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Why a new organization (and a new site)?

Thursday 29 August 2013, by Francesco Locantore, Franco Turigliatto

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This article "Why a new organization" presents the project of Sinistra
Anticapitalista.

As of today the site of Sinistra Critica no longer exists, or rather will continue to be accessible (allowing you to use the vast archives at its disposal), but will no longer be updated.

The end of the adventure of sinistracritica.org (which from November 2012 to present has seen an average of more than 20,000 visits per month) actually coincides with the culmination of a much more complex and demanding adventure, that of the political organization Sinistra Critica.

This is the organization that, after the expulsion of the PRC from the Communist Party, gathered together in the party the comrades who had fought against its "pro-government" evolution; against the sell-off of most of its founding values, starting from the opposition to the war "no ifs, no buts."

The story of the expulsion from the PRC of Senator Franco Turigliatto, because he refused to support a motion by the Prodi government that hypocritically called the Italian expedition to Afghanistan a"peace mission", was the final act of a long battle inside that party, which since then has become a battle outside it as well, a battle that already at that time tried to stem the self-destructive drift of the left. The drift that led to this current quasi-disappearance.

Sinistra Critica, in the years of its life as an independent organization, developed an important activity in all the major sectors of society, from workers and employees to university students, from the struggle for sexual freedom in all its options to internationalist solidarity ...

In spite of its modest size, Sinistra Critica was nevertheless one of the actors of the attempt to build up as wide as possible resistance to austerity policies.

But during the preparation of its third congress in September 2012, profound differences in orientation arose, first within its Coordinating Committee, and then confirmed in the membership of the organization. The congress registered a perfect balance between the two positions, building a National Coordinating Committee in which the two tendencies were equally represented.

The congress ended with a unanimous vote on a document recording the two proposals, and trying to govern coexistence in the same organization. But this generous attempt quickly came to a halt, and then a further progressive separation has prevailed, to come, these days, to the mutual acknowledgement of the impossibility of a coexistence that would be counterproductive to both political projects.

The willingness to coexistence, however, while recording this failure, has not been in vain. It has become the desire to govern a division so as not to damage the political, organizational and even personal relations between those who have chosen one way or the other, and this would allow the development, albeit in different ways and in different contexts, of our common historical heritage and ideals.

Thus, the representatives of the two tendencies (which now become the representatives of two different organizations) have signed a joint declaration which is published on the home page of the Sinistra Critica website.

For our part, Sinistra Anticapitalista (Anticapitalist Left), the new organization proposed by those who in the last Congress have shared the political content of the amendments was founded today .

The fundamental difference, which then led to the impossibility of coexistence of the two projects, is focused on the possibility and desirability of building a revolutionary political organization, rooted in the working class and with the greatest possible public projection of its overall policy proposal, aimed at the recomposition of the anti-capitalist forces of the labour movement. Hence our commitment to the building of the "Rossa" coalition, together with some leftist trade union and political currents ("Rete 28 aprile" inside the Cgil, whose spokesperson Giorgio Cremaschi is also the best-known representative of Rossa, Usb, Rete dei Comunisti, a former Maoist tendency, some of the leaders, and many militants of Rifondazione close to social movements).

A crucial first rendezvous of Sinistra Anticapitalista will be its founding Assembly-seminar to be held on September 20 to 22 in Chianciano, and whose programme is also published on the home page of our site http://anticapitalista.org. An assembly to which we invite all those who are interested in our project to participate.

In the coming weeks you will find on the site the document which will introduce the discussion of Chianciano.

The site anticapitalista.org constitutes the "official" voice of Sinistra Anticapitalista, with the commitment, even more than we did with the old site sinistracritica.org, to provide constant information, proposals for political orientation, intervention materials, to stimulate reflection and political discussion.

It is a "new beginning" that we propose to all who followed our previous production, and we hope that they wish to join us in this new evolution.

Save this site in your "favorites", please send us your feedback, your suggestions, your reports. Get in contact with Sinistra Critica at http://anticapitalista.org/.