the Communist movement, but of the workers' movement in general.
"The fundamental contradictions of our epoch — between the need for a broader prospect for development involving all of humanity and defence of nature and the ecological equilibrium of the planet; between technology and employment; between internationalization of the productive process and centralization of the of decision making; and that between the political, social and cultural expression of supranationality and the
November 12, 1990 • #194 International Viewpoint emergence of particularisms and national, a qualitative transformation of the model of development, in order to found a new economic and social world order. Such a policy today constitutes the essential objective for a new world left and marks the division between conservatives and progressives." This gives the general flavor of the declaration.
Coming down to earth a little, Occhetto proposes "a government for a different development", which cannot be realized by the elimination of the market and centralized planning.
In this context, "the historic task of the left is to direct economic and social forces towards social and human objectives." To do this, the formation of a "world and democratic pro-development government" is a central question. The United Nations, according to Occhetto, is a first anticipation of what such a government would be like.
A renovated left
As far as Italy is concerned, the idea of "democracy as the way to socialism" gives rise to the idea of "a renovated left; a left which gets to work to stimulate — without provoking fragmentation — a higher synthesis of the ideas and experiences of Italian Communism, of liberal and socialist reformism and of social and democratic Catholicism; a left open to discussion with all the currents and all forces of renewal on a world scale and which has the will thereby to contribute to the realization of the great project of human liberation".
It is self evident for Occhetto that a party with such conceptions must reject any form of democratic centralism.
Occhetto's ideas have been most favorably received by political leaders, journalists, bourgeois pundits and intellectuals.
On the other hand, the critical reaction of some members of the party leadership, who belonged to the majority at the last party congress, and are thus supporters of a change in the nature and name of their organization, has been a surprise. What one could call the "right of the majority" have not hidden their discontent. This current, whose best known spokesperson is Napolitano, hoped to give the party an explicitly social democratic character with a perspective of converging in the end with the Italian Socialist Party. On the "left" of the PCI Bassolino in particular has expressed his reservations, pointing out that Occhetto's text completely does away with any anti-capitalist perspective.
Those who were opposed to Occhetto's project from the start have not changed their attitude. Rather, their criticisms have become sharper, putting the party leader in a difficult position. He has responded by attempting to blackmail his own majority with threats of resignation if they don't support him. This has got results - the majority has signed a common declaration reaffirming its confidence in Occhetto and its support for his objectives. The notion floated by Cossutta and others and at one point taken up by Occhetto himself, that the question of the party's name should be dealt with by a party referendum, has now been finally abandoned?.
Outside of the particular vicissitudes of this leadership meeting, the inside the party remains exceedingly complicated. The next CC will surely reveal the state of play in the runup to the party congress scheduled for the end of January 1991. Even now, however, it is possible to discern at least six tendencies, currents and "sensibilities".
### Rejection front
According to declarations made in recent days, it is possible that the "right", while supporting Occhetto on the name change, will put forward its own motion. Bassolino from the "left" may do the same. What has been labelled the "No front" has hardened its opposition to the majority. In October 1990 it held a study session which revealed a definite radicalization of positions, to the detriment of its historic leader Pietro Ingrao. Nonetheless it seems likely that Occhetto will maintain his majority.
In this case it seems that old leaders such as Ingrao, Tortorela and their sup porters will decided to stay in the party. Others belonging to the Cossutta current, which is rather too simplistically characterized as "pro-Soviet" , seem, on the contrary, to be determined to break away, with the perspective of politically and organizationally refounding Finally, a large number of militants are hesitating, including those from the Il Manifesto current. Rossana Rossanda, who, unlike many of his former allies, did not rejoin the PCI, seems to be leaning
ITALY towards Ingrao.
It would be premature to hazard a prediction as to the outcome. However, internal tensions in the PCI are getting fiercer.
Factionalism is in full flood and is expressed quite publicly. A split is therefore possible, although neither its size nor its leading actors can be foreseen. Craxi's curious pleasure The Socialist Party has not been looking on passively. Its main leader, Bettino Craxi, has allowed himself the curious pleasure of criticizing Occhetto from the left. If, says Craxi, the new party has the idea of joining the
Socialist International - which is what Occhetto has repeatedly said - then why has it broken with the traditions of the workers' movement and given up appealing to any form of "socialism" whatsoever? Craxi, of course, is hoping to be the principal beneficiary of the PCI's crisis,
In that case he could push for the elections scheduled for April-May to be brought forward, so as not to allow the new party to consolidate itself, and thus effect a major shift in the electoral relation of forces. This seems furthermore a realistic pro-
The PCI's crisis has already had an impact on the major far left organization, Democrazia Proletaria (DP). Two different approaches to this PCI's crisis were expressed at the last congress of DP in December 1989. Now DP is discussing who among the PCI's oppositionists to choose as privileged interlocutor and what position to take should a new party emerge.
Most people in DP scem to share the idca that if there is a break from the PCI, there is a possibility of a convergence of militants coming from this party and the DP in a new organization, whatever the differences on the conditions for this. * 1. Since it formally dropped its self-designation as the Communist Party of Italy earlier this year, without deciding on a new name, the PCI has been referred to as "La Cosa" or "The Thing" 2. Some oppositionists were ready to support the referendum idea on the condition that the result would only be valid if there was 50% participation — a figure that would be extremely hard to attain. 3. The Il Manifesto current — a left current which split from the PCI in 1969 under pressure of the social movements and the far left. It was later reintegrated into the PCI. 4. Different points of view were put forward at the meeting of the DP leadership on October 13-14, during a discussion on a text put forward by Giancarlo Saccoman, in the name of the DP Secretariat, and a contribution from Elettra Deiana, on the differences which remain with the "No front". A motion was finally voted which, after repeating the main axes of the Sccretariat's text, traced the lines of orientation and intervention. On the proposal of Livio Maitan there was a separate vote on the introduction concerning the acceptance of the Secretariat's text — this received 30 votes for and 10 against, while the rest was adopted unaninesly. The DP congres is to be hold at the sier 11 of next year.