From the article of 'Petrel'
No.698 / October 18, 1998

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Italian

The Communist Refoundation Party in Italy has split.

Concerning "the Outside-the-Cabinet Cooperation Route" to Prodi.



The nonconfidence resolution to the left-center regime of Italy = the Prodi regime was passed. This regime that has continued for 2 and a half years from April, '96 will collapse, because the nonconfidence exceeded by one vote difference with the agreement 312 and the opposite 313 in the confidence vote of the House of Representatives on the 9th this month.

The collapse at this time clarifies the failure of the leftist power of the old Communist Party = the Communist Refoundation Party that has supported this regime in the form of the outside-the-cabinet cooperation as well as the bourgeois essence of the Prodi left-center regime.

The direct chance of the Prodi regime's collapse at this time was the split of the Communist Refoundation Party. They opposed the budget bill of the coming year Prodi submitted, which shelved the unemployment policy and reduced the welfare budget, and they are divided in the following confidence vote to the right wing which the chairman Cossutta leads by saying that it is necessary to support the regime and the leftist in which the secretary-general Bertinotti is playing a central role.

The Cossutta faction insisted to demand their reformation with maintaining the present regime because if the Refoundation Party work out not to support the regime the Cabinet's collapse is inevitable and the Cabinet will be obliged to dissolve the Assembly or the "Olive Tree," the base of Prodi regime, will be obliged to draw a part of the right wing power in the side of the government party for the steady of the regime.

Whereas, the secretary-general Bertinotti faction criticized the policy of Prodi regime since last year and insisted to demand not to support the Cabinet to the bitter end if to oppose the budget bill.

Thus, the Refoundation Party was split right and left, and the 21 Congress members of 34 voted with confidence to the Prodi regime. In the forecast at first, the Prodi regime was scheduled to be trusted by taking 21 votes of the Cossutta faction and 290 votes of "the Olive Tree" and several votes of the opposition party. However, they failed in taking of the opposition party member and the nonconfidence proposal was passed by only one vote difference.

What is this on earth if except the failure of the Refoundation Party having supported the Prodi regime in the shape of outside-the-Cabinet cooperation? They showed a hesitation to raise like the Democratic Party of the Left (the right wing of the old Communist Party) a bourgeois politician named Prodi directly after starting the regime. They hoisted "the politics for the weak," declared opposition to the pension reformation and the tax increase policy of Prodi, and have proved own "Left." However, the "Left" has been completely degenerated into a lip service.

Prodi who became the prime minister on the background of "the Olive Tree" has given priority all for the EU integration for this 2 and a half years. (This was a strong demand of the Italian monopolistic capital.) He achieved to join in the EU currency integration after January next year by accomplishing the 3% standard of the EU integration with reducing the fiscal deficit that was two-figure compared with GDP when he assumed to 6.7% in '96 term and 2.7% in '97 term by the pension "deterioration" and the introducing of the value added tax. Of course, it was achieved by the one-sided imputation of the difficulty to the general public of the worker.

However, the Refoundation Party has not decisively criticized such bourgeois politics of Prodi regime openly, and has always followed it with declaring dissatisfaction. They conflicted about the dispatching soldiers to Albania in last April, about the budget bill in October, and about the east expansion of NATO this spring, too. However, Prodi refused all the compromises in the fundamental problem and the Refoundation Party had been compelled surrender.

For instance, Prodi promised unemployment policy and shortening of the working hour (the 35-hour working week system) in exchange for passing the budget bill of current year, which assumed "the Pension Reformation" (cut down of the supply) and the raise of the value added tax to be the content, in the discussing of the budget in the last year autumn.

However, the "Promise" was never stuck. There is even no prospect that the 35-hour week system will be made to the bill in the deep-rooted repulsion of the manager. The unemployment policy is hardly improved, too. The unemployment rate of this year exceeds to 12% and it reaches near 20% in the southern region. What Prodi has tried to do is to have added help in the tax system so that the enterprise might advance easily to the southern region.

Moreover, the government clarified the reduction of the welfare budget by about 14 trillions liras (about 1 trillion yen) in the coming year budget because of the overcoming of the deficit finance, Prodi refuses all the compromise against the protest of the Refoundation Party as aiming a balanced budget between the reduction of fiscal deficit and the welfare, "I am paying maximum consideration to the welfare and I cannot expend more."

The "Outside-the-Cabinet cooperation route" of the Refoundation Party failed completely. They have gone into raptures over the birth of the Prodi regime by their cooperation because "the Olive tree" did not reach to the majority in the Assembly. They figured out that they would be able to realize their policy by the "Outside-the-Cabinet cooperation" with not expanding life and right by the mass fight of the workers.

However, the "Left" of the Refoundation Party was a mere "Leftish garnish" of the middle-of-the-road government and it played only a role to flap the fantasy to the Prodi regime fruitlessly.ment and it played only a role to flap the fantasy to the Prodi regime fruitlessly.

And, the Refoundation Party itself was divided. Such as the Cossutta faction came to put the keeping of the Prodi regime on the top priority problem as well as the Democratic Party of the Left, and have been taken into the middle-of-the-road regime completely. Was not this an inevitable result of the "Outside-the-Cabinet cooperation route"?

Of course, the workers do not take a pessimistic view of the collapse of the Prodi regime at all. We have no regret about Prodi who has imputed all the difficulty to the general public of the worker under the pretense for the EU integration.

The necessary thing was not to support the middle-of-the-road regime centrally like the Democratic Party of the Left nor to support it as "left" under the pretense of the "Outside-the-Cabinet cooperation" like the Refoundation Party, but to expose the essence of this left-center regime thoroughly and to fight against the fantasy with one's best.

The beautification and the me-too route to such a middle-of-the-road regime (The essence is thoroughly bourgeois regime) are the one of the Japan Communist Party, too. The logic of the Cossutta faction that reached from the outside-the-Cabinet cooperation to supporting Prodi is basically the same as the recent Communist Party including the tentative regime plan. The failure of the Refoundation Party is not a stranger thing at all for the Communist Party.

(Written by Akito Yamada)
(Translated by Yoshi)