Rifondazione Comunista congress rejects former leadership
AFTER A hard period of internal debate and
discussion and in the face of turmoil to come in the Italian economy,
Rifondazione Comunista appears to have come back from the brink of
dissolution. Delegates at the seventh national congress of the Party of
Communist Refoundation (PRC) have voted for a new ‘left turn’ which
could potentially lay the basis for the launching of a fighting
anti-capitalist workers’ party in Italy. In what was probably the most
bitter and polarised congress in the party’s 17-year history, Paolo
Ferrero became national secretary, narrowly beating Nichi Vendola,
designated heir of former leader Fausto Bertinotti and leader of the
right wing of the party.
The congress took place in the wake of the PRC’s
electoral annihilation in the general election of April this year.
Standing as the Sinistra Arcobaleno (Left Rainbow) together with three
smaller parties, it received just 3% of the vote and was completely
wiped out in the Senate and in the Chamber of Deputies. This was the
bitter fruit of two years of participation in a capitalist government
led by Romano Prodi and the Democratic Party (PD) which carried out
neo-liberal policies and disillusioned millions of workers and young
people.
At stake at the congress was the very existence of
the party itself. A victory for Vendola would have meant the end of the
PRC as a communist party and a continuation of the previous failed
policy of the Sinistra Arcobaleno and government alliances with the
capitalist PD.
Vendola’s congress document (document two) supported
the dissolution of Rifondazione into a ‘left constituent’ – the name for
a ‘Sinistra Arcobaleno’ Mark Two. Within it, in the words of Bertinotti,
communism would be just one ‘cultural tendency’ amongst many. In the
local and regional congresses of the party held in the run-up to the
national congress, none of the five strategic documents presented gained
an overall majority. Document two received the highest percentage of
votes – 47% compared to 40% for Ferrero’s (document one). However, this
was against the background of contested congresses and dubious voting
practices. In one area in the south, for example, where Vendola won,
more people voted in the local PRC congress than had voted for the whole
of the Sinistra Arcobaleno in the general election!
Having received the most votes (and therefore the
most delegates), the right were expecting a narrow majority at the
congress and a victory for Vendola as leader. Their strategy was to
split the supporters of document one in order to win an overall majority
but they failed, despite a rousing and apparently conciliatory speech by
Bertinotti. The final outcome was on a knife edge until the very last
moment when supporters of documents one, three, four and five united
around a common document which gained a majority – 342 to 304.
Delegates celebrated the defeat of the right and the
survival of Rifondazione as a communist party by singing the
Internationale, Bandiera Rossa and Bella Ciao, while Vendola and his
supporters walked out of the hall angry, bitter and demoralised.
Bertinotti even described the singing and raised fists which erupted
after Ferrero’s speech as a "horrible scene" never before witnessed in
the history of the party’s congresses.
Vendola says that there will not be a split in the
party but this is clearly the direction in which he is heading. He has
formed his own group ‘Rifondazione per la sinistra’ which is calling its
own national demonstration in September. He has described the congress
as "the end of the history of Rifondazione comunista" and his supporters
are refusing to participate in the national bodies of the party. A
definitive split is likely around the time of the European elections
next year, if not before.
The final congress document states that the period
of collaboration with the PD in government at a national level is now
over. It totally rejects the idea of dissolving the PRC into a ‘left
constituent’ and calls for a relaunch of Rifondazione on the basis of
industrial and social struggles against the Berlusconi government. It
states that the PRC should stand under its own symbol of the hammer and
sickle in the European elections next year while attempting to find
agreement with other anti-capitalist, communist and left forces.
This potentially represents a platform for
relaunching the PRC and a springboard for involving other forces –
communists, trade unionists, social and community movements, youth etc –
in forging an anti-capitalist party with roots in the workplaces and
communities and a fighting programme for the revolutionary
transformation of society. With an economic crisis that is worsening
daily and brutal attacks on the conditions of workers and immigrants and
democratic rights in general by the Berlusconi government, industrial
and social movements are inevitable. Already the press are talking about
a ‘hot autumn’ with public sector workers at the forefront. Against this
background, a fighting anti-capitalist party with a correct programme
could potentially develop a mass base and grow rapidly.
However, such an outcome is far from certain.
Rifondazione has squandered much of its credibility and destroyed most
of its links with workers and the more radicalised sections of society.
Recovering from its current position of demoralisation and defeat will
not be an easy task. If the right split away, which is the most likely
perspective, this will be used by the ruling class and the media to try
and further discredit the party and declare it dead. If on the other
hand the right decide to stay and fight, the situation inside the party
could be extremely bitter and difficult, potentially leading to
increased demoralisation and a further erosion of members and support.
Ferrero himself was part of the majority leadership
which supported participating in the Prodi government and was minister
of welfare. While he is critical of that experience he is ambiguous on
the question of the party’s relationship with the PD. He talks of the
impossibility of aligning the PRC with ‘this’ PD, implying that a future
alliance might be possible. Following the congress the position of the
party on local government coalitions with the PD is vague, with the
resolution stating that each case will be looked at individually in line
with the general policy adopted at the congress. A party that continues
to participate in local council administrations which are cutting and
privatising education, health and other services will have difficulty
recovering support. To lay the basis for a mass workers’ party, a clean
break with the past is necessary and a campaign of visits to all major
workplaces to involve workers in the building of a fighting force
against capitalism that can win a majority in society independent of all
non-working class parties. Direct involvement in the struggles to come
can fill out a revived PRC.
The current majority is fragile and weak with major
differences not just between the groups which supported the five
original congress documents but within many of the groups themselves. A
serious political battle will have to be waged within and outside the
party to ensure that a fighting anti-capitalist party is built, with a
revolutionary socialist programme that does not just exist on paper but
is fought for amongst the working class. With our as yet small forces,
CWI members in Italy will be participating alongside others in that
battle. The result of the congress underlines the mistaken tactics of
groups like Sinistra Critica and the PCL (Communist Workers Party,
formerly Progetto Comunista) who prematurely broke with Rifondazione
instead of staying to see the battle through to its conclusion.
Of course there is no guarantee that the battle will
eventually be successful. But this congress could mark an important
turning point. A victory for the right would have represented a further
set back in the building of a genuine mass workers’ party in Italy. The
defeat of the right, however, opens up at least the possibility of the
PRC becoming the catalyst or the embryo for creating such a party in the
future.
Christine Thomas
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