THE COLLAPSE of all remaining distance between the "left" PDS and the right wing alliance in which the Alleanza Nazionale (AN) is increasingly dominant has opened one of the most squalid pages in recent history.
•The political alliance between the right and the PDS has had two imporFirstly the AN has been given legitimacy.
Secondly because the political agenda and the institutional reforms were agreed with concessions from the President and the authority of Fini and his party, people will draw the conclusion that the ideas of Fini are legitimate-if not reasonable.
It is not clear what will be the outcome of the current events. But the Already the camaxe has ocen done. events constitute a new defeat for the workers' movement.
The latest break in the PDS can only of sectors of the masses, generate a loss of identity for the left and increase the feeling of powerlessness in the face of the political games which are beyond the understanding of most people.
The latest phase of political convul. sion comes after the Dini govemment imposed pension reforms in which the PDS and the unions were complicit. The defeat has precipitated a dramatic process of demoralisation and depoliticisation.
The beginning of Italy's six month presidency of the EU has brought a new and sudden acceleration of the crisis.
The strategies of the PDS and the Centre Left are now shaken to the roots. They have realised too late that they have ended up on the slippery slope from which they can only come out badly.
Even if a governing alliance between the AN, the PDS and Forza Italia proves to be impossible, the road would be wide open for a heavy elec. toral defeat for the centre-left and the strenethening of the AN How has the PDS drifted so far off course?
Certainly there is the desire by some leaders to be accepted into government The PDS aim to build o government together with Umberto Boss's Lego Nord at any cost. They have been shedding the last vestiges of their history to is the narrow-mindedness of the leader who is terrified by the prospect of electoral failure.
But also there is a deeper reason. themselves constant defenders of the politics of neoliberalism, supporting the aims of economic convergence decided by the bourgeoisie at They navecomes keenest standard bearers of the desire for capitalist stabilisation and the destruction of the wel. fare state.
While Fini is careful to suggest the need to moderate in some way the austerity policies and to review Maasthe role of custodian of everything the bankers decided at Maastricht. Not only because they need to show they are the best managers of the system, but also they have internalised the politics of the market.
For a party that wants to govern - in whatever name - it is inevitable that this agenda becomes an obligation. It is equally inevitable that the PDS having drifted onto the terrain of economic and political neoliberalism will end up making concessions in the democratic sphere. A battle over the electoral system is already anticipated.
The tendency of the PDS to sing the praises of strong government is also serious because the ideas of the right could exert an influence on the masses.
The defeats, the lack of a real union organisation worthy of the name and the consequences of the political choices made by the moderate left have all led to a sense of insecurity amongst wide sectors of the population especially workers.
People are anxious about the future which appears ever more gloomy. They suffer the hardship of a decline in living standards, they feel threatened conquests and they feel undefended. lacking the chis owns to fight and to influence events. They feel a loss tors of the peat-bourgolsic and inc underclass feel atomised, but also much of the proletariat.
In the face of the hardship caused by this feeling of impotence, the idea of the strong president is gaining support amongst some sectors of the populaSocialist Outlook 100 • April 6, 1996. ocialis