Increased health charges provoke general strike in Italy THE GENERAL STRIKE in Italy on May 10 once again confirmed the readiness of broad layers of the working class to fight. At the same time, it confirmed that mobilizations from below can force the trade-union bureaucrats to take a bit more notice of the wishes of activists. LIVIO MAITAN
T HE NEW wave of strikes and demonstrations leading up to the May 10 strike was sparked off by decisions adopted on March 23 by the five-party government of Christian Democrat Ciriaco De Mita.
In an attempt to reduce an ever-increasing budgetary deficit, the government took a series of measures of which the most spectacular and most unpopular was the imposition of appreciably higher patient contributions for analyses, x-rays, specialist consultations, hospitalization and even medicines.
### Workers occupied trade-union offices
On April 1, when these measures came into effect, there were incidents in the hospitals with patients and visitors noisily voicing their discontent. But even on the eve of the announcement of the government's measures, strikes and marches were organized independently of the trade-union leaderships.
The most significant episode was the spontaneous three-hour strike by metalworkers at Ansaldo and Breda Fucine in Seso S. Giovanni, a well-known workers' stronghold in the suburbs of Milan. The town's streets were filled with 1,500 workers, and 300 of them "occupied" the local offices of three trade-union federations to demand mobilizations against the increased health charges.
Similar demonstrations took place in other factories in Lombardia, Emilia, Genoa and Ancona, among others. Demonstrations continued in the days that followed, with work-stoppages in some factories. Some of the smaller union and sector leaderships also began to move.
April 10 saw a two-hour strike by metal and textile workers. In the same period there were around 50 local strikes and hundreds of workers' assemblies. Even at Fiat in Turin, where the situation is still difficult, a strike was called and massively supported. The same day, demonstrations against the charges linked up with pensioners' demonstrations. According to the Communist Party (PCI) daily, around 300 demonstrations were held involving a million people: 30,000 in Mestre, near Venice; 15,000 in Brescia and Genoa; 20,000 in Bologna; 10,000 in Trieste and Bari.
In Milan, 100,000 paraded through the streets on April 12, and 80,000 marched in Florence on April 18. The workers' response provoked waverings and differences inside the government (with some ministers leaping to criticize the measures that they themselves had voted for!) Subsequently, it was decided to reduce the increased charges and a new scale was fixed. But this was only a "relaxation", to use the word employed by the biggest bourgeois newspaper. The mobilizations continued and the union leaderships stood firm on their call for a general strike, announced on April 21. This was in spite of heavy pressure from the government and explicit opposition to the strike call by the secretary of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) and exprime minister, Bettino Craxi.
Civil servants and railworkers join the action
In addition, on April 5 there was a strike by 250,000 state employees, and on April 28 a 24-hour strike completely paralyzed the railways.
The tactical twists and turns carried out by the three trade-union federations (CGIL, CISL and UIL) are worth commenting on.
When the government's measures were announced, they were not in favour of mass mobilizations, and totally opposed to a general strike. As late as March 29, the general secretary of the CGIL, Bruno Trentin — whose international reputation as a left-winger is more undeserved than ever - declared to Corriere della sera that: "The epoch of protest strikes is past. We cannot limit ourselves to rallying discontent, we have to show that alternative lines exist. This is necessary for understanding that we must have proposals to mobilize around. Today, we haven't lost a single minute before discussing a general strike."
Symbolic general strike not enough to win
In fact, on April 18, the three union federations presented a sort of "counter-plan", mainly involving a reform of the public administration, restructuring property tax, fiscal autonomy for the regions, a capital gains tax and so on. They also proposed to the government that they lodge long- and medium-term securities on the international market, prolong the time-span of debts, and limit the scale of public spending in relation to the Gross National Product. To say the least, these rationalization measures were hardly designed to create enthusiasm among workers!
Finally, the bureaucrats realized that they could not go against the manifest wishes of the workers and, on April 21, they decided to call for a general strike. (Ot course, they claimed that pressure from the base had nothing to do with this decision and tried hard to make people forget their initial statements.)
At the same time, they hastened to explain that they did not have the least intention of bringing down the government - they only wanted to change the March 23 decisions. As is their tradition, they limited the scope of the strike to four hours in industry, offices and banks, and to two hours on the railways and on urban transport.
The strike was supported massively in every sector and in the whole country (according to the unions, there was a 90% participation in industry and 70% in the public and service sectors). The demonstrations brought together bigger numbers than in the previous general strike on November 27, 1987 — a total of a million people according to the unions, with 120,000 marching in Florence and 100,000 in Rome.
Workers have shown that they want to fight. But a symbolic general strike is not enough to force the bosses and their government to abandon their policies of austerity and restructuring. *