by Franco Bavila
The main element in the Italian political scenario is by far the mass distrust towards the existing institutions. This is clearly demonstrated by the very high level of abstentionism in the last European elections. For the first time in the history of the Italian Republic, less than half of the voters voted (49.69%). If we also consider voters abroad, the turnout was even lower (48.2%). If we look at the municipalities where people only voted for the European elections (i.e. where regional or municipal elections were not held at the same time), the voter turnout dropped to 42.2%. Since 2004, voter turnout in the European elections has been constantly decreasing and the credibility of the main leaders and parties has never been so low.
Shift to the right?
In this context of delegitimization of the entire political system, anyone who talks about Meloni’s victory or society’s shift to the right is completely off track. In terms of absolute votes, Fratelli d’Italia gets 600,000 votes less than in the 2022 political elections. Of course, Meloni fared better than Macron or Scholz, both returning from real electoral defeats, but this does not mean that the his approval has dropped.
The one who tried to gather the vote of the far right was Salvini, who nominated General Vannacci and conducted an electoral campaign with positions even more reactionary than those of FdI. However, this strategy simply failed. The League lost consensus, especially in the North, and ended up under Forza Italia, even though it is orphaned by its historical leader: in fact, Salvini, who in the 2019 European elections had managed to gather 34%, today got fewer votes than the ghost of Berlusconi.
Another essential point is that the program of the ruling class has no basis of consensus within society. Significantly, the forces of the bourgeois center, the most shamelessly Confindustria and pro-NATO ones (Renzi, Bonino, Calenda…), do not even reach the quorum and remain outside the European Parliament.
The political force most penalized was undoubtedly the 5 Star Movement, which lost more than 2 million votes compared to the last general elections. It seems like an eternity has passed since mass discontent expressed itself, in the absence of alternatives, through the ambiguous, inter-classist and petty-bourgeois phraseology of the M5S (the “people against the caste”). That phase ended a while ago, but in 2022 Conte managed to revive his electoral fortunes a little, resorting to a minimum of left-wing rhetoric (on citizenship income, the minimum wage, etc.), thanks to which he had wrested votes from one of the most right-wing versions of the PD ever, that of Enrico Letta. The situation today has radically changed. First of all, the M5S didn’t even try to put up a serious fight to defend its strong point, the citizen’s income, from the government’s attacks and this left a mark on its electorate. Secondly, Conte finds himself squeezed into an alliance with Elly Schlein, who is certainly better equipped than him – and has greater party roots than him – to carry forward a rosy social democratic rhetoric.
The vote on the left
In reality, despite all the talk about the advance of the right, the strengthening of the government and the threat of fascism, the only parties that increase their number of votes compared to 2022 are the centre-left ones, which are in opposition : despite the low turnout, the PD gets 250,000 more votes and the Greens and Left Alliance grows by half a million votes. Even Santoro’s list, yet another shapeless agglomeration on the left that punctually presents itself at every electoral round, always different and always the same, and just as punctually does not reach the quorum, managed to get 100,000 more votes than those of Unione Popolare two years ago.
If this is true in general, it is even more so among the younger segment of the population. Analyzing the vote of young people between 18 and 29 years old, the first party is the PD (18%), followed by M5S (17%) and AVS (16%), while FdI comes only fourth (14%).
AVS’s good result was driven by the candidacies of Ilaria Salis (176 thousand preferences) and Mimmo Lucano (188 thousand preferences). A whole sector on the left saw the vote for Salis and Lucano as the most effective and direct way to give a blow to the right wing in government, which is understandable. However, we must ask ourselves: in what political project were these illustrious candidacies inserted? And here the problems begin, because the alpha and omega of Fratoianni’s entire political line is the maintenance at all costs of an unshakeable alliance with the PD. And if AVS is not willing under any circumstances to break with the PD, Schlein’s party is not willing under any circumstances to break with the fundamental interests of the ruling class. Whether it is Italy’s “international commitments” (sending weapons to Ukraine, the naval mission to protect commercial traffic in the Red Sea, etc.), economic policy (state aid to private businesses), or local administration (Milan and Bologna, both governed by the center-left, are the cities where real estate speculation and high rents are at their highest), on all fundamental issues the PD always responds “present”.
For this reason, the fight against the government cannot be delegated to Schlein and his left-wing satellites. The interests of workers, young people and immigrants are not reconcilable with those of the big bourgeoisie, the capitalist European Union and the imperialist NATO bloc. There is a need for an independent politics of the working class and a coherent battle against the agenda of the employers, of which Meloni is the guarantor. Precisely to respond to this need we have launched a campaign to build the Revolutionary Communist Party, which will culminate with a national founding assembly in Rome on 23 November. A campaign in which we invite everyone to actively participate.
Neither Meloni, nor Schlein! For the Revolutionary Communist Party!
