7th Congress

 

FEDERAZIONE dei COMUNISTI ANARCHICI

 

Cremona, 1st October 2006

 

Final Document

 

For a new movement against neo-liberalism,
for the libertarian alternative

 

1. The coming decade

A harsh reaction has been unleashed by States around the world against the cycle of social, labour and political struggles which have been carried on by the movements of opposition to neo-liberalism since the late 20th century, with a consequent general worsening of living conditions for millions of proletarians who are increasingly being enslaved by capitalist exploitation.

Several tendencies would seem to characterize the coming decade:

In fact, with the various financial scandals having died down, there appears to be a revival of finance capitalism once again, and with it monetary policies designed to smother any economic recovery and the birth of a cycle of expansion, through a series of interest rates rises, credit clampdowns and social dumping.

Therefore, in view of the counterproductive effects of precarity on production and competitivity, we are apparently witnessing:

which encourage a neuronal network of sites and related corridors of capital and raw materials on which public and private investments can coagulate, thereby impoverishing the large areas in between.

Since the last decade of the 20th century, with the birth of a state of endemic war generated by the USA for control over the system of imperialist dependencies, there is increasing use of militarism and nationalism (and all its religious and ethnic varieties) in order to use the control/de-stabilization of the area from the Middle East to Central Asia and to destroy the autonomy of the exploited classes by forcing them to side with a particular State, religion or elite to whom they entrust their present and future destiny of exploitation.

Given this situation, it is necessary to re-launch a large international movement against neo-liberalism, against precarity, exclusion and alienation, together with the movement against the war and for peace. Because

2. The proletarian internationalism of the popular struggles

The FdCA will therefore support, promote and assist every initiative aimed at re-building a large international movement

a great international movement whose heart and whose base lie in the grassroots social, labour, cultural, political and anti-militarist organizations, and also in its ability to federalize the struggles that develop, on a national and international level.

To that end, the FdCA

3. Italy's new historic compromise

In Italy, the electoral victory of the centre-left coalition has seen one political class of reactionaries and adventurers who support a social programme of class selection being substituted by another political class made up of rationalizers and technocrats, whole-hearted proponents of the virtues of liberalism and of the need for all working social classes to share in the task of re-launching the country's capitalism.

The anti-Berlusconi opposition movement was rewarded with the electoral defeat of his "House of Liberties" coalition [1], but not with its political death or with any real discontinuing of neo-liberal policies. The admittedly feeble (and above all ill-advised) hope that there might be a new phase of improvement, both in the expansion of rights and in the living conditions of the subordinate classes, does not seem to have any future, given the current policies of the centre-left. This is why we are witnessing a form of semi-paralysis within the movements, which are uncertain as to what strategy to follow (again as a result of the Berlusconi factor blocking any chance of conflict with the Prodi government) and impeded by the fact that one particular political class - the "revolutionary intellighentzia" of yesterday's movements - is now sadly and inevitably bogged down by parliamentary compatibility.

The 5-year basis of the Union's programme [2] is also the cause of a sort of wait-and-see attitude that could seriously interfere with the social, labour and cultural movements' ability to mobilize from the grassroots, something that they did so well at the time of their opposition to the House of Liberties government.

3.1 The danger of opposing common interests

We need to keep our eyes open and avoid being tricked by the duplicity of certain plans for the next 5 years being worked on by the government, the employers' federation and the Bank of Italy, such as:

The attitude is one of feigning improvement and will draw the post-partnership unions and a left whose vision is still clouded by anti-Berlusconism into a suicidal partnership. In order to counter this, it is necessary to re-launch a campaign of mobilizations, led by a new movement of opposition. This movement must learn how to remain entirely independent of the governing coalition by recognizing and rejecting the policies of the centre-left government as being "normal" inter-class policies which promote capitalist exploitation and the legitimacy of the legislature.

4. A new opposition movement in Italy

The FdCA will support, promote and assist all initiatives that seek to work towards the construction of an opposition movement that

4.1 For the growth of a combative labour movement

One of the strong points of this movement is to develop and extend the mobilizations of both EU and migrant workers:

4.2 The global struggle against globalization

Closely linked to labour struggles is the growth and spread of anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian, secular and internationalist movements and mobilizations in order to fight:

4.3 The new generation of anti-fascists

A decisive element in the new movement of opposition and struggle is the development and spread of a new general ethos of anti-authoritarianism and anti-fascism that

4.4 Anti-racism

The presence of foreign workers is now well established but these workers must not be allowed to become the scapegoat for social tensions and the contradictions of this society.

It is necessary to:

4.5 The new feminist generation

Decades after the end of the mass feminist struggles, which led in part to a regression into a form of elitist, institutional feminism, a patriarchal offensive has been launched on an economic, cultural, religious, social and legislative scale.

A renaissance of feminist culture and politics is required at every level of social life if we are to keep, share and widen our opportunities and our individual and collective self-determination.

We consider the following sectors to be strategic for feminist struggles:

4.6 A horizontal movement, with no central committees

But the success of any new opposition movement lies in being able to federate the struggles and the actors in the social, labour and political movements, in order to build and spread the social opposition on as wide and as radical a level as possible, on a horizontal basis; for the spread of a self-managed social alternative from below.

This is what the FdCA is working towards and will continue to work towards.

5. Short-term prospects

In the short term, the FdCA intends to contribute to the struggles

6. The libertarian alternative on the horizon

The FdCA therefore intends to devote its political action to

FEDERAZIONE dei COMUNISTI ANARCHICI

Cremona, 1st October 2006


Notes:

1. The House of Liberties is the name given to the wide electoral and parliamentary coalition of the centre-right, made up of 9 parties, including christian democrats, ex- and post-fascists, neo-liberalists, socialists, republicans and regional separatists.

2. The Union is the name given to the wide electoral and parliamentary coalition of the centre-left, made up of over 10 parties including christian democrats, ex- and post-communists, radicals, socialists and greens.

3. Law 30/2003 is a law which regulates, amongst other things, employment conditions in Italy, and introduced even greater flexibility into work contracts.

4. Fiscal wedge is a term which denotes the difference between the cost of one hour of labour for the employer and the purchasing power that this hour gives to an employee after his taxes and social security contributions have been deducted.