The systematic genocide of the Palestinian civilian population by the
Israeli government and the IDF is being carried out amid the almosttotal subservience of European Union governments to the non-negotiable
demands of US imperialism. The United States is, in fact, the main
supporter of the Israeli government, its expansionist ambitions, and its
resulting crimes in one of the most heated regions on the planet. These
bloody imperialist attempts at domination have so far not met with mass
opposition as has been demonstrated in recent days in Europe, the world,
and even in our country, where initially episodic mobilizations have
taken on unprecedented proportions in terms of the quantity, quality,
and spread of the protests.
In our country, the litmus test of these mobilizations was the
three general strikes that occurred in just two weeks: the first was
hastily called by the CGIL for September 19th, without considering
whether it would coincide with the one already called by some grassroots
union organizations for the following September 22nd. However, the
CGIL's decision to move independently proved inappropriate, and, given
the limitations imposed by Law 146/90, many CGIL members converged on
the strike on the 22nd, thus marking an undeniable success for that
mobilization, in addition to significant demonstrations in numerous
squares across Italy.
Finally, the strike of October 3rd saw the renewed participation of
grassroots unions as well as that of the CGIL, which this time could not
ignore the strong internal desire for unity that had emerged from the
strike of the 22nd. This gave rise to a mobilization unlike anything
seen in decades, characterized above all by a large and widespread
presence of younger generations, students, and, more generally, the
world of education. This mobilization was confirmed in all its vast
scope the following day by the national unity demonstration on October
4th in Rome.
" Full squares, empty ballot boxes"
This famous statement by Pietro Nenni, an authoritative leader of
the PSI (Italian Socialist Party), pronounced in the aftermath of the
defeat of the "Popular Front" in the political elections of April 1948,
has been cloyingly recalled by many on the occasion of the recent
mobilizations against the genocide carried out in Palestine by the
Netanyahu government. These mobilizations were distinguished by an
extremely high and unprecedented turnout, especially among young people,
which is artfully countered by the growing "fleeing from the polls" , as
the recent rounds of regional elections have demonstrated, most recently
also in Tuscany, where 47.73% of eligible voters cast their ballots.
Nenni's statement was the consequence of a historic defeat, not
only electoral but above all political, where disappointment,
disillusionment, and discouragement prevailed over the contexts in which
this defeat occurred, instead focusing only on appearances, in
accordance with the most genuine and omissive reformist practice.
Indeed, while the full streets in the April 1948 general elections were
undoubtedly those of the "Popular Front," formed by the PSI and PCI
(Italian Communist Party) unity-a highly controversial coalition, the
ballot boxes of the time could hardly be considered empty, given that
92.19% of eligible voters cast their ballots in those same elections,
and the DC (Christian Democracy) alone obtained a near absolute majority
of the vote.
So Nenni's quote, although "effective", remained strongly
influenced by a sort of "justificationism" precisely because the
relevant problem was certainly not "abstentionism" in itself, but the
fact that "people" at the time continued to vote en masse for the DC.
The current anti-war movement and the flight from the polls
We've made this a bit long-winded because, more than 77 years after
the events mentioned above, there are still those who evidently employ
ancient and evocative expedients to counter the emergence of a new
social and mass movement, which is once again expressing, in Italy and
in numerous other countries, avowedly and intelligently subversive
political content, something not seen for decades. But, conversely,
there are also those who believe they want to channel these social and,
why not, even class-based pressures into central and peripheral state
institutions to serve as their spokesperson, complaining that the very
lack of an authoritative political voice active within the institutions
has contributed to the flight from the polls, to the crisis of
representation and democracy, in a superficial assessment of the
"abstentionist" phenomenon as a social phenomenon, which homogenizes
parliamentary political alignments. The lack of electoral support also
expresses and limits the strategy implemented by countless organizations
and political components of the new left, even its most radical
historical components, aimed at reestablishing a presence, especially in
the parliament of the Republic, where they have been absent since 2008.
We therefore believe it is time to overcome what we consider a
paralyzing institutional drift by initiating an objective political
reflection, even among those who support it electorally. To do so, it is
necessary to start at the root of the problem, avoiding blaming its
historical failures on abstentionism.
The crisis of bourgeois democracy and its institutions is an
international phenomenon, closely linked to the major processes of
productive restructuring undertaken in recent decades by capital in the
context of the emergence of new powers, which have intensified
imperialist competition for control of the world market. Wars, more than
50 across the planet, are the expression of a global conflict fought
piecemeal and are increasingly becoming widespread, intertwined with
trade conflicts between powers that have entered an acute and now
admittedly endemic phase, where military power relations are
increasingly asserting themselves, tattering international law: NATO has
more authority than the UN; the International Criminal Court has been
rendered impotent by US sanctions. The European Union sees its
disjointed imperialist components playing out worn-out "national" games
, where the strongest, like Germany, asserts itself by believing it can
address its economic crisis by reviving rearmament policies, even at the
expense of other EU components which, like Italy, are worse off than it.
In any case, all of them find themselves forced into economic and
political subordination to the United States, which intends to address
its own irreversible decline at the expense of the EU and its divided
and impotent diplomacy, united only by the need to avoid further
irritating the US interlocutor, accepting its non-negotiable conditions
regarding arms and energy purchases, tariffs, and other protectionist
measures aimed at defending the US economy. This is done to justify
rearmament policies conducted in the interests of European and, above
all, American arms producers.
In other, simpler words: the EU will therefore have to think about
Russia at its own expense, that is, by offloading the costs of
rearmament onto public spending, precisely to allow the US to deal with
China. All these dynamics of capital and its economic, political, and
institutional structures have been countered in Italy by a systematic
and widespread agitation that has produced a renewed and widespread
awareness of the extermination of the civilian population in Palestine,
the rearmament policies conducted at the expense of the lower classes,
and, more generally, opposition to imperialist wars, and the resulting
militarism that is taking hold throughout society and, above all, in the
education system at all levels. But this mass movement has involved not
only indiscriminate segments of the population but also workers and
significant sectors of the student and youth movement.
A mass movement that, despite inevitable contradictions, is
demonstrating growth, albeit in a minority, among some of its more
conscious components: there is a growing awareness and urgency to oppose
capitalism and its employer and government policies, linking them to the
defense of class interests. Hence the need to articulate joint proposals
for struggle, consistently involving the labor force and certain
categories, such as schools of all levels, which have distinguished
themselves, in all their components, by participating in recent
mobilizations. If this widespread participation expresses minority but
no longer irrelevant social and class strata, which shun institutions
and electoral choices, then it is essential to grasp the message these
components express: strengthening, coordinating, and organizing the
awareness that is spreading within the anti-war movement to broaden the
social conflict, uniting the defense of the material interests of the
subaltern classes against the bourgeoisie of their own country, in order
to regain victory. There is still much work to be done in this
direction, but only in this way can we concretely reconcile the
immediate interests of the subaltern classes with the historical
interests of the world proletariat, in an internationalist struggle to
overcome the capitalist system, against all wars induced by imperialism,
for peace and the liberation of humanity and the environment that
surrounds it.
" Free Palestine from the River to the Sea"
It is perhaps the most frequently shouted slogan at recent
demonstrations by large groups of young people, and it expresses a
sincere yearning for freedom. The same concept also holds true with
respect to the war in Ukraine and all the conflicts resulting from the
capitalist system of production's dominance across the planet, precisely
because war is its inevitable consequence. But slogans must be "taken"
for what they are, as they certainly cannot serve as complete political
analyses. We cannot and should not expect throngs of adolescents
entering politics for the first time, instead of shouting their anger at
a genocide and the economic, political, and institutional system that
knowingly triggers it, to first research the issue, perhaps from the
very sources that apologise for it, which, at least at this stage, are
overwhelmed by widespread mass opposition.
But what resistance and what freedom realistically lie ahead for
Palestine? What for Ukraine, Libya, or Sudan, and for all the countries
devastated by wars fought within the imperialist framework of the clash
between powers? What historical precedents can we draw upon? A freedom
that asserts itself in that "unity of the people," as it was defined in
the decolonization processes that unfolded since the Second World War,
from Asia to Africa to Latin America?
And what were the hegemonic social forces that seized power in
those transitions, building regimes that, freeing themselves from US
imperialism, fell under the domination of the imperialism of the then
USSR or of territorial powers that, like China, were evolving toward a
still fragile and incomplete capitalism? A modest editorial certainly
cannot provide exhaustive answers to such complex questions: we
reiterate that imperialism does not only employ armaments and armies to
export, extend, and guarantee its capitalist investments in their
respective areas of interest: imperialism also exports the structures of
its institutional domination.
It is important to recall, as a contribution to the reflection on
Palestine, the entire story of the decolonization of Vietnam. Here, to
put it simply, the components of a vibrant national bourgeoisie that
placed itself at the helm of the Vietnamese people asserted themselves,
thanks to the support of the USSR, in a social reality shattered by a
twenty-year, victorious struggle against the colonizing powers, giving
rise to a regime that, freed from US imperialism, adopted the tenets of
"real socialism," a configuration of a new model of capitalist
exploitation of the subaltern classes, which perpetuated its domination
through the dictatorship of a single party based on the Soviet model.
Even in that historical case, the concept of the people masked the
harsh but realistic reality of the balance of power between the social
classes, which saw the Vietnamese bourgeoisie as the ruling class that
would assume power in institutional forms different from the previous
ones, which nevertheless perpetuated capitalist exploitation even under
the cloak of false socialism.
The entire Vietnam affair saw, until the mid-1970s of the last
century, a powerful opposition to US aggression which involved a huge
participation, even among young people, which undoubtedly contributed to
ending the war.
But this victory did not provide the answers that this powerful movement
expressed in a perspective of liberation: in that case too, the premises
were lacking and the balance of power between the classes prevailed,
which saw the emergence of a new capitalist regime.
A conclusion: before answering, let's ask the right questions.
It might be said that "contexts vary," and we certainly agree: but
even in Palestine, the balance of power among the classes within the
Palestinian people tends toward the hegemony of bourgeois factions,
divided into nationalist components, which oscillate between secularism
and reactionary, oppressive, and obscurantist fundamentalism, while
still exercising their contradictory dominion over a subaltern class
defeated by an ancient, bloody war and, above all, totally devoid of
political and trade union representation. So, in this situation, what
freedom lies ahead for Palestine? Even before the answers needed, the
formulation of the questions is important. As we approach the conclusion
of this editorial, we affirm that we are not interested in a polarized
debate between one or two states, in an alternative that would in any
case not allow for the defense of the interests of the Palestinian
proletariat (we continue to use this definition because we consider it
highly relevant), in a perspective of emancipation from capitalism that,
while remaining somewhat unrealistic given the current context, does not
erase its inevitable internationalist scope.
We continue to believe and propose that the unity of the
proletariat and its emancipation is against national and nationalist
barriers and that, although the internationalist proposal for the unity
of workers from all over the world is the only one capable of averting
war, it is a process of construction that must be urgently and
realistically begun, especially to involve the younger generations.
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