[page 11]
nternational Notes
ER
HEIL HIL
Muelin
Mussolir
BENITO (BEE 3
SOLINI
TA CT MOZA
taly: a fascist revival?
•HE FORMATION OF the
new Italian government, I following the recent general ction in which the right-wing lition gained a clear majority, ses important questions for : labour movement. The inclun in the governing majority of : neo-fascist MSI has particuly raised alarm bells, with ne on the left even heralding as the 'triumph of fascism'. It therefore, important to underund that this was an electoral tory for the right-wing capital-
parties and not a decisive tory of a para-military mass wement, as with Mussolini in : early 1920s.
Although the arly mark a lian workers,
election
defeat they do
results for the not rep-
resent a strengthening of reaction in the country. Nor has there been a shift in the balance of forces between the classes. The huge power of the working class remains intact. In fact the vote for the workers' parties rose by over one-and-a-half million since the 1992 general elections.
The explanation for the defeat lies not in a decisive move to the right in Italian society, but largely in the bankruptcy of the leadership of the old workers' parties. They threw away the opportunity these elections offered to sieze on the burning desire for change and take advantage of the discrediting of all the traditional parties of the ruling class.
The elections took place against the background of the
massive corruption exposure. Following the collapse of the Stalinist regimes in Eastern Europe there was no longer any justification for the almost total domination of the Christian Democrat (DC) party in Italian government. It was no longer needed as a bastion against 'Communism'. The extent of the corruption was uncovered as politicians scrambled to save their own skins.
Far from feeling confident, the ruling class had to face the elections from a position of weakness. Over a quarter of the previous parliament was under investigation and all their traditional organs of rule, including the state forces and judiciary, were in some way implicated in
[page 12]
calls for a 'Greater Italy with Media mogul and premier Berlusconi. the corruption scandals. Yet the workers' parties failed to step into this vacuum and threw away an opportunity for genuine change.
The PDS, the former Communist Party, has not only abandoned its formal •com- Marxism mitment to and the idea of revolution, it has also abandoned the reformist Keynesian ideology of increasing state expenditure to stimulate the economy. The leadership's approach to the elections was to instigate electoral alliance an with parties from the old regime, including those on the verge of extinction. In complete contradiction to the prevalent mood for change, the PDS-led alliance deits intention to continue with the incumbent prime minister. This, together with proposals for tax increases, did little to inspire or win over new voters. The Communist Refoundation party (RC) also participated in this alliance. The RC split from the Communist Party when it changed its name and of the best working-class fighters determined to defend the original ideals of the CP. Whilst it had quite a radical programme, it did not launch a bold election campaign to make its manifesto known to the electorate. Instead, the argument of the fight on these issues once in gov- Paradoxically, therefore, it was Berlusconi's right-wing 'freedom alliance' which appealed to the mood for change.
He won because he promised tax cuts and the creation of one million jobs. It was an irony that the right achieved victory when they had to approach the election campaign with a makeshift coalition of conflicting interests. Media mogul Berlusconi and his brand new Forza Italia party were obliged to join forces with two parties whose objectives are directly counterposed: the North- League, which wants federal Italy of three regions; the National Alliance (the revamped neo-fascist MSI) which subsidies to the south and the l re-annexation of parts of former Yugoslavia.
The big increase in the vote for the National Alliance is, without doubt, a warning to the working class. But at the same time it is important to look closely at what is happening. The right achieved victory with a makeshift coalition of conflicting interests.
The MSI has changed its name to National Alliance (AN) and is attempting to ditch its old fascist image, playing down the racist elements of its programme, precisely because it does not feel confident to raise its true antiworking class programme openly. Whilst secretly maintaining the support of a periphery of fascist its leader, Fini, publicly denounces them. His statements about Mussolini being the 'greatest statesman of all time' are for the benefit of his hardcore supporters.
Political parties are not static organs but are constantly in a process of change. Consequently, their characterisation cannot be fixed in stone. At the moment the MSI is trying to present 'democratic' face. The party may try to ditch its fascist image altogether; on the other hand, at a later date it may return to it. Whatever the case, it is evident that its election success did not come from championing the image of Mussolini.
In fact an analysis of its vote reveals that the increase came largely from the old Christian Democrat voters in the south. They did not vote for the reincarnation of the DC in the newly-constituted Popular Party because they feared that it would make a block with the PDS after the elections and thus allow the "communists' into government. To equate the increase in the MSI vote with a return to Mussolini's regime is to misunderstand the present situation in Italy and the historical phenomenon of fas- CISm.
Fascism is a product of capitalism in extreme crisis. It has as its aim the complete atomisa- International Notes • 11
[page 13]
of the working class: deying along the way the trade ›ns and workers' organisa- IS together with all ocratic rights won by the s. In the 1920s and 1930s fascists came to power as a It of the economic catastro-
that racked capitalism and
revolutionary movements ; shook Europe. The capital- , fearing they would lose all, red to the fascist groups. vever, it was only possible for ism to triumph as a result of
defeat of those revolutions to the betrayal of the sociallocratic leaders.
'he main feature of fascism in i period was that it was able mobilise and organise the it bourgeoisie, ruined by the nomic crisis, against the king class. The petit bourisie were neither part of the anised working class nor the ing capitalist class. Today vever there is no longer that t social reservoir of potential port for the fascists. Only a r section are employed in agılture and the urban petit urgeoisie has been largely abbed into the working class. ›se teachers and civil servants o in the past were hostile re now become organised in de unions.
The
problems only just nning for
ment.
are begi 3 govern
The ruling class has also irned from the experience of icism in power and out of their atrol. In fact since the second irld war they have chosen, len necessary, to resort to miliry-police dictatorships based on e forces of the capitalist state ther than handing power to e fascists. This does not mean, wever, that they will not use e fascist thugs as auxiliaries or at it is not essential that they
are countered by the labour movement whenever they attempt to organise.
Despite the election victory for the capitalist parties in Italy, the problems are only just beginning
this government. Given the crisis of the Italian economy there is no way that Berlusconi can realise his election promises. He will be forced to carry through the programme of the Confindustria which includes mass privatisation and sackings or he will be removed by the ruling class.
Forcing through these attacks will not be an easy task to achieve. Privatisation implies mass job losses when unemployment is already 11% in Italy and, for the first time in 40 years, the majority of those unemployed are not first time job seekers but workers who have been made redundant. This is likely to be a key battleground in Italian society. One flashpoint will be the likely abolition of the Cassa Integrazione, a statefunded lay-off system which, by subsidising companies to lay-off rather than sack workers, takes them out of the jobs market and prevents them from being used to depress wage levels.
The Berlusconi government also has to face the enormous problems of the Italian economy which have not disappeared despite the first signs of recovery after two years of recession. Exports may be increasing • but industrial production is still declining. The conditions of a recent £6.3bn loan from the IMF place considerable pressure on the incoming government: to re-
duce the budget deficit (10% of
GDP) and the huge state debt (120% of GDP).
Consciousness of the difficul-
ties in achieving this economic
programme is already apparent
in proposals for changes to the
constitution to give more powers
to the president. The government
may also be opting for a more
heavy-handed approach towards
worker's protests. Police recently
ferociously attacked a peaceful
demonstration of Sicilian workers
Bossi, Northern League leader.
who have not been paid for months.
Meanwhile Berlusconi not only faces the economic problems but has to try to hold together his unruly cohorts. Even during the election campaign the three coalition parties were at each other's throats.
The Northern League saw its vote eaten into by Berlusconi's Forza Italia. This has been one of the reasons for the scathing attacks on Berlusconi by its leader Bossi. He has threatened his party's departure from the government and secession if their demands on federalism are not met within six months. The League wants fiscal devolution. It argues that the north produces the country's wealth and that northern taxes should therefore remain in the north and not be swallowed up in subsidies to the south.
At the same time pressure from the National Alliance pulls in the other direction as the bulk of its vote came from the south. Any cuts in subsidies to the south would mean a massive increase in the already huge disparity that exists between north and south: unemployment in the south is three times the national figure of 11%. Whereas in the north 9% of the population live below the poverty line that figure is 26% in the south.
Far from being a sign of the victory of the ideas of reaction,
[page 14]
the presence of the AN in Berlusconi's government is a potentially explosive element, capable of provoking huge a movement of the working class. Every year Liberation Day (April 25) celebrates the defeat of the fascists. This year it became the focus of huge opposition to the government even before it had been formed. Over 400,000 came to Milan from all over to march in the pouring rain and at the same time there were huge local demonstrations in all the main towns.
This demonstration was in Sri Lanka TAL Orel de chions on CIAL council elections on 24 March were a do or die battle for the ruling United National Party (UNP) and Peoples' Alliance (PA), which consists of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and its allies the Socialist Party (LSSP) and the CP. The UNP was defeated very badly with the opposition Alliance winning over half the votes. It is a convincing victory for the opposition, for the first time since the UNP came to power 17 years ago in 1977. Up to this provincial council many elections took place which the UNP managed to win using government machinery, rigging and gangsters who worked for the money.
The crushing of the UNP has given confidence to ordinary workers and peasants.
But this time, the opposition vas more organised than in the part a response to the provocative attempts to re-write history by the new government, with US archive film of world war two being shown to attempt to make out that the partisans carried out atrocities as great as those of the fascists - the shooting of a fascist spy responsible for the deaths of countless partisans was one example.
The demonstration was initiated by a left-wing newspaper and the workers' parties only adlater.
This is a further hered indication that despite the election defeat and the ineptitude of past. More than anything else, people in the South were organised to face up to the UNP thuggery and gangsters. A clear majority (the PA's 54.5% to the UNP's 43.9%) rejected the UNP policy as a whole, including the economy'
"peoplisation', privatisation Sri Lanka style.
The NSSP (New Socialist Party) did very badly in all three districts. Their campaign concentrated on attacking the Peoples Alliance without offering a Marxist alternative, and this was seen as sectarian by most workers. More than anything else, the result revealed the bankruptcy of the UNP's communal politics. The Southern province is 99% Sinhalese. President Wijetunga said he was prepared to 'sacrifice the division of gers (LTTE) in the North and SLFP leader Mrs Sirima Banwho led solution.
The way this election came about is also very important, and their leaders, the mighty Italian working class is in no way cowed and will not hesitate to take on this government.
It is just over a year since the French right-wing was elected into government and yet it has had to back down on every issue of contention. Far from the election results in Italy heralding the victory of fascism and the establishment of 'the strong state', the French events are just a hint of the future that awaits the Italian ruling class.
Soraya Lawrence T TENDENCY Siritunga Jayasuriya.
shows the undemocratic rule of l the UNP. In the May 1993 provincial council elections, a triangular fight in the Southern Province, the UNP got 27 seats and the opposition parties - PA and the DUNF, the breakaway from the UNP formed to oppose Premadasa before his assassination - together won 28 seats. But the provincial governor invited the leader of the UNP to take over the provincial government, which was formed undemocratically. The opposition went to International Notes • 13
[page 15]
IN DECEMBER 1993, representatives from Militant Labour met with delegates from Marxist organisations throughout the world in an international conference organised by the Committee for a Workers' International. Twentyfive countries were represented, with a further six unable to attend. In countries such as South Africa, France, Britain, Ireland, Nigeria and Germany, our sister organisations are in the forefront of the fight for socialism. Now, the conclusions of the conference have been published in a 134-page book. With sections on world relations following the collapse of Stalinism; the former colonial world; racism, fascism and the prospects for reaction; the traditional workers' parties; and the world economy, this book will serve as a handbook for the ideas of Marxism for the next period. The book costs £4.50, £3 to Militant Labour members. To get your copy, send off now, adding 50p per copy for post and packing (orders of 5 or more The Southern provincial councli election results, March 1994 Peoples'
UNP District Alliance vote (seats) vote(seats) 53.4% (12) 44.7% (10) Galle 43.1%(7) 56.4%(10) Matara 54.1%(8) Hambantota 43.6%(6) urt and won the case, forming government six months after e election. But six weeks er, in January this year, the VP kidnapped a PA member the council and kept him seetly, preventing him from ing to council meetings to te for the budget. Using that uation, the UNP-controlled dissolved the council vernor id fresh elections were orred.
Three weeks before this elecn, there was another similar iction in the troubled Eastern ovince. The UNP managed to n using the army, police and e state machinery to vote for = UNP. Nobody took that elecn seriously.
But the UNP was in real ›uble with a mass movement the South. From president DB üjetunga and prime minister ımil Wickramasigh down, the tire party machinery was in- Ived in the South for the ole month. Despite a high-proe campaign, the UNP was WORLD CRISIS A Marxist Anatysis For The 19009 • International Notes defeated badly in all three districts: Galle, Matara, and NSSP Hambantota.
The government declared vote (seats) a day curfew 1.6%/0 to prevent peo 0.5%/0 ple from 1.2%/0 coming onto the streets.
The UNP leaders threw everything into this campaign, which involved Mrs Bandaranike's son, Anura, who deserted the SLFP and joined the UNP, Gamini Dissanayaka, who rejoined the UNP after a period in the DUNF, and Ronnie de Mel, the former UNP finance minister, who also rejoined the UNP.
Now all eyes have turned to preparations for the national elections, which will begin very soon. Parliamentary and presidential polls are likely to be held tremors caused by the opposition victory in the South are being felt. The PA leaders feel that they are within reach of power. The question is, where will this alliance go once they come to power?
It is very clear this Peoples' Alliance is a weaker form of the earlier coalition government which was in power from 1970- 77. But it is going to come to power with a lot of hopes from the working class, poor peasants post free), to World Socialist Books, 3/13, Hepscott Road, London, Eg and national minorities, who have suffered under 17 years of UNP rule, directed by imperialist countries and the World Bank. This section of the people, who are supporting left-oriented speeches by Chandrika, will face big conflicts soon after coming to power. Neither the SLFP, nor the LSSP and CP left parties, have an alternative socio-economic programme against the UNP and the imperialists.
But the crushing defeat of the UNP in the South has given big confidence to the ordinary workers and peasants. This was shown by the May Day demonstration, which started at midday and ended just before midnight. Everyone said that it was the biggest in Sri Lankan history, with probably over half-a-million supporting the Peoples Alliance rally.
The Marxist Workers' Tendency, which is not a member of the PA, was given a place in the PA rally, and also held its own successful meeting, with over 200 present.
The coming months and years in Sri Lanka are crucial for the working class. We must make sure not to make the same disastrous mistakes made by the LSSP and CP in the past. And at the same time, we must intervene in the mass movement and build a leadership - that is the challenge of genunine Marxism.
Siritunga Jayasuriya A world in crisis
[page 16]