World

Italian CP looks for a new direction

In ascene that is becoming commonplace
in Eastern Europe, but a significant first for
the West, the Italian Communist Party
' (PCI) met in an extraordinary congress
_ March 7-9 in Bologna to discuss its trans-
formation into a new party.

There was by no means unanimous sup-
port behind General Secretary Achille
Occhetto’s proposal that the PCI reconsti-
tute itself. as a “new force on the Italian left.”
But 66 per cent of almost 1,100 delegates
lent their support to the still vaguely defined
direction, ushering in the “constituent
phase,” during which the specific program
of the party, and its new name, will be
formulated.

After years of electoral support from
approximately 30 per cent of the popula-
tion, and a condemnation to eternal opposi-
tion, the leadership of the PCI is obviously
intent on removing what it perceives to be
the last barriers to government.

That process is thought to include an
opening up to all the forces that seek demo-
cratic reform in the society — with the aim
of expanding the constituency of the
party — and preparing the ground for co-
| operation in government with the Italian
' Socialists, to date partners of the Christian
_ Democrats.
| Occhetto, in his closing remarks to the
' congress, sought to put the new process in
if

the context of a logical and necessary devel-
opment of the Italian communist tradition.
“TThis is] the challenge of a force that
wants to change not because it is ashamed
of.its experience, not because it disowns its
heritage, but because, thanks to that expe-
’ rience and that heritage, it catches the signs
| ofachanging world, and wants to interpret,
: init, profound and original needs for trans-
! formation ....”
» © In Occhetto’s view, the pluralism that
P developed'in the'party over the years did not
’ sit entirely well with its implicit defence of
* the eastern European brand of monolithic
: socialism (though some, of course, would
. disagree that the PCI even implicitly backed
, Moscow and Berlin).
|“... A vast cross pollination has already
! taken place [within the party], a pollination
| between cultural, ideal, and philosophical
| positions, very different from one another
.... In this lies the equivocation of the polit-
) ics that has for a long time been practiced in
. our party, in which was implied for many
; years an image of socialism which was not
; ours.
]

-No future

By ALFRED MIODOWICZ
Just a year ago, when we stated in our
official declarations that to have trade
union pluralism in Poland before political
pluralism would not have positive conse-
quences, we were strongly criticized by both
those in power and the opposition.
But developments have proved us right.
_ Many Solidarnosc leaders used their trade
union activities as a stepping stone to politi-
cal power. And the PUWP (Polish United
_ Workers Party, now Social Democracy of
- the Republic of Poland — Ed.) forgot all
- about trade union interests during its elec-
toral campaign, and lost ....
In general, it is not the trade unions
which set the political atmosphere in a
country. This is up to the parties and the
political movements, which formulate their
programs to attract as big an audience as
possible, including amongst the unions.
However, this does not mean that the

unions do not have their own political
objectives. But what the unions must not
become is a battlefield with groups of par-
ties being set up or of confrontation
between the parties. For this does not serve
the workers’ interest.

With the change in the balance of forces
within the political parties, the opposition

+. Aeccidlcad TE: AIOE. Rl

“This I meant to say when at last
November’s Central Committee, I spoke of
an old ideological cocoon from which we
need to free ourselves. This cocoon has hin-
dered the full expression of the differences,
the full development of this pollination.
And the new political formation wants, in
the first place, to be exactly this, the full
expression of the differences that already
exist within us and that, if valorized in their
autonomy, can connect us to many other
forces that are present at the exterior [of the
party].”

Of course, in the absence of a program,
and despite Occhetto’s erudition, it remains
unclear on what political basis the commu-
nists will forge closer association with other
Italian and European forces. An embrace of
current Socialist Party practice would seem
pointless; a worthwhile partnership would
obviously require a leftward movement
from the PSI.

Backers of Occhetto’s position did
appear preoccupied with achieving co-
operation, with, at least for the moment, no
burning desire to talk about its political
content. One delegate noted for example
that “the political design that is being laid
out is ... one that aims at overcoming the
culture of separation, [the] true illness of the
Italian left, that has produced a crystalliza-
tion of roles according to which the PCI
relates to the centre of decision-making, as
[the] repository of a culture of modernity,
[while] the PCI has the monopoly of the
political and social opposition.”

On organizational matters, while many
Communist parties are debating the merits
of democratic centralism, the Italians are
talking about “overcoming it,” and of con-
structively regulating minority opinions.
Exactly how that will work itself out is still
to be seen, obviously.

Interestingly, “conservative” critics of the
Occhetto position, representing some 35 per
cent of delegates (there were two minority
motions in opposition to the general secre-

“tary’s) and led by individuals like ex-leader

Alessandro Natta, couched their objections
to the new line in the charge that the leader-
ship was using a new sort of democratic
centralism to ram its program through at
the expense of the minority.

Critics also took the Occhetto plan to
task precisely for its lack of detailed pro-
gram. The general secretary replied that
now wasn’t the time for one. It would make
the congress too “‘heavy.”

won political power. The former govern-
ment found itself, to some extent, in the
opposition.

But the serious economic problems have
still not been solved. Inflation has reached
record levels, unemployment is now a real
threat for the first time since the end of the
Second World War, and thus the achieve-
ments of socialism are endangered.

So, strange as it may seem, the OPZZ (the
National Alliance of Polish Trade Unions,
the trade union central re-organized in
1981-Ed.) is still the only stable social force
in the country prepared to co-operate with
all those who are determined to solve the
problems facing the workers.

We are committed to defending our
members, representing their interests and
combatting government policy when this
goes against the workers’ social and eco-
nomic interests.

Not all party political leaders approve of
the OPZZ’s behaviour, but we certainly do
not intend to change just to please them. We
believe that the OPZZ’s principles for
struggle are correct, as is shown by the fact
that we did not lose our members after the

. legalization of Solidarnosc. As before, we

have 6.5 million members, or three times as
many as our trade union partners in Soli-

&

PCI LEADER OCCHETTO...
have come — we want to widen it.”

That large minority also objected to
renouncing the communist name. One
delegate, Aldo Tortorella (who suffered a
mild heart attack at the conclusion of an
intervention), argued that retaining the
name and the communist culture was part
of protecting a moral vision of politics, as
opposed. to..a.sense. of politics as ““tech-
nique.”

“Communist” marks a party interested
in the transformation of society, he asserted.

Supporters of the name change coun-
tered that the decision complemented the
political act of “widening” the party.
Moreover, the old name connected the PCI
with a system whose particular practices it
had criticized, but whose system it was
“slow, late, and uncertain” in condemning.

Supporters and opponents of the process
both are looking to the municipal and
regional elections of May 6 to see what the
electorate has to say about the new direc-

darnosc ....
We have always emphasized the need for

a policy which does not distinguish between
the interests of the country and the interests
of the citizens. For the overwhelming
majority of the population are the families
of workers who make their living through
physical or intellectual labour.

Hence our criticism of the previous
governments which systematically asked us
to “tighten our belts” even more, or
mouthed demagogic slogans rather than
concentrating on investment, forming a
coherent industrial policy, stabilizing prices
and wages, formulating a fair tax policy and
so on.

Our attitude to the present Solidarnosc-
led coalition government is the same as to
the previous coalition (PUWP, Peasants’
Party and Democratic Party). We believe
that the efficiency of any government can be
measured by how it meets the needs of the
majority of its population.

It is not [then] surprising that the OPZZ
does not agree to the increasing austerity
policies which hit the workers, while the
speculators get richer all the time .... How
can Poland get out of the crisis and pay off
its external debt? Our position on this is
quite clear: the rich, the workers, and the

We don’t want to go off the track from which we

tion. Success at the polls is bound to
encourage the leadership along the present
course. It is unclear what conclusions will be
drawn from a poor result.

It does seem certain that if voters are to
brought to the PCI, or whatever it is called
in a year, they’ll have to see its distinctions
from Bettino Craxi’s socialists. That means,
and the leadership recognizes this, that the
new process is not justabout drawing closer
to the PSI, but in maintaining, and even
heightening, competition with it.

In conclusion, Occhetto had this to say:

“We want to change many things, but we
do not intend to go off the historic track
from which we come; we want to widen it.
For this we can all say together: let us
together build our future; let us go together
to the struggle for democracy, for Italy, for
Europe, for socialism.”

With files from L’ Unita and L’ Humanite.

in privatization, say Polish unions

pensioners should all contribute to this, but
only in proportion to their real possibilities
and not as before, when it was the less rich
who bore the burden of Poland’s economic
problems.

Recently, the OPZZ member unions
have strongly opposed the attempts to auc-
tion off our national wealth — the facto-
ries, companies and land — to foreign
business.

We cannot accept that the citizens of
Poland be dispossessed of their country’s
wealth and treated as inferior beings. There
is no question of supporting a policy which
causes unemployment.and recession.

At the moment, we are drawing up a new
concept of economic and social policy
which, we believe, can bring our country
out of the crisis. In order to do this, we have
to have a new social contract between all the
unions and government, a contract with
certain guarantees. The conclusion of new
collective agreements will be an important
part of this contract, which is intended to
stabilize the national economy ....

The author is president of the National
Alliance of Polish Trade Unions. This is an
excerpt from an article in World Trade Union
Movement, published by the World Federa-
tion of Trade Unions (WFTU).

Pacific Tribune, April 2, 1990 « 9