ITALY was rocked by a four-hour general strike last week, called by the trade union federations over wages and unemployment.
In every major lown thousands of workers, joined by students, tenants and housewives, mounted mas sive demonstrations. In Turin, centre of the Fiat car cmpire, the march and meeling was said to have been well over thirty thousand strong. In other towns, demonstrations are reported to have topped the fifty thousand mark.
Workers throughout the country took advantage of the official strike call issued by the CGIL (Lhe union federation dominated by the Communist Party) to serve notice that this was only the beginning of a massive fight-back against the rampant inflation and fast-rising unemployment.
COMMUNIST PARTY
The Communist Party sees the action in a difterent light. The CP daily newspaper L Unita explained that the strike represented the workthe "new model of development': reForni of the social services, an aver haul of the agricultural industry, Govcrement investment in the underder eloped region of Souther Italy, and selective expunsion uf credit facilities This as in to way a programme for Red Weekly 24 October 1974 Page 4 Want to help Mr Agnelli ic compromise put it, for an advanced denocracy"
In a recent interview published in the Auerican magazine Newsweek. Giorgio Amcadola, a leading memher of the Italian CP. makes it crystal clear what this means:
"The world monetary and economic crisis has become for Italy a crisis of production. We, the Communists. know that the crisis is a very real one, and not some employers manoeuvre ing class's support for what they called by Agnetti (boss of Fist I... We want to mediate. We do not want the nationalisation of Fial.
Agnelli solve his peoblems. But we expect to find a solution within a demecratic framework:
Su, while Fiat king Agnelli thrives 65.000 al his workers on a three-lay socialian. If is part of the CP's histor- woek, alf the CP has tn say is that they want to help' Aguelli lond solutions to his" problems.
struppling to meet our adversary. the Christian Democrat, and join with him in a spirit of cooperation'. No doubt it wak iod this roason that the CP bureaucrats invited a prominent member of the Christian Democratit Party to address the mass workThe Franco regime in Spain is step ping up repression aguinst the revolutionary left. It is clearly very a programmine, as they worried about the impact that these forces could have on the increasing militancy of the Spanish working class Many groups of workers, especially in the car industry, have recently taken industrial action to defend their living standards and their right to strike and orpanise. This has brought larue numbers of work ers into confrontation, especially with the police.
ed solidarity action with the workers We want to help Mr under attack as weil as pushing for ward moves for a mass mobilisation against the dictatorship. Now Franco has anade a definite reply. As well as measures which grant the police immunity from prusecution under the law and pive encouragement to Anendold went on tirsay: "We are the revolutionary groups (VI).
were arrested.
The revolutionary left have auntwere being held there.
wrecked. cis demoostration in Turin The tragedy is that he biggest of the organisations to th: left of the CP have no real answet to the CP: beachery. Some of than The Man ifesto group and the organisation called "The Strugele Continues (Lotla Continual are quite hig, and their More andant poncies will mean thal they can become a real focus for radi- Bob Murply the acovities of the fascist bands, he has launched a massive assault on Over the last few weeks there have been increasing numbers of arrests.
Topping the bill, as the French daily Le Monde put it, & the attack on a Spanish sympathising organisation of the Fourth Interiational LCRETA Last week ten of our comrades The police allege that they were trying to lake Segovia prison by storm in an attenpl to free len Hasque political prisuners who The police used this operation to find the clandestine offices of the en Franco organisation, which they raided. They stole doemnents and left the offices These actions against the revolution- Labour Government to break all dip ary left are in diroct contrast to the calising workers who want no truck with lhe CP. But they have no pro grammo which can act as the basis for a workers' solation to the crisis, one which is based on working class independent action and organisation to carry it through (through a goncral strike and workers' councils, for example). policy being pursued as regards other political orpanisations in the workers' movement. Kecently the Spanish Soc alist Workers' Party conference was given fairly impartiai reports in the newspapers.
This is just a cover under which heavy repression can be meated out against the revolutionaries, Only a few days ago, five more copirades from the Basque nationalist organisa fion I TA(VI on bunger strike were hospitalised The Spanish revolutionaries need out support, Just as the Franco re pine is trying lo isolate them, we must take action to isolate and weakResolutions must he moved in all organisations of the lab our and socialist movement opposing France's atlacks and calling on the Jomatic bes with the regime.
"The North is not normal" lamented