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I I - ' ~
- - THE TH I RD iiAY' : I TALY' S NEW POL I T I CAL ROAD
i6 JANUARY i979 ~ i OF i
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1'RANSLATIONS ON WESTERN EUROPF_
(FOUO 5/79)
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THE 'THIRD WAY~ ; ITALY'S NEW POLI1'ICAL R0~4D
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16 January 1.9 79 ~
TRAN5LATION5 ON WEST~RN ~UFtdp~, (FOUO 5/79 ) b,
The 'Third Way': Italy's New Poli~ica~ Road
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_ 16 January 1979
~ TRANSLATIONS ON WESTERN EUROPE
(FOUO 5/79) ~
THE 'THIRD WAY~; ITALY~S NEW POLITICAL ROAD
CONTENTS PAGE
ITALY
Philosophical, Ideological PrecepCa of the 'Third Way'
(Various sourcea, various dates) 1
Definition of 'Z'hird Way', by Alberto Asor Rosa
Analysis of 'Third Way', by Lucio Colletti
Socialiat Perspective, by Francesco De Martino
Norberto Bobbio Controversial ViewpoinC, by
� Norberto Bobbio
Implications for Social Democracy, by Norberto Bobbio
So:ial Democratic Reaponse, by Giuseppe Saragat
Ugo La Malfa Interview, by Fausto De Luca
Eugenio Scalfari Editorial
Leftiat Scholars Search for'Third Way' to Economic Recovery
(L'EUROPEO, var3oua dates) 28
Themea of 'Third Way'
'Socialist Model' Controversy
Socialists Versus the South
. New 'Idea' of Socialism
~
Party Leaders Assess 'Third Way' to Economic Recovery
(IL SOLE-24 ORE, various dates) 62
Fabrizio Cicch itto, PSI, Fabrizio Cicchitto Interview
Pietro I,ongo, PSDI, Pietro Longo Interview
Luciano Barca, PCI, Luciano Barca Interview
. Valerio ~anone, PLI, Valerio Zanone Interview
Ugo La Malfa, PRI, Ugo La Malfa Interview
Piero Bassetti, DC, Piero Baesetti Interview
- a ' [III - WE ~ 150 FOUO] ~
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ITALY
1
I
PHILOSOPHICAL, IDEOLOGICAL PRECEPTS OF THE 'THIRD WAY'
Definition of 'Third Way'
Rome LA REPUBBLICA in Italian 23 Aug 78 p E
(Article by Alberto Asor Rosa: "Between Berlinguer and Craxi..."]
(Text] The importance of the interview given by Enrico Berlinguer to
LA REPUBBLICA has not yet been fully evaluaCed. Many prefer to ask the PCI
[Italian Communiat Party] for an accounting in purely ideological eerms,
demanding a little more or a little less Leninism, as the case may be, as
if--for a big maes organization, which has a long history behind it and
which today has something like 1.7 million members--an ideological revis-
ion were something that could be done by having a group of inCellectua].s
ait do~m around a little table or by meana of edicts from its central
cannaittee, rather than a procesa of continuous transformation through a
confronCation with reality and with other political forces.
We s~;apect that the fact that the debate keeps alippia8 back to that abstract
ideo,~ogical terrain is one way of puahing aside the moat important and the
neweat political aspecta of. Berlinguer's r~marka which, in my opinion, are
above all two. 1. The~ atatement pertaining to the strategy of the hiatori-
cal campromiae which is defined as the effort to create a coherent democrgtic
conatitutional framework within which--~.fter the elimination of the pre~udice .
against admitting the c~mmuniets into the country's government--diverse
political and social forcea could completely recite th~eir respective parCs,
making and unmaking alliancea according to their possibilities and according
to logic, within a context of national solidarity. The suspicion to the
effect that the histo~ical compromise would signify a privile~d alliance,
within the administration as auch, between the PCI and the DC [Christian
Democratic Part~] thus can be ruled out. A historical and critical look
back at the past~ which, as in all ambitious speeches, serves to revive
also a long-range atrategy, within which the "third solution" and "Euro-
Communiam" are closaly tied together.
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CGE~ OF'~:CCIAL IISI: ()NLY
In ehis way, H~rlinguer at Che ~aame rime again proposed rhe most urgenr igsue
(Che ieeun of Ch~ admi.nieCraCian ns guch) und Che mosti long-laeCing and moat
signi�icanC ieaue (Che proepecrs as ro wha~ .omea after, the ~udgement on
aapi~Al.i~m, Che idea of how socialiam cnn be ahaped up apecifically on the
basis of ehe political and social proceases currenely under way). And he
~ again nroposed Cheae isauea in a problemaxical and op~n fashion, something
wh~icti is rather unusual am.ong our politicians, sonething ehat looks like
the nicest invitation to open a aerious debate on all of tihe basic issues
of left-wing paJitics in Staly and Europe.
I confess that I am still raCher sCarCled by the reactiona from a portion of
the present sociallat leadership group to the Berlinguer inCerview. For any-
body who, as I do (and I wi11 try to explain that better later on), csn see
the full importance o� the socialist issue, it is cause for growing perplexity
and preoccupation to discover that there is a tendency underway to reaolve
the most serioua ~snd pro�ound ideological and strategic problems with gesturea
of inColerance and ostentatious downgrading. It ia however ccmforting to
know that many voicea of socialist intellectuals have been raised in an effort
to view the Berlinguer int~LView in the only serious way possible--which is
to discuss it; I might be permitted at this point to recall that the wide
gap between cultural and theoretical debate, on the one hand, and practical
politics, on the other hand, is one of the most immediately recognizable
signs of moments of inc,ipient crisis in the presence of the socialists in
Italy.
Berlinguer heavily emphasizes the peculiarity of the Italian situation and in
equal parts blames it on the political presence of the Catholics and that of
the co~nnaunists ("in Italy we have a Catholic issue with absolutely peculiar
features and we also have a communist issue with ~ust as peculiar features"); -
but, at the same time, we can see very well that the Italian communist atrat-
egy for the development of democracy and the de~ocratic transition to social-
ism assumes a prec3ge historical meaning only within a"definitive Eu.ropean
choice" and become~ something more p.ro~ound and something more lasCing than
a simple tactic to reaolve the conger~ital ills found in the Italian crisis.
Here we however have a problem which consisCs in the difficulty of placing
the "Italian peculiarity" within the European context where it runs the risk
of representing a highly circumscribed and particular situation, difficult
to generalize in political and perhaps also social terms. It suffices to
think here, cn the one hand, of the rather more relative weight which a -
Caeholic issue has in Europe and, on the other h3nd, the theoretical and
political weakness of many of the forces which in Western Europe call them-
- selves communists, the most c~nspicuous among which, after the PCI--that is,
the PCF [French Communist Party]--is at this very time fighting a battle
against the expansion of the Cammon Market, under a slogan such as "Live in
' Your Own Country," "Produce French," which, behind the incredible chauvinism
and peasant attitude of this formula, seeks to conceal the almost absolute
lack of proapects.
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My impr~ssion is Ch~3e, on ~he road of Eurocommuniam, the Italian communista
are dea~:~ned to run into the socialiat isaue in Europe, ~ust as, by the way,
Che Europabn soci.ali,ats~ sCepping down �rom ~urope into Italy, will be in-
creasing].y obl.igated to meet wi~h and compare thema~lvea eo the PCI's Euro-
communiam.
But this of neceasi~y again, as far as the communists are concerned, brings
up the problem of the unity of the left, in a somewhat preliminary fashion,
and, hence, firet of all, the problem o� relations with Che socialista, be-
cause, if these relationships do not work, i~ this unity ia not brought about,
then the entire line of development of democracy and of the social forces as
we11 as the line of the conqueaC of power, as outlined by Berlinguer i.n his
in~erview, will be al1 tied up in knots. On Chati acore one could very calmly
admit that the Italian communista, over the past 2 years, have naC always _
been as clear as they ahould have been.
But there ie no doubt, as some people have been saying for a number of yeara,
that relations with the socialists and possibly with all those forces of the
left, which are interested in the development of that dialog, will not make
any progress if they move with3n the short range of tactical solutions, no
matCer how important they may be at the time.
This is the top~c complex which Berlinguer proposes, outlining for the
Italian communist a search for a"third way," "which is demanded bp the
~ impossibility of acquiescing in Coday's worldwide situation": a worldwide
situation, mind you, not ~ust simply Che Italian situation.
- The sisttpXest and most frequently repeated ob~ection to that point in the
xeiparks made by Berlinguer is that he is making a statement without giving
it any con~ent. But i.s this weakness to be found in Enrico Berlinguer and
the Italian co~unist alone or does it not exCend to the entire Italian and
European left, to the point of becaming a distinctive feature of this his-
torical moment?
If ever, Berlinguer can take the credit for having put his finger on it or,
if you prefer, �or having pulled the skeleton out of the closet; but once
the problem has been stated clearly, why not honestly admit that we are
facing a vertical crisis in what Claudio Napoleoni calls the highest system .
and the demand for a global requalification of all of the traditions of the
le~t in the face of the problem of government power in Europe?
If it is true that we are in a transition phase, such a transition is cer-
tainly not first of all a transition from capitalism to socialism but rather
a transition from an immense and rather secular [ceuturies-old] political-
conceptual apparatus of analysis, 3udgements, categories, and values, to
another apparatus which is bound to be ~ust as immense and ~ust as definite
and articulated but, in a cer,tain way, different from the preceding one.
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, 5ome sociulieC ~,ne~ii~~tunig, who bec~me involved in the debntie, revived Ch~ I
idea aE thn pra~ncC dra~t. I muet eay ~lute I mm ~ot px3ai~ely Chinking of -
thnC when I am ~alking abouC the culCura'� and Ch~oretacal debaCe. The
(socialis~ and communist) dra�Ca have been ~:resented Lo us but neiCher one
of them turned out we11 nor, in my opinion, could they turn out well; the
nssence o� the dra~t as a ma~Cer of face does not consist in selecting a
seriea o� guiding ideas accord~.ng ~o generally tenabl~ criteria, in collect-
ing them in a little book and then publishing them.
The "Manifesto" is leas importane than "analysis" and "criticism" and iC
still comes or should come afterward. We are short oE ideas as to our future
proapecta and we arz even deficient 3n the identification of values, no~ be-
cause we hav~ little capacity for guess.ing but because, in spiCe of everyChing,
we still know too 1iCtle abouC tihe real forms of government power, about rhe
way the econany works right now, about the tie-in between the terminology
and languages through which Che diverse forces express themselves and gather
together--and in responae to every social explosion or economic crisis that
breaks out, we once again, all of us here, find ouraelves e.Ypressing our
astor?istunenC .
~
I will not be the one to deny the importance wh{ch the instrumenta of the
respective (socialiat and communist) Craditions can still furniah us: but
I am beginning to ask myself whether, in the long run, we might not need a
more profound cultural revolution in order to express the needs which the
"third way," outlined by Berlinguer, r?eceasarily introduces into the equa-
Cion. On thaC day we will have to ask ourselvea what the term "left" means
in Europe.
Analysis of 'Third Way'
Rome L'ESPRESSO in Italian 10 Sep 78 pp 10-13 -
[Article by Lucio Colletti: "Stop! You Cannot Cut Leriin's Beard Any More"]
[TextJ 1. In October 1977, no more than 10 months ago, the newspapers pub-
lished the texC of a letter from B2rlinguer to the bishop of Ivrea. The
letter announced the revision of Article 5 of the Charter at the coming �
PCI congress. In addition, it contained a very significant statement of
principle. The PCI--Berlinguer declared--is not only a"lay" party but it ~ ~
is also a "nonideological" party. ' '
It is not always easy to interpret communist documents. In this case, how-
ever, the assertion could not trigger any doubt. The PCI was not denying
Marxism. Rut it refused to accept it as its "ideological creed." It did -
not enerust its identity to that but rather to the poliCical program. With
respect to the ideologies, it had moved itself to a different plane.
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I~'Ult l)I~I~'ICIAI~ 1151; ONI~Y
IC wae clear whaC Che basi.c implicaCions of Che ler~er to rhe bishop of .
Ivrea wera going to be. Thie wae more than ~uae a revision on Merxiem. It
wae a profound modificat3.on af the nature of the Communist P~arCy. On thgt ~
last poi.ne, ae a maCter of �act, i~ declared itself to be a"nonideological"
party ~nd ideological creeds thus decline Co a private mat~er. The party
behaves toward ths ideologies the way ehe lay aeate behaves tioward the
religion. It is above them and outaide of ~hem.
2. It aeema to me thaC thexe ia no do~?b~ tiha~ the Berlinguer in~erview in
LA REPUBBLICA of 2 Auguat marka noC only a sCop in Chat dirscCion buC a
definite atep backwarda. The in~erview undeniably representa a reaffirma-
tion of the Leniniet nature of the PCI. Serlinguer declares here verbatim:
"The lesaon w~tich Lenin taught us, in working out a true revolutionary
theory, seema to me ~o be enCirely alive and valid." If one really believes
that all of this ie comp~tible with the assertion as to the "nonideological"
nature of ehe PCI, then i*. will be neceesary to rewrite ~he dictionary of
the Italian la:xguage, aseigning a new meaning to all words.
I am ~usC going to skip over tha political motivea behind this "hardening"
(and on ~he benevolent lack of attention on the part of newspaper reporters
and commentators, in not wishing to etresa it). The fact that aeems to me
to be rather grave is not that the PCI is Leninist or non-Leninist. The
grave fac~ here ia that from here on in we no longer underatand anything.
_ Is Che PCI Leninist or is it not Leninist? Is the psrty ideological or
is it nonideological? Anybody who wants to derive an answer to theae ques-
tions from the various official documents will find this Co be an impossible
~ob. The PCI enters and leaves ideology the way each of us ateps into and
out of hia bathtub in his own home. It is difficult Co imagine how all of
this might be reflected in the minds of the s3mplest militants or what the
rank and file could conclude from that. The one thing which, it seems to
me, is clear is thaC we are dealing here with a defect of cYemocracy:
whether democracy als~o implies the duty to talk clearly and to make oneself
understood by the pc;ople.
3. The Berlinguer interview has produced a response from Craxi. Or, to
put it better, the "competitive" spirit displayed in recent times b.y the
- PSI IItal3an Socialist Party] have produced Berlinguer's response; the -
latter, in turn, produced a response from Craxi. In the interview, Ber-
linguer--in addition to reaeserting the validity of Leninism--came up with
a rather acornful evaluation of the "cultural confuaioniam" of the socialists.
In replying to him, Craxi pointed up the other tradition of the worker move-
ment, the social democratic and social-liberal tradition, moreover aclding
the criticism which the Luxemburg woman and the Menaheviks levelled agaiast
Leninism.
Anybody else would have said: This is the way things usually are run. Not
so! Craxi did nor quote Marx but instead quoted Proudhon. This indeed is
the end of the worldl Some people shouted about the manumission of the
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"nature" of the ~SI. Some people said Cha~ Craxi had cut "the beard of the
propheC" and ~ha~ he aran~ed to make an a~~empt upon th~ "pecul~.ar" ideological
txadiCion of Itiallan socialiam. Resu~t: 10 months ago, Che PCI cou1~1 pro-
claim itself to be u"nonideologi.cal" party; today, the PSI, which had nat
been Chat for more than 20 yeara, inatead mus~ dec~.are itself eo be a"Marxist"
party. These are ~he mys~eries oE Italian politics. JuaC 10 months ago, the
bigges~ left-wing parties eried to cast o�� the fetiters of ideology; today,
the entire lef e is inatead bubbling in that broCh. Marx or Proudhon?
Bur these (fictitious) battles are not the real thing. De Dtartino rises in
defense of the Marxise foundaCion o� the PSI. If our memory does not deceive
us, iC was he who guided ehe PSI toward unification with the social democrat.
He wus co-aecreeary of the unified parCy, together with Tanassi. Now nobody
realizes that thie uni�ication was brought about on that "foundation."
4. The PCI cannot stand the eerm "social democracy." That is ita privilege.
~ The only ob~ection which one mighC raise once again here is this: if it
wanted to, it could understand. Well, let us see. The PCI accepts plural-
ism, the plurality of parties: not only of parties prepared to march toward
socialism, but also of those going the other way. Let us assume that it
and the coalition of parties prepared for Chis swiCch prevail in free elec- _
tion. The PCI will come to power. It will--let us assume--adopt measures
nationalizing the bank and the big corporation; it will put limitations on
- agricultural properties. This will mark the beginning of the transition.
After several years, however, the coalition guided by the PCI is beaten at
the po11s. Parties opposed to socialism now come to power. They return to
pr3vate control what had been nationalized. This roughly is what happened
J in Great Britain and Sweden. In theory (in practice I have my doubts that
this wou].d happen in thig way), the PCI would find itself in the same condi-
tion as th~ social democracy. Where would the diTference be? The moment
the PCI declares itself to be in favor of a plurality of parCies and in favor
of respect for the principle of the majority, the moment it does that, it is
already a social democracy. Is there any room for Marx~sm and Leninism then?
The PCI ob3ects that the social democracies confine themselves "to managing
capitalism." One could also reply that they changed it, quiCe a bit; so
much so that the Marxist-Leninist caCegories no longer bother us. But, let
ua go on. If,~when forced into the minority~ the PCI leaves the administra-
tion to the parties ~hat want to reCurn everything to private ownership, then
- it, likewise, will be accused of inerely having "managed" capitalism. If, in-
stead, it r~fusea to yield power, we will once again be facing the dictator-
ship of a single party.
If we are to believe the declarations of principie, then the PCI today already
no longer contains anything Leninist. But it is also true that it no longer~is
social democratic either. It is noC that, for two reasons: one of these
reasona is the international link and the other one is the internal party
system. The latter, nevertheless, is not Leninist. Lenin did recognize
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currents, It ia only Stalinis~ al~hough it �eaturee an enormously swee~ened
SCalinism (how could one otherwise expXain that anybody who srarts to ~a1k
in the Cen~ral ComatitCee righC away declarea himsa~.f to be in agreement witih
~he secreCary general?).
5~ S3nce'1956, the PCT has loved ~o present its ideological position sCate-
ment in Cerms of great "creativity," profound "hard~wark,"and progresaive '
the~reticgl "diacoveries.'� This is aupposed to be a grandiose "work in pro-
gress." Tt brings up bi.g namea, somewhat by chance, but nevertheless unspar-
ingly: Machiavelli and Cavour, Vieo, Marx and Lenin, Labriola, and Gramsci.
The i11~.eeracy of the presa often echoes it�But my impression is different.,
For the past 20 years, rhe PCI hae very slowly been moving toward a revival
of the discussion.on the basic principlea which prevailed at ita birtih. It
ia thua moving under the weight of a serious his~orical defeat: the failure
of "sociallam" in the Soviet Union and in all of the countriES of the East.
It is thtis marching backwarda. What it ahould discover is already plain for
anyone to sea. Ite travaila only spring from the difficultie~ and from the
need for having to make a decision. It is not by chance that the really
"new" thing whi.ch the PCI has produced is merely the impossible accumulation
of Leninism plua social democracy.
Tn his in~erview, aer].inguer spoke o� the "thi.rd way." Not "real socialiam"
and not even social democracy. But history is impious. There is no such
thing as the "third way." Tt does not exist in reality and it does not even
exist as a theoretical model. There are na ideas worthy of the name which
would today lend substance to an alternative to the syatem prevailing in the
industrial counCries of the West. Anybody who is not trying to fool himself
must realize that, {n spite of the many kilograma of congress thE~ses pre-
senCed by the PCI since the Eighth Congress, the way in which the "new-type"
socialist society ie ta be built remains a mystery. How will the economy
be regulated? How ~?~~.1 the market and the plan be reconciled? How will in-
come be distributed ~mong the strata and classes? How and to what extent
will political pluraYism imply economic pluralism?
Sometimes it aeems that the Italian communists do not want to drop the idea
of "breaking out" of the system. But, beyond that ayatem, there is only
"real socialism." Anybody who does not feel the desire to embrace it had
better not waste his time figuring out an alternative "to the" system but
should rather devote himself to the much more important task of f inding
alternativea "within the " system. That is the road of reform. But the
Italian left could really embark upon that road (and this is also true for
the PCI) only an the day on which it has the atrength to emerge from the
fog of ideology.
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Soc~,alist ~erapect~.ve
Rome LA REPUBBLICA in Ital.ian S Sep 78 pp 1,2
[Article by Francesco De Max~ino: "Only The Right GainsFroin The Polemic
Between Craxi and Berlinguer"]
[T~xt] With this article, Francesco De Martino zntera :
the ideological and above a11 political debate be~ween
the socialiats and the commun~sts.
I would like to try ta handle the by no means new debate, which has broken ~
out wi~hin the left and in the PCI--with my feet f ircnly planted on the ground ~
~ and I would like to try to avoid following the example of tihose who are not
m~.serly in their ~udgements and condemnations of those who diasent. !
!
I still ask myself what the political purpose of what has been defined as
a aummer o~fenaive really was, an offensive which began immediately after
the auccesa of the aocialists in electing their man to the office of presi-
dent of Che republic, in other words, the iiztervtew given by party vice ~
- secretary Cl~ud~.o Signorile who very clearly asserted the lack of legitima- '
tion on the par~ of the communists when it comes to joining the alternative '
administration. The party secretary's rewarks on Leninism opened up many
other problems and involved the very concept of socialism itself.
Nobody wante to believe that there was a need for .revealing that the ~ocial- ,
ist party rejects Leninism because that has been and remains beyond discus-
sion, at least from the 1957 'Venice Congress on. The political meaning
~ therefore was a different one and coasisted in a chaYlenge to the Italian
communists to remain Leninist and from that to underestimating the so-called
Eurocommunism it was only a short step and thr~t step war~ taken during the
television debate a few days ago when Craxi hims~lf assert~d without
~uphemisms that Euroconmunism was nothing but an articulation of the pro- ;
Soviet communist mavement. The golitical impli~ations o� s~ch ? 3udgement--
if the words have any meaning at all--are obvious. ~
That the communists are not yet c".ear on problems *~t are not s~condary '
and maintain noteworthy ambiguity in choosing betwEen the p~.st and the pre-
aent is something that turned out to be quite evident from al?. of their posi- '
tions. The Berlingu~r interview in LA REPUBBLICA was an example of that, ~
when he tried to reconcile the historical demand for legit3macy, for the ~
Livorno split, and Lenin's revolutionary theories, with the present posi-
tions of the Communist Party and its choice in favor of a Western-type '
democracy. The ~CI was certainly going to be criticized on account of that ~
ambiguity. ~3ut one cannot ignore the fact that the discussion not only in- ~
volves an observer intent on safeguarding the entire heritage of the past ;
but is also aimed at promoting a revision process.
J ~
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N'Uk UH't~ I.CtAL U5~ UNLY
~C ~c~~m~ eo tne th~e, ~mong th~ u~ny u~E~.rm~C~.on~ whieh are deb~ti~b1~ ~nd
worthy o~ cri~~,ciem, ehere ia one which of greaC and pusitivp impoxCanc~;
here ie is: "~or us, on ~he oGher hand (i would like to ~mphasixe tti~ words:
on the othNr hand~ that is t~ say 'in con~rast to Leain') democracy (inc~ud-
ing the eo-ca].led formal treedoms which w~re ~.nitial.ly won by the bour~~~ie3~)
i~ u val.u~ wh~.ch hi~torical experience demonetrates ro be a universal and
pprmacienC vglua and which, coneaquentily, tha working c1,a~e and Ghe communi~ti
partics adopted ae ~heir own and must aesere a1.so within the contaxt of the
connerucrion of a socialist soc3ety."
mhis declaraCion ha~ much in common witih ehe one tha~ wae made by ehe Social-
iet P~rty at the 1957 Venice Congrese when ~he univarsal value of lib~rtiy
aseerted itaelf abnve all through the impetus given by Nenni for Che vigorous
~ critici~m of the 3oviet palitiaal syatem. And the big atep forward, needed
eo ovarcome old dogmaeic poeit3ons, wae the rea�firmation of Che inevitabl~
relationah~.p berween liberty and ~ocialiAm which only a mechanical and de-
termini~atia concept of. Marxism could cXoud gnd which the hietoricnl ch~ract-
eristics of "real gocialiem" had entirely wiped out.
Given thege premieea, ehe problem of the Italian worker movement cuid o� the
1~�t, ae I see it, is no longer the problem of Livorno in 1921 but rather the
problem of the times during which the Kautaky-Lenin polemic broke ouC between
, social deinocracy and Bolshevism. The problem is quiCe different and consiste
in a eearch for a type of social, economic, and political orgr~nization which
will guarantee maximum equality and liberty. This ia the context within
_ which we face the topic of the th3rd way, between bureaucratic colleceiviam
and capitalism, between the Soviet eystem and sxial democracy, the latter
understood here no longer in the origin~l etymological aease of a de~ocraeic
gocialism but rather in the hi.etorical vereion of the 20th cenCury, that ia
_ to say, in the acceptance af the capitalist syatem, evea if only to improve
~ it and renea it.
We mugt ~.dmit that we are all very far behiad ia the cultural and political
development of that third way and are are even more behind in the developm~nt
of a~mocratic transition methodg. We do not really know to what extent the
~rivate ownership of the means of production mugt be remained~ how th~ pro-
c~sa of economic development ahould be directed, and how one can reconcile
rhe need for a central guide, indigpensable in any planaing efforC, with the
antibureaucratic demand of socialism, and ho~a a socialiat market could fuac-
tion.
- In�conne~tian with this I must remind Luciano Pellicani that the usefulness
of a so,:talist market was sustained by the Italian economist Pietro Barone,
that it ?~as picked up again by 5andro Petruccioae in MONDO OP~RAIO about 20
years o�c go ago, when, without any big noise, it led to something that was
also a theoretical elaboration; besides it was recently supported by me in
an article in AVANTII This socialist market surely demands a certain de-
gree of f.reedom for the conaumera and the producers but must the latter
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nee~gsar~.ly be privaea dr C~n eh~y al~d ba ~ocigl~x~d [n~rionnlix~d~ drgnn~
n� thg ~conomy? The cenrra~,i.sm of Che plnn and oF eelf-managemane ar~ th~
t~:rm~ oL the problem and they arE far from r~solved al~o becaue~ we lack
any kind of conarete experienae and b~cauee the Yugoelav experience cannoC
b~ ~ddpted in vi~w df tihe prdfbund d~.v~r~ity of th~C counCry's politic~l
~ystem~
On the~e and ~~.mi.lgr topic~--not to mention Che v~ry C~.mely Copics of Che
economi.c nri~i~ and the governm~nti program--a deb~te within the 1e�t would
be ~ haalthy ~hing wh~le the Cerrain which has been cho~en belongs rather
to historical ~.nveaCigation which, I would not say, doea noe have any pol- �
itical value of ita own, but which can becoma rather diaCracting if it ia
uged Co ~udge the current behavior of the party.
ThQ "new th~ng" to which the PSI, but noe only the PSI, can and mu~t aspire,
th~t new thing resides in the reality of our time and it makes i~.titiie sensa _
to quot~ Prudhon against Marx or all of the others Fahom one could cite, in
order to have a palitical guideline and a modern docCrine of socialiam
which would noC be statisC, which would not be bureaucraCized, which would
nnt be auChoriCarian, but which would always be socialiam, tha~ is to say,
offering maxirtum liberation of man from any oppresaion or any economic,
eocial, and material limitation.
We must recognize thaC a discreet confuaion af ideas has emerged in the
course of the debates. Outstanding peraonality did not hesitate to suggest
the construction of a social democrstic party; othera talked of a third way
without specifying it; atill others, auch as Riccardo Loanbardi, expreased
very correcC coneiderations on the uselesaness of bitter debatea about the
antecedents and about the naCure of socialism, very much different from
those maintained in Craxi's remarks but at the same time they 3uatify and
approve the latter.
Pluralism certainly is very valuable but it is also necessary that we ha~?e
clear ideas and avoid confusion at least on the nature of a party. Nor aYe
w~e ~re going to suggest that Italy, although it is an industrialized coun-
try in the West, has features of its own and is still full of great and
profound contradictions and inequAlities, with entire geographic areas
caught in a aituation of backwardness, with a particular political system;
it is not enough to go back to the examples of mythology to understand the
reason for this; it is neceaeary to pursue the investigation to Che end, '
amid the reality of social relationships, within the unequal economic struc-
ture, within the grand idea and cultural currents which sprang from the
Risor.gimento and even further back. One of these is socialism which never
yielded to Croce's philosophy of "liberating liberty" but which firmly main-
tained that there cannot be any �ull and real liberty if we do not eliminate
the material conditioning factore depending not only on misery--which can
also be overcome under a aystem of modern and mature capitalis~a--but also
on social inequality and the existence of economic power concentrated in the
hands of private owners or Che bureaucracy.
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1~'nit l)i~'1~'CG1A1, USL tlNLY
Tt~~ pre8~ne-dny problemg ~x~ ~v~n mora u~~~nC. xow ~o~ia one fa~i eo ~e~i~.x~
tha~ the inereaeingly biete.r~ appar~ntly doetrinaire debatg be~we~n pSt end
ehe PCI eoneri~uCae a serious threaC ec+ tihe policy o� national unity? Worrie~
along ~ho~a line~ have been expr~s~ed by varioue politica]. exponents and are
cc~~gidered eo b~ quite realiaC~.c. Polieica has its orig~.n and experience hae
eaugh~ ua how Che dynamics o� pos~.ti~.ona which are aeaumed eomehow turn ouC ro
b~ automatic. Z do not inCend here to puti anybody's intentiona on tr~.a1 nnd
I readily bel.ieve rhe leadere of tihe Socialiet ParCy when they asaere tihati
th~y do not intend to creare a cris~s in rha~ policy. ~u~ thinge can aleo
happen by tihemaelv~s, in spiCe of the best inC~n~ions; ~his i~ why it ~.s
neceaeary to corxect and moderaCe, in eime, Cho~e directione which entail
~he ri,ek of legding to eerioue breakupe.
The accord beeween the democra~ic forces and, firat of a11, beCween thoee
on ch~ left, is today more than ever neceaeary if we want Ce save the coun-
try �rom the crieis which conCinuee to bese~ the economy and the inetitu-
tiona, In view of the gravity of present problems and the no leee arduous _
probleme of e socialist society to be built in the W~st, a discuasion on
the docrrine of Che past entails the riak of diatracCi.ng us and hplping
1lttle in eata~liahing the individuality of parCieg which is mani�egCing
itself in the facea of political life even more than in abstract discuseion.
Let nn one Eorget the s~nple truth Cha~ a breakup on the left wi11 only help
_ the righr and the moderates and in Italy today that would render imposaible
any policy of progrees and perhape any democratic policy.
Norberto Bobbio Controversial Viewpoint
Turin LA STAMPA in Italian 1 Sep ~8 p 1
[Article by Norberto Bobbio: "Communiem, Social Democracy, Socialism--
There Is No Third Way"]
(Textj I� there has ever been an agreetaent in It~ly among com~?uniatg and
socialiets, it Wsa only a negative one: an agreement to disagree. In
other words, an accord--with varying motivationa--on what one muat reject
or, better, on what one side and the other publicly declare it must re~ect.
The two poles of socialiem, euch as it really is, or, more preciaely, such
as it is practiced and euch as it is practicable--which, mark me Well, does
~ not mean Chat it is auccessful--those tvo poles are Leninism and social
democracy. All of ~hQ other branda of aocialism--and ir does not matter
whether they are only vaguely outlined or whethPr they have b2en planned
down to the smallest detail--belong to the category of futu,re possibilities,
that i.s to say, they are possible (some of them are however downright im-
posaible).
Well, the only point on Which the communists and the socis.lists seem to
have agreed--at least until the latest development in the polemic whose
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ouca~me wa canna~ ~a yeC ~nrdg~~--h~~ 3.uvolvpd the doub~.~ r~~~ct~.on, eh~
"acr d� eaking dne~~ di~Canca Prom Na~uxal].y, ehe eowmaniaCe alwayg
dissoniae~d themselv~e ~rom social democracy and the socialis~s were care-
iul Co px~serve their diatance ~rom Len~.nism. But the communie~s do di~-
eo~ia~e thpmaelves fr~n L~ninigm ~l~haugh ~h~y e~k~ g~~~~ car~ not tio fall
ineo rh~ ~rms o~ abhorred social democracy; ehe ~oc~aliets~.n turn--as they
k~ep th~ir di.~t~nce Erom social. d~mocracy-- are etruggling hard to remdve
- eh~ ~u~pic3on that th~y might ba fail~ng ~nto ehe arma of the ~uat as much
~bhorred Leninigm.
So �~r Ch~re has be~n conCinuous CeeCimony ~g tc+ Chia double negation on
both sid~g. Th~y have ~uet about become ~n obligatiotiy topic. The moment
a communist pours or ie forced to pour wat~r on the revolutiioriary Fire, he
mu~t urg~ hie convera~tion pa:tner not to confuse h~.m w~.th a social demo-
crnt. Derlinguer stat~d qui~e au~horitatively in the well-known interview:
"W~ want to achieve here, in Western Europe, a social, economic setup, a
~t~te setup but no longer a capitaliat sysCem, a system which would not
copy some of the socialist experiences so far and which ae the game tiime
would not boil down Co digging up again the exper3ences of the aocial demo-
cratic type."
No matter how gr~~+; the variety of opinions may be among the aocialisCa, the
party's official text, the "Draft," after having explained, in a paragraph
devoted to the countries of t:~~ West, why their socialism ia not "our soc-
ialiam" and afCer re~ecting Leninism, atates precisely Chat "our socialism"
is not thnt of ~urupean social democracy either because "the aspiration
of guaronteeing the atate direct control over the process of accumulation
and the main investmenC decision was generally alien to those experiences."
Anybody taho would confine himself to recording similar ritual declaraLions,
= on the one ha~nd, would, on the other hand, be tempted to conclude that, if ~
the accord on the double re~ection is sincere, then the communists and
socialists could easily arrive at agreement also on the common road to be
followed. Certainly, if the disaociation of Che communists from Leniniam--
which is one of the two opposing poles--were as great as the dissociation
of the gocialists from aocial democracy, which ig the other poie, then the
two moving forces aould already have met half-way, at the point at which
the "third way" would open up to beth of them. As for the rest, Berlinguer
talked about a"third solution" in L�he above-mentioned interview, while
so far several among the most creditable socialist leaders have also been
talking about a"third way," about a"new way to socialism."
But in the light of the polemical tension existing betweea the two parties,
a debate which has become increasingly bitter in recent days, everybody can
realiz~ that, in spite of the declarations of principle, the half-way meet-
ing did not come about. There are two possibilities here: either this
third way does exiat but both sides do not see it in the same manner. Or
this third way doee not exist. In other worda, the communists and the
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~ocial~,eCs eon~~,nue noC Co meet, to be d3et~nt--alChough the foxmer d~clare
ehaC ~hey ara no longer orChodox Len~.n~,s~ whi].e ehe 'r.Cter seat~ that they
h~ve never baen orChodox eoc~.a1 democrats--and nowadays appear farehe~ away
~rom each other ~han ever befoxe~O�becauee, each aide for i~~e1.f, hae not
covered ~he en~ire way naceseary in ordar to switch �rom ehe ald ro~d ~n
the naw road ox becausa tha~ new road a~nply does not; exiRt?
To ~ueti�y the choice of ehe third way, botih s~.des--and ~hia likewiee i~ a
rather serange common feaCure among theae two haif-broChar~--always adopted
the same argumenC: the "peculiar~.ty" of the Italian case. Recently there
has nlso been talk of an "anomaly" buC in a poaitive sensa, as if being
anomalous were a virCue. I am sorry about that becauee nf our love o�
homeland but, with respect to coun~ries Co wh~ch we are linked by an inter-
nationa]. ~conomic coopera~i,on pact and tomorrow perhape also by a politica].
anification pace, the peculiarity of the Italian case (anoma].y, yee, but
negative) con~leCS only in our backwardness: as a matter of �act, we must
never �orget rhat we are the homeland of the mafia, of black-~rket labor,
of governmen~ corruption ar?d big tax evaders, o� the mogC shameless patron-
age and tihe moat inept bure~ucracy, and finally, the mosti widespread, t1~e
most ruthlees~ and the most sordid terroriem.
Now, blessed with Chat much peculiari~y, how does one become the h3storical
booster o� a new socialien~ never seen before, how doea ~~ne avoid retracing
~he stepg of thoae who have gone before us; favored by so much anomaly,
how can one try to give lessona instcsau r~f taking them,, asauming the his-
torical task of the teacher rather ichar.~the best pupil; to me this seems
difficult, very difficult, to graep. T,Q me thi8 does not so much look like
a theoretical effort which would rev,uire a cultural tradition quite different
from the one on which we can count,, even though it is most reapectable, aad
a quite dif�erent clarity on ideas, but rather an act of theoretically un-
~ustified and practically, I fear, entirely fruitlese intellectual presump-
tion.
Personally, I aia inclined to believe that this third way ~loes not exist
anywhere and that it would be a mistake due to an underatandable but not
- irrepreasible aelf-love, once the road of Leninism has been clocked an~i
hence can ;?o longer be repeated, as the com~unists themselvea would have
us believe, thus turning one's back rather disdainfully upon the road ~uat
travelled, even though it may be incomplete and fu11 of obstacles, a road
~ust travelled by the Europesn social democraciea, ingtead forcing oneself
to figure out new solutions, rather than making the much motE meritorious
effort to folloc,t those who have gone before us. Is the outcome of social
democracy (which should naturally be socialism) not guaranteed? But it is
always better to follaw a road Whose success ia guaranCeed, rather than
the road which is guaranteed to be unauccessful as demonatrated by history.
The best proof to the eFfect that this third ~vay doea not exist, in mp op-
inion, is that the peremptory nature of the re~ection of roads considered
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impracti.cable ~,s nnt p~r~],l~~.ed by ~u~x ~g n1~ax an ind~.ca~~.on of the new
wgy. And �ox Ch~ re~C, bxillianC decla~at~.ons as~,de, wha~ can one ca1.~ th~
pr~ctico imp~.emen~ed so far by the ~wo ma~or part~as on tha i~ai~.a,~ ia~ti ~.t
not ~oci~l democratic, under ~he mos~ banevo].en~ of agaump~iona? I say
"und~r Ch~ mos~ benavolen~ o~ a~~umpeione" beeeuge, ea ~e11 ~he truth,
wh~n it comes Co ~hn practice pu~sued by the mose progressive social d~mo-
~r~eic partigs, Co wha~ can we compare the le�ti-~�-cen~er govarnmen~,
which we h~ve already experienced, and eha hiseorical compromise, which
ha~ only bec~n propoged so far, if noe, to an expedienti, in Che case of the
form~r, and eo a reCreat, in the cas~ of the laCter?
After so m~ny castles in ehe air, perhaps ie is neceasary now Co begin to
realixe tha~ by th~ term "socia]. demecracy"--in conerast to communie�~; ~u~
noC in contrast to Leninism--^we are referring to a me~hod and not to a goal.
It eherefore makes no sense to ~ux~apoee social damocracy againat communism
which, on tha contrary, indicates a goal and not a me~hod. Its antithetical
term is, if evar, Leninism because, when you ta].k of Leninism, you talk of
a method oF s~ruggie, a etrategy, ra~har than a new socieCy model. Bue if
thig is so, then I frankly do not see how--af~er excluding Leninism which
is inapplicable in advanced aocieties and which at any rate ia so di~ferent
�rom the Stueai,an version or from the Chinese version ~o as to be simpl.y
beyond comparison--the Italian worker movement could fail to ~oin in the
grand river of aocial democracy, renouncing the ~a~cinating but incomprehen-
sible plan of making a place for itself, probably destined eo gather a cur-
rent with rather weak force and with a ahort run.
COPYRIGHT: 1978 Editr. LA STAMPA 5.p.A.
Implicatione for Social Aemocracy
Turin LA STAMPA i~t Italian 3 Sep 78 p 1
[Article by Nozberto Bobbio: "The Democratic Way"]
[TextJ The communists and also moat of our socialista axe accusing the
social democrats of noC being able to overcome capitalism (and this accusa-
tion has been made repeatedly also recently, following Craxi's article in
L'E5'PRESSO). Capitalism as a matter of fact has not been eliminated
either in those countries in which strong eocial deatocratic pa.rties have
been at work for some time. That does not change anything on ~:he facti
that the accusation is extremely superficial and it once again, e::~wa how -
much passion prevails over reason in political debate.
If the terni "social democracy" st311 has a meaning and is not used, as
often happens in the Italian left, as an epithet, it refers to the ideol-
ogy according to which a goal--socialism--car. and raust be attained to a
method, which ia democracy. I do not aee how it could be defined in any
other way. Anybody who thinks he can define it in eame oCher way should
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_ ~e~p �orward. Z re~lly d~ube ~om~ti.m~s eh~e rhie def~,n~.eion ~.e corr~ct
and I~omeCimee khini: Cha~ ~omebody holds the seGret of a differene d~fini-
Cion (whl.ch howaver I canno~ ~.mag~.ne) .
Th~ �act is ~ha~ boeh o� the ma~or par~~.ea on the Itialian left--which never
mis~ an opporCUn~.~y eo make solemn decla~atione on thair aeaoluee faith in
democracy, on Che re~ectiion cf the road of revolueion, on the inev~.tabiliey
o� socialism and democracy, on reapect for al]. tihosa baeic principles which
enable us to dis~inguieh a democrati~.c eociety from an autocraeic society--
appear ra~her infastidious, the connnunist,s always, the soc3aliste, untiii a
~hort tim~, almosC always, when they are considered to ba social democratic
p~rti~s. If you wanC ~o o�fend them, ~vse te~l them thae ehey have become
"social-democraCized"; if you wane ~o p~coclaim eheir decadence or their
degenerat3on, then say that they have t~~ndergone an inexorable proceas of
"social-democra~izaCion." But, withov.ti proof to the contrary, I gtick to
the curren~ definition which has hietorical tradition on ite aide.
Once I admit that, by social democracy, one muet underseand socialism through
democracy, it follawa ehat a social democratic parCy (regardlese of whether
it calls itself auch, it merely suffices ehat i~ render homage to the rule
of democracy) must sub~ect itself to the first condition required �or the
operation ~f a democratic system--which is ma~ority rule. This impliea that
this party, in order to march toward socialiam, muet above all win an abso-
lute ma~ority of the aeata in parliament.
T,t doea not take a very profound knowledge of the histc~ry of countries in
which saciali,st or connnunise partiea have exieted, even for a long time
(paxCiea which, no maCter what they may call themaelvea, have included the
goal of the socialiat society in their program) to know that an absolute
ma~ority of the seaCs in parliamen~ is something which very few left-wing
parties in democratically-run countries have so far been able to obtain and
none of them, includi~g the Swediah social democratic party, managed to
hold on to that ma~ority for a certain period of time. This did not even
happen in France so far which nevertheleas ia a country with a long social-
ist tradition and a atrong worker movement. It has not happened in Spain
and in Portugel both of which have ~uat emerged from a long period of pol-
- itical and economic oppreesion. It has so far noC happened and it does not
seem destined to happen in Italy in the near future. Ra~her, in Italy, any-
body who would even entertain a fleeCing thought of a left-wing altemative
is urged not to entertain any illusions, to hava patience, and Co concen-
trate, if ever, on a long-range program.
Somebody oughC to explain to me how a certgin democratic left--assuming that
is is sincerely democratic and therefore believes that, to put a goverirment
program together, one must have a majority of seats in parliament--ma.nages
to be so easily nauseated by social democracy aad to accuse it of not being
able to eliminate capitaliam when, in order to begin to defeat it, it should
have a majority which it does not have and doeg not even seem to be close to
having.
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Inatead o� criticizing ~.hypothe~i,ca], meChod o~ soc~,al deaaocr~tt~.c government,
whiCh has not ye~ b~an puC tio Chs ~es~ and which, not yee having been put to
ehe tiesC, cannoC be accused of having fai.l.ed, Che Ita].ian le�t ~nd a large
pnrtion oF Che ~uropean le�ti ehoul,d ask themselvea why, in apite of the
- now centurias-old ~n~icapiraliaC propaganda by the soc~.alist parties, at
first, and the cnmmunist par~ies la~er on, the laeeer has no~ yet managed ~
gteadily eo convince the ma~ority of ehe c~.tizena, in almost a].l countries,
~hat capiealism is a system to be torn down. �
Th~ thing ie all rhe more surprioing since the Catholic partiea, in words,
also pro�esaed to be anticapitalist. Bur.is~g a recent debaCe on ehe need
for wiFin$ ouC capitalism, a Catholic alao apoke up and m~3n~ained thaC
"Che Chris~ian Democraeic world cannot be insensitive to the problem." If,
in spite of so many l~.quidators, capitalism 8ti~.ii exists, if in apiCe of the
�act Ch~C the communia~s, the socialiata, and ehe Chrigtians of the most
varied �~iChs continue to vituperaee iC, that capi~aliam, in ehe democratic
- countries, preciaely in those countriea where it is �reely vituperable, man-
ages to hold Che lef~~wing parties at bay and to domes~icate the Catholic
parties, then tha~ meana that capitalism is a system which doea not easily
allow itself to be liquidaCed through the democratic way.
What is the reason for the obstinate re~;istance of a syseem which many dis-
dain and which sll left-wing par~ies have been claiming is moribund, I do
not know how many times? That is the problem. Somebody might suspect
rather cnaliciously that capitalism resista because--at leaat in the demo-
cratic countries--~most of Che adult citizens, those who vote, prefer it to
the opposite system. Bu~ I do not even remotely want to assume that they
could be naive or cynical. I confine myself to making a simple observation:
even where the left-wing parties can freely unfold their own propagaada and
organize their own members, a ma~ority for socialism either does not exist
or is very small (it is never overwhelming, even when it does exisC) and iC
has at any rare always been ephemersl. (To avoid easily predictable emotion-
al reactiona, I am not talking about the biggest capitalist country in the
world where a socialist party does not even exiat.)
But iC seema to me that one may derive a warning from that observation.
Would it not be healthier for a democratic left--that is to say, for a
left which wanta to achieve socialism through perauasion and not through
imposition--to try to unders:and why the moribund does not die, why, in-
aCead, upon every apparent relapse, it flourishes again, and expands and
generates imitators (generally bad ones), instead of r~proaching the inept
social democrats (the so well remembered "social traitors") of not yet having '
killed it?
Here is the moral of the story: Social democracy does what it can. It does
what it can, wiChin the limits of the democratic methods which it declares
it wants to follow. IC does what its political strength permits it to do,
something which, in a democratic aounCry, generally is measured by its
e].ec
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el~ction s~xengCh; ehis aersngeh ao �ax hae noC been gxeat, ir hae noe been
lasting, and ~,C has alw~ya been heavily opposed. Anybody who accueeg i.t of
not bei,ng c~pable ef o~?ercotqing ~he c~pital:Lst eyaCem and of having confined
~,~s~1f ~ even athere it was success~ul 3n forming homogeneous gdm9.niatrat~.ona,
to aorrecting i~ (thus perm~.C~ing it to aurv3ve), is noC reali.zing Chat he
~,s sub~ly revealing his own intolerance for the democraCic methods and his
own lack of confidenca in the validity oE a certain method �or the atCainmenC
of a certain g~a1. Bu~, then! why con~inue to ehou~ a11 over Che place that
democracy and eoci,aliam are inevitiable?
, To conclude, anybody who con~inues to accuse eocie~l democracy of not being
able to defeat capi~alism ahould te11 us very clearly whether he wants
- socialiem alan withou~ democracy (and only in thia way would he be consis-
~ent) or whether he would, at least for the moment, be eatisfied with that
little bit of ~ocialism which, ~.n an advanced capi~aliat syatem, is compat-
- ible wiCh democracy. Tertium non datur [There is no third posaibility].
It seems to me, that in Italy, communists and aocia].iats, instead of con-
stant~.y accusing each other o� betraying aocialiam or democracy, ahould in-
stead began to real.ize tl~a~ ~he th3rd way between Leninism (or the betrayal
of democracy) and social democracy (or the betrayal of socialism) is only
an idea of reaeon or, worse, a product of imagi.nation and since both sides
proclaim their unalterable faiths in democracy, let them, within energy,
' intelligence, and faith--and possibly, by common accord--pursue the only
possible road which in fact ia practiced.in the democraCic countries.
COPYRIGHT: 1~78 Editr. LA STAMPA S.p.A.
Social Democratic Response
Turin LA STAMPA in Italian 6 Sep 78 pp 1, 2
[Article by Giuseppe Saragat: "We Social Democrats--Debate on Bobbio's
Theses"J
[Text] The two articles by Norberto Bobbio, "Communism, Social Democracy,
Socialism," the first of whic~ has the subtitle "The Democratic Way" while
~he second one is entitled "There Is.No Third Way," sta~e the problem of
socialism 3n a eerious and courageous fashion. Almost half of the world--
the USSR and the developing countries--aubecribe to Marxism-Leninism or
dawnright, such as China, to Marxiem-Leniniam-Stalinfsm.
~ This century's history proves that Leniniam and Stalinism have little to
do with Marxism. Marx hypothesized about a society without classes and
withouC a sCate. The dicCaCOrship of Che proletariat was to resolve once
and for all the enigma of history by creatiug a society of free men not
sub~ected to any form of alienatian (Ertfremdung) and hence not subjected to
any form of power, obviously including the number one pawer form, that is,
political power.
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In rhe vexy act of ar~ating ~ soci,eey o~ ~rea men, the d~.c~~tiorship of the
~roletar3.a~ wou~.d el~,mi,nat~ rhe coercive power oE the a~atie. Revo].utionary
v3,olence--tha midwi~e of his~ory--would ehexe�ore undergo rapid deceleration
by vixtue o~ the s~.mul~aneous dissolu~ion of all po~.~.~iaal power.
Capi,Cal3,sm And tihe eta~e disappeared in the very ace i.n which human aociety
foraver became an abaolurely �rae aociety. This is no~ a mattar of examining
how much o~ Hegelian tiheo~.ogy is contained in tiha~ generoua utopia of Marx.
The imporran~ thing ig Cha~ Marx' utopia was tranalated by ~,enin inro polit-
ical rerma eo as completely to turn it upside down. S~a~e capiCaliem has
raken the place of private capital3am in ehe USSR; and the classes have been
replaced by the regime of the bureaucratic c~ata (the bureaucratic ataCe is
, defined by Marx in one of his f3rst writings as the priea~-state); in place
of ehe rei.gn of liberty, a parmanenC dictatorahip, which not only oppresaea
its citizene but which extends ite hegemony over ehe eatellitie states, has
taken hold. ,
The most dangerous tensions which can erupt in a terrifying ehermonuclear ~
war do not exisC between the USSR and the democratic countries of the West
but rather wiChin the ar~:a of the communist atatea themselvea: tha USSR
against China, Vietnam f;gainat Cambodia, etc.
Al1 over the world and especially in Asia and Africa and in WeaCern Europe,
the deatabilizing action of the USSR ia felt continuously.
It follows from this however that, while fasciam and naziem are the moat
putrefied cadavers of history, Leniniem is alive and extends ita acCion
more and more all over the world.
It may be a good idea to note here that, apart from th~ countriea that
are under the direct influence of the USSR, with armed violence, such as
the sate111te states, the other countriea, whicr. are expoaed to the Leninist
temptation are counCries which have never experienced liberty.
And the firat of these countriea is Che USSR itself. Here are the wise
words of Benedetto Crace: "We must not forget that, through its revolution,
Russia has not broken with a regime that en3oyed liberty, nor has it aq13eved
a kind of liberty that is less than what it had before; insCead,
after a long incubation of ideas and spasmodic revolutionary attempts, it
made the only revolution which it could make--and that was not the revolu-
tion of England in the 17th century, nor the revolution of France in the
18th century, nor the revolution of Italy in the 19th century--and those
who were moat fantiliar with its real conditions could already detect the
emergence of forces which were involved. And only the future will tell us
how its people will develop in the future, as is quite obvious, and it
would be superfluous to say here in what way we would hope that it would
develop because this is of no importance and, in ~ny case, it is implicit
in the way in which we conceive human life and ita history and its ideals."
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Croce wae a l~,bara~. bu~ wa soc~,a~ democraes ar~ fully ~.n accord with him
on h~.s c~uC~.ous approach and on his ~udg~men~ o~ an event ~ai a counCry
wh~,ch never expexi.anced liberty ~nd on hia hope for the �utiure. And we
are Eu].ly in accoxd w3~h Norberto Bobb3o who asserte t'haC, in WesCern Eur-
~ opa, thera ia no socialiem thati 3s di~feren~ from tha~ o~ coun~riee such ~
ae Sweden, Norway, Greae.B~itain, and today Westi Germany.
Tha ~arm "social democratic" in Italy today is worae than a diaparagi.ng
epithe~. A w~ell-known feature writer at L'UNITA replied to a col.leggue,
who aeked him why he was so tough on the eoc~,al democrats: "Becauae Chey
exiat." He could noti have been any more gpecific.
We democratic aocialieta think that overcoming capital3e~m can and muat be
accompliahad wirh democraay and nnt againet democracy. We lanow whnt eoc-
ialiem withour democracy is: it ie the worst form of capitalism, it ie
atate capitaliam.
What, then, is democraCic eocialism? Thare ia a 1aw of tendency which, ~.n
the moet advanced countrieg of the Wes~ern World, leada firet of all Co a
poaitive response to the social problema involving the~working clase. The
democratic soci,alist movement ie the moat authoritaeive interpreter of�that
i tendency; tha~ movement, in those aountries, has managed to aolve the pro-
blem of homee for everybody, of hoepitala which are not ~us~ aid atat3ons,
o� schoole which guarantee the right to atudy, at higher levels, for the
most deaerv3ng.
The more a society evolvee, the more gro~s that atratum of specialized
workers who in that society r~?ake up the ma~ority of the populatiion. The
problem of capital, as the enemy to be beaten, ~volves within the problem
of a conaCant struggle for the beat and moat equitablo dietribution of in-
comes among all citizena.
The spirit thar spxings frosn adheaion to the values of liberty, democracy,
and social ~uatice ~avors the development of the labor union movements ~
which increaeiagly placea the worker in a poeition ~here he can effectively
negotiate on hia contract with the employer. The characCeristic featurea
of capitaliam change, leaving room for the entrepreneuriai epirit ~ahich
must not alwayg be~ identified with that of the capitalist. In that progres-
aive march toward a relationship that would be continuously more favorable
for the workera in their dealinge with capital, we muet identify the ob~ec-
tive aimed at a society at whoae limite the identity betw~en the market
economy and capital could be attenuated and, in the end, would disappear.
That, in any case, is the road followed by the big democratic socialist
parties of the Weat.
An abstract socialiat society echeme cannot help but be utopian. The i~mpor-
tant thing is to defend those valuee of social juetice aad political liber- ~
ty ahich in our opinion are indispensable. In aay case, for us democratic
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~ociali~e~, ~hQr~ ig nn oth~r W~y, no w~y oeh~r rhan tihe w~y of democracy ,
and o� ever gxeati~x soc3,a1 ~use~.ce. I~ is ~hexefora at lease g ch~ncy
th~.ng ~o ou~line Che eocie~y we wan~ ~,n absolute eerms and witihout reser-
vations. Oth~re can do ao; we cannoC. By the way, nor even Marx did that;
those who a~ked him 4ox sp~aci~~.c staCemen~s on thaC point, he tiold ~n reply:
"I h~ve no recipee foY ehe kiCch~n of ~ha ~u~ure."
Wa liave a cons~ituCion which eprang ~~om Che resietance and which saye the
�o1l.owing in i~s E~.r~C arCic].e: "Ita].y is a democratic republic based on ~
lgbnr. Sovareiyn~y belongs to xhe peopl.e who exercise iti 3n eh~ form~ and
wiChin the li.mits spelled out in ~he conseitution." ArCic].e 3, Paragraph 2,
' gays: "It is ~he ~ask of the xepubllc to remove obstaclea of an economia
and social nr~ruxe which, in fact limiting 1lberty and equality among c3Ci-
zens, pxavenC the full developmenti of the human individual and the effec-
tive participation of all workers in the country's polltical, eaonomic, and
social organization." Finaliy, in its �ir~t paragraph, Article 4 says:
"'~he republ3c grants all citizens the righ~ to work and promotea the condi-
tions which will make thia righC effective." This lasr article howev~er has
remained a d~ad letter. We have hundreds of thousands of unemployed, ea-
pecially emong the younger genera~ion. The fau1~ lies with all parties that
' have been in power and those o� the opposiCion which for so many years prac-
Ciced the policy of Che lesaer evil. ~oday, Che diacussion ie wide open
and it is to be hoped thaC the ~rrors of the pasC will be corrected.
In his book "Storia dell'Iealia partigiana" the author--who is not a soc-
ialist historian but a historical socialist, Gioxgio Bocca--concludes with
his teacher's worde: "If we really want to find a eynehetic and comprehen-
eive characterizgtion of the historical aignificance of the Reaistance and
of the r~lationship between the Reeietance and the preaent time, then let
us not talk of a~esistance that was exhausted or even betrayed or that
failed but let ue instead tir~lk in terms of a Resiataitce that ia incomplete.
Here we understand incompleteness itaelf as an ideal which is never com-
pletely realized but ~hichy neverthelesa, continuea to nourish hopes and
to arouse anxieties and energies for renewal." The teacher quoted by his-
torian Giorgio Bocca is Norberto Bobt~~.
Not only we d~mocraCic eocialieCs but all responsible politician$ in Italy--
discovering that the ideals of the constitution and those of sacial ~ustice
are never compleeely realized--must be greatful to Norberto Bobbio for having
suetained our hope With hie t~o articles and for having arouaed the r~newal .
energy necessary for the realization of an Italian society that will be ever
more ~ust and more civil.
,
COPYRIGHT: 1978 Editr. LA STAI~A S.p.A.
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Ugn I~a Malfa Ineerview
Rome LA 1t~PUBBLICA in I~alian 5 Sep 78 pp l, 2
(In~erview wi~h Ugn La Ma].~a by Fausto De Luca: "La Ma1fa Considera Break
Between ICalian Coinntunist Par~y and ICa].ian Socialiet ParCy A Dieaster"]
[TexC] "If, on tiha other hand, the pr~cess of recastiing
the two pareies ia a serious one, then they can arriva at
a common program and ae the a].ternatii.ve of ~he 1eft." The
thinge which Lama says are more important ~han the denial
of Leninism. There ie no "third way." It is necessary
for ~he left to experience the Ltalian ~roblem with the
~pproach of the Wes~ and of modern history. Rome. At
thia point in the di,scuasion between the sncialists and
the communists, we needed an arbiter. Somebody who, if
poesibl~, would create a li~tle bit o� clarity, qayi.ng
, whe~her Berlinguer and Craxi are correct, two men who,
although from different positions, keep hoping for a
"third way" between the aocialist of the East and social _
c~emocracy or whether NorberCo Bobbio is right; he says
very drily that Chere is no "third way." We turned to
Ugo La Malfa who always believed in a way to save
Ttaly ao as to enable the counCry to achieve the con-
ditione o� the advanced induatri~l societies.
(Queation] Naw, Mr. La Malfa, would you like Co Cell us what the third r
way is?
[Answer) I read here that thp Catholic University o� Milan has decided on
a 6-day atudy conference on advanced industrial society. The socialists
and Che communiats will talk there. Eat this big talk happens at a time
when modern indue~rial society is seriously compronised.
(Question] In other words, this will only be an acad~mic affair?
(Answer] There is ntuch of the academia world in the discussion and the
important thing here is to reator~ things realiatically.
Modern industrial aociety has been compromised ideologically because the
left has pictured it to the massea as the naked and crude veraion of cap-
italism. And it hgs been compromised politically because, when it comes
to reforming a society with spontaneous development, this has not been
done and now the important thing is to reform a brokenwp society.
[Question~ Craxi admitted that your criticism--regarding the insufficient
underatanding of the left for the problems of 3ndustrial aeciety--is well
founded.
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LAnewer~ Th~t admisa~.on aeems Co me to be a posit~.ve thing provided we do '
no~ now get lo~t in ideolog~,ca1 cloude, diaregaxd~.ng r~a]. problems.'
[Quest3,on] Te1,1 us wha~ ~he "th~rd way" is or wha~ your way would be tio , ~
turn Ita1y ~.n~o a taodexn, aocially less unequal society which would preserve
poliCical democxacy.
[Anewer] When T read in the writings of ~wo socialist authors, such as '
Giorgio Ru�folo and Luciano ]?el,licani, that their recipe is self~management
with [economic] planning, then I feel very worried. Self-managemenC has
been the pet pro~ec~ of Francois Mitterrand. I carefully read the document �
put out by the French socialists and i found it entirely devoid of real con-
tent, I found iC to be entirely illusory. No~ with regard to planning, nat-
urally, but with regard to sel�-~anagemenC which signif ies the exporting of
the mear.e of production. Just th3nk whaC shape we would be putting Che ~
railroads, the ateel 3ndus~ry, the chemical industry, etc., in. We would
have the defects of capitali.sm and of collectivism, together.
[Queation] Wha~ can you say about Yugoslavia where they have self-management?
[Answar] They developed that formula Co have a model different from the
Soviet model but it is sti11 in a totalitarian society.
[Que~tion] It seems clear to me that, as far as you are concerned, there
is no way different from capitalism.
[Answer] Thie is where we must understand each othex. When you separate ;
the world among the countries of real socialism and the capitalist countries,
you are really forcing the issue and you forget what the left has done in ,
Sweden, in Great Britain, and in the United States. Do they not have a ;
left in those countries? Did the left only support capitali~m? Let us be
serious. The left in those countries has corrected the system. Is Sweden
a capitalist country? Is Great Britain? And America?
[Question] To me, frankly, it seems that the answer is yes. To you, Mr.
La Malfa, does it not seem a little bit chancy to deny that AmeL~ican is a
capitalist country?
[Answer] Naturally, I do not deny that; I am not saying that they do not ;
have capitalism thexe. But I do say that they have had Roosevelt; I say
that the most specific thing for the purpose of correcting the capitalist
system came to us from ths Atnerican model.
[Question] And European soci,alism did not produce anything good?
[Answer] In my view, Latin socialism did not learn anything. Mitterrand's
solution is a false solution. If Mitterrand had won, he would have reduced ;
France to the status of Italy. Instead, Sweden, Great Britain, and recently ~
Germany have had a left which was up to the tasks of history .
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CQu~a~ion~ in whar ~~n~~?
~Anearer~ Tn eha een~~ eh~t ha~ achiev~d fu11 ~mploym~n~ and ehat tt h~~
epread culeure ac~d pro~p~dr~,ey among the va~c m~ee~g without breaking ~o~iety
un. Mors ~han in t~rme social democrany i wouid apaak her~ of a ig�t
which hae man~gad Co Crane~orm capiCaiiem in a reformed so~iaty.
(Qu~etion] So, th~re ie no "Chird way?"
~Anewer] No, ehere i~ not. The worid ~e divid~d into t~o partes the
countrie~ of ~~BCC~~1~,8II1 ~~ch a~ it raaily ia" and the counerie~ wher~ cap-
italiam, in 3ee soc3al form~, i~ rorract~d by the lefC. The countrie~ of
"reai eocialiam" arg the depres~ed countri~e (end Marx w~s Cerribly wrong
on thet); ~he cou~.t~ries of devnloped and reformed aocietiy are the couner~e~
of the West. Th~n th~re is a catagory of countr3ae quite by themaelveg--
thoae which have neieher real socialiem, nor a tisformed eociaty, and they
axe the Latin countiriea which, due to und~rdavelopmeat, ar~ running ~he
riek of ge~ting "real soci~liem."
(Quesrion~ What us~ can thexe be in the discuesion currgneiy undar~ray
among the left?
~Answer] It would be useful if we were tio become convinced that we must
livQ our probleme ae Westernere. That makee me think of the Chin.ese, of
the experience I had there. I think that Craxi, Who ie so anti-Y.eniniat~
would also be happy to me~t the Chineae.
(tluestion] Why? The ChineBe are not Leniniet?
(Answer] When you talk to a Chinese, he will tell you that he ie inspired
by Mao and also by Lenin. But that is not Che point. Why are ate so af-
fected by the influence whtch Lenin and Stalin had on RuBSia and not the
influence which they had on Chiaa? We are struck in Che USSR by What the ~
Chinese call social imperialiem or hegemonism; We are atruck by the military
establishment, by the po~er game. There is no such thing among the Chinege.
Thay are going their way in order to get out of their underdevelopment but
the~? do not confront us aith immediate power problemg, such as the USSR does.
This ia why basically We all have a little bit of aympathy for China.
[Questionj Let ua get back to Italy. Did you understaad What Zaccagnini
wanted to say when he talked oE the "revolutionaYy gradual na~ure" of the
DC (Chriatian Democratic Party]?
[Anawer] I did not underatand that. Nor did I understand Why Mdreotti,
in hia article, talks about "boases" With an evideat concesaion to demagogy.
The polemic in Italy so far hag started from the ideology of underdevelopment.
We have fqiled to understand that one caa pluck the feathers of capitalism
but one cannot destroy it.
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F'OR OH'~tCtAL U~~ ONLY '
(Qu~~~i,onj H~ra, Mr. La MelFa~ only Ct~~ R~pubiic~n partiy g~e~ ~w~y cl~~r.
~h~,ngs ar~ ehu~, why h~~ ~hs PRI ~I~ali~n ~tapubl~.can ~axey~ r~m~ined ~
num~rl,ca~,~y ao ~ma11?
[Answ~~) W~ have b~~n equeezed in b~tw~en thre~ idaologi~s oE underd~valop-
m~nt. Tt has b~an said ~ha~ lay cul~ura is d~ad. BuC I would lik~ to ask
Ame~d~l~ i�, it~~~~~d, lay c~i~ure have ~oe wo~, now tiha~ averyboay is coming
c~rouad ro our poe~.tifon~, ar.ying ehce oa~ canno~ nat3onal~za everything, th~e
ie i~ naa~esary to save the marker, that wage~ ara not an indapendent vari-
gb1,~.
(Que~tion) Tha PCI has made some~,d~olag3c~~.reviaion~ and ha~ engaged in e
big pr~cti~ai revision. ie Craxi correct wh~n he asks that all of thi~ be
pushed to the final con~equences, to ~ new ideological charrer?
~Anewerj Communiete and socialiate can move cloaer together on tiha epecific
ground rathar Chan oa ideology.
(Qu~s~ion) no you ehare the accusation of "adventuriem" which has been made
againat Craxi?
(Angw~rJ No, but I can detect Che danger that the diacuasion might remain
only ideological. Ke might then arrive at conclusions which would be embar-
rassing also for the socialiete. When Lama says thaC wagea are aot an inde-
pend~nt variable, Chia is more important than the denial of Leninism; it ia
mor~over tha denial of Leniniam. We can agk the communists to be loyal to-
ward democracy bue on that, I believe, ~e have no doubta.
(Question~ Do you think that Berlinguer ia in trouble in hia paYty?
~Answerj I am not in a poeition to ex~resa ~~dgeme.nta on inCeraal mattera
within the PCI. From the outaide, however, I might ask myself what the con-
sequences might be for Italy if a Stalinist were to take Berlinguer's place.
[Questionj Ie there aome foundation to that assumption?
(AnswerJ I would not eay so. I consider the variablea in Italy's future,
and on the international level we keep wondering about Yugoslavia after
Tito.
[Qugati,on] Can the PSI and the PCI move closer together? ~
(AnswerJ If the recasting process ig real, not instrumenCal and not com- !
petitive, what is the final outcome? Not a breakup, which would be a dis-
aster for Italy~ but the common program.
[Queation] Hence, the alternative of the left2
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~AR ~FFIGIAL U9~ ANLY
CAc~ew~x~ Yae, ~h~ a~,~~rnaei.v~ o~ a mod~rn, W~~e~~rn l~fe and A way oue oE `
tha ~nm~xgenay.
[~Qua~t~,on~ sue a phaee o~ eompet3,eion batween ehe PSI and eh~ PCI i~ air~~riy
und~r.way nnd psxhaps wae ~anevi,t~big~
(AnswerJ The probl~m is aheeher it wi?1 lase too long. The consequences
eould be cataetrophin for eh0 ~olution of itali~n probiama.
~Ques~ion~ Whgr i~ th~ provSng groun8 bafo~e tha congreeea~ of ehe b~.g par-
t3g~ nexr yaQr? ~
~
~An~w~r~ We have it before u~. It ie the adminietration'a 3-year p1an. A
eerious poin~ o~ departure. I hope that the left wiil undgretand ~he situa-
tion such ae it rsally ie. We aiready eaid tha~, if ths plan ie Ya~ac~ed,
or of it 3s impiamented piecameai, wa are ready to puii ou~ of tha ma~ority.
Euganio Scaigari Editoriai
Rome LA REPUBBLICA in Itiali~n 10-11 Sep 78
(Editorial by ~ugenio Scalfari: "Your Excellency Ie Crose Wi~h Me"J
(Text] There is no third way between 9ocial democracy and Leniniam, Nor-
berto Bobbio ~rrote in LA STAMPA. There is no third way batween conmunism
~nd reformed capi~alism, La Malfa echoed him in LA RRPUBBLICA, ueing a
. more appropriate terminology. Ideology is an encumbrance and a pretext,
adds Collerti in L'FX~'RESSO, and the problem ia that of reform. I vas
therefore not wrong when I wrote~-commenting on a receat "text" by Craxi--
that we are Witneeeiag a vigorous liberal-socialiat revival, sven though
that aesertion earned me more than one rebuff.
Ideology is a auper etructure; it eerves to achematicixe reality and above
all to give the people eimplified ob~ectives. It aerves to enable us to
~e from knowledge to action. But in the long run it becomes talmudistic,
it favors the bureAUCratization of ideae. In the end you have to give it
a push and bring it drnm.
We are thus emerging from ideologiam on the left. And the PCI is likewise
moving cautiously in the same direction. It is alower than the others be-
cause, more than in the case of the others, its history is intertwined
with ideology and, more than in Che case of the othexs, it has a mass fol-
lowing which it must take into account--but the directioti of march is the
same. The beard of the prophet--or the prophets--is being cut by every-
body, with scisaora or razors. And what comes af ter that?
rhe real problem--I take the liberty of repeating--is to figure out ~hether
the left-wing alternative ia inside or outside the capitalist system. La
Malfa cites Rooeavelt as an example of great reformism. Thie is a good
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~
`r'Ott O~~~CIAL tJS~; UNLY '
. '
axarapla av~n ehough tim~ ha~ eompwh~~ r~di,m~n~i,on~d ~.C~ ~~f~ct. W~ m3ghe
~dd h~r~ Ch~ n~n~ o~ Sea~~ord Crippa who pexhap~ ~h~nged tha sernc~ure of
Engli~h aap~,~aliem much mora than Roos~val~ manag~d eo do w1,th American
capiC~liam and with tha "Ames~,nan way o~ l~,fe."
We canno~ ~ay ~he game th~ng about the social democraciee of aontinental
Evrop~. Thoea it? the 8cand~navian countriee woxkad in environm8n~e that
ara too di~ferant ~rom i~aly'~ Co conet~~uCe e u~eful modei. ~n ~ermany,
~~l~ium, and HoZ18nd, eoc~,ai damonratic adminietrations--in offi~e for A
long tima in eome caeee-~did not produce any gppreciable reform or redis-
~ribUtion of rQa1 power, ~aith, and the qual3ty of life. ie Bobbio happy
with that? Does 3tammheim saem to h~nn to ba a battar ~netitut~.on than
Portolongone? Do the lawe on hiring "radicais" for civii eerv~ca ~obe
eeem to him tn be an exampla of socialiam such ae it is poasible? Doea
th~ power of t:te Garman Centrel Bank eeem to hia? to bs a modei of eniighe-
ened capiealism? He should be more cautioue and more caraful in looking
ae the facts and ae hietory before exempiifying it with so much self-
aoeurance.
But 1et ue get back to tha Aoosevalt case which in ma~y ways is very il-
luetrative.
He came ro hi,e White Houee at the height of the woret srorm that had ever
hit American and international capttaliem. He tried to bring it under con-
troi (and, we might eay in passing, he aucceeded very littla). Hosa? By
limiting and, in certain respecta, "repreasing" the guaranteeisa ahich had
matured ~ith Jeffereoaiaa democracy. During thoae yeara, the 'bu],Wark of
reaietance to Amgrican guaranteeist liberalism was Supreme Court vhich, one
by one, threW all of Rooeeveit'g big reform laae out. The New Deal vas
diem~ntled piece by piece as a reault of theae rulinge.. Only the SBC and
the TVA aurvived. KoW can one say that American capitaliem orae reformed ,
by a CONSOB [NaCioaal Commiasion for Companiee and the Stock Exchange] or ~
by a Fund for the 3outh? '
:~sn not saying that these are little thinga (but here, in Italy, they s~ere
of little or no use to us). But I do say that even occasions have circumW
acribed and specific aad cextainly not infected by ideologism are unpropos-
abie here in Italy--i.f handied with seriousness aad rigor--without the aup-
port and the conviaced conaeneus of Che va$t popular ma~aeg. There are
three reasons for that: (1) becauae It~aly is not the center but the peri-
phery of the empire; (2) because the papular claesea have for a century
been kept away from the institutions nnd therefore have the habit of Yebel-
lion rather than reforsa; (3) because Italy has aever had a etrong and
forward-looking bourgeoi.aie, capable of governing by paying--as a clasa-- '
the p~ice for governing.
But hc+w can we obtain the coasensus of the popular classes in order to re-
form capitalisw? Are we t,~itnesaing the miracle of the applauding crowds
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e. :
FAR OFFICtAL U~~ ~NLY
i,n eh~ ~quaxes o~ I~&~.y ~n xn~pon~~ to ~h~ announc~taene ehaC th~ ~overnmene
w~,11 qu~,akly paae ~~.aw pxoe~cCing ~xea eompee~,eion? Or eha announaemenr
thaC GON30~ k~,~,~. t!ave ~he pot~ter co ou~ ~he company nonneceiona between th~
banke o~ Pae~nti an3 ~talceman~i ~Ttelian Cement Cnmpany~? Or b8ew~en ga~-
tiogi, anA Mon~ed~,eon?
Friende: WQ are on the wrong track. Per.sonally ~ navar v~naratad any
prophet and ttaie ie Why z look with a certain degree of worry at the z~a1 of
eHo~~ who, t~avi~g d~ciined ehe verb in eheir yourh, eoday try eo pass th~m-
~~iva~ oEE the teachare o~ intaii~ceual 13bert~ni~m. Sue ~ would noe
like the~a op~ratiune of high idaolo~icai "Aarbary" to ~mply any exc~esiva-
1y concreee ob~ertives. The "new philoeophere" gre pleasit~g rhe baekere
aion@ the AtlBneic Coagt a little bit too mueh. 3omebody has ~aid th~e
~ Unired Statee ambassador Richard Gardner had a piece of writing by Proufl-
' hon tran~laeed for himself and that thia hae become hie bed-time reading.
To turn ~~aly ~,nto a wodern, 1ay, "reform~d" ceunery w~ muet make an effort
. ' cov~rin~ sev~ral generaCions and requiring many eacrif3ces. A11 of us mUet
~ rnake thnt e~�ort. But we mueti ~ay: for ~he eake of what. To ge~ where.
And it wi11 be difficult to get there with guarantieeism (as the Roosevelti
cage teachee u~) because, to reform, you have to infringe upon eome "guar-
antee."
_ Dear Bobb3n, I agree with you: there ia no third way. But the road that
you outline certa3nly is not enough; it movee n~iCh~r the imagination, nor
moral sentimente; it does not tranaform rationality into action. Thie ie
why very few will move on that road, with the great ~oy of thoee ~aho con-
sider even you to be a dangerous eubversive.
5058 '
CSO: 3104
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FOR tJ~~fGiAL U~E ONLY
ITALY
LEFTIST 3C}{OLARS SEAFiCH F~O~ 'THIRD WAY' T~0 ECdN~M1IC ~tE00VFAY ~
Themes of 'Third Wsy'
Milan L'~UROP~ in Italian 29 Sep 7~ pp 18-2i
CText~ ~ The debate as to the exiatence~ or nonex~etence~ of a"third way" .
has engaged the beat braina of ~he Italian Left and ie to an ever greater .
extent arousing the paesiona of even the beat-educated aector of publio ~
opinion. Debuting the topic of the "third ~ray" asounts basically to aaking
~hether thera is a visble third model in addition to the two alreac~jr exist-
ing in Eu~ope--the aodel oF refor~ed capitalieo (Nordic aocial deaio ~cacy)
and the model of "reall~ed" ~oaialis~ (the co~amunis~ of Lhe countriee of
Eaatern E1~rope).
In the present iasue L'EUNOPDO ie opening a debate on thi8 topic~ Which is
of auch vast aignific~?nce. The partioipar~ts in ths debate will b~ Luaiano
Pelltcani~ eooialiat political theorist and politic~l couentato: for our
newapiper~ Kho su~asaci:es the six ~ain the~ea thst hsve been dsveloped to
date Kith respsat to the "third xay~" NorberZo Bobbio~ the aoat suthorita-
tive so~ialist philoaophar in Italyt Lucio Colletti~ in the foret5cont of
Marxist studiea in italy~ U~bsrto Cerroni~ oo~uuniat ar~d p~ofesaor of ;
politieal acisnce at the Univsrdity of Ro~es and Claudio Fetruccioli~ oo-
editor of L'UNITA. In our n~xt isaus xe shall publiah other contributiona~
including ~cticles by Giorgio Ruffola and Lucisn~ Cafagna.
Nordic aocial de~oacacy? 3oviet coruunis~~ or a plurslist
econoay and aslf-trnage~ent7 Queatione are being aaked~
and there is controveray xithin the Italian Left regarding ~
Craxi's ahift in podition and Pellicani's "aocialidt ;
�arket." ;
[By Luciano Pellicani]
1. ifithin the Italian Left there is inereasing a~rareneas that the so�called
"reali~ed aocialiaa" can no Yonger be r~dsrded ss a pcsitiv~ reference point ~
for the labor ~ov~wsnt. If a~ything~ ths exact opposite ia tru~s the
3o~iet vod�1 s~rv~s as'a guid~ aa to what ahould syateaatically be avoided
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if en~ wieheB tn p~ce~erve and develop plujcali~tic d~mo~~c~cy. Thie viea ig
nuppor.ted by the highly ei~nifioant atateaent made racently by ~erlinguer
to the effeot that the ~talian communist~ ~'avor a"third aelution"--~ne
different bdth frdm the soeial detno~ratia solution and froa the 3oviet
uol~itib n~-d~epite the faot that he eimultaneously reaffir~ed tha Lenini~t
aharaeter nf the PCI [It~lian Coaa~uniet party]~
2~ Inasmueh ae even Craxi hae spoken of a"third xa;?~" it ean perhape be
ssid~ at the preaent mon~ent~ the~t the two prinaipal conponents nf the
ita~lian labor naveaent--notNithetanding the lively po~ewia in whioh they
are engaged--are ~ooving in the same direction although at differont epeeds
~nd aleng different rosda. 3o~e intellectu~ls of the eoeialist seator
(not~?bly Bobbio an8 Colletti)~ hoxevsr~ rule out ths poasibility that there
aan be a "third wAy."
3. ~rom a methodological etandpoint~ the line of reaeoning uaed by Bobbio
and Col].etti ia not ob~eationable. Tao Nethods of for~.ing the collea~ive
ai11 ~r~ possiblei the deaocr4tio ~ethod and the authoritarian method.
~'rdm a gubgtantive ~t.a?ndpdint, however~ it aeems pre~ature to eay it is
i~apossible to have e? a?oddl of eoeial orga?ni~stion that is not in conforaity
either kith capitalisa+ ar xith eoswunism. Neverthelees, this ig the hypoth-
esig on the baeie of xhich the Sxedish aocial dewarats~ the F~ench ~ocial-
iste and the Italien eo~ialists are operating.
4. A third ~olutien ig poesibls only on ane conditions that d eyate~ of
praductinn aubatantially different fro~? both the capit,~?liet and cnlleotivist
counterpart~ be eu~ceesfully conatructed. At the preeent stage of our
krowledge~ that ayatea of ~roduetion xould appear to be "aelf-Aanagsment."
9uch e~ aystem involves s) retention of the aarket econo~yi b) tranafer of
the a~eana of groduction fron priv~te hands (or t~oa the st,ate) to the Karktre
collectivelyi and c) eslablishwent~ xithin the production entsrprieee~ of ths
~echaniam of repressnte~tion~ in order that the ~nagere xill be eleetad by
the produaers.
5. Retention of the aarket economy ie ~u8tified on the basie of txo argu-
a~ents. The First ~rgua~enL is of n teohnical naturei eli~ination of the
aarket xnuld aean eliaination of the inatruxent tt~t is ~ndispenaable for
the rational allocation of ecarce reeources. The secor?~i is of s political
n~stire~ although it is gLill insufficient, the exiating plvsality of
econamic centerB ie an eesential condition for ths pt~ysical operation of
. the systea of coa~petitive deaoeracy.
6. In co ncluaion, a psssage fro� capitaliatic pluralie� tc~ socia].iat
pluraliea appeare poaeible only through sociali~,atior. of ths ~ket~ inae-
Nuch as h~story ehoxs that xherever the ~?rket haa been eli~inated~ de~oc-
racy and freedoa have been atifled by the reault.~nt buraauacatic ~onopoly
of resources. This does mt exclude the possibility of inatituting econoxic
planning for the purpoee of regulating the overall developa~nt of society~
establiahing certain baaic guidelines~ and interveaing xherever econosie
and aocial iwbalancea 4re produced.
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bbi~ i "I ~?~ee ~ but ~ . . . "
~~y Norberto Bobbi~)
Vith, reepect to P~oint Thr~e I oannot help but be pleaaed that it inaludee
~n a~knoNledgwent of the fact thati the deba~Ee ae to trhe~ther third rodel
af eociety-�eitua~ed eoaexhere in betxeen eoeialieca as aurrently praaticed
and ~apitallsm--doe4 or doea not exigt ehould be regarded as eeparate t~om
the debate o?s to ahether or not there ie a"third xay" between ~~e violent
ennquaet nf pc~xer (Lenl,nie~) and the democratic proness (the ~ourse followed
by the eooial demoara?tie pe?rtiee). We are dealing here with two diffsrent
prablec~ which should nc~t be oonfueed aith eaah other~ for thi8 eonfusion
gives riee Lo the mietaken belief that xhoever deniag the existenae of a
"third xay" is in effect ~u~ntaining that the only pogeibls al~srnative to
eocialiem aa ourrently praetieed--to "realized" eoeialis~--is oapit,alisa.
An exaRple of thia infsrenee is ths obeervation addresaed to ~e by 8oalfari
xhen he xrote in the 10 Septe~ber issue of LA R~PUBBLICA that the diatine~ion
betxeen eo~unisn ar~d eapitallsA ia oore to the point than the distination
between Leninism sni eoa~al dexo~raey. Whereas the latter coaparison
aegutaes that the txo distinet~ons are interehar~gesble~ the txuth is that
they are sub~eet to txo dieaiailar ariteria and tharefore cannot be co~-
pared the one With the othsr. The firet of the txo diatinctions relatee
to the strategie~ that the labor aoveaent can adopt in order to attain ite
own ob3eotives~ whereas the eecond relates to the ob~e~tives to be attained.
There is no re4son to assume that if only txo atrategiee are poeaible th~rs
can likewise be only txo poseib~e ob~eotivea.
Having said this tr~ x~y of clarificaLion I~uat pose a eecond question~ one
xhich ia no lesB i~portant in conneetion with the preaent disauesion~ "What
ie the relationehip betw~en a given atrategy and a given ob~eetive?" In
other words~ onee it is au~de elear that atrategy and ob~eetivsa are txo
aeparate questions xe vust deter~ine xhether the ehoias of strategy xill
e?lso influen~e the choics of ob~eetivee. Thoee xho denounee saeial de~omcaay
for hsving ~ucceeded only in isproving capitalisa rather ~han eliainating i!
appear to bel~eve that oncs the d~~oeratic xay hae besn ch~s~n the ~axi~u~
ob~ective attsinabls by the labor ~oveaent is an i~proved veraion of ~apital-
ia~. it aee~a to ~e that anyone who defenda this thesie can reaeh only one
logical conclusioni that the ds~ocr~tic 4ethod ~uat be abandonsd. Ia such
a cause-artid�et'feet relationehip inevitable? That is the question. I
peraonally do not believe such ~ relationehip is inevitable~ even thaugh
in practice there hae been~ until nox~ a relationahip bstween the capability
of the political p4rties that have acted in accordance xith the rules of
deancracy~ on the one hand~ and the preservation of ths cspitaliat syste~
on the other. Only in a etsictly deterRiaistia aenae~ hoxever~ is so~ething
inevitable ai~ply by virtue of the fact that it exiate. F'recisely becauss
I do not believe this relationahip ie inevit.able :~oaintain that to deny the
axietence of a"third xay" in no xay iopliee a denial of the poaaibility of
a diesi~ilar ob~ectivei that is to eay~ ths poasibility of a third ~od~l.
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~OR O~~~CIAL U3~ ONLY
~t folleas fra~m thie~premiee that the search for a"third m~del" ~s per-
Feetly eeep~tible rri~Eh the affira~atfe~n that a`'third way" dc~ae not exiet~
1~m therefore in virtu~l a~reement w~th thoge who are attenpting t,~ deeign
thi~ neu ra~del~ and ~~in~Eain that the ra~8t appropriatie direction to take -
in thi~ atteapt is thgt of so-called "8elf-~anageAent" eoaialieA. dn tho
dther h~?nd~ I do not believe that it ie possible to give a quiek "yee" ox
"no" re~ponee to thia picopo~al xithou~E !'iret aaking a very thorough inveeti-
ga~Eion of all: the poseible c~nsequeneee~ e?nd xithout t,aking into aeeount
and rsfuting-~rat 3u~t xith thsdretic~?1 srgw~ents bu~ xi~h conmcet~
exa~ples--all of the poesibl~ ob~sations~ To euggsst one poesible ob~ee~ion~
xe knax only too xs11 how diffieult it ia for the li~itsd for~ of d~~ooraay
now extsnt in our reepectivs eoun~ries to funotion. Inas~ueh aa aelf-
. Ne?nagANent is pri~aarily ths extension o#' ~h� ds~ooratie ~thod to all seelore
of sooiety, beginning with ths econoaio �eotor~ iti ie saey to lor~ae� that
the diffioulties ~ttendant on ite implspentation xill insvit~bly inorsase~
in other xords~ it xill b~ neceaeary one� aaain to rsakon xith tha r~eurrent
"fleaoaratio illueion," thst is to say~ xi~h th� bslisf that it suffiees to
give individuals a voiea in order to for� a eollaative will. On the co~-
t=ary, how~vsr~ this abetr~?et entity knoxn as the "colleetive wi11" ie s
purely theoretioal cdncept. in real life there are aa ~?~r individusl
opiniena on a given qusation ss th~rs ar� individw?1e ievolved~ and it 18
only thraugh the procesa of a~unting the votea and doteraining the ~~oriby
opinion that thees individual opinions are able to pacoduee s final deoision.
There is no point in conesaling the faet that this confliet of individual
prsferenaea xi11 not ceaae--and indeed ie proDably dsat~ned to incrsaee--if
the procedursa for the deAOaratie for~ation of a colleotive will are
extended to the ar~~ of econoAio deeieiona. Gsnerslly apeaking~ in for~u-
lating plans fnr eslf-aanage~ent ao~ialie� one no longer apsaks in Ler~s of
pnliticsl parties. Nill the psrLies be irnolved or Ni~l they rat? If t~hey
are to b~ involved, xhat will thsir funetion bs? Arui if thsy ar~ not~ what
n~w Aethode wi11 b~ sMployed to use~bls the individual pref~r~nees?
Beyond this I do not propoae to go~ however. I aa ~xtare~ely intsrest~d in
the developAent of these concepts~ beeauae it is ~y fir~ belief that in the -
light af the outrageoua conduct dieplayed on a daily bssis by the "Leader-
Stats" of "realised" socialiew~ socialia~ ia fa~ed with the i~perative of
"refor� or perish." I belisve, hoxsver~ that thia refor~ requires aoaething
quite different frn� ths ance-over-lightly treatasnt ~t`forded by a question-
naire.
Cerr~ni~ "The Only Yay"
f8y Umberto Cerro ni]
Ar~y atrategy e~ploy~d by ~ature aoeialisa ehould definitely orient ita
critiaise of capitalis4 rat only "with a view to" eaancip~?ting the xork~ra
buL aleo "on the basia of" their desires and the gsneral intncest of the
n~tic~n. In the ifest~ this utrateq~r haa altraya been d~prived of ons of ita
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Cc~nstituent el~m~nts~ 8pealfically~ th~ strategy of th~ s~ci~?1 demanratii~o
p4~ti~es hu eonoentrated a11 it~ efforts nn th~ c~b~ee~ive of a gen~ral
c~r.lticiem of os?pito?1ism~ and the stratsgy of the Leninist p~?rtie~ has
further conpreeeed this ~b~eative into the cdn~ines nf ~ narr~x ~~etarian '
ddatrine~ It ig eignifi~anti~ however~ that aelf-eritioiem hQS besn uruce-
nitt,ing within the soeial demoars~Eia Left, as havs likewiae been the st~espts
at reform xithin the me?3or eommunist part.les. It i~ a gign th~t dny "th~rd
way" muet in fa?nt be canstructed entirely by eombining reBOlute aritlQ~e�
af aap~ta~,~sa wi~h un~eaaing aupport o~ political dea~omca?cy. Td deny the
ugefulnese of~ and need for~ thie third xay ~eema t~ se todAy to be quite
diffiault. Zb der~? the p~eaibii~tty of this third xay ia ~herefore to lead
the labor a~ovea~ent baak to the o1d antitheLieal options that have cuused
the split in ite ranksi either litical dsaaocraay with capitalisa? (and
the ~mpli~d outhdrit~ucl,an threat~or aoeiali~m xithout politioal de~oaraey
(~?nd the implied abandoru~ent of the libertarian ain~a of socialis~). z
A Democr~?ay Beeo~es "3ubvereive"
In reality, tnis antino~yr--fro~en inta the old antithetical concepta ~s?belecl
"1lberal" and "Staliniet"--haa been refuted by the txends of the cante~po-
rary er~?. Ca~pitalie� ia ug~cavating the burden of its rule by de~est.~ating
its intolerance of daaocracy (xitness the etate~~nts aade by the ZScilateral
Conuaission aith r~epec~ to th� "ungdvernsbility" of deNO ara~y) snd by
dieplaying its reaurgent au~horitariaa tendenciea. ~or ita part~ "realiged
eaciallam" ia demonetxating hox diffieult it is for thst eystsp to funotion
in e?ctual practice Nithout aetting in ootion pro~esses of radieal de~oarati-
sation. Xith reepeet to ~,1~rope~ it seeas obvioua that only profownd oh~?r~gea
of a socialistie nature are capable of putting political de~ocracy on a fir~
footing by bringing the xorksrs into aeeoc~stion With it~ and that only by
diecovering its organic 11nk Nith political de~oer~?cy will soeialis~ bs able
to have its genera~ acitiaisa of capitalie� aecepted aa prset~esl and effee-
tive.
At the theoretical level thers ig absolutely aathing to pravent the proce~asa
of sociali~stion of the econony frox going forxard in cadence with the
proceag nf desocratic choice in indt~atrialized countriea whare the xorksrs
conatitute a aa~ority~ or to grevent the praetiee of de~oeraey from aani-
. feeting fu11y its "socializing" and "8ubveraive" content. I abaolut~ly do
rwL believe that the security of contewporary f`re~do� ia tied to the
privats oxnerehip of the neana of production, nor that the effieiency of a
aacialiet aociety need be dependenZ on bureaucrati$ation. Whoevsr bsl~evss
the contrary is continuing either to Lhink in teraa oY a"governed" de~oc-
racy-a de~oarsey xith s per~anent claavage betxeen those xho govern and
the governed--or to conceive of aocialis~ aa purs gtivernmentalisation.
Unce again the discusaion is being cast in ter~s of "paleoliberaliax" ani
"pe.leoco~wunisv," despite Lhe fact that the world haa ehan~ed�
With respect to the eoonovic sodel of the "third xay" xe do havs aeveral
baaic criteria which can be deduced in part froa Mhat hsa gone bsfore. In
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the first pi~?ce~ socia~,i~ation ie no~ aovernmen~~?1i~a~i,on ("ata~iz~~ion")
~nd ig ths~ePore--at one and the se?~e ~ia~e--de~oorati~ation1 ths breakup
of ~~nnp~liea~ �nd :ulf~~laent by the workere of thei~ re~ponsibiiitie~.
In the �aeond p1~ae, one aust take into aeaount--in planning ~?n econo~y
the?t ie in proces~ of soci~~i~4~~on--the ins~Eitution~ of politioal dsNOaracy
ag rreil aa the desiacee and interesta of the oiti$er~ry Ard th� plural~stiio
chsraoter o~ the eentere of ecora~ia and labor union aetivity. In ehort~
the ehangea !n !he c~or~bined plan-snd-Market eyate~ xill liksaias be aub~~~t
to ~he three-xay eontrol of so~en~~~ia cri~ioiee~ pt,liti~al deoigion�Natcing~
and the effioieney that ia required for economio develop~ent. CoeOequently~
there i~ every r~a?eon to bellev� that the #'orxal guarantees eatablished by
law--and likewie� the gua~rsntssa of ir~iividuai and eolleative poli~ieal
freedom --~rill in no reapect be eli~it~e?ted. Most i~portan~E of all is the
fact that the pl~n for estab~ish~ant of the neu aocisty xi~l r~~ain an "open
plan"s tlu?t ia to aay~ it will be neith~r ths pres~ciption of a pollti~al
pe?rty (a "ta?!ce i~ or le~va it" situation) nor a dootrinaise prograa but
rather an analytic, de~oar~tic ~nd ~xp~r~~ental structure.
W~ ~re at ~ croearoada. The dirsotion in xhieh oapit,alis~ ie t~king us
cduld lead ta a aonstsuou~ oppresaion of ~n by ~a?terial thinga and by ~oney~
rsducing h~ tn a co~on 1eve1 in a aaaeified eo~iety tha?t ia ~ynical~
violent and intelleoLually degr~d~d--4 sooi~ty in which aulture~ srt ar~d
saience the~aslves a~o?y languish. In the ~ontsxt of hLt~opaan eivilisation
the labor ooveRent haa the opportunity to initists a nsx~ hietorie and
nable oltertu~tive by carrying ont a revitalisit~g action that ia t`ree flro~
dogmas and is cn~aittsd to a solution of the resl probleaa of huau?n b~ings
and nf natiana. Thie ~?otion xould naurish nct only a progreeeiv ehangs in
�o~isl relationahips but olso a ahared responeibility and colleotive aplr~t t
nn the part of individual hw~an beinga who xill be intelleatually w~althy~
in ehort~ a co~unitarian eivili~ation in xhiah tha ~aterial changes are
aupported snd cadsnced by !he univ~rsal ~rowt,h of t~~~ it~dinidual hwu?n
beings~
Colletti~ Thsre Isn't Any
rBy Lucio Coll~tti~
The "th~rd x~y" not only does not exist ~n actual faot but does not~ at the
present ti~s, exiet even aa a"theoretical ~odel." 1t~ia truth has been
ad~itted very f~rankly by Fraa~c~~co D~ Martino ~ despit,~ !he fut thaL he ia
an advocate of the "third wdy." "It ~ust be acknoxledged~" h~ wrots in th�
~3 Septeabsr ieeue of R~PUBBLICA, "th~?t all of ua ars lsgging f~uc behind in
the cultural and polit~cal elaboration of this third xay~ snd even wore so
in the e~aboration of the dsaacratic procedurea o! t~cansition. No clear
deterNination haa been Ma~de aa to what ~xtenL~ or xh~ther~ prirstd oNnerahip
of the Means of production ahould be preserv~d~ or how the nead far esntral-
iEed direction--indiapeneable to an~r kind of pLnning--can be reoonciled
xith the antibureauacatic strieturea of socialis~{ or hox a socialisL ~arket
could function." A$ you can see. ever~rthing la still up in the air despits
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r.
F'd!~ t)h'f~'t(ttAL U;if. (1NLY
tNa t'~?ct that eve~ sinae thd Eighth O~ngrers in ly~ th~ ~CI he?e be~n
pr~duaing voiunsa and voluses of "cengr~asional" txeat~se~ in which ~t haa
e?tte~pted to give subat~o~ to the "third way"t ff i~ i~ ~rue~ however~ aa
Sta~.in eaid, tha~ "a eheet of paper w~,11 tolerate anything," it is aleo
true th~t a~ greeently dellneated~ the pra3ected third ~ray ie a~ ons snd
the saa~o tia~s oh~?otie~ vague~ overburd~ned xith detail and indefinite. ~
~ also have eerioua doubte Qanaerning th� "~oa~al~s~ p~an~" at leaat ingofa?~r
as it placea itg t~uat in the concept of se1~-management. The preaent-day
indu~trial ecc~naoUr i~ baaed dn ~i~ntic enterpriees (Btael~ eleobric pow~r~
minin~ and eo forth). ~ ent~uet the administration of ~the~e enterprisee
~ td "eelf�m~?nsge~ent" seea~ t.~ ~e to be teahnicul],y imposslble and eaeially
disantroua, not to ~aention the faet that self-~nagement aeeaa to ~Eend
ultia~ately to aggrsvate one ~f the worat evi1~ of adv~?nced induetrial
~ecietieei tha tend~ncy tox~urd Qorporativisa.
I believe that the inaen~iv~ !.o seek a third r+ay steaa f~os one bnaaio error~
the err~r of one~ egain atteapting to se~ a go~?1 thati hietory has da~on-
etrated td be uLapian ar~1 illuaory and that xas outlined a century sgo in
the drigin~?~ Marxist progran. The experieente--Russian and Chinaee alike--
df ~everal decades prdvs that even xhen private ownership of the ~ee?ns of
pr~duatian ie ba?siaally aboliehed the Marxist progra~ ie eLill not fulfi~led.
~br the f'~?et is that labor fnr xages has nnt been aboliehedi ths so~ial
divig~on o~' lat~.r haa not been ebollghsd= the soc~s~ class~a have not be~r
abalieheda ~oney haa na~ besn abolished= and the state has not been
abolished.
Hecause thoee xho aeek a third xay xould alsa 11ke to obtain all thsee
th~nga xithouL having to rasort to the extreae ~easurea s~ployed by th�
Aussiana and the Chinsae~ it is no Kondsr that the "third xay" tree~tieee
and plana--dsspite the faet that they have kept ao ~any sincere people
bu,~y for so long a ti~e--h?ve not yst e~erged f~ro� the st,a8e of ~sre
"wishful thinking.''
There is no poasibility of "edciali~ing" the oeana of produ~tion. The only
~cial~zatinn possible is "etatl~gtion." "Statization," howsve~c (that ia
to say~ rigid and integrated plsnning) entaila the one-party systev and
pnlltical totalitarisnia~~ rat to raention the fact that planning of this
type--axcept in the "takeoff" stages of industriali~ation in underdsveloped
countries--is ecoro mically disadvantageoue~ sub~ect aa it is to bebtlenecka
and aiaseive dysfunctiona.
' The ~uropean Left has for soa~e tia~e underatood that the ~st praaticable
systea is that of ths an-called "aiixed econoty"i that ia to say~ an
acc,noqy conaiating of tKa sectors--one public and one private--bound
together by various foras r~f ecaraAic planning. Thia system (which is the
c~~urse adnpted by the ab~a gr~Br'essive nf the ilestern gocial devocracies).
x~~uld appear h?xever tn be insufficient far the purposes~of our c~untry~
where tc~n aany individual8 desire at any cast to esce?Pe frap the syste~~
even if thta quite siaply �eans exceeding the bounds of camaon sense and
reA~~~n.
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The ~b~~ot.ton raiaed by the~e indtividuals ig alxays ~Ehe eaai~~ i~ you dn
ndt ''eecape" ynu reme.in a pxigener of aapitalisx. Not only is the distant
vigl.nn af these individuals defective~ they cannot even diatinguigh ?rhat
ts olnse at hand~ Du~l-eyateta e~nnomies are no ldnger pure capitali,et
ec~nnca~eB. In the West~ participatiun by the ~tate in the econoay has
~hanged mar~y thinga. It has~ mnreover, altered the exiatence of the great
mass-b~?eAd political partiss and a18o that of the labor unions (suffice it
to n~te tha changed charaoter ~f today'e colleative labor cnntra~te).
A very great desl indeed renaing to be dune~ eapeoially in ~ country wher~e
diaequilib~ium prevails to the extent that it doee in Staly. We ~aust sti11
struggle against the privste interestg~ bo th large end a~nall~ xhn exaat
their tribute fro~ eociety. The hietory df reforae~ hoxev~~ deronetrates
that they not only have naver been put into praotice but have never actually
been prepe~red snd etudied~ refleotirg the fact (and it is a fact) that
preparing a pro~aa of reforms is not nearly se easy as galloping over the
wide open spscea of ideology.
,
Petrucciolii An Abatract Concept
(~y Claudio Petru~c~oli J
It is a strange and disturbing fact that the discuasion nox taking place
in Leftigt circlea tends to be confined ?+ithin the bnunds of "ideology" .
(I use the Zers in the nega?tive eense attributed to it by Marx) and there-
fore runs the risk of evaporating into an abstxact controversy without
having prod ced, and verified~ a concrete analyeis of tha proble~.
It la dieturbing because unleae this error is corrected the Left will
appear to be leea, not nore~ able ta cope xith and to overcoae the proceasee
aet in aotio n by the crisis and to solve the monuAental probles~s that
derive frna? theae pro~eeees.
'r~hat is the centra~. question--the central theoretical and practical ques-
tion--xith which the Left and the labor move~aent ara confronted? it is hox
to combine in a plan~ and in goverruaental action~ profound changea in the
organizatinn of the economy and in aocial relationships~ on the one hand,
xith Lhe protectio n and reinforcai+ent of a deaa cratic and parlia?~entary
political eyatea~ that xill gvarantee and b~oaden individual liberties and
pluralism.
The convictia n that thia is nox the central queation is based not so much
on inferencea of a conceptual nature as on an examination of the current
situation in our country~ on a cx~rrect appraieal of the scope of the
national crisis and the international crisis~ and on the threats and
attacks that have been directed againat the govern,ent and deAOCratic
institutione.
lt ie certainly significant the?t the Italian Left hae been aroused--by the
ha~rd realities of tha current situation--to deal xith the nost iaportant
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quost~on (a question as yet un~ce~olved) in the long and varied history of
the ~truggles and conquaeta of
the labor awvea?ent.
it is significant because it means that the tortuous course on xhich our
cUUntry findg itself is one that requirea an exceptional ef~ort, and
because it means that the Left is approaching this task With great ~trength
and an inten~e fighting spirit.
If xe underetand a~ll theae aspects of the aituation~ moreover~ the aearch
for the "third ~tay"--for a third eolution--becones coore preciee and aore
accurate. It is not a queation of launching into caralietic disav~KaZs of
social deaooratio experience and Soviet experience (xhich have both been
fully atudied and critically evaluated) but xather of acknorrledging that
if the goal is to transfornn society pragmatically and gaarantee the existence
of a democre~tic political syatem~ then it xi11 avail nothing�to repeat the
various attempta to do so that history, bo~~h pa~at and~preeent, has recorded.
for us: attempts lacking either in the first aapect (the transformation of
society) or in the second (the demnaratic character of the pclitical ayetea)
or, indeed~ in both aspects.
The real discuasion co ncerning the "third Way" is stated in these terns,
not as Bobbio has stated it, namely by directing his attention exclusively
to the political syatem~ which is necessarily either deuw cratic or not
democratic, xhereas our attantion is directed not only to the political
syatem (which ahould be dem cratic) but also to social relationshipa, xhich
"should" be changed.
At thia point in our.hiatory L believe the main effort ahould be directed
torrard making a determir~tion as to the changes of an econoAic snd ~oci~?1
nature that n~ust ba made~ inasmuch aa there is already very subetantial
agreeQent that the political and inatitutional orientation to be adopted
should be based on the republican conatitution--the fruit of the antifaecist
revolution.
Retention of ~he .iearket--that is to say~ a market economy--is strongly -
recomwended, as is likexise the system of ''self-nanagement" (the transfer
of axnership nf the means of production to the workers as a~oup). It is.
impossible for anyone to consider,(and indeed no copununist does) abolishing -
the market and replacing it xith nationa:lization of a11 the means of
production togeth~er Kith centralized planning xith respect to the utiliza-
tian of resources and xith respect to the determination of economic eapha-
ses. C~n the other ha.nd, experiment~ in "self-management" could still be
carried out and evaluated~ but it is certainly i.npossible to regard the
"self-management" option as the overall ansxer to the complex economic and
social problems that must be eolved.
Given the gresent-day level of development of the productive forces of
society, given th~e aubstantial influence exercised on the economy by
governmental intervention arrl governmental action~ ~nd given the level
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~dlt ()~'~LCtAL U5~ dNLY
~chi.eved in the evalutidn of the pr~oesse8 of finanulal con~entxati~n and
internatinnal ecnndmic inLegration, it aee~a to ae that the crucial point io
to establieh~ ~nd safeguard, a"de~icrati~ administr~tion o#' the eaonoqy~"
mhig ~bvi~uely does ndt mean elimination of the narket but rather the
r~aliz~tion th~t it W111 be in~pd~uible ei~Eher to nvercome ~he erieis or to
att~in the ob3ectivea of increaeed prnduotion and employment~ in~reased
~uetice and inoreased efficieney by relying on the "free" play of the
spontaneou~ aechaniga~ ot' the maz~ket.
'Socialist Mc~del' CnnLroveray
Mi1an L'EURU pII) in ital~an 6 nct 78 pp 16-20
[Text] The debate on the aub~ject of the "thS.rd xay" hae proved to be no
'~'l~eh in the pan'' (a~ an~e had feared). Initiated thie sutwer in i~he forx
of two interviexe reapectively by E~ricc~ Berlinguer and Bettino Craxi, the
debate ha~ turned out to be antaeuhat a~ore aerioua and dubstar~tial than a
mere political and aultural pole~aic of the type that ~s characteristic of
the aummer seaaan~ Th~s int~rpretatio n ie aubst,antiated by the aeriou sneas~
~ the continuity, and the authoritative nature of the contributiona that have
been made to the debate. The que~t for a third uay--a xay other than thA
txo already extant 1n ~urape (social deaa cratic capitalis~? and bureaucratic
coa?ounisa?)-�repreaent a challenge which the best vind~ of the Left have
shnKn they are xilling to acaept, in the conviction that this is the terrafn
an xhich the fate nf political plwraliew~ and the fate of the free aoarket,
wi.ll be decided.
F'ollowing the contributione by Bobbio, Cerroni, Colletti and Petruccioli~
xhich i.t printed last xeek, L'EURt7PD~ nox xelcomes the contributione
aubmitted--on the same topic--by Giorgio Ruffolo, socialist economist and
preaident of Southern Finaneei Luciano Ca,fagna, xriter.o n economic history
and aecretar to Antonto Giolitti in the EEC; and Nicola Cacace preaident
of the ISRI ~Inatitute for the Study of International Relationa~ and aember
o~ the Central Conuoittee of the PSI [Ital.ian 3ocialiat Party~. The debate
uill continue in the coming xeeks xith additional authoritative contribu-
+.iona.
Berlinguer remains faithful to Lenin. The diopute
cancerning the "sacialist nadel" is becoming increas-
ingly hargh in tone and is involving politicians~
i ntellectuals~ economist$ and labor unionis~s of
every shade of opinion.
Cacace: Nho i1i11 Be Able t~ "Self-Ma.noge" Fiat? ~
[By Nicola CacaceJ
Just as many apeak of Marx and Lenin xithout ever having read the~ (or so
it is alleged)~ so do xe sense that many speak of the ~narket~ of econowic
pluraliam And af c~mpetition x~tho ut having a clear understandin~ of the
meaning of these tarma.
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As Galbraith alsn emphasized recently in Rome~ in those sectors of the '
econo~y Which ~re of atrat~gic importanee Lo davelopmen~E there ie today
no ~enuine economic pluraliem~ there ia no genuine competition~ and there
is no freely functioning n~e~hanism fnr setting pri~es~ Phenomena au~h ae
the "sliding scale" of automobile pri~ea tha~E has been in uae froN ly?3 to
the praeent~ and the cartel.e of ~the ateel co~panies (as xell as thoBe of
other eeotors) that have been organized preoi8ely xith the blesaing of ~the
~C, are increaetngly the rule in ~thie aiarket and wS11 seex to be contra-
dietnry only ~n the eyes of thoge who are still attempting to explain the~
according tn the textbooka of claesic economics. Thoae trho have folloxed~
and analyzed, the profound changes tak3ng place in international capi~Ealiss
kmu thnt its crasis ie caused in 1e~rge ~aeasure by contradictions that have
euddenly appeared ?rithin ite structure aa a result af the a~Erugglea xaged
by the labor movement~ although there ~re other contributory causes.
The ine?bility of capitaliam to provide a measure of ~oxth cowpatible xith
fu11 eaaployment, or an accumulation of capital compatible xith the thrust ,
of the labor union nioven~entt ita inability to reduce the gap betxeen r~ch
and poar, either at the national level or at the international leveli ita
inability tc> bring urxier political control even the most fundaaentAl deci-
sione taken by the multinational corporations= and ite inability to grovide
the citizer?ry, and youth in particular, xith new valuea different f~+om
thoae that relate to aw ney~ violence~ drugs and conmpicuous constuption are
obvious eyaiptome of the crisis of capitalisa--a crisis that i8 to be inter-
preted ae an inability to achieve cartain ob~ectivea and not~ of courae, as
e prelude to a collapae xhich eould very xell be deferred to a dats far in
the future or~ in fact, never occur at all.
So xe coa~e to the crux of the proble~o Is there a"third xay" to achieve
the goal of auperseding capitalism? In my opinion Bobbio ie correct in
saying that there ia no "third Kay" in betrreen the democratic xay and the
violent~ authoritarian xay xhile adding that there can be~ and p~obably is,
a"third model" of societys a t~odel dif`ferent both fron~ the social de~o-
cratic model and from the aoviet ~odel. If this be true~ xhat xe ouet do
is deaign--and test--thi8 ~odel xithout stopping to quibble over how ~e?ny
hairs Lenin had in his beard~ xhile at the sane tise aaknoKledging the fact
that together xith Mao~ Lenin remaina the ~eateet revolutionary of our
century~ for although they deprived their people of the bourgeoi8 ~eedoms .
they have at leaet reduced the incidence of hunger~ illiteracy, infant
awrtality and unemploynent to a far greater de~ee than have the political
leadera of other no nindustrialized countries that have raintained the ,
outxard forAa of these bourgeois freedo~s. ~
;
Tt reaiaina to be proven--eapecially since the events in Chile--that it is
~esible~ in the daveloping c~untries~ to construet a more ~ust society
xhile at the Bad?e time maintaining all the bourgeois freedo~as. In the
case of the industrialized cuuntries~ hoxever, it is only too obvious that
Leninia~a has only historical aignificance.
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Leti us therefnre base ~ur diacuesion ~f tihe model nf a s~oiolist snciety
for an induetriall~ed cc~untry nn the premisee that have noW been aocepted
by the ent,ire Left ~ td wit i retention e?nd extenaion of the bourgeois
freedomat the deroocratic xay~ rather than the a~uthoritarian ways pluralis~
af paliti~al parties= labar union autonomy= acceptat~ce ~f rules of behavior
tnat are appropriate for a Free international econoeiys and retenti~n of a
private aectnr ~f the econo~ay. What then xill reaain to be dieou~eed?
Quite a bi~E~ but by no means everything.
~irst and forsmoet there is tha rnle of the great priva~Ee cc~rporationB~ both
national and nultiru~tional. ~?en if aelf-a~anageaent ia able to do a great
deal to improve demaaracy and efficiency in the snialler ehterprieea~ it is
hardly applic~ble to Fiat or to hospitals and bsnka. Nbreover~ eelf-
management tnuet cope xith corpora~ivisa--the xorst evil of e~dvaneed indu8-
trial encietiee. Againet this background the hypotheeis of self-ran~?geMent
eocialiad~ (in which I pereonally believe) has atill not been developed to
any extent. Befnre underte?king this task (at least in Italy) it nuat be
deaionstrated--by reator~ng the decAyin~ eilifice of the public enterpriees--
that the equatinn "public enterpriee equals inefficiency" is not true~ The
gnvernpaent pa?rties have a heavy reeponsibility in this regard~ but there
are e,lso theoretical and e~pirical shortcdminga o n the part of the Left,
becauee it is not yet cledr hoW industrial socialie� can function Without
large public enterprisea (xhether they be nore or less sociali~ed) that
are efficient snd that exerciae a leaderehip role xith reapect to the great
private aenopoli~s~ eapec~ally in the strategic aectors of the econoa~y.
So long as the Left approachea this queation froa a dofensive poaition, aa
ia the case today, every theoretical debate and every effort to conatruct
a democratically planned ac?cialist econony in an environment of freedoA~
well-being and pluraliee~ xill remain merely good intentiona. Mbreover, xe
aay prnperly ask those xho (euch as Yellicani) assert that the narket ie
the basis of pluralis~, of conpetitive detaocracy and of individual fYeedoxi
"What ~arket7" we aay alao remind thea of the roany casea (fro~a the
Dr~minicsn Republic to Chile) in xh~ch the aarket --do~ir~sted by the ~ulti-
nationala--failed to defend either pluralisa~ or de~aeracy, or freedo~.
Cafagn~~ We Are Not Even E~ropeans
(By Lucian~ Cafagnaj
I ahall make four observations With reapect to P~!licani'~ six points. The
first observation is that I believe there ia no "third xay" but that there
is a"third model"~ apecifically~ Lhe anarcho-libertarian model of a
s~cfety. The second observation is that this Aodel is unique in thnt it
is different in character fYoa either Yeatern capitalisa or coiuunist
' statis~, both of xhich originated--and are governed--in an oligarchic
manner. The third observation is that to speak of a third nwdel cennot in
ar~y xay aerve aa juatification for establishing imposslble equidistances
between den+ocraciea (hoxever iaperfect these de~craciea ~oay be) and
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autharitarian t~l~alltariani~nu~~ nr far lesa~nin~ uur vigilanae in defen~e
ef the den?~orati~ values that hav~ been acquired and in defense of the
r~latively delicate mechan~s~a c~~' den~,oraoy~ The fourth observation ie
that it xould make no sensA to attemp~t te preeant the concept of a third
abdel ae a eolutinn to the awrrent It+~lian criais.
Seekin~ and identifying a"third ahdel" in the context of a?n eNergency
a~tuatian auch aa thig daea~ hoaev~r~ provide a very valuable indication of
thoee aaethode that are "acoeptable~" ar~d thoBe that are "unocceptable~" for
uee in attiempta to suraiount the crie~i.s.
2 eha11 begin xith qy firet observat.ton. To apeAk of a third xay serves to
fecus stLention on a problem xith ree~pect to a~ethode of g+overtwent and
methods nf politiical action. Those suoh as ~obbio and Colletti Nho deny--
~ ae regarda the partiee and g~verna~enta of eociallat inapiration, broadly
speaking--that thers can be a"x~y" g~verna~ent and politi~al action
different fro~n the refor~iet and demaratic xe~yr of the Weatern ao~ial
democraciea and the authoritarian and totalitarian xay of Lhe E~atern
~ommunie~a are quite correct~ sa Pellioani, anreover~ perceives in ~aking
hig third point.
x'he diacuasio n of aadels~ on the other hand~ is an abatract die~uasion of
the general phyeiognoaiee of varioue eysteNa of econoxic, politioal and
aocial organi~ation--a diac:u8s~on that is independent of~the political
forcee in actio n today and independont of the inatrunients khi~h theae
systems have at their dispc~sal to achieve their ob3sctivea. In this csae
it ia ev~n p~saible to di~cuaa the queation xithout any refsrenc� to the
exiating a~ateri4l and eoci4l cospo~tenta of these syateas.
I believe that the "third aodel''--as thus conceived--doea exist in the
trad~tion of Lhe labor aoveaent ar~d further that it ia the anascho-libertar-
ian model, which ia founded on th~ principle of self-wanage~ent and on
renunciatio n of the hier~rchical and authoxitarian stacucturea xhiGh, on ~hs
" :ontrary, the cowuunist forNUla issrves to unify~ etrengthen and gen~ralise.
There ia no doubt that ailliona xho have looked with favor upon the socialiat
concept aince it waa firet publici~ed have "envisioned" the society of the
future in theae teraa rather than in ter~a of a general "stati~ation."
The Initiative Coses Fro� Belox
We should hoxever beware of ascribing to this Aodel the sa~e political ~
impll~atione aa thoee of the other tKO, for it is eittirely different in
character. The reformist action that ia posaible in the oontext of a
capitalist aociety, and the revolutionary action that ia deaigned to effect
coa~plete atatization (and likexiae the eubeequent authoritarian action
deaigned to eatablieh the apparatua to administer the resultant "statized"
ecc,nomy) ars accomplished through the intera~ediary of political oligarchiea
and are expresaed largely in the foro of directives handed doxn fro� above~
regardless of xhether or not the decialon xaa taken in accordtnce with
deawcratic pracedurea.
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The prlnciple ~f aelf-ma?na~ecaent i~ nf a different nature~ hoxever. Se1f-
' manag~ment is n~t som~thing th~?t ann be dictated~ for otherwise it is a
fictian dovo~a ef vit~?lity and withnu~ any future~ t~ ~ust sith~r ba initi-
ated spnnt~n~usly flcnn bsluw or b~ d~velaped thrdugh the mediw of a~nFlicti
~nd, direo~ nag~~tie?tian~
It 1s obvioua ~Eha~ the direot rols play~d by th� traditional poli~ieal
org~ni~e?tioru~ in iMpleAenting a Aodel of ~h~e type hae been sharply reds-
fined vis-a-vis the role they play in connection x~th the other txa typea~
in that theae organizations can ~?88iet and dsfend a spontaneoue gr~aees bu~
cannot take th� plaee of that proeeas. Thia fact obviougly also h~?e iapli-
~atian8 in Ehe area of poli~Eica~ hiatory~
My third obaervation is that s model of thig type cannot be odopted and
followed if it ia intsrpr@ted as being aquidi~tant from tha othsr twn
modela~ There is a t~ndency today in "Itallan cowunist" ~irolee to xeigh�-
~s if on txo balanced pana ~f a acales--the defsats of Sovi~t coauunis� and
thoee of Yeatern social reforaias.
Tc~ do ea ia te perpetrate a~rea~t deception. It is a deception b~couee on
the one aide of the scalea you have oppression~ regiaentati~n and aass
exterAination acco~panied by social gains that are infsrior--not super~or--
td thoae achi~ved by Weatern rafora?isA, Khi1e on th~ other side you h4ve,
at 4.he very worst, excesaive self-satiefaction wiLh liwit~d euca~~s~r that
are less atable than generally believed.
The differsnce is ~roraoue and aust be treated accordingly. In the one
caee xhat you tu~ve ia the cantinuation of a fraud of long standing= in the
other~ an inauffic~ent fulfill~ent of prooises-�if you Will--that haa
ronetheleag t.afcen place in the light of dsy. The preaunption that the nex
model xould be "equidiatant" f`ro� both of the above ia a deception, soreover~
becauae any action by the traditiot~l parties of t.he Left to aid, faeilitate
and prdtect a self-aanageaerit ~oveaent xould be taken in continuity Nith
traditional reforAist action (xhich should~ in euch cass~ be continued and
euitably adapLed) i?nd xould not conatitute a brsak xith the latter.
On the contrary~ auch action in aupport of a self-aanag~pent ~ave~ent xould
in fact involve a"read~uataent of sights" with reapect to so~e of the
or~er~tationa of the traditional refornist action--orientaLions (such a~e the
nationalization of individual enter~rriaes) that tu~ve been adopted even by
the co~nuniata as inter~ediate ob~ectives in lins Kith the ulti~ate ob3ective
di tote~l "statization."
A self-ioanagenert AoveAent, u~reove,r~ appeara possible (although xith gre~?t
difficulty) as a continuation of the traditional refor~iat action in�r~arket-
ecoroAy countries.
Laatly, a~y fourth obaervation. Fbr so~e tiae r~ox the notion haa been
ga?ining ground xithin the Italian Left to the sffect that l.he current
national criais reflecta rwt a nore backxard, but rathar a mre ulvanced~
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stage via-a-vie the ra8t of the induetrial~aed wvrld~ and tha~ in Italy it
Nill thsr~~or� be p~esible to etage a previex of the f~~~ulas ~f the ~utiure.
N~ Thir~ Mdda1
Thoae xho are thinking along these 11nee are~ iu an ideologieal a~r~ee~ trif-
ling xith an illuetrious p~eceden~~ tha~ of t,enin~ who in hia day had
deecribed Ts~rist Ruse~a aa "the ?re~lcsat link in tihe ehsin of 1Aperisl~sm"
snd therefore a viable base ~os xhiah to begin the Norld revoluti~n. I can
only aay that tn lose e~ght of the differsnee bet?teen Rueaia and It,aly (in
terau df sis� and international atatue) is a for~ of "it~locsntris~" which ~
ia rather garochial o?nd partakee eoMewhat of ~asgaloMania. On the other hand,
this ie net the first ti~~ ~hat we Italiane hav bsen rsvealed to poea~aa a
veoa,tion for "prse~inenoe~"
IZ is a soaewhot aor� eerioua ~iatter~ howevar, to forget that Lsmin's worid
revolution ended there~ in Rusala--and erxled the kay it did--precisely
b~ceuse it xaa begun st th� "Weakest link." Nothing good ever coree fro�
"ueakeat linke~" ~ '
The Ita~ian crisie xill not be solved by ~eana of a third nodel. Iti xi11 be
aolved only in conaert xith induatrisl ~rope--with the forces and valuea
that represent ths na3ority opinion there. The "third ~odel~" hoxever, ia
not an saptiy concept provided--and to the extent--that it developa into a
reference point for a conorete, conatructive advancs by the reforaiat forces
of irxiuatrial LLrope.
A SLrope~ that is~ xhoss struatures xe ~uat atill reclai~ by organi~ing at ~ ;
long last~ in acoordance xith thie refor~iet aod+el, our ~ha~otia and insffi-
cient aixturs of corporate aaxi~alie~~ public xaate and antisocial welfar-
lae?--the "rough drafts" of the basic eleaent~ of that reforeis~ (a atrong
labor unio n aevsrsnt coupled Kith high wagea= ar? efficient social s~ourity
systeo= and a poliay of full eaploy~ent).
Ruffolo: Mithout a Conaenaue There Car? Be No Plan
[By Ciorgio Ruffolo )
Modern socialis~ ~uat reconcile txo iaperativeas the thruat for de~o acati-
zation, as expressed in the de8ire of the people to play a direct role in
aaking the decisiona that imolve thea= and the neceasity of coherent plaa-
ning in cannection xith the develop~ent of eoc~ety. `
;
Cornention~l xiedoA say8 that these txo laperatives are oontradictory~ u~d ~
that any aLte~pt to reconcile theA ia the 8aae a8 looking for an "ant the
aize of an elephant." An analysis of ths Way in whi~h aocial systeas (and
in general all advanced systews) dsv~lop cortvinces ua~ howevsr, that theee
txc, iAperatives are atrictly co~ple~antary. In fact~ the develop~ent of a
scciety invnlves an exteneive diffsretttiation of ita aocial atructure sad
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a1e~ entaile the "planning'' of that devalopment~ This planning requiree
e? coneensus on ~he pa?rt of diverse social groupa--a eonaensue ?rhich, ~o~s-
over~ Qan be obtainad only through grea~sr sque?liby in ~he dietrib~~ibn ~f
?+ealth snd in the diffuei~n of pc~ws~.
Z'he propossle c~ntain~d in the socialie~E plsn mu~t be intsrpreted in this
gerue, and in particul~r ~hose tha~t relate ~oi a) the diffusion of poli~i-
Qa1 pdKSr~ by dscentrali~ation of the alate structures= b) the d~~oeruti~a-
tion of e~onoaio poxer~ b Zhe in~raduetian of fora~s of ds~ocicstic control
~?nd of eelf-~nageaent~ the develepaaent of eoop~rativs and aasoe~stive
a~ethoda of administering the e~eial servioe~ and eultural aetivitie`t and
d) planning that ie prepared dena e~catieally xith pa~tiaipation by all the
luralistic 3uriadictiens of eoo~sty~ and that xill ~ulce uee of the ~urket
~of a mdrket that ie regulatsd and ~o~petitive~ rot one th4~ ie reguis~ed
and olig+opolietie) sa ons oF its bs~io inatru~ents.
Thia ~e the cdures that the seei~?liet plan hos propo~~d. IL ig~ to be sure,
the antithesis of the Leniniat podel and aleo of the concrete forn in uhich
that m~del xae i~ple~ent~d, naNely the eyetem of bureaueratic ce?lleotiviawt.
It adMitt~dly gnes far beyond the soeial demoaratio experiMent~, even the
n~at adv~nced ~nd ~illiant of which (as for exaxple the Sxecl~ah experi~ent)
came to halt at the threahold af e~ono~io powsr. It ia no aoeident that
even the Sxedish soeia11st8 have plaeed the probles of industrial de~oara~y
at the center of thsir new prograAS.
Why~ then~ ie there so much ekepticis~ xith regard to the "third xay"? Zb
be sure~ if the "third Nay" is a for~ula of corrvenienee--a rea~y-wa~de devics
to reooncile the tNO opposiLea, Palae and Breshnev, in d kind of aalect~c
and pragmatic aine4trone--it is a xi?ete of tia~e even ta conaider it. If,
however. it ie the viaion of an e~alitarian and de~aocsatic 8ociety xherein
democracy does not atop with the attairuent of a repreeentative political
syste~? and guarantees for the varioue t'reedoms (thinga xhich are aacroBanct
and a~uet be preeerved) but ia also developed at the econo~ic and eoaial
1eve1, then l~ankly I do rot see hox anyone can re3eet it aad yet continue
to call hiaaelf a socialiat (Nhich of couree 18 not nscesaary in order to
survivs). Colletti's invitation to accept the "laxs of the factory" does
mt shnck ae, but I believe that te do ao xould entail "eacaping t~oa
socialisa." As far the eecorui argu~aent, xh~ch oontende that euch a gociety
has "never been aesn~" it appeara te me to be a,eseage "of little eub-
stance." Fbr if pr~greas haa ever had a particular orientation~ I believe
it has alNaya been oriented toxard things xhich at the aa~ent Kare "rot
aeen." irhan it xaa ~riginally eoined~ even Lhe old ad~nnitio,~ Lo "get your
feet on the ground" auat have aeeoed to our anceatorg--as they axung froa~
ona tree branch to amther--to be a foolieh utopia.
The "Korean" Danger
Nn ~~ne, oi' oourae, any longer believsa that the pldn of a eoeialist eociety
is an intrinsic feature of the evolutian of hidtory. Naqy do believs~
hoxever. that bold aolutions are poasible for the tre~endoua proble~s facing
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the w~rid tdday--~oluti~ns tha~ are egalitarian and.demaaratia--and that
it is therefore xorth xhile conb~:nue the 8trug~le~ Whe~eae a future
MA1"ld sh~?ped in ac~~rd~nee with ~he neacapitalietie and aultinational Aode1
c~f S~ngapore ~r Sau~h Kc~~aa (~rha~a tha l~t+~ c~f tha f~?atory ~d di th~
market are fu11y reapect~d) see~s tc~ be neither desirable nor even poasible.
So~ialie~a is ~f churae only "poasible"t i~ ia not an "eaay" couree to tak~.
Ag a j earned ~an onee eaid~ hoxever ~"The ?rarld ia ~ike a pi~?te of
oyatera~ the shella that are easy to open are e~pty."
9~eialiats V~rsus the ~outh
Milan L'~OPD~ in Itallan 3 Nov pp 41-45
[Text] Fb11o?ring the poleaie that has taken place
xithin the Left on the sub3e~t of LeniniB~~ Vittore
Fiore proposee, in the enauing intervieW~ o debate o n
the aub~ect of the relationehip between the Sooialigt
ahift in poBition and the "3outhern question."
The 3ourtuliet and author Vittore Fiore~ Bo n af
To~uaeo Fiore, i8 one of the principal inheritora -
of the "3outherniet" traditiona and culLure.
The proce88 of critica~ reviaion within the Left hag (to the extent that
it haa been co~prehensive and in depth) for a odnsiderable ti~e now been a
ateady prncssa a~nditioned by the inflexibility of the real interasta
involved and by the very preeence of the political partie~--the ~'S9I and the
PC1--Nhich are in cotipetition with eaeh other. The Lsft~ hoxever, is atill
a prisoner of a� ob~active situation that has a paralyzing influencs~ ~ust
aa it Na~a in the iuediate postwar period: th~t ia to aay, the dsbate
comea to a halt Just short of detling with the "Southern question." The
influence of the special interests linked t~ the dual~atic atrueture of the
econo~y chokea off the debats every tiNe it touchea nn proposale to ahange
that atructure.
I shall cite, at leas't b~riefly, txo significant books (one by a aociallat~
~ne by a conwunist) that fall xithin ths scope of qy observationa: "Quale
sncialleMO" [Which 3oci~lisn?], by Norberto Bobb~o, and "Quale detbcras~a"
[Which De�ocracy?]~ by Giueeppe Vacca. The at~y of politica unquestionably
had need of ~ bbio's clear and lucid explanation of the probleus of fYsedo�
and socialisa--problens of which the Left (and all the deaccratic forces)
seea?ingly became axare 60 yeara after the "lteurch on Ro~s" and which Guido
Calogera ~ppropriated (in ar~ article in the OC~RRI~tE DFLIJI SERJ1) tYo~ the
preceding liberal-socialiat elabcrations arsd tYo~ the polanie xith
Eenedetto Croce a~neerning the po8aibility--or iaposaibility--of reconciling
the terma "~ustice" and "fresdoR."
As 1 aeked Bobbio in an "open letter" addreased Lo hi� in AVANTIl~ ahould
rot theee elaborationa, in ordar to be incisive today, take into acoount
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�
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~ p L ~
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In tha abova photo~ontage by Albarto Criv~lli:
Lenin and Craxi exehange partiy instruat~ons.
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~
the current alruo~tt~al and poli~Eioa1 level of ths Sou~hern problea~ Which
frr~m the days of "Unitiy" to ~hs praaent tia~e--xith ~h� bu~cden of the puti
bahind i~--ha~ bi~n an und~rlying faeto~' in the dev~iop~~nt~ and in ths
crisee~ o# our wois~y'~
I asked the ea~e ques~Eion of Vaaoa (who ~oday ie inar~asingly attentiv to
this WaUr of stating the problsp~) dur~ng a dsbate in Ro~a tM?t xaa do~insted
by other Qonoerne of a theorstie4l and practia?1 na~urs. ~ uk~d hi~i
"Mhy--baaed on an ar~lysis of the develop~ent of aap~t~?lieN~ the historical
fara of xhieh has ultiaatsly bssn idsntified xith the divisiob b~tween
North And 9outh--do you not explicitly coae to rs~ogni~s that we wuat deai
first dnd forsNOSt xith ths '9outhern quseLion~" whieh ~esng that xe ~uet
analy~e thi ohang~a t~u?t h~ve ~aken plsoe in Italitn and A~ropaar? oooi~by~
Where~?s in yaur book, de8pite ita sntidogse~tic tenor~ you atop ~uat ahort
nf the proble� and do rot deduce the consequencea af that pr~ble~ in the
spherea c+f aulture~ politica and ~abor un~~niea? I~hat ia th� nsture of
the ~bste~cle that divarta the dieou8aion ot thia point? Likewia~~ xhat is
it that prevsntB the xorking clase of the North~ the ruling olaases, and
public epinion ~o~ 'psrosiving' th~ Seuth aa an Italian question and
aecordingly taking ~onarete and ooherant action~ leaving aside oliehea
bnth old ard n~~r? Is the rslstionahip bs~ween de~wmcaoy a~d eooialis~--
the new atratsgio plan t,hat Mus~ nscessarily bs b~aed on the ~ov~~ent of
the o~aases--~xtran~ona to the pocobleRe posed by 'SouLhernis~'?"
Ia it eaai.er to dia~uas Iwninia� and 9Lalini~~--or even ths invasion of
C$schoslovakia or ths diasset in the 9ovist Union--ttw?n t??e pres~nt status
of ths "3outhncn qu~stion~" xhioh is a oontinuing co ntradiatio n(ths
"Gordiar~ knot" ot the forcea of the Lsft) in our ~ountry?
The unpopular task initially d~wlved upon ths winorities. Zbday--preeiaely
in the ~ost aeute period of criaia--ths aasa-bsaed parties are b~ast by the
very proble~s that xere analysad by the critical ~iroritisa and by intel-
lectuala xho had continuslly been coapsllec~ to deal with the ob3setivs
politi~al and organi~.atior~l possibilitiea of their parties--~en su~h aa
3alve~ini, Rosselli~ Gra~aei and Nenni~ the laat-naaed of who� (at leaat
on the b~sie of hia fa~c~ua book on "19th Centuryis~") oould havs besn
~nc~uded in your cast of ventora alongsids Antonio Lbriola and Rodolfo
Mondolfo. All the revisions--including thoa� of Gobetti~ D~rao~ the
regione~li8t and republiean autono~ista, and the antiprateationiata--origin-
ated l~ng agr~~ and thair authore choee as a aolid foundation the lidt
betxeen the hiatoric for~stion nf ths econotic atructuree at~d the develop-
�ent of the classes snd soolal strate? together xith the acco~p?r~ying `
pc+liticsl and institutional atsucturea.
No Nerciful Veil
Hiatoriography haa, even wore recently~ confiraed the thesis of ths
incapacity of refor~iats at~d wa~ci~aliats alike to solve in a positive ~snner
tha crisis of ths exiatit~g aystet--its ulti~ate crisis~ Mhich had ita origin
in World Nar I and xhich Ciolitti xa?s no longsr in a position to solve.
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~'~ft BFF~C~AL U3~ ONL~`
Why uverl~~k the aohiem~ tha~ ~oat~rad a~ Liv~rnd'? '1"he ~Qia118te Qo~r?nc~L
dra?w a moreiful veil hver the posti of the P3~ and ~C~~ far soei~liea wa8
ddfeated c~n bh� ~~guo tho centrality uf ~he "9outhorn quee~ion~" or=-as
iti x$g o~?11~ti at the tiiae--the ''peag~nt quest~on," xh~c~ ehouid hav~ 1~on
the terrain fer tho hlstierie altern~?tive of the allianae bet~teen w~~~kera of
the Narth and p~aaanta of the Snuth that aaa prop~sed by Salv~~ini st the
turn of the oentury~ it ig preoieely by taking ~he dieoue8ion ba~.4 to the
L~vorna sehis~ ~f 19Z! th~t w~ wi~l be abY� definitivoly ta free ouraelvaa
f~cat~ the err~re aaaaiitited in tt~e pagt. Ile can~ n~oreova~~ aek oureeives
this qusati~n~ D~ th� hi~tor.~~A1 palitical oandi.~ior~--ne?tional and ~n~er-
rv?ti.o ng~--that played a a~naervative rnie and ulti~ateiy openad the do~r
ft~r th� dictatorahip betwesn lyiy and 1y22 ~tii11 ~xist (albeit in a quit~
diffsr~nt context)''
Wi11 N� be ab1� to resoive the nurrsnt eocial ~?nd p~litical crisia of the
system (4nd of the new equilib~riuwa) by ~eana of a renawed "coaproAiee"
" obta~ned a~ong ths varioua conoerned int~reats through the int~r~edi4ry of
the ma3or aaas-bsaed part~ea~ ~a it snough to avo~d 4 sp11t for th~ sho~t
tera or msrely aitigste the situation--to preserve the eyatea--or sheuld
the struoture of the atate ba changed7 Hox can ~he d1d (and new) deatabi-
li~ing logiQ of the anti-Southerniet aodel of eodnomia develdpsont bu
deatroyed'T
In hia dialogue with Giusepps Vaaea? xhich was publiahed pro~inently in
IL lIANIF89Z0~ Riccardo Loabardi contendad that the repla~e~ent for th~ old~
r~w discredited~ ayth ~f ths "dictatership of th~ prolstariat" could wsll
be the ~,yth of ths unity af ths Left, Which wou~.d acoordingly adopt a
cfim~n prc~grsn. The validity ~f such a plan, hoxav~r, le i~pair~d at t~he
very outset. Cenuine unity--su~h ~?s the unity lot~g~e~i for at difPerent
perind~ in history by Basao~ by lbrandi, by Pan:ieri, by Boasio~ by lbntaldo,
by the "Nex Left" aa interpreted by Stsftno Nerli in the fifties, aad
finally by Giorgio Aandola (who cauaed s furor xith h~a proposal for a
~ingle party of th~ xorking elaas)--~uat inevitably bs baaed on new ar~d
d~fferent claaa-oriented a111ances~ that is to say~ nex and different
xith reapeet to thoae propo8ed first by 9alve~ini and latsr by Gt~sci.
This is true priaiaarily becauee the nature of the clasaea ttiaa changed~ but
algo beeauge th~ pereistenL gsp betxeen lbrth aad 9auth eervee to intenaify
the differencs between the interesta of the xorkers and xorking clase of
the North~ on the one hand~ ar~d the peasanta and laborera of ths South on
the other~ erployed and unsAployed alike.
The xorking claas itself haa undergone a ch~nge, and the inflvence of the
peaaantry has di~iniehed aa a reault of eaigration~ industzial~~ation and
the exodus fro~ the countryaide into ths citias~ xhereae the influence of
the wcban ~aiddle clasdes haa inaceased. The poxer of the urban bureau-
cratic eector hae increaaed erar~ausly in the South. The elasa-oriented
Left--even thaL asg~ent xhich is mt recogni~ed xithin the hiatcric
parties--has propagated alogans that ars illuaory and in any event lag
behind the new reality~ xhich in the South used to be called ths "urban
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1 t~'~}k Ul~'t~'tC~lAL U~L' (7NLY
- quagtion"--a de~~an~?ti~n ~uthenticated ~o c1aa~~au~ly by the events in
Regdio~ mhe unity nf the Left~ theref~r~~ ~an b~ achiev~d oniy th6rou~
pollt~cal and ~eei~l unifiegti~n c~f' the N~r+~h wi~h ~h~ 9ou~h~ A Lsft lh~t
fail,~ tr~ ~aalte a e~.ae~-~ri~nted analysls--that ie to say~ a~ analyeis ~f
th~ new c~ ntiradietiana~ of the Bacial ten~~o na in the urban ancl tetropolitae
a~eaa=-u~~.~ ba un~ble to f~rmulate a na?r stirate~r of ali~anae8 without
deepening ~he d~fferaneeg betueen North and 9auth~
An a111anee of the ~rorking ela8~e,~ the Nc~rth uith the urban viddle
elaaaes ~f the 3outh (whieh are df unstabla dea~ eratiQ or~enta~ion) poges
proble~ that are diffieul~ of eoluti~n--auah nore diffieu~t than those
Khich the ~uthernist soeiall$ts had to faee when the f~~a88 aliied xith
pr~toctionis~~ Qorp~rativisa (ir~luatriai and agrarian), dnd at,ats eoeialis~
xere weaker.
Sin~a 20 June 197~ the probleaa haa aanifeated itself in the following
term~~ The greater vea8ure af public app~c~va1 abtained by the PCI~
whureby the eoeial c~apo0it~inn of the party ~ru broadened~ has had the
effect of paralyging a~ncrete aetion deaigned to benefib the 3outh--aetion
which neceasarily imolves mediation o~' the oontra~tir~g apeclfic irtterests
invo~ved (and~ we ~ight add, the oontrasting xagee eart~d) in oom~eation
Nith the austerity pro~caa~ the fight again8t inflation~ and efforta to
eurtail unproduotive publia expenditure. Oontrary to so~e aecounta~ it 18
the overall Folitical and econoaia eituotion~ rather than a deeeitful
Machiavellian poliey~ that has ~otivated the PCI to reach an it~ceen~ent
xith the othar ~reot party nf the eiaaeea, the DC [Chriatian De~oaratie
Party~~ xhich had a~csady bsen ooapelled--khile ~txin~lly sxpoaed on the
Right to ~der4ts sectora and to unitad and batitle-hardened �oono~ic and
financial forcea�-to deal xith proble~ relaLing ta ecoravi~ �ediation
and demcratic atabili~ation.
Waa the Co~proa~iae of 194~f 4"3outherniet" Ca~pro~ise7
Mhen ~ braadsr-based aoeial blos or alterr~tive hiatoric bloc (such as
prop~aed recently by Riccardo Lowbardi) or a refor~ist sllianae (auch aa
prapoaed by F4bri~io Cicchitto} is postulated it ahould be borne in ~ind
that auch a bloc or alliance aould givs riae tn the aaae kind of groblsas
that arose in the first postwar period--proble~s xhich the ~aea-based
fa8c~st regi~e atteApted to reealva in the xay xe all kroN (or should
perhaps study ance again~. Yhen xe epeak of a~n "hiatoric ooapro~ie~"--
xhether xe accept it or re~ect it--xe .ust go back at least to ita histori-
cal predeceaeor~ the "Salarno coapro~ise," and the aona~ce`t~y Lhat Zbgliatti
xanted in 1944. Vae that a"Southerniat" ahift in poeitian? In short~
hox can the sdcialiata help to prevent the Left frot inh~riting the olig,sr-
chic oorporativisus and political trandforoiaa--the hiatoric evil oF the
entire Italian political syate~ and therefore not of the 3outh alone?
Socialiats and ca~uunista underwent an experience 30 years ago that ahould~
however, have taugt~t thea soaething arki deaervea tn be atudied fYo� at~
historical star~dpoint. In 1950 the PSI was faced with ar~ i~portant deeision
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c~n~erning the Sduthern Ikvelnpment ~nd~ a pr~3eat that Nas 1Snked ta the
eff~rte in behalf c~f free trad~~ Thp s~~ialist$ voted in pa.rlia~aent aE;air~et
i,he Fund~ and the c~mmuniets did not make up their. mind until the last aament
(Di Vittorio Nae Sn favor ~f the fund). Ultimately~ hnuever~ even the
en~iali~ts~ ~ided by their cultural and political saturity~ reviaed their
~sition--arx1 that was When~ together with the planner's, Southernis~a "re-
entered the heu~e" af the soaiuliats~ which xas alxeady rich in tradition
and where a feW individuale had kept the lamp of criticiam burning. The
PCI subsequently Na,de ~ realistic change in its poaition Nith reepeot to
p~liaiea--and speaial intervention--in behalf of the Snuth~ aa pro~'ound
changeg were meanwhile taking place in the domestio aituation and the woxld
eituat~on.
Lamg and the Shift in the Le~bor Union ~sition
The~e changee in position--xhi.ch made a common atrategy possible--proved to
be inaufficient~ hoWever~ not only for the reasona I cited pxeviously but
elso becQUee the diecueaion concerning the South hae in eone aspecte been
reatricted in ecope~ deapite the fact that the structural nature of the
crisis ~the North-3outh i~balance and the Southern Italy-Europe dualism)
neceseitates a~herent decieiona that cannot be postponed. Luciano La~aa has
gone auch farther~ hoWever~ beginning xith his interviex in W REPU~BLTCA
aM ooneludit~g with his interviex in the Saturday 26 August iasue of L'UNITA~
in xhich he repeata the coamit~ent aiade by the trade unions at the EUR
[Universal Acpoeition of Rome] to beoo~e a force for change: a force
cspable of utilizing--through the sediua of ita oxn basic decisions�-its
own reaources to give xork to the unemployed. Indeed~ Lama had the intel-
slotual and political honesty~ in his firat aenastional interviex~ to recog-
ni~e the errox of regarding the coet of labor as an independent variable~
whereas RINASCITA had hastened to pole~ici~te againat Saraceno's report at
the Levante F~i~r concerning the inflation of costs (Lewa's invocation of
culture xaa sacrosanet, but the aore attentive of the "Southernists" never
atc~pped talking about it).
But why re~ind the eocialiats uf theae thinga? Simply becauae the PSI is
finally on the right track xith the "Soc~alist ~'lan," by virtue of ita pro-
South content, xherein full e~aployvent, development of the South, and
reconveralon of production are no longer aeparate (and eeparable) objectives
aa in the past (even in Craxi'e book "Coatruire il futuro" [Build the
F`uture~ the aub~ect of the South xas not neglected). The specificity--f~on
the etandpoint of political history--of the "Southern question" today coapels
yet a~ther political decig~on of national arrl ELropean significance.
\
In the "Socialiat Plan" the future of the South is viexed in relationship to
the extreaely rapid evolution of acience and technology--an evolution that _
has led to a nex type of international specialization~ to a nex diviaion of
labor~ and to neN "regional" i~balancea. In viex of the danger poaed by
alienation of the 3outh~ what should the role of the PSI be? It is not
~erely a question of n4t repeating tne error already oomnitted in the post-
World War I period xith reapect to the southern pea8ants and the South, nor
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~
is it a~erely a questinn today (although it is urgently necessary to do ao) ~
of npening up the sytstea to forces that sti11 play no role in econoRic
develo pment. The prnblem extends beyond the borders of Italy~ and I
believe the PSI's opaning to Europe is bas~d on theae truths.
All that remaing is to call the Socialist Party's attention once again to '
the tradition of soc,lalist Southernisa~ xhich had as ita leading theoreti-
cian and agitator Gar~tano 3alvemini and as its standard-bearers Tom~aeo
F'iore~ Carlo Levi~ tinilio Lusau, Rocco Scotellaxo and Manlio Rossi Doria. ~
Salvemini xas able ideally to characterize the PSI aa a"Southernist" party.
It Kas xith ample ju~stification that folloxing the eventa of 20 June Aaor
Rosa--taking the plaae of the great acholar froa~ Molfetta [5alve~ini]--xrote �
that the PCI should rua.kake itself the apiritual heir of Lenin and Turati. The
s~claliAta can reopen xithin the Left the discussion concerning Salvea~ini~
not eo nuch bacause he gave birth to a current of thought that has been
"un~uatly neglected"; nor even in an effort to convince Aiaendola~ Luporini ,
and Carin that the mt~n from Molfetta xas neither an illuminiat, a~oralist,
an individualigt nor a lay prophet xeaxing the "mask of a rationalist"
(--Ga.rin); nor even (although it is an in?poLtant problem) in an effort to ;
explain to us the reasons for Granaci's (and subsequently Giorgio Amendola's)
lack of generosity tnxard the man who had placed in their hands a nex and !
formidable lever for overturning the system through the action of the only
tNO potentially revolutionary forces--the workers and the peasants--but
~ firat arid foremost bacause the comprehensive percaption of history on xhich
~ contea~porasy politic~~l culture should be based--the perception of the
"centrality of the Sauth"--derives dynaaically t5coa Salvemini's teaching.
5alvemini Kas the first authentic discoverer of this "centrality~" and thia ~
fact explains the varioua atages of his action xithin and outside the ~
Socialist Partyi xhether he xas combating protectionia~ and paucasitiss (in
this he xas ruot alona) or fighting for genuine reforas that ?rould reatore
the national equilibrium (oh, these pseudoreforn~s of ours, the pride of the
Left, Nhich are basically anti-Southernist!)~ or xhether he xAS fighting
for universal suffrage, a secular school systeA or republiCan autonoay, his ,
aim xas alxays to eliainate problems that had a degenerative influence upon
the working class and that prevented it from playing a unifying~ national
revolutionary, role. It is therefore not entirely true that he kept hiA-
self aloof from the aociety of the aasses. The "Southern question"--tbe
central problem xith respect to the equilibriums that hAd gradually been !
establiahed on the basis of the dualistic institutio nal~ econoaiic and i
clasa structure--could be resolved o nly by a class-oriented alternative
that xould likexiae be a atate-oriented and poxer-oriented alternative. ;
I should like to talce~ this opportunity~ hoxever, to emphasize strongly the
value of 5alvemini'a concept of the party. Salveaini explored firsthand,
in his paxty's thought and in its action~ the negative and acaxcely creative
impact of its adminiatrative structure~ its incapacity for overall leader-
ship, and its organizational and cultural backxardnass.
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~Ott tli~'FIC2AL USL ONLY
A ~arty Without Yatrdnage
Revite~li~atinn nf the Soci~,list ~'arty ie 1lkexige the ob~ject of
a very
heated debste bnth ~rithin and outald~ the party. Are xe really c~nvino~ed
the,t the cur~rent fervnr should be dire~ted tokard apecifi~ ob~ectiveg~ and
that thig revitali~ation ah~.,uld Nithout fail begin in the South? Are we
convinced that Lhe "Kay" of aocialiam mu~t ne~e8earily be 8outherniet
(without postponing~ to soae time in the near future~ the discusalnn con-
cerning the aocial for~ea that K111 be able during the tranaibion betkeen
old and nerr for~a of rule to deter~ine the inr?ovative thruets that xi11 be
neceeeary in order legitimately to sxpand our influence)7 Md are we
convinced that the draaaatic and dangerous character of the Southern situa-
- tion xi11 entail an exceptional politioal effort aad an uncoaprotaising
paz~ty ~that ia purged of latter-day patronage abuses--a party that xill
ca:ry the banner of a revitall~ed scientific culture~ a party that kill
have trained cadrea in the North and in the South~ a paxty that xill have
an organi~ation consonant xith the dimenaions of the territnrial probleus
and the problsa~s relating to the aut.onomiea and to the dea~ocratia exexcise
of local power~ reginnal poxer and the poxer of the atate--an organi~ation
conoo nant with the diwensiona of euirosocialisa~ xhich xill ba ~eaningless
unleag it has the support of the 3outhernists? Is it poasible that ths
PSI~ Kith its rich and creative cultural heritags~ xi11 renounce the
struggle for 5outh-oriented planning to serve ~?a the baais for ~anage~ent
of the econoAy?
CO PYRIGHTi 1978 Riz~oli Dditore
logy2
CSOs 3104
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i
New 'Id~a' df S~ci~li~m
Mi~an G~~Uf~~PEO in It~lian 10 Nov 7~ pp 2~i-3~ ;
~Camposite article: "A Third, ~ourth ~nd Even Fifth Way"; passages in siant=
lines ~r~ emphasiz~d in the text) '
~1'~xtJ /In short, what kind of society is b~st for the ~utur~? `Che left
debt~t~s the matter in the light of Cr~xi's "soci~list model," but the more
qu~stions are ~sked, the more divergent the answers become. Here are the
latest, '
/Whnev~r h~s followed attentively the many ~nd authoritative contr~butions '
on the theme of the "third w~y" published in L'EUROPEO will have noted that
three positions are finally emerging, 'Che first categorically c;,ccludes the
existence of a"third w~y" besides the twn already present in Furope (the
m~naged capitalism of democratic socialism and the bureaucratic kind of com-
munism of the Eastern countries): in this group, Noberto Bobbio and Lucio ~
Colletti hAVe become the foremost and clearest theoreticians. 'Che second '
positlon is held by those who are convinced it is possibie to chart a third
way and who seek to do so mainly by proposing a more thorough debate on self- !
minagement; they are generally socialist intellectuals whose task it is to
use their talent for analysis and poltical management especially in the area
of sclf-management themes expounded by Luciano Pellicani. The third position,
finally, is generally thati of the communist intdlectuals, whose position is
summarized by a communist, Giuseppe Vacca: it is necessary to set forth a new ;
"idea" of socialism. 'Chis is the very point addressed by the socialist eco- ,
nomist Francesco Forte, the political scientist Piero Melograni and the Chris-
tian Democratic economist Siro Lombardini./
francesco ~orte: the Risk of Another Neocapitalism
Thc debate over the "third way" is certainly nebulous. Even Beriinguer, who
finds fault with it, describes it as not the "third" but the "f~urth" way.
Indeed, he stated in a speech given recently before a lgrge crowd in Geneva
that the way of socialism to which his party aspires "is not that being fol-
lowed in Russia and the Eastern countries, but neither is it the one being
followed by the democratic socialist parties of Europe." ;
I
~
~
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Thus it sE~ms ~t first ~lan~e th~t bosid~s the B~rlin~u~rinn w~y ther~ nr~ ~?t
le~st the w~y~ of c~pit~]ism, democrntic soci~lism and Sovi~t ~olle~tivism.
Of cour~e, dc~rlingu~r knnws how tio ~ount, though not up to four, I presum~
that th~ insistenc~ upon c~liiflg "th~ third w~y" the solution ~dvoc~ted by
It~:i~n communists is du~ to a,precise method of expropriation afld re~pprd-
prf~tidn. A~tu~lly, whut is aa~,led "th~ thi~d w~y" in this ~gse is the intor-
m~di~ry solut~on th~t runs b~tween st~te co~lectivism on one hand and the
c~~itulist mercuntit~ system on the other, ~s ~t does betwe~n the so-c~11ed
peopl~~s d~mocracy of the U55R (which is re~11y the p~rty in power acting
~or th~ pcople) ~nd th~ parliamentary democracy of the West, in which free-
dnms w~r~ formally gu~ranteed but not the ~conomic Cond~tions th~t would mak~
these fre~doms aC~~ssible to nll, 'fh~ ~~third way," then, is nothing oth~r
th~n the doctrine of soCialists of v~rious tendencies: democratic socialists,
srlf-mt~nagement soci~lists, libertarinn socialists and just plain socialists.
Naw l3~rlinguc~r is taking over, ~ bit l~te, the term "third way" for his com-
munist~, 'Chis ~s nathing new. The Soviet Union ce11s itself a soci~list
r~ther th~n u communist country bec~use the word sounds a lot better and
bec~us~ they cttn keep o~ponents from using it. Thus~ for the Soviets, d~mo-
cratic soci~lists nre nnt a variety of socialists b~~t false socialists, ev~n
socittlist fascists.
1'he experience of northern social democracies (in the Scandinavian countries,
Holl~nd, Great Britain, Germany and Austria) is thus depreciated as befng a
variety of cttpitalism and is essentially identified with it,
E3erlingu~r cl~clared in his GenQVa sp~ech that he does not equate the experience
of t}~r soc.ial democracies ~nd that of the Soviet Union~s Oetober revolution:
' the l;~tter is the standard. Obviously, he does not count for much labor's
struggles or union rights, nor the cooperative movement thought out and
built by northern labor and democratic socialist movements. Nor do social
security and free public education amount to much except for the highest
classes and the training and retraining of labor; nor does progressive tax-
~tion. nor unemployment benefits tied to a minimum wage in these countries,
nor anything "democratic socialists" have achieved through refo.r.ms where they
have been long in power.
f~or Berlinguer, there is not even any basic importance in the laws on public '
ownership of land and the nationalization and municipalization of enterprises
in key sectors of public services and for the control of economic power, as
the northern "democratic socialists" have achieved in theory and practice.
It seems that all that counts for rather little for socialism as it has been
and is bcing practiced in the Soviet Union (where unemployment is not admitted
to). Democratic socialism is dismissed as an appendage of capitalism, and
whenever socialists do not go along with the communists, they are given this
label out of ineanness or irresponsibility.
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~oct hi~~t~~tr,rni, USL t~NLY ~
And whut i~ sni~ about the M~idner p1Un, whi~h thc Sw~dish cl~m~ernti~ socialists
nnw pr~s~nt ns ~n organi~ d~v~~apmenti ~f th~ir grndunlistic action? This p1~n
is intended tn nchieve lubor participation in bi~ business through stock invest-
mrnt$ under thr~ controi o~ union snvings; in the long run ~his may coincide
with the sel~-m~n~gem~nt model ~s woll ~s fulfillin~ th~ democratic soci~~ist
m~thocl gr~dualist r~farms and ba~ie demoeraey,
Giv~n this 7ttitude of Berlinguer und his intellectu~ls, there ar~ those who
hav~ rencted by s~y~ng, "the third w~y, thQn, doesn~t exist." I think this
is u mfstgk~. Th~r~ do~s exist g gerlinguer model of g p~GUliar stamp thnt
w~s cdnceived by Catholie ~ommunist~ even b~fore it was established in th~ory
by ~urocommunists, ~nd it is d~ngerously pervasive in our country, It is
supposed to spre~d gradually by means of the historical compromise. It has
prosum~Uly boen understood in slightly different ways by the two parties to ,
this campromisQ. 'f~king, for example, the feudal system (which is more th~n
~n ex~mple), a system with two vertices of powRr, namely, the emperor and the
pope, will h~ve these vertices come into conflict ~t some point.
'~h~ j)OL1ttCU1 essenro of the model is "consociutive democracy" rather than
confliCt. In Qconomics it is extreme associ~tivism, sector plans and links
between b~nking and heavy industry (which is ono oF the keys to future conflict).
~or ~t~lture, it is dogmatic domination of intelloctuals through the purchase
and controlling public subsidy of centers of instruction, research, information
~nd ct~lture, the3r t~keover by conformists and the purge of heretics. Austerity
rules everything.
'Che cleath of Moro was an important event for this "third way," which assigns
a gre~t role to the majesty of the state and to the state's superiority over
the individual. We can say, therefore, that this model already has its first
martyr (however tragically involuntary) and its first hunt for heretics (which
is going on ostentatiously). ~
The economic, political, cultural, "consociative" and "concerted" aspects give .
the model consistency and coherency in admirable doses. This goes against the
~femands of democracy and pluralism, which admit both private economic forces
(and differences in wealth) and elections, with freedom of the press, assembly,
association, labor organizing and pertinent limitations. Party union vigilantes,
placement of party representatives on factory councils, mutual inter-party
concession o~ run-off elections to local government bodies in order to rule
the state in an "associated" government, the elevation of ideologizing and ,
subjection to political power, which seeks to penetrate the universities,
the mass media, the top levels of public corporations, etc., these are means :
for controlling a consensus and escaping direct control by the voters and
the "liberal" clerics of culture.
The Scotti "bill," which is intended to legislate strictly rhe whole wage
structure by forbidding a sliding scale for piecework, night and holiday
differentials, overtime pay, etc., is an example of the new mo3e1 of the
third way. It is, more or less, the law of to each according to his needs.
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S~ too, hnw@v~r, ni~Q th~ d~cidedly bur~auCr~tie ~nd ~d]1~~tivi~tiC ~c~Ctnri~l
plans, which ur~ ~1sd ~mp1y discr~tional,
'Che third w~y blocks r~pit~lism and s~nds it to ~ slow d~~th, if by capit~lism
wr maun an ~c:onomiC m~rket system thnt depends on c:omp~titiiv~ privntc ~ntCrnri~~.
gut at Ch~ s~m~ time, this tihird w~y ~ncour~gas, prot~cts ~nd ~ather str~ngthens
rnpit~li~t~ because it provide~ a fixed 1~nk batwaen b~nking and industry
tii~t ~ubsidizes those who side with th~ people in power,
'Chr third way h~s n cert~in economic r~tion~le of its own, although a~ura~y
r~l~t~ve nn~, gnd u potent attr~ction. 'Che book "1'he New ~conomics" by W.
R~th~n~u, ~ G~rman economist and t~chnocrat, wh~ postulates it b~s~d on th~
Germ~~n c~xpericnc~ in thc first world wgr and the monetary crisis, w~s not
~ ni~ly rc~d wit}~ admiration by the Soviet communists, whose sector plans it
insrired, but it has also had its devotees in Europe for many decades; a
vust numbcr nf bankers, technocrats and intellectuals, In it wAS that system
uf C~rtels ~mong businesses, ggreements between banks and businesses und th~
r~ittonntizcd tias b~twcen priv~te and..st~t~ c~ritalism that is th~ essence of
tl~c third way ~nd the economic basis of the historical compronise.
Ii~ u time of uncertuinty, a hig}~ly organized world may huve its f~scinatior,s.
I~ sutisfies especially the aspirations of som~one who has struggled �or a
long time (first in exile and then in the opposition) and who now hopes for
peuce ~nd the proud security of those who have arrived, if not fully, at
~ le~st ~t a high station. ~rom this standpoint, this model and the diffuse
aspirations that have attached themselves to it could be called not the "third
way" but the "third age."
Giusep~~e Vacca: Provided Labor Is No Longer A Market
Socialism is not a/model/ of society (a determined means o� production,
unique governmental forms, etc.) but a/historical process/, the transforma-
tion of capitalist society into communist society. Its itinerary is set forth
by the /contradictions/ of capitalist society. Its purpose is set by the
characteristics that the protagonists af the transformation /may/ assume.
'Fhe whole process is guided, basically, by a unique motivating idea: the pos-
sibility of organizing economic and social life according to the /will/ and
the /awareness/ of workers of all types in free association with one another.
What makes it possible is the creation of new kinds of /political power/ by
the workers, power that is indispensable both for overcoming the classes that
oppose this and for reorganizing the whole society in such a way that /labor
is no longer a market/.
The principle of all the contradictions in capitalist society is basically
the /reduction to a market/ of any form of productive, working or creative
activity. The worth of socialism makes itself felt, therefore, to the extent
th:~t the market characteristic of labor /withers away/ ("labor" is taken in
a very broad sense here) both in present socialist societies and in areas won
by the workers within capitalist societies.
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If wr b~gin w~th th~s~ simpie ~de~~, whirh, how~v~r, C~fl~t~LU~~' th~ sci~ntific
ncxus u~ Marxism~ th~ "third wny" i~ ~ met~phor, ~s $ood ~s ~ny, to s~y th~t
with respect to recent expQriencE we ~re ]ooking for ~ new and broadQr def~-
i~itidn ot' sd~iali.sm, This is h~pponing not becgus~ th~ ~round cavered su f~r
is in~ignificnnt nr teach~s u~ nothtng but b~c~use in the very aet of furthering
l~bdr'~ em~rg~nce ~rom its st~tus a~ a market the "w~ys" tt~at h~ve b~en fo~-
lowed till nnw h~ve produ~Pd obst~cles gre~t~r than those overcome~
Thls is no minor thing, From the developm~nt of whol~ continents, for which
~apittttism h~d neg~ted ~ny prosp~ct of progress, to th~ ~chievement of secure
and di~ni~ied 1~bor (aithough marketed), to th~ winning of fund~mental social
serviCes (insurgnc~, h~i~lth, schooling, a kind of women~s liberation, etc,),
labor h~s made great strides both in the "st~te regulated capit~lism'~ of the
Wa$t und in th~ eountries that have "achieved socia~ism." If we look at it
from the perspective of world history, the "banishment" of capitalism in one
wuy or Fin~ther beg~n at least 60 ye~rs ago, However, in ~11 its variants,
it h~s b~~n ~ccomp~nied by new ways of org~nizing labor as ~ m~rket rather
th~n liber~ting labor on the decisive field of production. But this is what
all forms of freedom and unfr~edom, in the final ~n~lysis, must lead to.
In thc context of world history, the road that hay been trgveled by the workers~
and soci~list movement is still directed by the hegemony of capitalist me~~is
of production: it is strgitjacketed but has not been dealt a mortttl blow.
'Co look for a"third way" means proposing to attack the enemy on this pofnt,
and not just to commit a willful and utopian act but because a~omplex his-
toric~l development has reached a stage that calis into questi~n both the
production and political models of capitalist societies that are developed
xnd more or less "managed" and also those of "achieved socialism."
riven the resources and needs, in today's world, of the peoples
of whole-continents (primarily "third" and "fourth" world) it is possible to
say "enough" to the old Jrate of exchange/ between developed and backward
countries, and the old balances are no longer possible. Tn the coming decades,
the world will not undergo another cycle of /unequal development/ without the
destruction uf entire peoples and the barbarization of developed societies.
The "managed" capitalism of the welfare state of various democratic socialist
types has become, since the 1930's,,the main protagonist in a SO-year drama
of new and more seriously unequal development in the world. "Achieved socialism"
has not succeeded in breaking this pattern either,because it does not ally
itself practically with the working class movement of the advanced capitalist
countries and does not seem able to ally itself generally with the liberation
movements of underdeveloped nations. ,
Therefore, not only a new way but a new /idea/ of socialism appears necessary,
A debate should be opened on the essential role bf /political democracy/ in a
new socialist experience that will finally succeed in changing the relation-
ships in production. It would not be hard for me to indicate why there are
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~o~ rr rnt. USh QNLY
m~ny arigin~l ~lemonts in dur cnuntry~s ~en~r~1 r~nd pdii~i~nl ~xperi~nce o~
the last d~csdes thut Can C~ntribut~ to ~uch nn ambitious renew~l of ~ocinlism,
flowevar, I~m out of spare, Nenee I must bc satisfi~d with x pre~mbl~ on the
"big systems," thus d~suppointin~ Lhe re~der~' expe~ta~ions, p~rhaps, ~nd
~~rtninly falling short of incisive politic~l discours~.
Pi~ro M~togrnn ~ Socialism Y~~, But D~md~~r~tie ~nd ~uropean
'Chc pr~s~nt deb~t~ on soeialism has ~ very concrete ~nd practical aspect,
It is ~ontributing to the renewal of the it~li~n left and to separating it
further from both Leninism (the violent conquest and exer~is~ of power) and
th~ 5oviet model. The present d~bate, however, is still too ab~tract. It
is s~~kin~ "th~ ide~l model" of socialism and ignoring the f~cts. It speaks
of three mod~ls (Soviet, democratic socialist and self-managing), but in no
casc hns an ndequat~ examination of the existing reality been made.
1) The 5oviet mod~l, This model is generally criticized out of ignorance
~nd fenr, Yet it would be possible to explain to the workers in the street
~nd factori~s how and why they would be the oppressed nlass in the U55R,
Al~o, the middle cl~sses should be told that they are dominant in the U55R
but with privileges proportionate to the poverty of the environment, After
SO years of soci~lism and despite the immense quanLities of raw materigls
avail~ble, the USSR has a gross per capita product eqUal to that of impoverished
Greece ~nd lawer than that of Italy, which is low in natural resources. We
nre not talking about comparisons with the most efficient capitalist states:
a West German has the c~mbined income ~f th~ee Soviets; and a Frenchman,
that of 2 1/2. True, there are inequalities in the capitalist states, but
tl~e faCt is that even greater and more shameful inequalities exist in the USSR
and the nther socialist states. Whoever has studied the facts of Soviet life
knows this well. On the other hand, the left is silent, compared to what it
could say. It is afraid. Iti does not study enough, and it does not under-
stand how much som~ ideas it'now believes in have contributed to the material
and spiritual failur~ of the Soviet state.
2) The self-managing model. In this case, too, any discussion should start
with the facts as they are. In Yugoslavia, some forms of self-management are
already being put into practice. How do they work in terms of productivity
and efficiency? Do they allow decisions to be made quickly and, when neces-
sary, secretly? Luciano Pellicani has great faith in self-management. However,
he has not yet answered the question I asked him last June in the journal
htONDOPERAIO: can a multinational corporation be self-managed? I don't think so.
Meanwhile, though, I see multinationalization as a phenomenon tt~.~t is, willy
nilly, extending itself everywhere (even to the USSR and China) and that we
must come to terms with.
3) 'The democratic socialist model. This seems to be the only acceptable model.
However, it is not a simple model because the practical solutions it offers
may be infinite. It says in the dictionary that democratic socialism "pursues
gradual reforms�within the existing political orders." But the possible com-
binations of reforms and existing orders are immense. Democratic socialist
experiments have been very diverse in appearance but have had in fact an impact
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,
~Oit O~~IGtAL US~ ONLY
nn hi~t~ry w~th reault~ that hav~ b~~n at tim~~ suffi~i~nt, aptimum or cfis~s-
trdus, 't'h~ domocr~tic soCinlist experi~nce of th~ ~r~nrh Populnr ~ran~ must
b~ rennunCOd or~ bceter, not r~nounced cnmpletely but st~di~d in order t~
unclerstand wh~t mu~t nbsolut~ly not be don~, Th~ Sw~dish demdcratir soric~list
rxp~rimCnt, fortunut~ly, hn~ b~en rather diff~rent from the FrQnch in both
form nnd ra~ults, Naneth~l~ss, in 1J77 the Swedish vaters preferred to sus-
pencl it. L~t us not st~r~y ~a far ~fi~id ~nd t~ke ~ iook at Ita1y, In the
l~st 2n yeurs, th~ government has ~dopted many democr~tic socialist me~sures,
tVh~t h8v~ be~n th~ results? The prolifer~tion of public corporations has
f~vorcd p~ra~itism, 7'he n~tion~liz~tion of electri~ity h~s been conc]uded
with ~n entirely uns~tisfectory st~t~ment o~ e~rnings. '~he labor l~w h~~
rnntributed to paralyzing the labor m~rket ~nd even hurting the workers.
In rec~nt ye~rs, "cont~stgtion" in It~ly triumph~d over democratic socinlism
precisely because soci~lism was producing rotten fruit, Now th~t ~~contest~-
tion" has been def~nted, the left c~n attempt a new democr~tic socialist policy,
but which one?
Nor c~n th~ "model" or programs ignore the facts this time, either. '1'he facts
s~y th~t Italy belongs to the ~uropean community. If it wants to st~y in the
Community and remain n democr~cy, it must set about becom3ng efficient and
mod~rn, like France, the FRG, Holland and other countries where democr~tic
soci~lists have come into the government without becoming foolish.
~or more th�~n 60 years the Italian left has been dreaming of the end of capi-
talism. For more than 60 years it has been collecting defeats. It may be
objected that for decades, too, Italian capitalism has been taking its knocks.
True, but by a curious coincidence it has been operating with these very enemies ~
on th~ left, If we look closely, though, the coincidence is not surprising
at all, for there is an indissoluble link between industry and labor. In a
broad sense, one may say that capitalism and socialism belong to the same
culture. Contrary to what many belive, neither the Mussolini era nor that
of the Christian democrats represented the triumph of capitalism. The Mus-
solini regime was the expression of the middle classes and not of modern
big business. I have documented this in a book published by Longanesi in
1972: "Mussolini and the Industrialists." Except for the reconstruction
period, when be Gasperi collaborated with Einaudi, even the Catholic poli-
tical class has always affirmed that its culture was foreign to that of
modern capitalism.
. Berlinguer and his Catholic counselors are proposing a~'historical compromise"
with this political class. They are proposing it for many and complex reasons. ~
It is not to be excluded that they may feel that both cultures, communist and
Catholic, can find room for agreement in their aversion to modern capitalism
and liberalism. We may suspect that the very formula of "austerity" proposed
by Berlinguer and his Catholic counselors indicates not a transitory economic
policy (necessary to put production and consumption back in circulation as
soon as possible) but a real, ,true "value" of the new society: austerity as�
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r~nu~ci~tion of consum~rism ~nci the "pomp" of th~ worid, th~ Sovi~t madel
df so~iety doos, for thnt m~t~er,
Th~ tr~ditidr~s of d~mocratic soci~lism favor a radic~lly different historical
~omprami~~ fmm Derlinguer~s. The democr~tic soci~list left ean st~il m~k~
~ pace with w'~at remains of modern capital3sm ir~ italy ifl an ~tt~mpt ta ~~~1~
~ w~y out of th~ present crisis, As in gny de~l, both p~rti~g wi11 givc and
take, If th~ :le~l is defin~d cl~arly, miliions of italians wi11 subscribe to
it; th~y sti11 want to work, create and live b~tter than their ancestors.
Aust~rity wi11 not b~ populgr ~ny mor~,
51ro Lombnrdini: nut No (?ne Has S~id IVho IVill Govern
The deb~te on the third way has cultural contents gnd political motives. `1"he
politicul mntives hnve, predictably, adulter~t~d the "culturnl" discussion.
A~tually, it h~s d~veloped along two main lines; an illuministic historic~l
cnntext and ~ pur~ly ideological one.
P~st ~xp~rience le~ds ~obbio to recall that there are only 2 roads: the
[.~ninist, which shnws u sufficiently homogeneous experience, and the demncr~tic
socinlist, whose political structuresand historical experien~e are not homo-
geneous. 'Che democratic socialist total variety of experience is pnssible
precisely on th~ basis of an illuministic conception, according to which the
quest for more advanced social structures is "always" possible in a democratic
p~~rliamentary context. 7'he choice between the two ways. and tl~e a priori
exclusion of a third way is already implicit in this conception.
I tiiink we c:an take for granted that at a certain level of development any
socinl structure cannot be considered advanced if it does not conserve ~nd
develop the values of democracy. On the other hand, the support of the left,
an increasingly ambiguous term, however, cannot be said to be necessary (let
alone sufficient) to guarantee either the permxnence of the democratic system
or its development towards more advanced social structures. What is needed
for an unequivocal discussion of these themes is first to isolat~ primarily
by analysis oF the economic system, the historical reasons for which the
present system can go into crisis and out of this crisis bring forth a system
that bears some resemblance to the emerging ideology and that must result
from an interaction between the understanding and valuation of the historical
prncess and so may be considered sncially more advanced. A historical analysis
frec of illuministic prejudices, besides creating a crisis for the bipolariza-
tion of the "two ways," shows that it is impossible to resort to either of them
in the c~se of Italy because of their peculiarties and the new problems that
historical development presents, as I sought to explain in my article in RINAS-
CITA of 29 September. Maybe no third way exists; but then there is something
missing, which is a hypothesis that can certainly not be accepted as the "hypo-
thesis of labor." ~
Others arrive at the third way with essentially ideological arguments (in par-
ticular Cicchitto; see his article in the 7 October issue of GIORNO). The
third way would then be a political choice. There is a third socialist way
and a third communist way; these praducts will be offered to the voters, who
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may th~n ~hadse, C~~~hitto lnek~ ~ serious ~nalysis di the erisis of th~
prosent econnmi~ syst~m, over~oming which cri~is wi11 brin~ ~bout irrev~r-
sible mddifi~~tions in ~ome ess~nti~l ch~rneteristiCS of C~pitalism insof~r
~y th~ marhnnisms of ae~umulation ~nd the relev~nce oF pubiic demand (soci~l
s~rvi~e~) ttr~ concern~d, whcnr~ it becomes possible ~nd nec~ss~ry to shap~
nh~~d di tim~ by m~nn~ af p~litical decisions tho kind of developm~nL that
in rnpit~lism is g~ner~ily left up to the m~rketplace,
Let m~ m~~ke Something c1e~r. When we t~lk ~bout the crisis of capit~lism,
w~ nrc not s~ying th~t ~ cru~l rev~lutiion or some oth~r kind of breakup is
in~vitabl~ in th~ politi~~l ~nd soci~l system, '1'he present structural crisis
mny su~c~ed in gestating a n~w soci~l sy~tem. Since it is ~ matter of realizing
how irrev~rsible the modific~tions are that are being made in the structure
of powcr, it is unthink~ble, at least in situations like Italy~s, th~t the
rr~sent crisis will be solved through a bipgrtisan political system, as I
attempted to explain in my ~rticlQ in LA DISCUSSIONE of 25 September, Can
the new system still be considered a c~pitalist one? After a11, it must
take over the bus~ness functions of a mortally wounded state capitalism
and ropla~:e the action of the m~~ketplace with planning. I hold, rather,
that it ~an no longer be considered a capitalist system because th~~ direction
of development is no longer determined by the marketplgce, and the accurt~,ula-
tion of capital is decided resp~msibly by the collective. This is a semantic
question th~t is not i:ielevant to ideology but which should not be prejudiced
by cnnsiderations ~f present processes and planni.ng.
The discussion os' the third way is ideotc~gically motivated. 1t is highty
desir~~.~:e that thc purties requin their ideological identities. The arti-
eul:t.ed convergence~ that are necessary practi.cs.l:y to overcome the structural
crisis can be put in real danger by ideological entropy, which reduces poli-
tics to pure pragmatism. One cannot fail to worry about the ideological
recovery (or fall?) of a party (the PSI [Italian Socialist Party]) destroying
the possibility of articulated convergences. Not so much for the equivocal
political position of the Socialist Party, which us~s various arguments to
exclude a government with the communists because the latter are still Leninist
(nor do I think Craxi expects. his invitation to the Communist Party to
change its ideology as it would change its clothes to have the desired effect)
and detests the alliance with the DC [Christian Democratic Party], which is
considered a conservative party (a judgment, moreover, that contrasts in Cic-
chitto's article with his evaluation of the center-left experience). So much
for the political prospects as they now appear.
I have alw~ys hoped for a strengthening of the PSI, which I consider a condi-
tion of maintaining a cultural and political articulation indispensable for
our country, bilt if this strengthening takes place on account of the success
of Craxi's strategy, our democratic system will be put in serious danger.
Let us imagine the political situation that would prevail after elections
that gave the PSI 6 or 7 more points but pushed the PCI towards, shall we
say, somewhat more "radical" positions. A PCI-PSI government becomes impos-
sible; a DC-PCI alliance becomes unimaginable. The return to the center-
left would not be accepted, and with reason, by the PSI. Only a government
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Ied by the PSI with CD partic~pation would remain, But you don't hav~ to
look very f~r to se~ th~t such ~~overnment wouid c~rt~iniy not be up to
governing the country, and it is not.difficult to imagin~ wh~?t the prosp~cts
wouid be.
COPYRIGN'f; 1978 Rizzoli Editore
87~2
CSO: 3104
�
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ITALY
PARTY LEADBRS A388SS ~THIRD WAY~ TO BCONOMiC RSCOVBRY
Febri~~o Cicch~Cea, PSi
Mi.ian IL SOLE�24 ORE in iralian 20 3ep 78 pp i, 2
~Reporr on intervi~w ~ith Fabrizio Cicchitto, head of ehe PSI ecnnomic
aection, by Claudio A1o: "Thie ie ehe P3i~e ~conomic Switch--After the
ideological Renovation Started by Craxi"]
~Text~ Rome--It has baen axactly 2 monehe now that ehe midsummer eaeay on
plureliam and Lenin3sm written by Bettino Craxi has been under discueaion
by the italian, and not only the Italian~ intelligentsia--a diacuesion that
hae frequently ae8umed heated overtones in leftist circles, reviving iasuea
of ideology~ ir~ernational tiae, and the cammonality of anceetry bae~?ean
communista and eocialiete. Craxi hae frequantly conteeted the interprata-
tion given to his arricie by many Who see in it an ideological and policy
switch by the "nes~?" PSI (Italian Socialier Party~. It may very vell not
be a~i.tch, buk certainly the beards of ~ome venerable ancestore have
been significantly cropped, vithout, ho~tever, having aucceeded in untangling
the ideological matting.
Much remains to ba defined in theory, but it �s the "new" PSI's entire
praxia which moet needs to be verified~ ita approach in practical terms to
the ever-increaeing problems posed by an industrial society to vhich the
gr~at political parties have, for the moat part, rem~tned strangers.
Deeming the importance of this pra~tical approach to be.aaythis~g but aecandar~?,
we presented ~'abzi~Lo Cicchito, head o~ the k~Sx's ecoaomi.c secti,oa, savaral
eubstantive economic questions, to wFiick tAe Soc~Aliet ~azty hae not yet
fully replied.
We did not expact, in this m~nner, to resolve all the knotty basic issues of
a party in conwlsive move~ent vith heavy clouds yet to bs dispersed. But
the repiies given us by the PSI represeatati.vei ae11 laced thougfi they ~rere
witfi fine distinctiona, aEtiadings and~ at timesi obscurities, provide a
basis for pursuiag a debate tt~at is of unquestionable interest to tbe
identification of the "new" PSI.
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Th~ Fol~,owing poinCe, for example, whtcA,ae hava gregtly summari,zed, appear
to u~ e~p~c~a~iy aigni�icant;
The PSI remains fundamanrally an express~on of the work3ng class a~?d of thi~
democrattc middl.e elaasaa~ I~ ie the inrercla0e movemant and tf?e co~�uaion
of roles betiwaan the rfght and tha 1afC ahicfi g~ve rise tio the ambiguie3es
af l~ngu~g~ ~nd the con~ueton of concepts. Prec~sely bec~use of th3s, and `
b~cause of the complexity of ~ claas stiructure in an induatrial soc3ety, ehe `
fundameneal polit3cal problem for rhe socialiatis ~s ~he creaCion of a
r~forming elliance thae reflacCs Chie pluralieric sCrucCure. Tha~ reforming '
aLliance would a11ow for a frea enterprise system whose ob~ectiive would be
an innovative reAponse to the crisis, and which would be "teseed againsti
the ob~eceive of gradually modi.fying the internaeional diviaion of labor,
expanding the productive base into new technological sectora, and in aum,
capturing new markete and technologies for ICalian industry."
Th~ PSI is for a democratic transformat3on of the preaent eocial seructiure,
gnd ~t Che preeent ~tage fighCa "�or reforma ~.n tihe capiCalistic system."
A sociali.sCic eociety could accommodate a plurality o� diversely regulaeed
enterprises.
The "marketplace" must be demyehologized, in that today, with the development
of monopolies and oligopolies, the marketplace is highly manipula~ed.
Paradoxically~ therefore~ only a policy of regulation~can restore ies
function gs an effective social and economic barometer.
The ~nterprises to be expropriated are thoae that pervert economic power
into hegemonic political power which bypasaes democratic institutions and
cloae~ truo avenues of freedom for citizens and for nonhegemonic enterprises.
Free enterprise remains a hypothesis to be formulated and tested in practice;
until then, it is but a theoretical concept.
The "new" P5I is clearly positioned within the sphere of European socialism,
considering it counterproductive to seek mutually excluaive social democratic
or Soviet alternativea~
Following is the text of the long interview;
[Questi.onJ Mr Cicchitto, in a recent intervi.ew clari.fying his essay on
Leninism, Craxi said; "We are aim~ng at a democrati,c and~free socialism
that will admit all those who laBor for a living as well as those leaders
in private enterprise who work not only for themselves but also for others."
This is unquestionably an interesting atatement which contradicts, however~
the predaminantly claas concepC of politics supported until now by a PSI
that has been tied, at least in principle, to the Marxist tradition. Can
you state whether~ and to whaC extent, tfie "new" PSI has overcome the class
concept, and what free enterprise-~as ind~cated by Craxi--can be accepted
in this party?
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roR o~~zcr~~, usr orn,Y
[Anywer] t am vary ~~le~~ed ro res~ond Co Che c~uaseions of 24 ORE, taking ;
them--correcrly, I helieve--to be nor a quali�ying examinatiion o� soc~.alism ~
for aclmiseintt to rhe economic world, but rather an invirgtiion to clari�y our
ob~ec~ives, immediate and long-tierm, withour ambiguitiies of language, It is
in fact des3rable for a parCy representative to say the same things to the
newspapers of different orieneatiions, as are, for e.~rample, 24 OR~ and RASSEGNA
SYNDACALE.
I ahall reply first Co the questiion as to wheCher or not we remain class ~
- conscious. The Socialist Party remains fundameneally a party expression of
the working class and of the democratic middle classes.
The interclass movementi, the confusion between the Yoles of Che left and ~
the right, is at the root of the ambiguity of language and untidy definition
of concepCs.
An open dialo~ means a clarification between partiea and roles. Naturally,
we are aware thaC the class structiure of an industrial society is very
different from and more camplex tihan tihe two-sided one of a close-knit group
of exploiters and a massive proletariat prophesied more than 100 years ago.
For a party like ours, whose ob~ecCive is Co transform Che social structure
in an egaliCarian and d~mocratic sense, tihe fundamental political problem
is to find the way to a reforming alliance that reflecta this pluralistic
structure.
In Che reforming alliance being hypothesized by rhe SocialisC concept,
there is room for a free enterprise whose ob,jecCive is an innovative
response to the crisis, and which is commenaurate with the ob3ective of
gradually modifying Che international division of labor, expanding the
productive base into technologically new sectors, and, in substance,
capturing new technological and marke~ areas for Italian industry.
This type of free enterprise would pursue these production-base-broadening
ob~ectives through government contracts for public works designed to achieve
specific ob3ectives, and clear, nondiscretionary procedures. In my opinion, ~
the requirements of "innovation" and "assistance" are binding on the private
and public sectors alike.
Frankly, as things now stand, I think the innovative aspects of free enter-
prise are neither in the majority nor prevalent. ;
Free enterprise exists, however, and it can be recognized by our party without ~
reciprocal ambiguities.
[Question] It would seem, reading Che "new gospel" of the PSI, that the
marketplace would stay but capiCalism must go. Luciano Pellicani wrote
in AVANTII, "I have never identified the marketplace with capitalism."
Craxi said in his essay: "Democracy presupposes the existence of power
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~
n~nterm (~eonnmin, pnllrin~l, ~religioue, eCc.) ~,n compeCition with each oCh~r."
Dn Martino, ho~taver~ hn~ ob~acr~d, "Afr~r ehe death o� Engels, oaly B~r~t~it~
refuaed to ~ccepr M~rx's do~~rlne, and xaachad eha poine of admieeing ehe
n~~d of ~ private ~cdnom~.e ~y~e~m. This, hnwever, can never be the posiCion -
of ~he PSI."
Would you, Mr Cicchitto, et~re now tio a confus~d citiizen whether tihe PSI
i~ for or againet capirallem; for or againeti ehe marketplace; wheeher ie
acc~pes priv~te ~nterprig~ wiehin the scope of plurallgm, and wtCh whge
economic and gocial functions? -
[Answ~rJ The PSI i~ for tihe democrgtic transformation of this socieey. In
our proposal wa have clearly stetied Chat it is poss~.blg, even in a socialiet
socieey, to hypothegize a pluraliCy of euterprises governed by diver~e
regulatory schemes~ In th~ firse place~ the question of the marketplace
need~ eo be demythologized~ Z don't know wh~eher Che mgrkeeplace so ~
angelified b~ liberal polemic~ has ever exi~ted~ WhaC ie certain is that,
eodgy, since the developmene of oligopoliea and monopolies, the market ig
highly manipulated. I need hArdly explain Co ehe publighera, editora and
readera of 24 OR~ the extent of the diacreCionary powers en~oyed by the lgrge
enrerpri~es in Che management of pricing policiea.
Without effective government intervention, moreover, the marketplace is unable
to reaolve three basic probleme, and can only accentuate their distortive
effecta: the atructural imbalancea (example, eouthern ICaly), unemployment
and eocial inequalitiea. Unfortunately, in ICaly we have a apurioua
Keynesianism, converted into a policy of welfare and dolea.
This is not a good reason, however, to exhume Von Mises.
Paradoxically, therefore, only a policy of economic planning can restore
to the marketplace ita funcCion as an effective social and economic
barometer, provided planning is accampanied by a aet of policiea designed
to create the conditions of equality and of security for all economic
entities, and provided it is backed by antitrust legislation, the value of
which ahould certainly not be overestimated but on Che other hand should
not be cast aside.
(Question] Let us further clarify Che marketplace concept. Pellicani
has written: "When I speak of 'socialist marketplace' I refer to a market-
place that has been socialized, and ind~cate regulation and self-management
as the two pillars of eocialization of the marketplace." He immediately
adds: "As regarda the procedure for achieving that marketplace, I have
repeatedly reverted to the Meidner plan, which provides for the expropriation
of the large capitalistic enterprises, of the economic high ground, by the
collectivity of the workers."
Could you now explain in understandable terms what enterprises, according
to Che PSI, would be expropriated, and under what conditions and principles
they would be self-managed? What, in effect, are Che roads to be traveled?
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(AnywerJ In my npi.nion, to buL1d ~ naw kind o� soci,alige ~oci.ety--
qu~1~.C~Cival.y diE�~renC~ that from tha ~agtarn on~s which the pCI
(Itnlinn CommunigC ParCy] ~agard~ ~g gocigli.~ric~lly ~tructured with
~l~m~nr~ of libarglism in the supersCrucCu~e, but which ehe P5I r~gardg ~g
nonsocin].igric, and ~g raeher Che negaeion of goc~.al~.sm and, in certain
re~pectis, ehe mo~t in~idious anemy of ehe soci~li~C endeavoti in the West,
wh~re many who favor tran~forming Chis socieey aseociaee socialism wieh ehe
~ageern experienca and recoil from ie horrified--the enterpr~.ses eo be
expr~prinCed are those that perverti economic powcr into hegemonic political
power whlch pa~ge~ over d~nocraeic inaei~utions, dictatee ehe operative
termg of govarnmenr officials and creaties a"corporaee power attucture"
th~e denies eh~ reg1. freedoms ro tl~e greaC mass of the people but aleo to ~
other enterprieas--the nonhegemon~.c ones.
In drawing up the sociali~t propoegl, we atarted, in what concerns enCer-
prise, from a bnsic percepCi.on of reality, ~xperience has shown Chat, even
wiehin an auChoritarian environmenC, there is moYe democracy in a private
enCerprise in which Chere ig a sCrong union presence than in a government-
owned enterpriae where the unions and workers are deprived of freedom on e~~
premise that they possess a certain governing power which is administered
for them by a party which "subatitutes" for them aC~all levels.
our proposal~ in not only referring to the present phase, which consiaes of
a srruggle Co reform the capitalist system, but in also Crying Co d~lir~atp -
a socialist model, provides for the coexistence of numerous typea of
etteerprises: private enterprises, cooperatives, nationalized enCerprizes,
self-managed enterpriaea, all fitted to a marketplace thae is regulateci by .
a democratic program~ both as regarda its ob~ectives and its processes, which
is the result of a democratic political struggle. Socialism, in Qur view, is
not a society pacified by conformism. This 3s why we make use of a somewhat
terrifying adjective when we speak of "a conflictual democracy," a term with
present as well as future validity.
Dissent, the possibilities of alternation and of alCernaCives, all brought
into play on a democratic level, are, in our view, equally valid factors in
today's society as well as tomorrow's. IC may be said, and it is true, that
a nationalized enterprise can exercise hegemonic political power. For this
reason, to attenuate or eliminate this riek, we consider it necessary to
specify programme4 ob~ectives, on the one hand, and to institute industrial
democracy within nationalized enterprises, in which representatives of the
workers, technicians and employees will monitor the conformance of the
conduct of management policy to the planned objectives. Self-management '
is a hypothesis yet to be formulated and Cested. An enormous amount of
conceptual wriCing exists on self-management which is difficult to reduce to
a formula. I cite Rosenvallon's hook and especially its preface by Giorgio
Ruffolo. I wish only to add that self-management is an ob~ective, namely,
that of the total socialisation of economic power, which can be tested under
a specific condition. Considering its experiences as a whole, in factories
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(puCeing ~~id~ ig~u~~ a~nc~rning parries in eha work~r~' movem8ne) and in
t~~e ~xerci~~ of pow~r from ehn boCtom, tih~ laboring claes h~g fulfil.lgd ~n
importanC ro1~ ~.n iC~s oppo~ition eo anerenched eradiC3ona1 pnwer, Co exploiea-
tion. Thi~ ro1~ has baen denied Chem at ~imes, in Ch~ expariance of tha
workin~ clasges of son~ ~uropean countrie~ and ~n th~ Unired States, by e
corporativi~m pre~enC even among eha ma~eas. However, Che hypoehe~is of
a wnrking clas~ bacoming a generai cla~s that evo].veg new ie~~ig of produc-
tivity h~e noe been fu11y veri.f~.~d. The concepti of eelf-managementi is baeed
on Chig poe~nti~l.
'Chis paeenCial mu~t be nemonstr~ted in praceice; otheYwise, iti remaine g
theorptical concapt.
In my ~ud$m~nt, following~~ general developmenC of culeure, Cype of work and
qualifica~lons, gomQ sectors of the woYking cla~s are capabte o� carrying
out this experie~aent and eetablishing an eneirply original relationship with
employeeg, technicigns gnd managemanC. Thie ia the "new working c1~ss"
of which MAllet gpoke~ Mallet conceived of a working cla~s of this type in
te ~ns of gr~nt magnitude.
~xp~rience, however, tells us something quite different, namely, thaC there
has not yet been a development of tne working clasa from a mere social
force of opposition to a general class in the above aense. This is why we
spe~k of a multiplicity of types of enterpriaes and we digtinguish between
industrial democracy and aelf-management.
[QuestionJ We have talked of the aearch for a n~w model of socialiam, ~
which in realiCy hna yeti: to be defined. Could you tell us, at least in
~ outline, the major pointa that would differentiate it from German social
democracy, which aeems to have reached an optimum working arrangement with
capitalism?
[Answerj We are bound to German social democracy by its dedication to
detente, which draws it into continual attacks by the forces of German a~nd
ittternational reaction, by its capability for realizing a very advanced and
effective system of social servicea, by its solidarity with the labor
union movemenC, and by its endeavnr.s, which have not yet been entirely
successEul~ toward instituting tnduatrial democratic forms within the hard,
compacC reality of German capital. In this sense, the idyllic representation
of the German reality, contained in your question, seems a bit forced. We
do not entirely agree with "banning the practicing of one's profession"
[berufverbot] because the fight against terrorism, which must be conducted
mercilessly, must not, however, be converted into a fight againsC dissent.
'ThP laissez-faire that has characterized their economic policy has not
prevented a very high level of unemployment. We know for a fact in this
regard that the SPD jSocial Democratic Party] is engaged in a very close
review and tense debate to revise iCa posiCion. Let me add also that what
most differentiates us from the SPD is the fact of the e:Tidely different
eituations in our tvo counCries, which is reflected in our respective party
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linaa~ Germany is a counery ~p1~.ti in eato by tihe Berlin wall. At the ~ame
t3.m~, it do~s not h~va ehe tierritorial imba].ances thsti characeerize our
country, All of th~.s place~ our pol~.rical problemg, idaological opeions and
~ednomic pol3cieg in di�feY~nt conteactis. In any case~ we are clearly
posiC3oned w3thin th~ ~uropean gocialist gphera, eo which we coneribute
our idaa~ and our hi~tory. Wa consider tihe search for a way that is neieher
~ocial democraeic nor soviee--tha laetar requ~ring noe only ties witih the
UIt55 bur a1~o an affirmaCion of ehe superiority of tihie form--to be entiirely
counterproduceiva,
'Shis con~irms the validity of the ideological and poliCical debaee that we
hav~ open~~d wiCh the PCI to cong~ruc~ here in our country a dialectic based
on tlie alCernaCive wherein the left need noC, because of its differences,
apply eo ef;e DC [ChrisCian DemoeraCic Partyj for legieimizaeion in order
eo govern a Western induatrial socialiat society.
(QuestionJ ~xpropriaCion of the enterpriaes, economic planning, controla
on investmentg; in subsCance, dirigis,me. And this at a time when the 3-year
plan ca11s f~?r a reaumptlon of investmenta and employment witih strong private
support. Wi~:h reference to Craxi's statements, Guido Carli has written:
"One might ~,sk whether a country that capturea almost 70 percent of the
financial resources produced annually and determines their ultimate
utilizaCion satisfies the conditiona for pluraliam." We ask the same thing:
Must we go further or can we remain at thia level and atill satisfy the
requirements for pluralism?
[Answer~ The problem ia not only quantitative, but also qualiCative~ It
is precisely investments and employmant which are not evident in the 3-year
plan. We have been very clear. There must be a cutback in government
spending and restrictions on salary incre~ses.
~ Even considering the fact that labor coat computations are heavily weighted
by the inclusion of executive salaries--which many economists, including
5ylos Labini, view ae an internal distribuCion of profits--there can be no
doubt that the basic problem today is not one of redistribution of revenues
_ but rather of reviCalizing their accumulation.
Having said this, however, your questions need to be reversed. Will the
containment of salaries and the availability of greater financial resources
for enCerprise guarantee resumption of investment and employment? There was
a"belt-tightening" in 1964-67, but tFiere was not resumption of investment.
Will there be an effort to modify Che country's productive base and structure,
or will we limit ourselves to a restructurization of what naw exists? Let
us consider the problem in its European aspecCs, and assume the present
international division of labor continues. Do we expect to resolve the
country's industrial problem while maintaining unalCered the structure and
traditional weighting of the various industrial sectors, by gambling on
devaluation, on the intelligent foreign exchange maneuvers implemented to
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dnee by tha B~nk of Iealy, on ehe labor black market ~nd decentral~.xaCion of
production, witihouti modifying the real produceiva etructiure?
nocror Carli and IL SOL~-24 ORE pose sh8rp ques~iong buC ara very frugal
with answers.
[QueeCion] In a hypothaeical eocialist regulation of ehe economy, many of
ite inetirurional aspecCa would naturally have to be revised. As recentily
as in the lase �ew daye, you have again poseul~Ced the need for unified
governmenC of tihe economy~ Now would you atiructuxe th~.s "unified government"
and how would you resolve in thie con~ext Che problem of the regione, which,
alrhough today they repreaent a useful and democratic decentralization level,
would become a diacordant and retiardanC elemen~ in the economy-governing
maneuver, especially because of tiheir widespread lack of capital?
[Answer) Actually, we posed the problem of a uni�ied government of the
economy in the face of Che incredible fact that Miniater Pandolfi had been
left on his own to draw up the 3-year plgn, as a result of which it had
been reduced to a unilateral, mutilated document. WiCh regaYd Co what I
consider a Criumphant revival of "feudaliam" insofar as concerns organization
of Che government--a revival involving everyone to some exCent, from the
government to the parties~ from Confindustria [General Confederation of
Italian IndueCry] Co Che large enterprises and labor unions--it seems to me
that the government, eapecially wiCh Yespect to the economy has reached
the limit.
Eacli ministry is now a castle complete with guards and drawbridge. This
raises the issue of concentrating itt a single ministry the responsibility
for managing economic policy, with its conaequent onus and honors. To the
contrary we will, in fact do, have an orgy of sectorialism. To Che sectorialism
of parliament, which permeates even thie legislature (the success of Che
expression "sectorial plans" has served to enoble it), is added that of the
executive.
A single "government" of the economy could foster a tighter bond with the
regions and organic unity in the economic policy-governing maneuver. The
regions have assimilated many of Che flaws of the nation, the government
and parliament. They too, in our hypoChesis, need a aingle center. Democracy
is not achieved, in fact, by confusedly proliferating centers of power, but
rather by rigorously diminishing and controlling them. .
The present fragmentation at national and regional levels fosters discreteness
and arbitrariness in government. In our view, we have been very ~�.lear as
regards the 3-year plan: Sacrifice must be demanded of all, even including
a cutback in government expenditures and a contiainment of salaries applied
equitably; and tax incentives must be uaed in a very different manner than
in Che past. With regard to the latter we have set out to formulate a new
proposal for the fight against tax evasion and for ways of expanding the
- tax base in case a new tax increase becomes necessary.
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~
The teglian economy, how~v~r, is noe in n~ad o� ~ da�laeionary "fYeeze" nor
of g purely quanCiCativa revival oE produceion. ~he eseanti~.gl need ie �or
progrnmmed territoriai (southsrn Italy) and regional inve~~nene planning.
On ttLtg hasis~ we are prepared eo aseume our ra~pon~ib3lities and our ahar~
of rhe unpopularitiy and to eake on anyone seektng tio engage in games of
on~-upmanship or corporatisti practices~ Italigtt en~erpriae, in itis dealinge
with ehe labnr unione muse come to Cerms With two basic isauee.
It 3s noe rrue tihaC the gllding wage scale and governmenti expenditiures are
exclusively the reeponsibillCieg of the lefti or of the labor uniona. Govern-
menC expenditiures also compriae very aubstianCial CYans�era of �unda to
eneerpri~es and the pollcy of dolea to which Ingrao referred aome yeare
ago as Che organic expression of the ChriaCian Democrat power a~ructure.
Th~ sliding wage scale agreemenC was preciaely an agreemenC between ttao
parti~s: Che labor unions ehus obtainad ehe automatic recovery of a sixable
portion of losC purchasing power. Busineas enCerpriae, however, was noC all
tha~ innocent and helpless when it concluded the pact, since eapecially the
large enterprises obCained a substantiial reducCion in the incidence of
management-labor conflicts. The problem eoday ia this: The uniona, in part
also because of the sliding wage scale agreement, see their Lraditional
contract negotiating areas being reduced~ If they do not regain negotiability
of some contract issues and some of their lost power, the danger of wildcat
strikes looms dangerously, even more ao since wages in some categories have
been leveled to a point that is degrading to professionalism, to say nothing
of the marked diaparities beCween categories. Labor must acquire the power
to shape national economic policy and specific aocial reforms.
Entarprises muat addrese the issue of industrial democracy, that is, of
factual confrontation on investmenC policy. This can be achieved, however,
not in the present vacuum, but in the framework of a major economic planning
operation designed to qualitatively transform and to modernize our industrial
structure, which will require forms of confrontation within a eocial
context that differs substantially from the present one. This is the
terrain on which the innovative wing of the world of enterprise can test
irs strength.
Let me provokingly recall the contribution made a year ago by the young
industrialists, precisely in the area of labor participation in enterprise.
In this context, we socialists ~peak, on the one hand, of industrial
democracy and, on the other, of a labor mobility, to be achieved through a
labor agency, that will make necessary ~ob transfers possible, not through ~
primitive mechanisms but rather through procedures designed to assure workers ~
of continuity of employment, and to assure enterprise of a greater flexibility,
based also, however, on a redesign of the work management sysCem in view of
the undeniable crisis of Taylorism. All of this can be accomplished on the
basis of an ambitious operation, which must start immed3ately, of change
and of modernization of our basic economy. Only by this means, and not
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through deflationary "�r~ezas" nor purely.quantieative "recoverieg," rgn
we cgtch up wirh ~urope basad on a markeeing capabi~iey of our own.
Oeherwise, wa will si.mply go from tih~ dollar economy eo rhati of tihe m~rk,
wiCh the addad coneequence Chat: whereae wa are now importing inflarion,
tomorrnw we ~ii ~a adding tio our oam unemploymenti a mea~ure of forei.gn-
induc~d unemployment.
[QueetiionJ As regarde rhe PSI's connec~ion with labor: Until now, aud
especially slnce 20 June, Che PSI hge been plgying leapfrog with the PCI
in purguir of an ultrale�tigr consensus and at t~,mea covering labor's most
unaccept~bl~ and corporaCivist poeiCions, in open contrast wieh the demands
of an economy rhat ig on the verge of collapse and burdened with an enormoue
mass of unemployed~
Doeg the "new" PSZ intend to conCinue this pureuit of a conseneus at a11
coats~ or will the socialiaes accept eheir share of electoral unpopularity
wiCh a view to a genuine recovery of the economy, as tihe two major parties
have already done?
[Answer] I don'C see where Che two ma~or partiiea have accepted Chis ahare
of unpopularity with a view Co economic recovery. The two ~na~or parties
have acquired a certain unpopularity because behind a front of national
unity Chey have, since 20 June, created a kind of preferential axia without
managing to achieve an economic recovery and to introduce elementa of change.
Today, as a result, they are aeeking to recover conaensus by accuaing anyone
who criticizes or statea the facta of boat-rocking, We socialista, from
this poinC of view, have been and still are being aub~ected to a crosafire.
The fact ia thaC the government of national uniCy has proven Co be no better
than the left-center ones. This generates teneion and crisis in the labor
union movement, the more so aince many Catholic and socialist union leaders
recall their autonomy during the period of left-center govertmnents and are
blaming the conduct of the communist labor leaders as ~udged from a political
viewpoinC. In any case, your question gives an erroneous impression of
the PSI's economic and labor union policy, which has been very apecific:
Sacrifice, on the one hand, and labor union power, on the other, must be
directed to the resumption of investments and employment.
Putting all carda on the table, the real problems are of another sort.
In the first place, this channeling of sacrifice has been lacking until
now because of the government, significant sectors of the world of enter-
prise, and Confindustria. In the second place, we must admit the limitations
of our internal mechanism. We can express a party line and seek consensus on
~t. But we have neither the mechanisms of Christian Democratic interclass
power nor those of the PCI's centralized democratic power to "bring into
line" those factory workera who dissent. If business enterprise desires
to achieve a general consensus of the masses, it can still play the card of
the historic compromise: It is poasible for those secCors of enterprise
most interested in the revival of subsidized capitalism to gain, within a
short time, a aubstantial advantage.
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'The new sociali~C parCy 1~,ne, 9.n a hypoehati~.ca~ alternarive, a~.me ae a new
reforming and "productive" alliance. This alliance could accommodatie Che
k~.nd of enCarprise to which z have re�erred in my anawer tio your �iret
ques tion.
P3etro Longo, PSDI
M
Milan IL SOLE~24 ORE in itiai~.an 23 Sep 78 pp 1, 2
[ReporC of ~.nrerview with PieCro Longo, deputy secretary and head of ~conomic
Af�airs of ehe PSDI, by Claudio Alo: "It Is Rather the Public Seceor Which
Should Be ExpropriaCed--According tio Interview With Pietro Longo (PSDI)
Following Clgrification on 5ocialisti 'Swi~ch
[Text] In the current far-reaching debatie among the leftiat partiiea, the
beards of many venerable anceatora have been unceremoniously cropped;
however, thia esthetic opera~tion has not always been transfigured into a
subseantive change. Lenin and Marx have been discussed, Prudhon has been
duseed off, but the viewpoint from which the complex problems of a nation
midwny between capitalism and welfareism are being examined remains hazy and
distorted. Some clarification of many points at iasue atill unresolved by
the left, and especially by Craxi's PSI [Italian Socialist Party] which, more
rapidly than the others, seems to have opted for ideological changea, were
provided by the long interview granted to IL SOLE-24 ORE by Fabrizio _
Cicchitto. However, Che majority of the queations regarding the way in
which the socialiate~ and Che left in general, intend to reaolve our country's
ma~or economic problems remained inadequately answered. The leftiat parCies
are atill divided among the several approaches (utopian and othere) being
proposed and which include: the overcome of capitalism, a reform of
capitalism, the finding of a"third way~" and, more pragmatically, adoption
of the road already being traveled by the large European social democraciea.
The latter road attracts the Italian social democrats, who have recently
resumed courting of former PSI members, although more much more on an
i.deological platform than on one nf practical interpretation of economic
issues. This was confirmed to us by Pietro Longo, deputy secretary and head
of the P5DI's [Italian Social Democratic Party], whom we inCerviewed in
the party headquarters. The headquarters is papered with proofs of the new
posters that will shortly invade the country's streets in preparation for the
European elections: a flight of stylized swallows--or so it seems--each
bearing the colors of the flags of Che nine EEC countries--evidently headed
toward a social democraCic victory.
"Our view of PSI's currenC ideological process," said Pietro Longo, "is
definitely positive. Our socialist friends have lately arrived at a point
of ideological parallelism with the European social democracies. We were
already there and so we have somehow met. However, the parallalism does
not hold for Cheir economic analysis. And the reason is simple, even on the
basis of a reading of Che inCerview with Cicchitto. I must say thaC not all .
of the inferences have been deduced that must be derived from the premises
themselves and from Che political choices that ev~n Craxi's party have made."
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[Qu~~tion] Do you mean ehat the social damocratic optiion, eo tihe exeent
ie may have rea~ly bean adopeed hy ~he PSI, prasupposes a more decisive
choice, a more European ona, 3n economic mattere gB w~ii~
[Ac~swer] Yee~ In the PSI'e recent parCy line~ there ia notable clar~ty in
regard to cereain~ lee us say anarchic, polltical choiceg, but that clarity
and rutionality are lacking in 3ts analysis of ehe errors of a cerCain kind
of state-controlled capitialism and of conanunism. Let me explain. I think
thae a critique of many leftist values and mytihe and of tihe PCI in particul~r,
~ such aa that starred by Craxi, can hardly fail ~o result~ almose automatiically,
in g rediscovery of the valuee of a free marketi, corrected, of course, eo
as to engure a maximum o� sncial ~uatice and the safeguarding of the general
inrerest under the system.
jQuesCion] Marketplace and �ree market are Cerma that are not always under-
aeo~d eo have the same meaning~ What is rhe meening~of free markeC for the
social democrate?
[An~wer] In a somewhat acholastically eynoptiic manner, I could defina iC
as A method of organizing economic ].ife tihae depends on the free interaction
of ehe desires of the varioua social componenCs, be it in the determination
of investments or in that of salaries, provided, of courae, as I have already
. eaid, that in a democratic ayatem the freedom of Che market must be oriented
on the choicea of collective interest made by political forcea and on the
principles of social ,jusCice that defend the weakesti categoriea. The
latter include the conaumers of monopolistic products. It is a system that
must be free of dirigieme (the antachamber of stgte-controlled capitaliam)
and of primitive liberaliam, and that has a basic orientation provided by
a political class that acCs as guarantor of the exiatence of the aystem and
of the absence of diatortions auch as monopolies, etate capitalism or,
it must be said, the abuse of power by sotne aocial groups, whether ma~ority
or minority.
(Question] This aeems to be an ideal market, which in Italy has probably
never existed, and much less today.
[AnswerJ Well, we certainly are in a system too unbalanced toward the public
sector. But this is due in part to a faulty private enterprise, which has
sought and con~inues to seek profits ouCside the marketplace, which has
wanted and continues ro want a~ubsidiz~d economy. And this degeneration
has been aided and abetted by a phenomenon that is typical of a country like
ours which has had neither a protestane nor a capitalisCic revolution, and
where Catholicism has deeply rooted two concepts of sin: sex and money.
Thus, both activities must be clandestine. In this sense, we consider
European soci.alism a broadly protesCant one and much more organic to a
marketplace economy.
[QuesCion] Pellicani says, "I have never identified the marketplace with
capitalism." What i.s your view?
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(An~w~rJ '~henraeicglly~ eh~r~ cen be a mark~eplACe withoue capitaliem~
riut 1.f wa add Co rh~ mgricretiplace ~he concep~ of in~.xiatiive, tihere will
always be a paralleliem betiween tihe ti~to concepra, and hencs a presence of
capitaliem. We accept tihe marketp].ace and tihe preaence of capitial3s~ic
force~ wirhin ~h.e m~rke~place.
[Ques~ion~ The aocialis~s have explained, at 1,eas~ theoretiically, wh~ch
enterprisea tihey would expropriate. Which onas would you expropriaee?
[Answer] In the presenti Italian situa~ion~ even aome public enterprises
should be expropriated. Unfortunately, Chere is tihe risk that some o� the
private onea would alao be invoLved because of unreaolved, congenital
weakneasea in some privaCe productive aecCora.
jQuestion~ The socialieta recommend tiaking the road of self-management,
aC least parCia3.ly. Whati ia the PSDI position? '
[Anawer] I think we are at a atiage where some groupa could be se1�-managed,
teating new formulae tihat might yield positive reaults. Clearly, however,
sel�-management can only ba an insert in a pluraliatic system that hae been
well articulated. ;
[Question] In conclusion then, and uaing a terminology that is in vogue: ;
Is there, in your view, a"third way"? '
[Answer] No. For us, the road to be followed is that of the Europeaa ~
social democracies. The resC is opportuniatic polemica--uae of tactica.
Luciano Barca, PCI ~
Milan IL SOLE-24 ORE in ICalian 29 Sep 78 pp 1, 2 ~
(Report on interview with Luciano Barca, head of the Economic Planning and ~
Reforms Section of Che PCI, by Claudio Alo: "This Is the Marketplace
According to the PCI--An Outmoding of Capitalism Without Elimination of ~
Private Enterprise"]
[Text] Rome--The polemic triggered by Bettino Craxi's disruptive midaummer
ideological essay has not yet been exhaueted--a polemic that is undoubtedly '
stimulating but which~ as Ugo La Malfa points out, has not yet descended
from Che level of lofty systema for dealing with the basic problems of our j
society. From the practical viewpoint, it has remained ster~.le. In�an ~
effort to contribute more practicality to the yield of this extensive !
debate, which to date has remained predomaingntly theoretical, IL SOLE-24 '
ORE is inCerviewing representatives of the ma~or leftisC parties on the ways '
in which their respective postulations would modify an economic system
considered by them to be outmoded and in crisis. On 20 September we '
published an interview with socialist Cicchitto, and on 23 September an
interview wiCh social democrat Longo. '
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Todgy w~ reporC on a long interview on tihie ropic wiCh Luc~.nno BaYCa, hegd
of the ~conomic P1~nning and Re�orms Seceion of Che PCI jZtalian Comm~niar
Parey~. The inrervi~w unfolded on an entir~ly differant pl~ne from rha~ on
w}iich ehe socialiste have been maneuvar~.ng unCii nour~ ~t ie clear thgt ~
as waH Mr Barca'e evident inteneion, no diraet polQmic ehrusCe emerged
from thie ineerviaw~ The polemic with tihe PSZ Iltalian Socialist Partiy~
conCinueg nevertihele~g~ and ie ie subetiantive.
The PSI etarCa �rom a delineation of ~.deolog~.ca~. posi~ions and ends up
their prisoner, �ocusing on them eo ~he poin~ of being unable to find a
praceical compromise enabling ir to act in aome way and modify rhe countiry's
~ presenC siCuaCion.
The PCI, inseead--gnd Chig emerges clearLy from the answere given to us by
Mr Bttrca--focuses above all, and in the first place, on Chis practical
compromise, aiming for a gradual apgro~ch tio an ideal model considered more
as a point of reference than as an ob~ective o� difficult, if noti impogsible
nchievement.
"Our point of departure," say~ Barca, "must be an ob~ecti.ve eatimate of the
economic situaCion and the proceases actually in progress. If we wanC to
keep our feet firmly on the ground, wa muat admit that the factora in the
atructural crisis that capitalism is experiencing have been undergoing change
in this country, Chanks in par~ to the political makeup of which the PCI
ia a component. By changed factora I mean, �or axampla, Che rate of infla-
tion, balance of payments, the fact thaC I~aly aucceeded in iCa undertaking,
which at first seemed destined to �ail., and increased exporCe to over
26 percent, in current lire, of the gross national product and to 99.2 percent
of import~. This is clear evidence of the profound innovativeneas of the
processes puC in motion, thanka above all to the policy of national solidarity
being pursued by the PCI, and to the ability to govern being ahown by the
working clasa. Yet, these results nevertheless conceal profound contradic-
tions, structural problems.
"Some results in particular, though obtained~ have in no way augmenCed the
system's ability to guarantee full domestic employment and to avoid the
perverse alternation of inflation-sCagnation cycles. It seems to me, at thia
point, that the political and ideological debate could gain a great deal of
substance if we started from Chese facts, from an effort to interpret them,
~ and tried to find an anawer to the problems uncovered. In this way, the
specific weights of the various leaders would be measured not by their
ability to cite forgotten authors, bu~ by their ability to find in certain
authors a method, not ~ust formulas or dogmas, capable of providing guide-
lines for research Cied to the problems of today."
[Question] In sum, practically speaking, you are saying that outside of
some situational improvements, rather t~an structural, recently achieved, the
capitalistic system, and especially ours, continues locked in a profound
crisis, and that tile practical way to extricate it must therefore be studied.
Is that correct?
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[An~w~rj Yee. Thi~ cri~i~, how~ver~ i~ noC eneirely economi.c. On th~
contrary, iti ig a crisi~ of ehe ~oc~.ety as g whole, which raquiree, tharefore,
for i.te re~olution, a serious reform proce~g.
~~ue~Cion~ Th~ p5i h~~ a1,~o poetiuleted tihat gnaly~3~ in more or 1e~~ the
~ame Cerm~. However, ~peaking practi~.cally, and no~ ~ueti ideologically, do
you aonsid~r thar Che new leaderahip of tihe PSI hae raepondad adequaee].y
Co rhe neceseit3e~ inherenC in thi~ analyeis?
(Answer] Y believe tihat the PSI is unqueetionably underea~imaCing the
crisi~ and the drama of ehe optiions which, arroneouely choaen~ could
destroy in 6 moneh~ the reaulra thati hava bean achieved. Thie has led eome
soci~li~eg--thie is my impresaion--Co ~he conviction that the ameYgency hae
in some way been reaolvsd or ati leaeti greatiy.atitanuated, and that we have
reverted Co the hypothe~is thae underl~y tihe Badgodesbarg decieion in 1960~
according to which the capitaliatic sysCem was asaumed to be capable of
gu~ranteeing a surplue in some way, which could then be eub~ectied tio reformietic
adminiatration wiChout endangering tihe surplus by the reformiatic~ essentially
redLsCributive, maasuree (which are diatinct from atructural refoYmistic
measureg).
I believe the difference between ua and the aocialiats in the value we
asaign to the watchword "auaCerity" ia that we ineerpret austerity to mean
the need for the working clasa to take charge of tha accrual procesa; take
charge, that is, of producing the aurplus, confronting in new texms~
complerely recast, the same problema that wera confronted by the bourgeoieie
when, with Smith and Ricardo, they proclaimed austerity a weapon to be used
againat the wastefulnesa of the rentiers and the lords of feudalism. When
I say confront the same probleme in a different manner, I mean that also for
the working clase the term austeriCy signifiea a tranaformation of the atruc-
ture, based on a different set of valuea.
[Question] Does the PSI therefore~ in your view, propoae only a kind of
bland reformiem thaC is not sufficient to resolve capitialism'a profound
crisis?
(Answer] I think the moat recent phase of the debate within the PSI indicatea
a fallback to a more atimulating phase contained in the socialist plan, in
which there was more of a reformist conception. I.say this even though
at that time I myself polemicized against the content of the plan which,
in my view, failed to resolve basic problems such as the relationship between
economic planning and the marketplaca.
[Question] But how do you communists propose to overcome this capitalism:
by profoundly reforming it or by eliminating it altogether?
[Answer] Our ob~ective is to get rid of capitalism. However, a process of
long-range reform emerges from a compromise with the forces af moderation
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~nd wieh c~pirali~e ~nC~rpri.~a i,egal� ~ Whae ~he ~torlci.ng clgss requires and
mu~e obtain ee Che moment iC egke~ charge of the procese of accrual., howev~r,
ie th~t Cht~ procea~ not he d~.rected eowArd ehe goal o� peraonal gain~ as
occure with ehe capitnlists and employees of cgpitalism, buC rather toward
v&lu~e that 3nterest Che working cla~s: those of freedom, ~uetice and tihe
~~tisf~etion of Chn~e e~seneial needg be~ng naglecred by ~he mnrke~pl~ce.
Obvidu~ly, thgre i~ ~mp1e room �or autonomy in rhe accrual precesa �or those
capit~ligt eneerpriees ehat do noti oppo~a these goals.
(Qu~geion) You eay that Che working class has come of age and has eaken
rharge of gn accru~l procesa whose ob~ectiveg are the various values that
ine~reer Che workers~ However, you have also criticized a certain socialist
pogtulat~.on which ~s basically redi.stributive~ Doea it not seem to you that
cert~in union initiaeives~ racent onee aC that, although locally rather than
cenCrally directed, have followed for the most part~ if not excluaively,
redisCributional lines, ignoring rhe more general problema?
[AnswerJ I believe Che institutional acope of unionism cannot avoid first-
hand encounters with ehe problem of rediatribution, and that a union should
be put on notice of having gone too far or of having gotten too involved
in Che largar aspects of economic policy~ I want to make clear that, with -
this, I am not defending all of the demands and all of the policies of the
various uniCs of unionism. However, the error of redietribution cnust be
ascribed mainly to those political forcea--first to the DC [Christian
Democratic Partyj~ then in great part to the PSI, and, for its ahare, to
the PSDI [Italian Social Democratic Party]--which have made of the Italian
nation a nation of aubaidies and welfare, whoae budget is characCerized,
not perchance, by an exceedingly high level of monetary Cransfers to families
and business enterprises. To take charge of ehe accrual process means
breaking decisively with this state of eubsidization and confronting the
relationship between the government and Che economy on the basis of enhancing,
and not suppressing, the creation of wealth.
(QuesCion) Recapitulating~ Mr Barca, you see, on the one hand, an emerging
working class which takes charge of producing a surplus, devoted however,
to achieving different ob~ectives; and on Che other hand you see ample
capacity for accoaunodating private enCerprises which subscribe to, let us say,
a pure, traditional Cype of capitialism which, however, does not oppose
socialized enda. In the overall hypothesis of the marketplace, how would
the two forces he merged?
[Answer] In the first place, we insist that pure capitalism dues noC exist
in thP West and much less in this country. Practically, therefore, we are
referring to a particular kind of state-controlled capitalism, and
especially to the various characteristics that this state-controlled
capitalism might assume. Now, from Chis viewpoint, the re~l problem to be
confronted is indeed the merging of economic planning with Che marketplace,
which is still unresolved. In this respect, I believe we are all in
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~greemenr Chat Cha pres~ane socialls~ country models are not applicable, buC .
iC is also true that no one has yet come fortih c~.th another model that
~rorks. Wa are advancin;g our own concep~ion of thia merger~ which envisiona
not a eype of programmi~?g that denies tihe markatiplace and its survival, buC
a type of programming t~ia~--and I am pleased'to note�that Cicch3tto has
adopted our forntula--would work Chrough the inarketplace~and would con�ront
the crises of economic planning and Clie marketplgce tiogether~
What is the hypotihesis ~on which we are working? That of no longer thinking,
contrary Co Marx and in accordance with Jean ~aptiste Say, that supply
autoruaCically regulates demand and market outlets. That of getting away, in
sum, from Che traditional schemes of dirigisme in which the wishful thinking
of the lefC-center remained entangled--those schemes which interpreC economic
planning always and sol~ely as planning of supply. We, instead, believe in
economic planning thaC addresses dem~nd centers as well, that relates to
both poles of Che markeCplace.
[Question] Is there not a danger that dirigisme, in exasperation, may
suffocate the marketplace entirely?
[Answer] No. I'11 immediately explain why. Government intervention on �
Che side of demand could give rise to a sort of monopoly, with its
inevitably attendant dangers. Keeping these dangers to a minimum, however,
allows naCional decentralization to play Che part assumed in it by a
multiplicity of local institutions. This means, in Ather words, a revitaliza-
tion of Che marketplace through intervention by'collective consumers,
institutionalized or not, alongside the individual consumer, in the sense
of a community organized to resolve the collective needs, which are fulfilled,
in turn, by transforming them into economic demand to be placed on the
market.
[Answer] In my estimaCion, a demand in which collective needs represents a
signi�icant factor, wou.ld result in a qualiCative change in the demand
itself, Chus requiring a reconversion of production, a more fundamental one
than the one in course. This gives rise to two alternatives: 1) this
reconversion is brought. about entirely by private capital and without
creating employment problems, in which case government intervention becomes
unnecessary; or 2) this reconversion requires substantial funding and
assistance in various forms by the govsrnment and poses problems of labor
mobility, in which case the government must intervene to ensure that the
facilities thus provide.d are actually devoted to the objectives laid down
in the planning guidelines.
jQuestion] Hence, the "PCI marketplace" also would amply accommodate private
enterprises. Without exclu~ions? Let me explain my question further:
Cicchitto has said that the PSI would expropria~e those large enterprises that
convert their economic power into hegemonic power. Pietro Longo has said,
half seriously and half facetiously, that tfie PSDI would expropriate some
public enterprises. Which enterprises would the PCI expropriate?
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~=c~n at~~rtcinr, us~ ocv~.Y
(Anywerj I rhink ~h~e ~t eliis eime tih~ woxking cla~~ ~hould direcr ir~
effortg rn ehe baeel~ aggi.n~ti ~ny furrhar expropri~e3ons requesred by
enearprisas :tn cri~i~ or financial troubl~, The principal, if not Che sn1e,
ob~ecrive muse be ChdC of increa~ing ~he ef�iciency of the exiating publi.c
eneerrriseg.
CQuestion] The impregeion oxisrs, however, ~hae ehe uniona are contiinuing
ro prasg noe only for Che perpetiuat~.on ati a11 costs of exis~ing pub~ic
enterpris~s even when eh~ sar3ous f inancial s~a~e of ehe governmenr mgkea
ie in~dvisable (ag in th~ case of ~GAM [Agency for the Managementi of
Mineral ~nd MeCgllurgical Concerns]), bur are also figheing to bring ineo
Che publiC secCor what is le�t of business failures in the private sector.
[Answer~ Our point of view in r}ii~ regard is very clear: In the �iraC
pl~ce, we musr legally make public property of that which is in facr public
property by raayon of its having been paid for out of the Caxpay~rs' money.
In regard ro refusal of permission to shue down, and especially in Che case
nf ~GAM, we c~nnoe afford, wiChin the framework of tidying up government
fundings and Crangforming ehem into "paying" enterprises, to exclude even
tr~n~�ers f rom the public Co the privaCe secCor, where this would help
bring order Co an agglomeration of diverse problems totally devoid o� any
vereical or horixontal coordination. It must be equally clear, however,
tt~ar the PCI is opposed to assumption by Che goverrunent of those sectors in
decline, leaving to private enterprise those under development and being
subsidi~ed, of course, ehrough the low prices charged them by the public
sector. If there is to be a correct relationship between ecottomic planning
nnd the marketplace, the rules must not be partially applied, putting them
~side when it is a matter of salaries and ~tie sale of raw materials by the
public to tlie privaCe aectox.
Valerio Zanoner PLI
Milan IL SOLE-24 ORE in Italian 3 Oct 78 pp 1, 2
[Report on interview with Valerio Zanone, secreCary of the PLI, by Claudio
Alo: "Does the PLI Really Like the Socialist Switch?--Not Very Much, But
Marriages Are Not Made Between Close Blood Relatives, Says Zanone")
[Text] Through a series of interviews wiCh the representatives of the
leftist parties, CicchiCto of the PSI jItalian Socialist Party] on
20 September, Longo of the PSDI [Italian Social Democratic Party] on the
23d, and Barca of the PCI jItalian Communist Party] on the 29ti~--IL�SOLE-24
ORF t~as tried to shift to a practical plane--that of the problems and
economic structures of an industrial society--the wide-ranging debate being
carrted on in almost exclusively ideologi~al Cerms--an attempC which, as
was to be expected, has been only partly successful.
At this point, nevertheless, it has seemed to us to be of interest to extend
the debate to thp PLI [Italian Liberal Party] as well, not because it is
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,
FOIt Oi~'CYC?At, US~ dNi.Y
~ .lef~l.yt (uJthougl~ t~�~ ;~~+.crQ:nry L~nnne gpoke, ~r, eha April i576 parey eangre~~, ~
01' "pr~gitloninti of el~c pt,1 b~tw~eii rh~ uC [C~irigti~n Demo~r~Cic p~rCy) and
~I~a NCI''), bu~ mainly Uc~cnu~~ L~ ti~y rnC~nely shown growing inrarest in th~
l~St., wieh whlch it s~.ems Co ~~r~~ r~.m~y~
~ 'i'l~t~ ine~rese wa~ conEl.rm~d by rh~ subgtianeiaLly posieive evgluaCion accorded
by Mr Altig~imo, depuey ~ecr~tary and economic head o� the Liberal party,
td our ttewgpnp~r'q ine~rview wi~h ~abrizio Ciach3etio. "In C~CCt1~.Cr0~8
words," y~~id A1ri~etmo, withouC, however, preeending thar they were tiotally
d~votd of obecrui.tii~s, "ehere ig, neverCheless gometih3ng new which,
bec~u~e ie is ~uropean, eend~ toward rhe l~.beral~"
'Co clarify some ~speces of the pres~nt posiCion of ehe liberal~ with
re~pece to rhe socialisCs, and of ehe PLI's views wieh regard to Ct~e current
prol~lema of our economic sysC~m, we addressed some quesCions Co Valerio
7..anone, secre~ary of ehe parry.
~ [QuesCion] Mr z~none, referring ro the clarificaCions imparted recenCly
" by the socialiyrs in reg~rd to Che economic aspects of their ideological
switcti, would ynu expl~in eo us what it is Chat unites the "liberal" of
the PLI with elie "ltberal" of the PSI, of which Altissimo has also spoken?
[1~�S~oer] Tl~e ~nswer is very simple. Liberals and socialists can understand
~act~ otl~er withoue perplexities. The congress of ineernational liberals
l~as ~ust concluded in Zurich. This year it discussed as its central Cheme the
ro.lc oE a frce m~rket economy in liberal democracy. The final resolution of
thr congres~ stre5tic~~ ri~e role oE a free market economy in respect to economic
efficiency, politic~l freedom, equali~y of opportunitiy, social ~ustice
and intern~~ttonal solidarity. The sociality of the marketplace distinguishes
liberal economic policy as much from the capitalism of the "indispensable"
as from socialism. However, Altissimo has rightly observed that some
elements of conformity with a European logic are to be found navigating the
river of CicchieCo's interview.
[QuestionJ To be exact: Wtiich elements?
[Answer] There is the recognition of the complexity of Che social system,
wtiich requires a pluralistic poliCical framework and a policy of detente
among t}~e dynamic forces of production. There is the two-fold re~ection
of state capitalism, such as that of the "nonsocialist" ~astern regimes,
~~nd ~f state welfare and patronage developed during 30 years of christian
democratic government. 'r}ie mistakes of the left-cenCer must have taught ,
something. The socialists aC that Cime took as their first battle flag
the nationalization of the electrical industry. The idea of inaugurating the
p~riod of re5ources with rhe formaeion of a new public entity was for the
christian democrats a wedding invitation. Now, Cicchitto's recall to the
reality of t}ie present structure of the marketplace in Italy appears
provocatory, after 15 years of welfare and patronage politics. Napoleoni
also recognizes that the reality eo be evaluated and confronted today in
our country is not a capitalistic socie~y in full, or even adequate,
possession of irs operative means, bue rather an atypical form of corrupt
capitalism.
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~o~ orrrc~~, usc oNT.v
Ci~Chitt~ ig Chug indured td ~nak enrrepren~ur~ cespanding eo cerCain ch~rncter-
i.yeiCS ~g ~llie~ oE ehe wnrki.n~ Clays in a pc~ltcy of re�orm~ guC in describing
tl~eqe chard~~eriseics he acru~tlly porergys Che normnl conduct of an auCOnnmous
entrepreneur in a mnrk~e sysCem noe weighe~d down by improper burdens. Th~
yoci~L3~~H ~xhorr the supporCers of laiss~z-fnire eo noe "angel~.cize the
m;~rketpl~+ca," I agree, However, lgymen (~oci8lise and liberal) should not
consider ehe markerplace as a retncranaCion of Che devil~
(QueseionJ 7'he PLI has alw~ys ser iCself up da Che lasti bulwark in the
defenya of th~ marketplace, nor Co say of cgpiCal~.sm, against the attacks
~f Marxist doceri.ne nn privgee property and on freedom of 3nitintiive. Now,
tnd~y eh~ ~ocialisty criticize Lenin, but do not deny Marx, and, unlike tt~e
ca~nunisr~, speak of expropri~titt~ some eneerprises, accentuaCing certain
dirigistic ~specrs nf conCrol of rt;,e marketplace. How are you able to
reconcile your pust with thig preae.~t?
(Answer] Ir is noe quite cl~nr whnt enCerprises the socialista would
e:cpropriare. Tt~e guidelines giveil by Cicchitto could, aC their limits, be
applied to all the large ~nterprises, which, afCer all, are ~o a great
extene public or publicly controlled ehrough the governmen~. There is in
the interview a reminder of the need for anCitrust legislation. All Chey
need do is dig out of Che files of the chambers the proposals m~ade in this
regard by ths 1lberals in the 1960's. Nor is it clear how expiopriation
of the large enterprises would of itself reduce their hegemonic positions in
Che productive sectors in which Chey operate.
i'rom the libera~ ~iewpoint, rather than expropriate and nationalize, it
would be more effecrive to provide a boost Co Cechnological progress so as
ro bet~er articulate Che organizational tidying-up process of the ~nCer-
prises and to develop an industrial rela~ions policy that promotes democratic
participation procedures within establishments.
[Question] Mr Zanone, am I mistaken, or has the PLI always been opposed to
economic control planning, which the P5I, instead, seems to see as a
"revitalizer" of the marketplace?
(AnswerJ Ttle economy of the marketplace must be regulated by suituble
public actions, not by a toral absence of intervention. The price of total
, economic planning is the loss of freedom, wiChout even so much as the
benefit of any greaCer effectiveness in the solutiott of the problems.
'I'}~e I,iberal Party is for planning thaC coordinates any public ii?terventions
and creates for autonomous enCities and private operators a climate of
securiry and equaliey of opportunity.
However, even in regard to planning, many utopias of social engineering show
the facial wrinkles of Allina, the magician. Liberal cultural policy aims
today not toward collectivity planning for the society of coming years, but
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ne a method of ar~iculared, �lexib].e aolueions which can be eeseed aga~.nse
f~ctugl d~ti~. This is p~rhap~ ehe great difference~ The left builds ~
pro~ects for tihe �ueuxe, while liberals aeek Che moat auitable method for
gu~rantieeing ChaC Cod~y, and "in fu~ure," e~ch operator and each citizen will ;
b~ freer Co pureue his own planning,
i
[QuesCion] Self-managemenr: This is one of the points on which you have ;
gtaCed you are nnt in agreemene wirh the PSI. Why? I
[AnswerJ After studying the theses o� the French social.ises on self- '
management, Aron cotmnent~d: "It is a beauCiful concepti. I~ is too bad that '
one doesn't know what self-managament actua].ly conaises of." For that ~
matter, even Cicchitto speaks of it as "a hypoChesis yet to be formulated
and tesCed," and falls back on a definition of the working class as a
"general class," which from my poine of view is entirely nebulous, or is
contradictory Co the concept of a pluralistic and conflictual democracy.
However, I do not wish to understate in the least the theoretical and ~
polirical scope o� the problem~ To this topic of democratic parCicipation
and apportionment of decisionmaking powers, both in the body politic and in
business enterprise, I have dedicated a modest number of past hours of
study, a trace of which is reflecCed in the definition of the word [for] ~
"joinC managemenr" which I wrote some years ago for the Bobbio and Matteucci '
"Dictionary of Politics." Industrial democracy is an element of socir~l
democracy which the Western mixed economies cannoC elude. The lib::zal
camp is also able to build on a base of concrete experience. It has before
it now, in fact, a documented study, precisely oii this topic, by the Swiss
radicals, who are part of the international liberal movement. But there is ~
still a long road to travel to arrive at practical proposals for intervention.
Possibly, liberals and socialists can find a way to tr~vel this road
together. But we are different. Marriages are not made between close
blood relatives. ;
. Ugo La Malfa, PRI
Milan IL SOLE-24 ORE in Italian 6 Oct 78 pp 1, 2 ~
[Report on interview with Ugo La Malfa, leader of the PRI, by Claudio Alo: '
"The 'Third Way' According to La Malfa--Correct, Not Condemn, a System
Still Valid On the Whole"]
[TextJ Rome--When, ati the beginning of September, at the height of the i
ideological polemic triggered by Bettino Craxi's midsummer essay, we decided
to interview some lefCist party representatives on the practical aspects of
rhis dispuCe being carried on in terms of quotations and interpretations of
venerable ancesCors, the idea had also been gleaned from an article by Ugo
La Malfa. Ideological clarifications--said the leader of the PRI [Italian
Republican PartyJ more or less, introducing himself into the debate which
at thaC time was becoming more heated between Che communists and socialisCs--
are important, "but the practical conclusions one expects to draw from ehese
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roiz orrtcTnT, us~ or~,Y
clari~:ic~~ions are even mora importianr. Ir is of litele va~ue to declare
oneself ideo~.ogi.cnlly Westiern, i~ when it comea right down Co programming
pracrical acrion, one p1.~ces himself outside the Weatern orbiti, w4.rhout even
a minimal b~sic understan,ding of the problems." We look tio the parties and
the unions--La Malfa contiinued, in effecC--�or ~his deciaive choice:
"deCermine the policy thaC wi11 combati Che crisis and puC ue back into
Europe, or persiati in a policy which alienates us more and more from Europe.
In Che first alternative, rhe debare will have yielded a fruitful harvesC.
In Che other, it will have served to nurture any interest but that of the
recovery of Che Italian social structure." Convinced~ as we also were, of
the importance of this challenge, we asked socialists, communisCs and social
deuiocrats for clarifications on the way in which they intend Co go from
ideolo~ies ro realities, from scholarly quotaCions to a precise and concrete
indication of the pracCical schemes by which their respective party lines
would modify Che structu're of an economic sysCem which they conaider to be
more or less in a atate of crisie--a verification, in sum, of Che actual
fensibiliey of a "third way."
After hearing Fabrizio CicchiCto for Che PSI [Italian Sociali3t Party],
Pietro Longo for the PSDI [Italian Social Democratic Party], and Luciano
Barca for Che PCI [Italian Communist PartyJ, iC seemed to us to be of interest
at this point to review with Ugo La Ma1fa himseli the results of this effort
to bring down this debate from its exalted heights of grand systems.
[Question] Mr La Malfa, do you feel that, after more than a month and a
half of polemics, explanations and dotting of i's, the lefC as a whole, or
any one party within the left, has come up with an alCernaCe economic syste.m
Co Che presenC one, of s capitalistic type?
[Answer] My impression is thaC the ideoJ.ogical debate, instead of contributing
to the clarification of positions, has only rendered them mor~ vague and
confused. The only point reached seems to be Chat of an ideological re~ec-
tion by the socialists of all tendencies, of Leninism, and a reaffirmation
by the Coaununiat Party of its consideration of Leninism as a constituent
element in its political and cultural history.
In other words, totaling up the r~sults, the confused ideological polemic
of the last several weeks as a whole reveals only that the Communist Party,
insofar as concerns Italy, re~ects the Soviet model as well as the European
social democratic model, and, proclaiming the outmoding of capitalism,
whose crisis at this time ~t considers insurmountahle, intends to lay down
a third way, concerning which, however, it provides no indicati~n whatever.
The Socialise Party, or at least its ma~or faction, also proclaims
~
capitalism outmoded, and re3ects the Soviee model, but does not accept the
social democratic model, which has been hrought inCo being in the northern
coL~nCries, but which has not actually meant the outmoding of capitalism.
It assumes as a model, for the outmoding of capitalism, the self-managen;ent
doctrine formulated by French socialism in the footsteps of the e~cperimei~t
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roR or~zcr~L us~ orrr.Y
cnrried nuti, with unfortunaCe resultis, in Yugosla,via. Thus, we have a march
by eh~ Communist Parry toward an unde�~.ned th~.xd way and a paralle]. march
by the Socialisti Party toward a tihird way founded on self-management.
[Question] A march glong ewo tira~.ls whj.ch in reality end up nowhere?
[AnswerJ In my opinion~ the proclama~ion by both par~iea, of the ob~ective
of outmoding capitalism, and the crit~.cism ~hey 1eve1 at Che nortihern sociel
democracies, of having remained in tihe orbit of the so-cal~.ed capieallstic
eyseem, are norhing more nor less than ~ Crue uCopian absCraceion driving
from the facC ehat our leftistis have not carried outi a critical and cultural
analyais such as would enable them to understand the real problems of the
society in which they operate~ The northern aocial democracies have
operated in a more advanced induatrial society than ours, and have under-
stood the economic and social advantages that can be derived from a dynamic
capitalism. Our leftisCs, instead, are imbued wiCh an extremely aged
Leniniat or MarxisC ideological patrimony, unsuited Co the real conditions
nf the Italian society, and was unable to understand (as wae, for that
matter, the DC [Christian Democratic ParCy] itself), the tranaformation that
Italy was undergoing, around the 1960s, from a predominanCly agricultural
society to a modern industrial one.
Instead of working together with the dynamic thrust of such a society, in the
manner of Che large norChern social democracies, our leftists destroyed it,
and weakened and deteriorated its sCructure to the point of today's grave
crisis. The crisis of the capitalist system is not an ob~ective crisis, as
the leftists want to have us believe. It is the product of political
action that is being decreed by an antiquated ideology which is inapplicable
to modern industrial societies. The paradox lies in the fact thaC they
proclaim a crisis in a system which, through their own errors of incomprehension
of the realitias, has been almost irresponsibly led inCo that crisis.
[Question] Is it your view, in sum, that there is no third way?
[Answer] The third way, in my opinion, lies in correcCing ideological and
political positions, not in declaring a system outmoded which can, through
a suitable policy be restored to full vigor. If, in order to outmode
capiCalism, we were to perpeCuate the same old errors of political and union
conducC, we would not go from an outmoded capitalism to a better society, _
hut from an outmoded capitalism to a South American type society. ;
From thi.s viewpoinC, the Republic~.n ParCy, and certain elements in the PSDI, '
lean more toward the thinking of the northern social democracies than do the ~
PSI and, of course, the PCI. It is not formal designations that characterize
affinities between political forces, but rather the nature of their respec-
tive political and cultural concepts and the substantiveness of their
aceions. Thus, the more a parCy rejects the experiences of the European and
northern social democracies, the more it retards economic and culCural
progress in our own country, relegating it to the fringe of the more
advanced industrial societies.
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~oR or~zc~L us~ ornY
[QuesCion] Mr LA Ma1fa, the various 1e�tiisti parCy lines provide a more or
1e~s derailed and more or less concre~e conception of what the "marketplace"
means to each of tihem, and o~ Che parti tihae could be resarved in tihat
markerplace For private enterpriae~ In your view, ia thare a minimal
- common denominaror among these c~ncep~iona ~ha~ could, hopefu].ly, conCributa
to the soluCion of our coun~ry's economic gnd soc3.a1 prob].ems? ~
[Answer~ No. I cannot seem ro find in the pos~.tions expressed by the various
partiy representatives a clear, coherenC view of the policy Chat should be
pur~ued in the coming years. When we were at Che height of our "economic
miracle," that is, during the 1960s, we knew that ehis "miracle," based as
it was on an entirely sponCaneous deve~opment, could not fu11y resolve the
problems which are sti11 being so widely discusaed today. Realizing that
their resolution required a subatantially greater volume c?f investment
and a well-defined channeling of that investment, we at tihat Cime proposed
a programmtng of ob~ecCives to be achieved, and a nationaR policy for the
channeling of returns on those investmenes toward the achi.evement o� thoae
ob~ectives. We proposed, tihat is, a timely policy for cor~trolling the
distribuCion of revenues thaC would noC open the way to ari increasingly
corporatist competition for acquisiCion of an ever greater share of national
revenues, and that would not reward the expansion of indi~?idual consump~ion
over public consumption. The marketplace--that is to say, the sysCem of
public~and private enterprise as a whole--would have adapted to these
parameters. If the policy guidelines had been clear and definitive, it
- would not have been difficult for enterprises to inveat beyond traditional
areas, which would have avoided what has happened in ciCies like Milan and
Turin.
Automobile manufacturers could have built more buses than private vehicles.
Construction firms could have built more schoola or hospitals than villas or
seaeide and mountainside esCaCes. The leftists and the labor unions,
fighting against a revenue policy, destroyed the very basis of a programming
policy, to which they have continued, however, to give empty lip service.
The DC remained indifferent to the issues raised by the republicans, and
today we are paying for this hostility or indifference.
[Quesrion] In regard to programming: The PSI speaka of it as an element
which, "paradoxically," can restore to Che marketplace its "function as an
effective social and economic barometer," "if it is accompanied by a set of
policies designed to create conditions of equality among economic elements,
and if it is supported by antitrust legislation."
The communists speak of it, instead, as a"revitalizer of the marketplace,"
especially if programming is applied not only td supply but also to demand.
What is your position on this issue?
- [Answer] As I poinCed out, at the beginning of the 1960s we formally
proposed a program }~ased on a revenue policy. And since a revenue policy
cannot be carried outi. without Che concurrence of labor, I, as finance
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;
m~.niseer in 19G2, formed a Programm~.ng Commission in which represenCatives
of privatie enterpriae and of the three labor unions wera invitied tio tiake
pare. The working class did not par~icipgee�hagemonically in rhati c~mmission, ,
bue ie did partiicipa~e on an equal basis with the other social components.
'The purpose of tha~ coarmission was tio wo~ck ouC the guidelines o�.an economic
pnlicy and of a revenue policy, which could Chen be submieted to parli.ament,
Th~t commission was put to dea~h. Yn ~he years since, tihe confrontations ,
between the forces of the state, of enterprise and of labor have tiaken
place everywhere, incruding the streets, accompanied by continual aCrikes,
except in an appropriate institutionalized forum. In Che extreme seriousness
of today's problems--unemployment, recession, absence of services in vast
sectors--one sees the result of a demagogic, populist policy. If we wish to
resolve these grave problems, we must take a new road--of austerity and
rigor--and not continue traveling Che same old road of rhetoric, strikes
and so-called social undertakings which, in reality, conceal a mean and
m~serly spirit, with nothing whatever to contribute to susterity.
[Question] The socialists would expropriaCe Che large enterprises which
seek Co transform econamic hegemony into political hegemony. The communists
say "no" to any further expropriations and would concentrate solely on
making the existing public enterprises more efficient. The social democrats
would even expropriate some public enterprises. What would Ugo La Malfa
expropriate? '
[Answer] I view Che socialist idea that there should be further expropriations
as highly bizarre. The public enterprises are in such a disastrous atate
of disarray that we should bitterly regreC having made them public. However,
bad management of the economy has placed many private enterprises in serioue
economic and fin~ncial straits as well. The issue, as I see it, is not one
of public versus private enterprise. The issue, in my view, is that of good
management of enterprise, which in turn depends on good management of the
economy as a whole. IRI [Industrial Reconstruction Institute) was a great
institution which, unCil some 15 years ago, had functioned in an excellent
manner. I remember the years when the English and the Swedes came to study
iCs structure and operation. And IRI is sti11 a great institution. But
after so many years of mismanagement of such an institution by the political
forces, no Englishman or Swede would want to study it. The same can be said
of ENI jNational Hydrocarbons Agency], IMI jltalian Credit Institute],
ICIPU and so on. The policies of th~ chree great parties (DC, PSI, PCI) and
of the labor unions has caused the degeneration of institutions which were ;
models of technical and administrative operations. A kind of inetasC~sis !
has struck the Italian public and privaCe structures, which we must try ~o
cure while there is still time.
[Question) Yes, Mr La Malfa, but the question was, "What would you expropriate?"
[AnswerJ I think I would expropriate the political class.
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roR orric~AL us~ orn,Y
(QueaCionJ Sir, elie docialta~ "nnw dnal" is liked by the l~.berals and by ~
considerablQ sectior of ~he chrisCi~n d~nto~ratis. .It was also liked, in ~he
beginning ati le~sti, by the social democratis. Do you like tihis "new deal"?
[Answer] We like partiea and persons who unders~and the sub~ecti we have had
this opportuni~y to discusa. For instanca, we like Lama when he sa~.d tha~
it had been a mistake to deal witih wages as an independent variable. We
did not like socialist BenvenuCO and CaCholic Carni~i when they critiicized
this assertion by Lama~ We like Che cottm?unista when they don'ti w~nt any
further nationalizaCions. We don't like Cicchi~Co when he Chinks there
can be more nationalizations in Italy.
It is on the basis of aubstantiveness of economic~ financial and social
policy that alinemente can be formulated aC this time. An important teat,
in this respect, will be Che Pandolfi plan. We have welcomed its rigor and
coherence as a new realism in Italian politics. We ahall alina ourselves
with the forces that support its integrity and its rigorous application.
We shall oppose the forces Chat will Cry Co water it down or emasculate
iC. The subseance of political action inCereats us, raCher iCs forms,
and we wi11 accept party linea se instruments for achieving planned
subsCance.
In our view, if austere ob~ectives cannot be achieved under the present
formula nf national solidarity, they will be difficult if not impossible to
achieve und'er any alCernative formula, and what concerns us is the question:
What future does Italy have in the event this extreme effort toward national
solidarity fails to achieve its ob~ectives and the three great parties
continue the policies that have so profoundly disrupted ICalian life.
Piero Bassetti, DC
Milan IL SOLE-2G ORE in Italian 8 Oct 78 pp 1, 2
[Report on int~erview with Piero Bassetti, parliamenCary deputy and firsC
assistanC to the DC Economic Section head, by Ernesto Auci: "The Ital.ian
Way in Progress--'Work Within a Political Synthesis Devoid of Ideological
Schematism,' Says Piero BasseCti"]
jText] Milan--ThroughouC the ideological polemic that exploded last summer
among Che leftise parties, the DC jChristian Democratic Party] has remained
a mute spectator. True, the DC is not qualified to speak for Marxism or
Leninism. However, as Che governing party, the DC could very we11 have
said something while the leftist forces and lay parties sought, confusedly,
to deCermine the practical aspects of the society we must build.
Must we maintain Che present capitalistic system, possibly reforming it? Or,
must we Cake giant steps along a road leading to the creation of ~ socialistic
society? And if so, which road: that of the Western social democracies, or
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ron ~rrrrtnr~ t~sr oM,v
rhe SoviaC one? Or should we try (,as tihe comMUnises assert) a third way ,
tihae is nei~h~r reformisr nor collec~ive? And tih~n what, practiically
speaking, are ~he shorC- and intiermediate-enrm knotis ~o be untiad to geti
rhe trans�ormaeion of our economic and aocinl aystiem underwary in Che ~
deaired direc~ion?
To all these queations, Che DC as a party has not given a global anawer.
At timea, its represeneatives have tried to smooth the rough edges of the ,
heated debate by pointing out the dangers to which it wae.sub~ecting the
government's efforts. On the whole, the DC has constantly maintained the
posiCion of a polltical mediating �orce, thus implicitly reasserting its ,
self-assumed fundamental role ati the center of the Italian political system.
A DC that does not elaborate grand strategic plans, but rather confronts
concrete problems pragmatically, endeavoring to manipulate polltical
syntheses capable of resolving the real problems and reatore operation of i
the machinery of accrual and economic development: this is the central '
idea which Piero Basaetti, parliamentary deputy and first asaistant to Che
head of the DC Economic Section, has expressed in a book-length interview which
wi11 shortly arrive on the shelves, entitled "The Uncomfortable West, the '
DC After Moro, and the Italian Crisis," and which Bassetti summarized for '
us during a long conversation. Bassetti, a little over 2 months ago,
resumed the office of president and chief executive officer of the family's ;
principal enterprise, Bassetti, Inc., without, however, reducing his political '
activities in parliament and in the party.
[QuesCion] Mr Bassetti, why have you returned to the firm? '
[Answer~ I must make it clear that I have not disengaged from politics. ;
My ma~or business obligation stems, on the one hand, from the special ~
requirements of the firm, which must embark on a delicate phase of reorganiza-
tion and recovery, especially in the international field, and, on the other,
from the present poliCical ~uncture, which demands a greater dedication by the
manager class to the practical problems of management. For that matter,
I have never thought of politics in an absCract sense. I don't believe there ~
should be a division of responsibiliCies among industrialists, management ~
and professional politicians. And I have always engaged in politics with
the idea of putting certain concepts into practice. In short, I have not '
confined my efforts to the fight for regionalism; I have actually become -
involved in the setting up of the regions. It is not a matter, therefore, ~
of my abandoning politics, nor of a disillusionment with politics, and there
is no con~radicCion between a major business undertaking and the more general
responsibilities which the manager class is called upon to assume. '
[Question~ However, in the face of the blossoming of strategic programs, ;
ar.~'. above all, in view of the debate as regards optimum systems, which
can neverCheless serve a useful purpose in helping clarify the ultimate ;
ob~ecCives of day-to-day political activity, the DC has maintained an ~
absolute silence. Don't you think the DC should become more involved in
this area? ~
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~ ro~ or~zcrA~ us~ om,Y
(AnHwcrJ i don'~ belicve Chc hC should propose a developmenral model o�
.tr~ own. Wl~.it~ then, should wa do? Should we iasue an idoological documen~
~nd risk accenrunCing rhe existing divisive elements? Or should wE draw
up a progr~m o� read~ustment and development? Bux �or this ~here is rhe
governmenr, which is moving with greaC expertise. The Iralian problem today~
in general rez~ns, is clearly that of effecting a change in the dominanti
social bloc~ The bourgeoisie can no longer hold its own, the proletariat
ia not yet ready to replace it~ and rhe midd~.e class ia a reality ehat no
one seems able tio pull together. For tihia reason, the re~l problem is to
succeed in effeceuaCing political syntheses of the demands of a composite
buC fragmented society, in such a manneY~ as to guarantee Che stability of the
syetem. The policy synthesis accomplished in parliament, which has given
life to the present emergency ma~ority, is therefore destined to last a
long time yet, because it has the ob~ective of assuring the equilibrium of
forces necessary Co restore to operation the accrual process. CerCa3nly;
a parliamentary coalition is not the same as the birCh of a new social b1oc.
But this bloc will not spring up soon, and the political class will have Co
continue, for a long time yet, implementing new syntheses without disrupting
Che general framework, that is, without forcing the attempt to give birCh to
a new social bloc that doesn't exist in the country's makeup. _
_ [Question] These are reasons, as I understand it, for the DC not wanting to
advance a social plan of its own. But, and even if we add the desire not to
exacerbate the ideological encounter, the DC can hardly withdraw from the
search for innovative solutions of many civil aocial issues, beginning with
the economic one.
.[Answer] There can be no doubt that a program of research must be under-
taken on various issues: programming, which must be applied to demand as
well, and not solely to supply as is being done today with regional plans
that are taking qn more and more the aspect of ideological montimments than
of practical instruments for management; those services whose efficiencies
can be improved only through ~oint management (and ~oint management seems
very well suited to the organization of service enterprises, alChough it
seems hardly applicable to the majority of manufacturing enterprises). Once
again, in short, Chis is not the time for lofCy programs. The real challenge,
to which the manager class must respond concretely, is that of the manage-
ment of our rpsources.
[Question] On the issue of enterprise, in the arena of which the recovery
of the accrual process musC be concentrated, the DC can hardly avoid
expressing clear ideas and, above all, it cannot avoid the pas:: mistakes
that have made of the governing party the grand patron of parasitic and
subsidized industry.
[Answer] Ler us be clear. We must have fixed points around which to search
for viable political solutions. These hasic ob~ectives are, in my opinion,
three: supranationality, in the sense thae a choice of the European option
must be irreversible; regionalism, Co break up any attmepCs at bureaucratic
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ro~ o~rzc~~L crsc ornY
mana~emene by tihe center; and mak9.ng room for tihe oCher insCitutions of a ;
civil aoc~.ety. zn the fgce of these ob~ectiives, the DC must be an open party,
providing, not prefabricated enluCions for a11 problema, 6uti rather a
cnpscity for mediution and ~ynthesie in ~he han~iling of them all.
[Quesrion] Specifically, however, enCerprisea need movementi in order ~o
be asaured of free apaces for maneuvering?
' i
[Answer] The renewed attention being given Co en~erpriae is a positive
�act. Bu~ what are the characteristics of our industrial system? In I~a1y '
we have a mixture of special sysCems. In the first place, we cannot overlook
the fact that we are but a province in the great Western empire, and thaC ,
we must therefore accept Che logic of multinationals, favoring those that
are based in Italy--a logic tha~ is based on economies of scale and ~
utilization of research. In the second place, there is a system of inedium
enrerpriaes which operate on the marketplace on a competiitive footing and
f or which the logic of comparative prices is more imporCant than technology.
These are the Cruly capita7.isCic enCerprises for which the maintenance of
compeCitiveness in the international markets is the predominanti factor in '
their success. We can include in thia sector also the ma~oriCy of enterprises '
with state participation, whose management philosophy needs to be profoundly ~
altered, True, there has been a degeneration into patronage, but the basic ~
error to be corrected lies in that the PS's [State Participations] have
been~called upon to play a domestic role in sectors where enterprises must '
remain stricrly and solely international in scope. What would the political
class say if the PS's, instead of investing in the South, started investing
internationally? Is it not true that ENI is the only public group that still
operares because it has, if not a multinational, certainly a supranational
s~ructure?
Finally, there are national enterprises, especially small ones, which operate
in entir~~ly special domestic conditions, such as Prato, Carpi, Castelfidardo,
etc.
The political class must therefore guarantee the existence of this mixture of
various modes of production. And the formula cannot be solely ChaC of the
liberals, Chat of the socialists, or that based on self-management. All
three of these instruments must be used pragmatically.
jQuestion] Is there, therefore, a third way, and is it the one Italy has '
been traversing these several months? ~
i
[Answer) I Cnink thati is exactly right. We are in a less homogeneous
country khan other Western ones, and to manage it we must find new and '
innovative solutions, without ideological schisms.
COPYRIGHT: 1978 Editrice I1 Sole-24 Ore s.r.l.
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