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There's a bar in Bologna...
discussion has begun, the aim of which will be to decide on a better format for the presentation of the Fourth International's theoretical views. Details will be publi-
International Viewpoint #255 April 1994
ROLAND WOOD
Tis said, and I do nothink that this is just another apostyphal yarn, that in the bars of Bolos gna, northern Italy, silver-haired veterans from the war-time resistance will still, on occasion, burst into a chorus of "Bandiera Rossa". If these same "cantatori" were singing at all after the country's recent election, one can only assume that it was more for comfort and a little ideological reassurance, than any kind of celebration.
We will be examining the full implications of this election in a future issue. For now, it is worth commenting on the victorious right's spurious, but principal post-election claim.
The "Alliance for Freedom" of Mr Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia, the federalist Northern League, and the neofascist National Alliance (formerly the MSI, and now the third largest party in parliament), asserts that its victory was based on overwhelming national sup-
### VIEWPOINT immediate post-election period they will come under particular pressure from the Party of the Democratic Left (PDS, the majority of the former Communist Party). PDS leaders have already spoken 53 cof their desire to "transform this electoal, pact the "Progressive, Alliance") into ¿firm democratic unity..." The PDS wants the left to dance to their tune, and their tune alone → and it won't be "Bandiera Rossa"
### France
French youth will know neither the words or the tune to the anthem of Italian communism, but they certainly Know what they want. And they got it. Raghu Krishnan explains the background to a series of demonstrations which has brought hundreds of thousands of young people from across the country onto the streets to protest against reductions in the minimum wage. The rightwing government has retreated.
### Mexico
Sergio Rodriguez and Jeff Mackler, while writing before the assassination of Luis Donaldo Colosio, the Presidential candidate of Mexico's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, provide an excellent background in this issue to understanding what the impact of this event will be.
South Africa
Peter Blumer outlines the options for the left, particularly the revolutionary left, in South Africa's first non-racial elections, later this month. We are also publishing, for readers information, extracts from the manifesto of the "Workers' List Party", , of which the Workers' Organisation for Socialist Action is the principal sponsor. Look out for a full dossier on post-election South Africa in our June issue. *
Out now!
port.
On the contrary, regional disparity
İNTERNATiØNAL in voting patterns has again increased. It is as if Italy has unilaterally split into three parts — the north, centre and south — with parts of the centre, a tradi-
MARXIST REVIEW tional bastion for communist and socialist voters, holding off the challenge from the right. In Umbria, for example,
£2.50/$5
Spring 1994 candidates from the "Progressive
Alliance" (213 seats, 32.2% of the vote), the "left" so to speak, were elected in all
Capitalism's new economic order — the new first-past-the-post seats, while
Restructuring the labour process in Tuscany, they won 80% of the seats.
The real losers, as voters clearly intended, were the former ruling parties.
• Maxime Durand introduces the issue with the political economy of
The former Christian Democrats, now renamed the Popular Party, were redu-
• Claude Gabriel on the European Union and economic "globalisation"
ced to 11.1%, while the "Socialists"
• Keith Mann explores class struggle, skill and the productive process today were all but wiped off the electoral map.
While the new electoral system
• Andy Kilmister describes the British experience of New Management Techniques makes comparisons with the last elec-
• and Eugenio Preo documents industrial transformation and the employers' tion difficult, the vote for the Party of
Communist Refoundation (PRC), even as part of the "Progressive Alliance"
remained relatively stable, with approxi-
No. 15
"Lean Production"
offensive in Italy
Available from IMR/PECI, BP 85, 75522 Paris, CEDEX 11, France.
mately six percent of the overall vote and a small increase (from thirty-five to
This edition of International Marxist Review will be the last in its current format. A forty) in the number of deputies elected to the lower house. As Livio Maitan explains in this month's dossier, the
PRC faces enormous challenges. In the shed here in International Viewpoint. ©
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