[We have translated the following article from the November issue of Bandiera Rossa, organ of the Gruppi Comunisti Rivoluzionari (Revolutionary Communist Groups), the Italian section of the Fourth International.]
The economic crisis that was taking shape at the beginning of this year flowered during the summer and after the end of the vacation period into a full-blown recession, with all the classical symptoms. The downturn is the worst that the Italian capitalist economy has experienced in the postwar period. A new upswing seems all the more problematical, furthermore, because of a number of factors. Other capitalist countries - first of all, the United States - have been hit by a recession as well. In still others, eloquent warning signs have appeared. Moreover, the entire international trade and monetary system has been profoundly shaken.
That the bosses are trying to take advantage of the recession for their own purposes goes without saying. But it would be absurd to proceed from an assumption that the crisis is an invention of the bosses, or little less than that. Today, as always, the recession is the inevitable result of the way the capitalist system works. And this time, I repeat, the cyclical downturn has assumed proportions unprecedented in the last quarter of a century. In order to comprehend the recent developments in the political situation and to try to determine the short- and medium-term trends, we must begin from the standpoint of this economic crisis.
The line the ruling class is following is the same one it has traditionally sought to apply in situations of this type. On the one hand, it is making a strong assault on the level of employment, not only in small and middle sized industry but also in the big, monopolistic combines, both through layoffs and through reducing the workweek. On the other hand, by means of constant increases in prices - in other words, an inflationary pro- 1096
cess - the capitalists are biting more and more deeply into the wage gains won in the struggles of recent years. It is also likely that the bosses will try once again to impose a "rationalization" scheme, that is, to increase the rate of exploitation (this would necessarily involve restoring manage rial authority in the plants, which was profoundly shaken in the three years of the great rise of workers' struggles).
A capitalist offensive along these lines has been in full swing for some weeks, and for the first time since 1968, the working class as a whole has been forced onto the defensive. The stakes, everyone realizes, are extremely high. What is in question is whether or not the bourgeoisie will succeed once more in shifting the weight of the crisis onto the backs of the workers; whether it will succeed in creating a large reserve army of the unemployed, which might not be reabsorbed for a rather long pe riod. (In other words, what seems today to be cyclical unemployment might become more or less chronic, stabilized at a high level, with all the obvious consequences this would have.)
In more general terms, the question is whether the working class will be able to regain the offensive in the near future and resume its rise, or whether it will suffer a defeat, inevitably marking the end of the period that opened in 1968.
Precisely because the stakes are so high, the battle is being fought on all fronts. On the broader political front, the conservative forces are trying to bring about a decisive shift to the right, although for the moment they are unable to replace the centerleft formula. At the same time, the fascists and their allies are carrying on a wide range of activities, from goon-squad attacks on workers and students to political maneuvers aimed at forming a "law-and-order coalition." Nor have the fascists neglected demagogic appeals to certain strata of the student population and even of the working class (although for the moment entirely marginal ones).
We must realize clearly that although the bourgeois bloc has not overcome its crisis and the government coalition itself still seems fragile. men on is sal seems trague, the economic situation and the attack against the level of employment have made the objective conditions less favorable to the working class than they were a year or even a mere six months ago. This needs to be said, not to inspire an unjustified feeling of resignation but to appeal for the highest sense of political responsibility.
The first conclusion that follows from our premises is that it would be entirely illusory to think that we can win the battle in these crucial weeks by taking on the bosses in individual plants or industries. Although they have, of course, set certain primary objectives, the capitalists have launched a general offensive. There is only one way that it can be repulsed and the conditions created for a counteroffensive by the workers. The overall balance of forces must be shifted in favor of the proletariat, that is, large-scale mobilizations of the workers must be developed that converge in timing and objectives.
If this is not done, the best that can be hoped for is that the workers will be able to win some partial concessions, and we will have to resign ourselves to a retreat on the broad front. Let me be still more specific: It is so important to mount a battle on the entire front, with all the forces mobilized and fighting for the same objectives, that at this precise time particular demands in individual plants or industries must be subordinated, even if they are objectively justified.
The slogans around which to organize this mobilization are those the revolutionary Marxists have consistently put forth since the beginning of the year; these slogans now correspond even more directly and immediately to the needs of the move ment. To combat the thrust of inflation and the high cost of living, we must call for the application of a new kind of sliding scale of wages that would effectively guarantee the workers' wages against constant erosion. To the attacks on the level of employment, we must respond by raising the demand for a sliding scale of hours which, in essence, would assure the distribution of what work there is among the workers without layoffs or wage cuts. The workers must not lose one lira of their wages because of cutbacks in production nor sacrifice any of their living standard to rising prices!
These objectives must continue to be linked to the themes of workers' _control. The workers, the toilers in general, must exercise direct supervision over price rises, if we are to see a sliding scale that really achieves its aims. The workers must keep a check on production costs and working conditions, rejecting the principle that only the plant managements or individual directors are competent judges of such questions.
It is only on the basis of workers' control that a sliding scale of hours can be applied. Moreover, only workers' control of production tempos, job qualifications, etc., can prevent an increase in the rate of exploitation and a renewed attempt to introduce a rationalization scheme, which would involve squeezing greater profits out of the workers and, at the same time, swelling the army of the unemployed.
On the student front, also, the enemy has moved onto the offensive. The conservatives are continuing the operation they started in the second se mester of the last school year, the aim of which is to eliminate the advanced positions of the student move ment and- insofar as possible-bring about a return to "normalcy." At the same time, the fascists are stepping up their initiatives with the confidence they have gained from their objective ly more favorable position and from their success in the June 13 elections.
These weeks are very important be cause we are in the period that de termines the course of struggles in the schools for the whole year. The students, therefore, must prepare themselves for broader mobilizations, taking account of the specific needs of this phase. First of all, realizing that a defeat of the workers would open the door immediately to a reactionary counterattack on the campuses, the students must take a more determined part in the battle that the proletariat is waging. Any default or passivity in this area would be irresponsible and, in the last analysis, suicidal.
At the same time, any intellectualist tendencies to dismiss demands related to even the most elementary needs of the students (such as the question of school buildings and the content of instruction) must be rejected. This is not only for the general reason that the broad student masses- in particular the new students arriving very year-are sensitive to these questions, but also because the fas December 13, 1971
cists are waging a demagogic campaign on these issues. And the fascists might gain a general political advantage by moving in to fill any gaps that the left and the revolutionary forces failed to close. Finally, the students must not neglect internationalist mobilizations; the demonstrations coming up November 6 against the imperialist war in Vietnam offer an immediate opportunity for such work.
But one thing above all must be clear to the workers and students. The present period demands unity -unity among all sectors of the working class, unity between the workers and the other strata of the working masses, unity among the revolutionary vanguard groups, and unity between the vanguard groups and the tradeunion organizations.
In the struggles in progress, the unions are destined to play a leading role, and we must demand that they accept their full responsibility and pre pare the way for a determined struggle on a general scale, without any hesitation, self-paralyzing maneuvers, or illusory hopes. We must demand unity between the workers' and student movements.
We must struggle to win the objectives imposed by the needs of this phase without losing any precious time. We must fight on the line of a united front of the workers!