Issue 181 of SOCIALIST REVIEW Published December 1994 Copyright © Socialist Review

Over a million people march against cuts

It suddenly became obvious that this demonstration was going to be different when the taxi drivers' contingent came in sight. Hundreds of them were lined up between their union banners, many carrying red flags and chanting anti-government slogans.

Alongside cabbies on the 1.5 million strong demo in Rome last month were scores of other groups not usually seen at these events. Airline pilots, hotel and restaurant workers, funeral directors, even security guards were there in strength.

Inside the seemingly endless flow of red banners, they rubbed shoulders with every other imaginable group of Italian workers, shop stewards' committees, pensioners' groups, university students and unemployed.

Students in Rome and other parts of the country had occupied their schools several days before. Their contingents were there too--angry, determined, many of those taking part barely over the age of 12.

At the rally one of the biggest cheers was given to the announcement that also marching in solidarity with the demonstrators were hundreds of out-of-uniform soldiers and their officers.

Getting them all to Rome took 50 special trains, 8,000 coaches, several chartered ships and planes and 2,000 minibuses. When the organisers ran out of transport, they were even forced to hire buses from Switzerland and Greece.

Demand for tickets was massive. Silvia, a textile worker from the Emilia Romagna region, explained:

'We set up a coordinating committee to cover all the firms in our area, because many of them are quite small.
'We booked five coaches. They were full within an hour. We went up to ten and they were full within a day. We ended up taking down 35 coaches. And that doesn't include all the other factories and offices in the town which organised their own transport.'

What united the demonstrators that day was their opposition to the right wing Berlusconi government's attack on workers' pension rights and other welfare cuts worth 20 billion Italian lire. Berlusconi, who heads a coalition which includes the fascist Allianza Nazionale party, wants to end the right to retire after 35 years' work.

But as Paolo, a factory worker from Brescia, said:

'These people just don't know what it's like to spend an entire life on the track, on shift work, ruining your health. As far as I'm concerned, if I give 35 years of my life to my boss that's enough. I have the right to my piece of freedom, my own life, after that.'

Despite its victory in the March general election, the coalition government is already in crisis.

Berlusconi himself is under investigation for corruption and his party did badly in recent local elections. The stock markets plummeted and there is even talk of the government falling.

Echoing John Major's tactics towards his own party rebels, Berlusconi can only get his attack on pensions through parliament if he makes each vote one of confidence.

Whatever the outcome of this particular battle, the awesome turnout for this demonstration--and the many unofficial strikes now taking place on the issue throughout the country--is a clear sign that workers are now ready to fight Berlusconi.

Years of defeats and weakened union organisation have been shrugged off overnight as people take to the streets in a way not seen since the early 1970s. In Italy, as in Britain, workers are on the march once more.
Dave Firebrook