tremendous upsurge of mass strug of the Italian people, the Catholic exerted so effectively against the Communist 'unholiness' in 1948 in the 1974 divorce referendum has been followed by the mobilisafor free abortion on demand - embarrassing the PCI, which still favThe announcement of a joint slate of all the major far gles in Italy. The time old oppressor Church, sees the influence which it now ocue chipocu away. les ucical tion of tens of thousands of women ours restrictions in order not to harm its prospects of a coalition with the the spot. drive home to the PCI that any left government which At the same time, inspired by Portugal, Italian soldiers are challenging the authority relations and discipline typical of any bourgeois The slogan of workers control is being increasingly raised in the factories, challenging the fundamental bourgeois concept of private property. Against fascist sabotage, workers are organising their own self-defence squads. On top of all this, the far left is expected to poll at least a million votes.
That explains the fears in NATO, the panic in the multinationals, and the anxiety of the Italian ruling class (an anxiety which extends to the PCI leadership). Demands for a CP-SP government following gains for the left in the elections would fin. find a rapid and widespread response inside broad sections of the working class, and would put the leaders of both reformist parties firmly on THREATS victory.
What has been the reaction of the PCI to the threats of American imperialism and the bribery of the multinationals like Lockheed and the oil companies? The PCI has not criticised the imperialist role of the multinationals but has only attacked their lack of respect for 'democracy' One of the PCI leadership put it this way: "One of the most dangerperiod mean that imperialism is far from united on how to deal with the danger of a PCI victory Kissinger seems to prefer threats, but Democratic contender Jimmy Carter prefers a more delicate app roach. On Italian television he said that he 'didn't think that it was for America to advise the Italians how to vote, and he added that he would be in 'direct or indirect contact with the PCI.
The Italian ruling class is equally divided on its tactics. Fiat boss Gievanni Agnelli appeared to have decided - along with organs of British bourgeois opinion like The Times and The Economist - that the time had come to adopt the Republican Party as the 'new party of the bourgeoisie. The Republicans have not been so implicated in the corruption scandals as the Christian Democrats, and they are more disposed to accept the historic compromise But at the last moment Agnelli withdrew because, it seems, of a family feud which reflected the divisions inside the Italian ruling class. Now his ultra-right brother Umberto will be standing as a Christian Democrat, his sister Susana as a Republican, and Gio vanni himself will remain above the fray for the time being.
DILEMMA The Daily Telegraph reflected the dilemma of the imperialists when it lamented: "The Russians just invade a defecting ally. The West must mount a tough campaign of persuasion moral force and realism."
It is not, of course, that Western imperialism has not considered armed intervention - but it is restricted by detente and a changing international situation. It could adopt economic sanctions, but this would only tend to increase the independent activity of the working class. In fact the entrance of the PCI into government will pose a whole new series of problems for imperialism - and a whole new series of tasks for the international workers movement in helping the Italian working class to develop their struggle towards ALAN HUDSON