Fred Weston , not Fred Western , nor Fred Wetern , his piece is at
http://www.marxist.com/italian-elections-why-did-the-right-wing-win-and-what-does-it-prepare.htm
.

Re : "the origins to the death agency of capitalism," @
https://atrotskiststudieshistorytoexplainpresentandfuture.wordpress.com/2022/09/28/fred-westerns-major-break-from-trotskys-analysis-of-fascism-represents-the-3-faultlines-developing-within-the-italian-section-of-the-international-marxist-tendency-by-anthony-brain/
, methinks you meant ,"death agony," ala ,"The Death Agony of
Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth International."

Weston : "Back in 1996, when she was 19 years old, this is what she
said to a French TV channel:

“I think Mussolini was a good politician. Everything he did, he did
for Italy. There have been no other politicians like him in the last
fifty years.”

Since then, her tune has changed somewhat. This is what she said last month:

“The Italian Right consigned fascism to history decades ago,
unambiguously condemning the lack of democracy and the infamous
anti-Jewish laws.”

However, the question is not whether subjectively Meloni has
sympathies for Mussolini or not. The fact is that Fratelli d’Italia is
not a fascist party that is about to march on Rome, remove
parliamentary democracy and install a one-party dictatorship. Any
attempt to move in that direction would unleash the workers and youth
of Italy, and the Italian ruling class would be facing revolutionary
ferment. Also, we must note that with barely 64 percent of the
electorate turning out, the votes cast for Fratelli d’Italia amount to
16 percent of the overall electorate, i.e. one in six Italians. It is
therefore important to have a sense of proportion when looking at the
figures.."

"The tragedy of this whole situation is that there is no viable or
credible force on the left that could have offered an alternative. The
responsibility for this scenario falls on the shoulders of the
reformist left – in particular the former leaders of the old Communist
Party, who sold out completely to the bosses. And the leaders of
Rifondazione Comunista also must take their share of responsibility.

When the old PCI split in two in 1991, the majority would quickly move
to the right, forming the Democratic Left Party (PDS), which then gave
way to the Democratic Party (PD). The minority formed Rifondazione
Comunista, which was seen as the most left-wing party in parliament,
reaching a peak of over 8 percent in the 1996 elections, and with over
100,000 members. In the name of “stopping the right wing”, however,
just when the party was at its peak electorally, its leaders decided
to back the Prodi-led Centre-Left coalition government, and then in
2006 it actually entered the second Prodi government, taking upon
itself responsibility for that government’s anti-working-class
policies.

This led to the disastrous result in 2008, when it lost all its MPs,
and it has not recovered since. In yesterday’s elections, what is left
of Rifondazione stood in an alliance of other left groups under the
name of Unione Popolare [Popular Union], which won just 1.4 percent,
well below the 3 percent threshold. The Marxists explained over and
over again that class collaboration would be disastrous for the party,
but its leaders refused to listen. They have been paying the price
ever since."

Ritualistic invocations follow about upcoming resistance, which I do
not doubt will occur esp. against the abolition of the Citizen’s Wage
, threatened by Meloni.



Michael Pugliese

On Wed, Sep 28, 2022 at 10:15 AM Anthony Brain
<brainanthony3904@...> wrote:

Fred Western’s major break from Trotsky’s analysis of fascism represents the 3 faultlines developing within the Italian section of the International Marxist Tendency! by Anthony Brain – A Trotskyist studies History to explain present and future! (wordpress.com)