gogue, and the uniformed leghisti merely a gang of urchins escaping for a moment from the vigilance of their teachers. This view, held by some on the Italian left, under. estimates the Northern League's influence.
Four million people, 20 per cent of the northern electorate, voted for the League in April. In Lombardy it won the vote of one worker in three: more than the class-struggle Communist Refoundation Party and the reformist Democratic Party of the Left.
Since the downfall of Christian Democracy, Italy's middle classes and petty bourgeoisie do not feel their views to be represented by the mainstream employers' organisations, financial institutions and politicians. The Northern League benefits greatly from the support of the former bastions of Christian Democracy.
The only way to oppose both Bossi, and his far right national patriotic National Alliance opponents, is by promoting class solidarity between workers using the old slogan: "North and South unite in struggle". This is made more difficult by the unions' ac. ceptance of the reintroduction of wage differentials abolished through workers' struggles in 1969.
This article abridged from Rouge, 19 September 1996.
Diego Giachetti in Turin
Socialist Outlook 109 • 7 October 1996 AT • Tory debacle over Suez