The results of the recent referendum on justice, coupled with the subsequent shocks and a handful of resignations, had driven the center-left's "broad camp" representatives to their heads. These factors had been enthusiastically interpreted as symptomatic of an imminent collapse in support for the government, and as examples of its desperate attempt to reverse the negative electoral trend by slightly reshaping its slogans on certain issues (see the detention of the Flotilla activists).
Suddenly, a narrative (and we emphasize this term, since the rhetorical construct is central) of revenge and recovery by the center-left opposition had emerged, corroborated by the results of the latest election polls, with the broad camp unexpectedly "overtaking" the governing coalition. Preparations were already being made for the victory celebrations of the next general election, with talk already swirling about expanded primaries...then came the first round of local elections... and everyone woke up sweaty and with their dreams shattered.
Thus, a new about-face has occurred, even among the media most critical of the Meloni government, even though they had enthusiastically embraced the referendum results, describing them as the most vivid testimony to a phantom left-wing "cultural hegemony" that still serves as a bulwark, since the right was apparently incapable of producing a ruling class capable of occupying that role.
It's worth understanding how much truth and how much hope lies in this belief.
First, even if it still makes sense today to view politics through the Gramscian lens of cultural hegemony, we must not trivialize it into something it isn't. Whether the right or the left produces an incompetent ruling class isn't the determining factor; rather, it's whether this same ruling class manages to play a leading role as intellectuals integral to their own class. But those who speak today of left-wing cultural hegemony might also be asked what their understanding of social classes is, because it's far from a given that they have a clear understanding of them! Who speaks today of the proletariat, who speaks today of the working class? We need to ask ourselves what cultural, value-based, and political horizon a class predominantly identifies with. And we need to interpret situations clearly: the truth is that support for nationalistic, racist, and fascist-inspired propaganda is still very strong in Italy, with a voter base that is distributed across the board and heterogeneously across social backgrounds. The core values of the strongman in command, the idolization of economic power, the demonization of any form of internationalism, and so on, stem from a long recent political and cultural journey that has already had its greatest champion in Silvio Berlusconi.
Talking about left-wing cultural hegemony to sleep soundly is decidedly misleading. First of all, because this is a country where the majority of voters are more receptive to "Salvini-Meloni-Vannaccian" rhetoric than to any other kind of leadership. And then, there are all those millions who don't vote, or haven't voted for some time. And no, unfortunately, they're not all anarchist comrades. Abstentionism, which is enormous and growing (36% in 2022, after 27% in 2018), cannot have been foolishly migrated en masse into a "left-wing hegemony," because the reasons for abstentionism include multiple, fragmented, and sometimes diametrically opposed choices; in many cases, it is simply the result of a total disinterest in politics, which results in abstentionism not even as a conscious choice.
It is even more striking to consider that for the referendum on justice, that same percentage rose to approximately 41%, despite the fervently positive turnout. And the No victory must also be contextualized in a completely different way than in the general election: the No camp itself has garnered, more than ever before, broadly transversal support; furthermore, as described in the previous April issue of SL, much of the No campaign was waged by the right alone, playing to see who could tell the biggest lies. The results are well known. You'll see that even Nordio is fascinated by the left-wing cultural hegemony!
Alessandro Usai
https://www.sicilialibertaria.it/wp-content/uploads/giugno2026_compressed-1.pdf
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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