A-Infos (en) Italy, FDCA, Cantiere #28: Edito - EUROPE OF MASTERS AND THEIR WARS (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The elections for the renewal of the European Union (EU) parliament held 
from 6 to 9 June confirmed the advance of the right, even in its most 
extreme components, a trend that at a continental level was only 
partially countered by the results of the French legislative elections 
held on 30 June and by those of the political elections held in England 
the following July where, respectively, the rise of the reactionary 
alignment of the French National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen, already 
winner of the European elections, was stopped by the victory of the 
Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) formed by an alliance of left-wing 
political parties, and the English Conservatives were defeated by the 
Labour Party.

The above-mentioned victories in the political elections in France and 
England were greeted in Italy with an irritating emphasis that hid a 
conscious desire for decontextualization, considering that they were 
uncritically assumed as a premise for the reconstruction of a united 
left, in order to counter the hegemony of the right even in its 
national-fascist configurations and for a concrete hypothesis of 
government of the left.

Of course, the reference to the situation in the USA could not be 
missing, but this omission was resolved by Walter Veltroni who 
authoritatively stated:

"Harris must unite radicals and moderate Democrats. Beating Trump means 
saving democracy". (La Stampa, 25/07/24.

All these statements that have followed one another, alternating 
superficiality, naivety and arrogance, have however clarified the true 
strategic intention of the parliamentary left, also considering that the 
entire Italian left in its political and trade union components, from 
the most moderate and mass to the most radical and minority, all lament 
the absence of one or more parliamentary political shores capable of 
ferrying social demands into the institutions of the state, delegating 
to them the defense of the interests of our class that thus becomes 
expropriated from any possibility of control.

Beyond the best intentions of those who in the past have delved into 
these political and institutional paths, there is the concrete reality 
of the balance of power between capital and labor that, in the absence 
of generalized social conflict, pulls in the direction of capital 
especially in the institutions, where an inevitable downward mediation 
takes place and to the total detriment of the interests of the subaltern 
classes.

    The history of social conflict shows instead that the greatest 
victories have not been obtained "in parliament" as a certain now 
generalized reformist rhetoric wearily replies, but with the 
mobilizations organized and well prepared by a widespread militant 
political and trade union fabric, capable of generalizing the objectives 
by imposing on the employers and the institutions a more equitable 
redistribution of the social wealth produced that does not feed profits 
and incomes but the material interests of our class for its liberation, 
even if partial, from need: but the militant fabric is now worn out and 
this constitutes an aspect on which it is necessary and urgent to start 
a reflection.

    On the other hand, there is little to be happy about because in 
France the " anti-fascist glue" constituted by the need to contain the 
rise to government of M. Le Pen's RN and which allowed the victory of 
the NFP, has rapidly weakened with the

resurfacing of old controversies between the various political 
components, aggravated by inevitable conflicts for the conquest of 
leadership, which have allowed Macron to implement that "divide and 
conquer" to separate the components of the NFP more tied to the 
moderation of the Socialist Party (PS) from Jean-Luc Mélenchon's France 
Insoumise (FI) , further widening a disagreement that also concerns 
ongoing conflicts such as the war in Ukraine, which sees the Socialists 
against sending troops to the battlefields but in favor of continuing to 
send weapons to the government in Kiev, while Malenchon has taken a more 
possibilist position that also includes a certain opposition to NATO.

    In England, the defeat of the Conservatives allowed the triumph of 
the Labour Party, a party that was itself moderate and warmongering, 
historically oriented towards neoliberalism.

    In fact, the previous Labour governments led by Tony Blair 
(1997-2007) distinguished themselves in completing the plan for major 
industrial restructuring and all the privatisations of public companies 
already planned by the previous Conservative governments of M. Thatcher 
(1979-1990), which impoverished the lower classes and weakened the 
unions, providing open support for the imperialist conflicts in Kosovo 
(1999) and Iraq (2003). Today in England the Labour Party is preparing 
to govern on the basis of a replicated neoliberalism, but in a crisis 
situation that sees a fall in GDP, together with the exposure of Great 
Britain in the costly war in Ukraine: history therefore repeats itself.

    The scenarios that are taking place in England and France, as well 
as in the EU and the USA, are complex, contradictory and not reassuring, 
which open up to new perspectives and which must be analyzed in the 
context of the clash between the powers for the control of the world 
market that involves the weak and divided imperialism of the EU which, 
moreover, is banking on the renewed election of Von der Leyen by a 
composite and contradictory alignment that includes the EPP, the 
European Socialists (to which our PD adheres), the Greens and also 
sectors of the more left-wing components.

    The Italian government presented itself divided at this deadline 
where FI brought its support in favor of the election of Von der Leyen, 
while the League and FdI denied it, thus confirming an indisputable 
proof of weakness that will in any case be destined to weigh heavily on 
the future structures of the EU that are announced as unfavorable to the 
Meloni government.

    But the new European Parliament did not waste time and approved, as 
its first measure, the increase in arms supplies to Ukraine (up to now, 
the EU's arms supply to Ukraine has reached the ceiling of 88 billion) 
and the removal of all limitations on their use, including on Russian 
soil (495 votes in favour; 137 against, 47 abstentions). The measure 
also includes a request to member states to accelerate and relaunch the 
production capacity of military industries by allocating at least 0.25% 
of GDP to military aid to Ukraine, all without any reference to the 
possibility of diplomatic actions for peace.

    With this prompt measure, the EU intended to demonstrate its total 
subordination to US imperialism, NATO and rearmament policies, by 
implementing a conscious and conspicuous aid to the European war 
industry paid at the price of containing public spending and therefore 
at the sole expense of the workers and the subordinate classes of the Union.

    For the record, FdI and PD voted for the new European aid to the 
Kiev government, albeit with different motivations, some announced 
difficulties and some defections.

    The political elections held in the EU also saw a modest voter 
turnout (an average of 51.05%, with the sole exception of Germany with 
64.74%). This, however, was partially halted in the legislative 
elections held in England (60.01%) and France (66.63%).

    In Italy, however, the abstentionist phenomenon manifested itself 
with a tendency to increase, reaching a turnout at the polls below the 
EU average and equal to 48.31%.

    The phenomenon of abstentionism, if on the one hand it should not 
be demonized as the father of all misfortunes, neither should it be 
assumed as a homogeneous fact, capable of expressing a generalized 
tendency towards rebellion.

    Abstentionism is a complex, multifaceted and above all 
contradictory phenomenon, which must be analysed within the context of 
the crisis of bourgeois democracy and its institutions, as it is 
manifesting itself in the imperialist competition:

    decision-making centers move well beyond individual states, 
undermining their authority and their decision-making capacity, 
concentrating themselves in uncontrollable areas where the balance of 
power between powers prevails.

    Therefore, continuing to consider parliamentarism as a viable 
strategy to control ongoing capitalist processes is frankly illusory.

    Abstentionism is a social phenomenon that also includes qualified 
class minorities that must however be intercepted by the political 
intervention of the Revolutionary Organization.

    Even in the international anarchist communist sphere we have 
witnessed the efforts of the Union Communiste Libertaire (UCL), our 
French sister political organization which, rather than hiding behind an 
ideological and principled abstentionism, has expressed, albeit 
critically, a position of support for the NFP, a position motivated by 
the tactical need not to isolate itself from a mass context capable of 
containing the reaction and opening new spaces for class intervention, 
without any electoral and parliamentary illusions.

    However, it is also worth noting our more critical position, which 
identifies the French NFP as a contradictory experience that could also 
replicate the electoral illusion, causing new and lethal 
disorientations, as has also happened in Italy, Spain and Greece.

    In our country the government appears divided on the war. The Prime 
Minister has not yet commented on the new Ukrainian offensive on Kursk, 
while the League declares itself resolutely against the use of Italian 
weapons on Russian soil: and while the public debt stands at 2919 
billion euros compared to the month of May, establishing a

alarming record, the government is preparing to introduce measures to 
increase military spending in compliance with the limit of 2% of GDP 
which, evidently, has not yet been exceeded, all in compliance with the 
wishes of the USA and NATO and the war industry.

    In this context of war and of the employers' and governments' 
offensive against the conditions of the subaltern classes, social 
opposition manifests itself in areas that remain isolated, failing to 
generalize to these broader contexts.

    This is because the trade union organization is now weakened in the 
workplace and with it the militant and political fabric of reference, 
and this does not allow for a widespread reality of disputes in 
companies, territories and national bargaining.

    The capitalist logic of profit and its concentration is therefore 
not effectively countered by conflict and is spreading throughout 
society to the detriment of our class, undermining the quality of life, 
the rights achieved, health and safety in the territories and places of 
work, promoting poverty and marginalization.

    The state of opposition social movements also suffers from the same 
limitations and the struggles for the defense of the environment, the 
mobilizations for peace that have seen student movements at the 
forefront, as well as the struggles of women for the defense of their 
conquests and, in general, the widespread struggles for the right to 
housing, to basic public services, such as health and education and for 
the protection of the weakest social strata are unable to find the unity 
necessary to counter the ongoing employer and government attack.

    In this situation, the CGIL, the largest Italian trade union, is 
leading a "referendum opposition" which is not accompanied by social 
conflict but which, in fact, replaces it.

    Therefore, there is no longer any trade union action, both in terms 
of disputes and contracts, capable of uniting entire categories of 
workers, precarious workers and non-workers with the social realities of 
opposition movements, which is instead delegated to an action entirely 
projected on the political and institutional level, namely the 
referendum, which does not allow the sedimentation of a broad militant 
fabric capable of acting effectively in a unitary perspective in 
situations of crisis and government and employer attacks, without, 
moreover, averting a new electoral defeat. All this is happening in a 
situation of recrudescence of neo-fascist squads openly protected by the 
institutions and of government repression with respect to freedom of the 
press and freedom to demonstrate, increasing the penalties already 
provided for by the penal code against any dissent, even verbal.

    What emerges clearly from the phase we are dramatically 
experiencing are the widespread armed conflicts that in the world have 
now reached the number of 56, the highest since 1945, in an "escalation" 
that increasingly brings the risk of a third world war closer.

    This is the framework in which we are witnessing a generalized 
attack on the environment that is taking place not only on the 
unfortunately widespread battlefields, but throughout the planet whose 
defense and maintenance of the territories is completely neglected by 
this government as by the previous ones, culpably omitting the 
consequences of the capitalist management of the territories that, 
privileging profit (absence of maintenance, increase in large 
infrastructure works), has certainly contributed to accelerating the 
devastating processes of climate change.

    Peace, the social and class question and the environmental question 
are objectives that cannot proceed separately, but must sediment those 
profound unitary processes that only the conscious and organised 
militant action of the comrades present in the trade union movements and 
mass movements is able to carry out for the overcoming of capitalism, 
for a world of peace, freedom, equality and defence of the environment 
in all its implications.

 These are the goals of our political and organizational action.

Alternativa Libertaria/FdCA

http://alternativalibertaria.fdca.it/
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