ON 24 MARCH the centre of Rome was awash with red flags and workers' banners as one million workers descended on the city in protest at government austerity. 5000 coaches, 40 special trains and two ships Sardinia were cavalcade of transport bringing the workers to the demonstration.
The immediate reason for the protest was the plan proposed by the coalition government of the Socialist Party premier Bettino Craxi to put a 10 per cent limit on this year's scala mobile — the sliding scale of wages which guarantees Italian workers automatic wage increases to compensate for inflation.
This year's inflation will be well above the 10 per cent mark — probably nearer 20 per cent. The scala mobile was won during the tumultous working class upsurge in 1969 The main organising force behind the last Saturday's demonstration were the CGIL. the Communist Party dominated trade union federation and the multi-union factory councils. Their decision to mobilse is in snarp policy of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in recent years which has necessary. This policy during the period 1976-1979, when the PCI effectively participated in government under the aegis of Christian Democrat Godfather Aldo Moro, through a host of joint parliamentary committees with the DC.
The CGIL's decision to fight the attack on the scala mobile reflects a growing movement ol discontent in the January, reflected in a new growth of the factory council movement.
In January 120 councils, embracing delegates from the three major union federations, held a meeting in Brescia which appealed to the union leadership to take a stand against the new attacks on the sliding scale. This was immediately followed by assemblies of factory councils in all the major industrial towns, and demonstrations of over 100,000 workers each in Turin and Rome.
In the face of the united factory council movement, the leaderships of the three main union the CISL and the Socialist UIL have each manoeuvred to split the movement, to demobilise bryonic unity of the factory councils.
In particular the PCI and CGIL organised their own local strikes and demonstrations on 6 March with the objective of taking the initiative away from the councils, delegates from all the federations.
On the same day hundreds of delegates met in a national assembly of the councils. In addition to mobilising for the demonstration which took place last week, assembly for 30 March which will discuss following up the Rome demonstration with a general measures.
of the huge many the famous 'hot contrast to the sanctioned austerity was particularly marked workplaces since the end of PCI-led CGIL, the Catholic the emwhich involve rank and file the delegates decided to call a new FMLN slogan: 'Your vote doesn't count