LETTER FROM ITALY
93
if,
in addition to the two big mass parties, some independent demo–
cratic force is to exist. Yet, nothing of the kind exists, or can reasonably
be expected in the near future, least of all in the social democratic
camp.
Silone, who, by the way, has just finished a new novel, has great
confidence in the developments of the Cucchi and Magnani schism.
In any case, he says, it is the only fact of interest in Italian politics
today. This may be true, but it still leaves one doubtful as to the pos–
sibility that the Movimento dei Lavoratori Italiani (whch is the modest
name given by the two ex-Communists to their organization) can bring
abdut a mass exodus of workers from Stalinist organizations. The CP
has long ago ceased to be a political party subject to the fluctuations
of opinion. It is a ferociously well-organized Church, and a very wealthy
one at that. As such, it has ample means to impress its members with
the fundamental conviction that "out of the Church there is no salva–
tion." There have been, there are, and there will be individuals (in
a probably increasing number) who, through the process of individual
experience, decide individually to take the problem of their own salva–
tion in their own hands, or not care about it at all, and leave the Church.
But it is, by definition, a limited process. The crowds will continue
to stay as long as the Church is able to provide them with facilities
for communal worship, work, and recreation.
This does not mean that the strength of the CP is monolithic
and immutable, but rather that political action based on the prospect
of its peripheral erosion can only breed one short-lived sect after another,
never a mass movement. Even such serious blunders as the ruinous
sitdown strike in a metallurgic factory of Reggio Emilia (which the
Communists kept going a whole year, and which ended at the beginning
of October in total defeat and misery for the workers, while it could
have been settled much earlier) will not have any nationwide reflection
on the strength of the Stalinist unions. How could it be otherwise,
when the Stalinists have an unhealthy industrial situation and a mass
of over two million unemployed (mainly industrial workers) to exploit?
The real perfidiousness of Stalinist tactics, the fact, for example, that
the party press never attacks or exposes directly and in detail the
underhanded methods and the shady deals of Italian big business, neces–
sarily escapes the "masses." (One has to read
Il Mondo
in order to
learn something about the corruption of the present Italian economic
set-up. As for the Stalinists, for nationalistic reasons they pose as the
defenders of Italy's industrial system
as
it
is,
hence of its thorough–
going protection by the State.)
