[3,000 demonstrators demanding a 'Yes' vote Workers Socialist…]

Scan page 12

3,000 demonstrators demanding a 'Yes' vote Workers Socialist League, 31, Dartmouth Park Hill, London NW5 1HR ndon. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office.

has been a bad week for the leaders of Italy's and the working class, the Christian Democrats and the Communist Party.

Through its campaign for the referendum of June . 11 the CP has been forced to expose even further its gross betrayals of the interests of the working class.

And as a result of the 'sudden and ignominious resignation of President Leone, virtually confirming the truth of accusations against him of tax fraud and accepting bribes from Lockheed, the Christian Democrats' deserved reputation as the party of corruption and dishonesty, has been reinforced.

Referendum

These events have led to the political initiative slipping even further from the hands of the CP and Christian. Democratic leaders, some of it passing to the smaller parties of the left and the right.

The referendum was about whether two laws should be removed from the statute book or maintained.

The first of these was the law which grants state finance to parties with parliamentary representation (and so allows the parliamentary parties and party leaderships more independence from their rank and file).

THE FIRST EVER Workers Socialist League Summer Fete, held in Oxford last Saturday, was a huge success.

An estimated 400-500 people came through the gates of Redefield School on the large Blackbird Leys council estate to take part in games and amusements or to buy from a range of stalls offering cakes, plants, gifts, books, jumble and refreshments.

An outdoor disco, ice cream, pony riding, helium balloons, a fortune teller and a bottle stall were other attractions in an event that had been carefully planned by the WSL Oxford Area Committee.

A special feature was the sale of a number of original cartoon drawings by Socialist Press Published by Folrose Ltd. for the Printed by A ivil Printers (TU), L The second law was the so-called Reale law, passed in 1975, which granted increased powers of repression to the police-it facilitated the carrying and use of arms, increased powers of search, telephonetapping and arbitrary arrest.

Arrested

Several militants of the left have lost their lives (shot dead in demonstrations) in the last three years as a result of the Reale law.

For instance, Francesco Lorusso was killed in Bologna in March 1977 by a policeman calied Tramontani against whom no action was taken.

In Rome, Giorgina Masi's murder by disguised armed police has been confirmed by film records. She was participating in a protest against the CP Mayor's ban on public demonstrations. -Hundreds of other socialists and militant trade unionists have been arrested or harassed in other ways. Party offices have been raided.

When this law was introduced the Italian CP criticised it as a "bad law" and did not support it in parliament.

"Mistake"

• CP Secretary Berlinguer said at the time that the party "rejected the idea that public disorder and economic difficulties result from imperfect laws"

Such ideas, he said, were "'a serious mistake, because they cartoonist Tim, which raised £20, while a darts stall offered workers and youth the chance to win a Cuban cigar by spearing Margaret Thatcher or Denis A prize draw, with first prize a portable TV set, raised £170, and the total sum raised by the event was £394.

We extend our warmest thanks to all those members and supporters whose time, energy and generosity helped to create this successful event.

With & a grand total of £429.85, most of it from the Oxford fete, collected over the last seven days, our total now stands at £1629.51 towards a final target of £2,000 by the end of July.

There can now be little are obstacles to the necessary research into the real causes and into solutions that can really safeguard democracy".

But for the last few weeks the CP leadership campaigned alongside its Christian Democratic allies in favour of keeping the Reale law, just as during the kidnapping of Aldo Moro, the CP was the outstanding supporter of even stronger moves towards the police state, directed nominally at the Red Brigades but already used against other left-wing organisations and militants.

The CP, like the smaller Socialist Party, gave a hypocritical reason for its support of the "No" vote l'No' to rescinding the law).

They claimed it was still bad law but it was in the process of being amended in Parliamentso the referendum was redundant.

The referendum took place doubt that we will meet this target on time providing all the money promised arrives.

The question is how much over the top we are going to go?

Advanced sales of our new book, 'Communists" Against Revolution, have gone very well and we plan many more publications in the next few months.

So let's see how far over the top we can get by the end of July.

All readers and supporters of Socialist Press are invited to help us in the raising of this fund.

Donations should be sent to:

Socialist Press Special Fund 31, Dartmouth Park Hill London NW5 1HR because the 'left' petty-bourgeois Radical Party (an amalgam of feminists, "ecologists"" , etc)later joined by left groups, especially supporters of the newspaper Lotta Continuacollected 700,000 signatures to demand referenda on 9 different Majority Some of these proposed referenda were declared unconstitutional; others were made unnecessary by a change in the law by parliament.

Most importantly, against the opposition of the Christian Democrats and the Vatican, a law was passed last month permitting abortion.

On !. the two remaing referenda the Radicals and the left called for a "Yes" vote while all the parties of the parliamentary majority campaigned for a "No" vote.

The overall result never seemed in doubt.

The question was the actual majority and in both cases this turned out to be a major shock for the main parties.

In an 81% poll 43.6% voted for the abolition of the law on party finance while 56.4% voted against.

And on the abolition of the Reale law, 23.1% voted in favour and 76.9% voted against.

Abolition

The parties of the "historic compromise" gained well over 90% of the vote in the last general election, but were barely able to got a majority for the law on party finance.

But the larger majority on the Reale law is perhaps a more significant political defeat.

Although the fascist MSI also campaigned for a "Yes" vote, it seems certain that many of its electoral supporters voted "No" with the Christian Democrats.

That means that despite the hysterical campaign for "law and order" after Moro's killing, nearly a quarter of the Italian electorate voted for the abolition of the Reale law.

And probably the majority of those were normally supporturs of the Communist and Socialist Parties, in revolt against the lies and opportunism of their leaders.

Many CP and Socialist Party voters and even members attended the rallies called by the Radicals and the far left against the law.

It is, therefore, the CP which has been smarting most as a result of the referendum.

The party newspaper L'Unita tried to conceal the setback by declaring the result "extremely positive"

Sounding for all the world like a Tory backbencher, the Berlinguer article went on:

"The decisive victory of those who voted against the abolition of anti-criminal legislation is particularly important and of great political significance.

"The great majority of the electorate has demonstrated ifs agreement with the need for strong and tough measures to ensure the preservation of public order and to safeguard the rights of citizens"

In reality, however, the results confirm that a growing number of workers in Italy realise that the citizens whose rights the CP is protecting are the capitalists and the police.

The CPs consciousness that its worst fear-that of losing support to the left-is being realised very likely explains why this week it added its voice (though discretely) to the demands which have been made for several weeks by the Radicals, the four left wing MPs and the Republican Party for the resignation of President Leone after the charges of corruption levelled against him by the "left wing' bourgeois magazine L'Espresso.

No Christian Democrat leader dared to tarnish his own reputation by defending Leone. So Leone had to go.

But his going contributes to a further worsening of the crisis of authority for Italy's ruling class and its Stalinist. and reformist allies.

The only agreed replacement for Leone is dead (Aldo Moro). The next most likely candidate is the Prime Minister Andreotti.

But if he becomes President a new search must begin for a Prime Minister able to hold together the historic compromise without running the risk of a mass revolt by the rank and file of the CP.

----- pull-quotes -----

"historic compromise" between the major political parties of the bourgeoisie