DEVELOPMENTS IN THE ITALIAN SOCIALIST PARTY
The Italian Socialist Party (PS I), second-largest workers' organization in the country, on the eve of its national congress found itself seriously divided for the first time in ten years. After the violent conflicts of 1945, 1947, and 1949, which caused successive splits (the biggest of which gave birth to the Social-Democratic Party of Saragat), this party was partially "Stalinized," and its congresses voted unopposed resolutions by unanimous vote. But now this period seems to be over, and the rank-and-file units themselves were this time called on to decide among three different reports, which reflect a division at the top, openly observed at the last session of the Central Committee.
The line of the report presented by Nenni was quite clear. Nenni noted the difficulties which the workers' of the country has been going through for some years now, and analyzed, though in a summary kind of way, the bureaucratic degeneration in the USSR and the other workers' states. He thought that an increase in the "autonomy" of the party's policy might prove a way out of the situation or provide the conditions therefor : this policy should be concretized in an attitude of neutralism and equidistance of tendency on the international plane, and in a very clear differentiation from the Communist Party within the country By such an attitude, according to Nenni, the PS I should succeed sooner or later in polarizing to impose what it calls the democratic alternative. When the opportunity offers, the goal should be achieved by new
Basically, Nenni was developing the line already sketched out after the XXth Congress of the CP of the USSR. For him, the condemnation of Stalinism - of which, however, it must be recalled, he had made no criticism during a very long period - involved a condemnation of Leninism, and the only possibility of success for the Western workers' movement lay in abandoning any revolutionary and adopting the neo-reformist theses on "new" roads to
It is true that the Italian CP had also taken a stand in favor of this line; but the essential idea of Nenni was precisely that the Italian C P, by its nature and its ties with the US SR, would never be able to transform the "democratic" paths to socialism into reality, whereas the PS I was the only workers' organization in a position to
All that does not put Nenni on the same plane as that of the classical positions of the international Social-Democracy (his rank and file would not tolerate it, and he himself, furthermore, could not so easily forget his past and his training), but in fact he is from now on very close to certain left or left-centre tendencies inside the big Social-Democratic parties (for example, the tendency of Bevan, who indeed contributes quite regularly to the organ of the PS I).
It might be noted that this line developed the same ideas that had won out at the Venice Congress two years before. That was just the goal that Nenni proposed to reach. But, according to him, a large part of the outgoing Central Commitee was, underneath, hostile to this line without opposing it openly, and "sabotaged" its application; that was why Nenni himself took the initiative of a break at the top so that the party might take a position not only on the policy but on the men who would be entrusted with carrying it out.
The second tendency was represented by Basso, a quite characteristic personage, who has often worked out very good analyses but without knowing how to draw the conclusions they rendered necessary (on the contrary, he drew and is still drawing opportunist conclusions). His document — from the formal point of view — was unquestionably the most coherent one, and again contained quite correct analyses (especially about the USSR and the workers' states). But Basso also accepts the "new" roads (the possibility of passing over to socialism through democracy, etc) and the conception that the Socialist Party would be best qualified to translate this possibility into practice. Hence his position is not very different from that of the Nenni tendency. More exactly, Basso, who was in fact the first to state the formula of the democratic alternative - since then become widespread — flatly excluded collaboration with the Christian-Democracy, whereas Nenni seemed more of a "possibilist" on this matter. But Nenni also was aware that in the immediate future such a collaboration could not be seriously carried out: which reduces his divergences with Basso at this stage.
The third tendency - the left - which had the relative majority in the Central Committee-proposed for the Congress a document which, from certain points of view, was the most advanced one, but which unfortunately was also rather eclectic and very part of the document was that which criticized the Social-Democratic tendencies of the Nenni group, stressed the danger of a break between the two workers' parties, and came out unhesitatingly on the side of the US S R and the other workers' states. In addition, the left's report worked up a certain criticism of the past policy of the Italian workers' movement and denounced certain aspects of the line of the Italian CP, correctly emphasizing that it is on several plan is a "recalled censen arist ideas acts! " And lastly about bourgeois democracy and workers' democracy, saying among other things that "the organization of the democratic state of the workers is not identical with that of the democratic state of the bourgeoisie." But, eide-by-sids aith to coit cove oded bossibito a cept roads and to conceive of the possibility of a transformation of the structures of the bourgeois apparatus from the inside. The idea of the democratic alternative — nobody is able to say just what this means, exactly -- is also accepted by the left. which on this matter stated its agreement with either Nenni or Basso.
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Second, concerning the question of the US SR and the workers' states, the report of the left correctly emphasized that the system of workers states must be criticized from within and that "the process of destalinization is irreversible, for the objective. causes that determine it prevail over the subjective causes that slow it down.'' But the criticism of the bureaucracy was reather weak, and it could be inferred theretrom that the bureaucracy has tound strength for a renewal by eliminating the evils denounced by the XXth Congress. Furthermore, the allusion to revisionism was too vague, and there was not a word about the Jugoslav Communists, whom Moscow denounces as the
Immediately after the session of the Central Committee that formalized the creation of the three tendencies, the forces of the party lined up behind each of them; a few weeks later the positions were already crystalized. The Basso tendency, with a few exceptions, had a very limited success, and is able to play at best only a subordinate role, rallying to the others either at the Congress, or after the Congress in the new Central Committee. Nenni was followed by the right wing of the party, including many members who are rather close to the conceptions of the Social-Democracy, and who would not be hostile to a collaboration with the Christian-Democracy. It may be said, probably without exaggeration, that Nenni's base stands to the right of Nenni himself.
The left— which has the support of several trade-union leaders (a large fraction of whom, however, are allied with Basso) - is internally very heterogeneous. In it, at least three groups can be distinguished. The first is the one called "the apparatus": these are the people who have very few and who have always been more concerned with keeping the posts they have in the party than with working for a genuine clarification. The second is that of the nostalgic Stalinists, who did not like the XXth Congress, do not want any criticisms of the bureaucracy of the US SR, and basically consider that the party will have correct positions only to the degree that it adopts the position of the Italian PC and of the leaders of the USSR (the members of this tendency are currently called "carristi," for they were in favor of the use of Soviet tanks —"carri" in Italian — against the Hungarian revolution).
And lastly there is a nucleus grouped around Mondo Operaio, the official periodical, under the formal direction
FOURTH INTERNATIONAL of Nenni but under the de facto control of opposition militants, which worked up very good analyses on USSR and the workers' workers movement, present currents in the Italian bourgeoisie. In particular this group carried out an excellent campaign for workers' control, which had repercussions even inside the Italian CP — whose organ several times polemicized with these socialists, moment when Togliatti himself spoke up at a session of the Central Committee to accept in part certain of the ideas put forward by this group. Although numerically weak, the Mondo Operaio group has been the only really new socialist tendency which has developed ideas valid for the workers'
Though this note was written on the eve of the Naples Congress, it was already possible, on the basis of the results in the different local congresses, to count on a quite clear majority for Nenni (who had his big successes particularly in big cities such as Rome, Milan, and Genoa, victory was a crushing one). This outcome was determined by several factors: Nenni's personal prestige, the insufficient clarity of the left tendency, the unfavorable reactions of many militants to the too open intervention of the Italian C P, which came out against Nenni and in favor of the left ;
especially and basically, the notable weight of the petty-bourgeois wing in the party. In addition, it must not be forgotten that the situation in broad workers' sectors also weighed heavily here: by their own admission, militants chose Nenni because they are tired of fighting under very difficult conditions and want to find a less rocky way out. This is an illusion, obviously, but at the a rather widespread one.
As the present issue prepares comes in that at the Congress the results were much as expected, i e, a quite clear majority for the Nenni tendency, which henceforth will rule the party. One of the immediate consequences of the Congress was been the crisis in Saragat's Social-Democratic party, whose left wing wants to go over to the PS I. This crisis furthermore provided the pretext for the Fanfani government — already in an untenable position - to resign.
We shall see in the next months in what direction and to what degree Nenni will be able to exploit his present success. We do not believe that he will be able to do much, even from his own point of view.