ABSTRACT: Pannella makes another speech (see text no. 3482) during the debate at the First PR Congress (Rome February 27, 28 and March 1, 1959) giving credit to Valiani (1) for having finally made clear in his speech the "ideological certainties" to which the party can hold firm, also with regard to its relations with the Socialist Party: Valiani once and for all emphasised the Crocian (2) conception of politics on which the PR is based. Unfortunately this conception has been practised in such a way as to impoverish the life and daily activities of the party, its political practices: it has not been set up to reach the greatest possible number of citizens through its initiatives, the positions it takes, and its concrete management of events. It is one thing to write an article and something else to give concrete life to a party. "This", Pannella said, "has been one of the constant flaws of the democratic left in Italy and one of the faults for which it has had its defeats". Thanks to the clarity of the point

s of departure, furthermore, there is no reason to fear mixing with the Communists or the trade unions, not even the   CGIL (3) itself. A praxis of this kind is something quite different from the tendency to form fronts. Finally he declares his confidence that, together with the friends with whom he has heretofore worked, the Radical Party of the liberals will succeed in living and growing.

(Transcription of Marco Pannella's speech to the First PR Congress, Rome February 27,28 and March 1, 1959)

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Dear Friends,

I believe that Valiani's speech this morning has been definitely the point from which our congress starts to offer greater clarity to the party. Those among us who in the past were anxious - and I too had such anxieties - for greater ideological formulations and greater ideological certainties, must certainly have had them satisfied not only by the speech made by Leo Valiani today, but also by that article which indicated to the congress - although there was no need for it - written by the attorney Mr. Piccardi in reply to Basso (4) and published in »Il Mondo (5) this week. Those who feared that any action in support of the Socialist Party might in some way indicate the will of our leaders to abdicate in favour of that party have received answers and assurances and today they know that this was a just and happy political and tactical choice, a just and happy practical initiative.

But Valiani's speech also offers awareness of what we have that is different and which distinguishes our party. I firmly believe that one can discern in Valiani's positions and in his speech itself, as in the political practices of most of us, a Crocian conception of the party. In effect, in speaking of the Radical Party this morning, Valiani did not seem to understand it in a way very different from Croce's way of the Liberal Party and the pre-political function of the Liberal Party itself. I, on the other hand, think that the two or three years of the Radical Party's life have shown the precision of this diagnosis. Everyone knows that many of our executives believe that political practice ends with giving instructions during two or three party events, whenever the party events allow it. I believe that the majority of delegates, if they have no false awe and can remember what it was they thought every day for three years in the solitude of their work, must acknowledge with me that this is something whi

ch must be said during this congress because it is true.

A party follows the same logical principles as a newspaper, as I already said yesterday, and as our friend Benedetti (6) concerns himself not only with producing a good newspaper, but a newspaper which also reaches the average Italian reader, so we too must concern ourselves with having in the party an instrument which reaches more citizens every day. Thus it is a question of practical politics, because otherwise the speeches that we are applauding here would seem to me, how shall I say, a bit like the old »Contemporaneo or »Italia Domani , publications attempting to copy »L'Espresso or »Il Mondo , publications in which one finds apparently interesting essays but which have no readers because there is no will or concern with having readers. This has been one of the constant flaws of the Italian democratic left and one of the faults for which it has had its defeats, as did the Partito d'Azione (7) and whoever else on the left has attempted to create a concrete political force on the Italian democratic

left.

I must say that the ideological premises themselves can trigger off political consequences, because it is one thing to say as Valiani did that the certainty of ideological differences can also permit in practice the tendency to forming fronts or concentrations, and it is quite another thing to discover this fact in practice, knowing that we have stated clear truths, and not be afraid, for example, when the Communists by way of the CGIL are agitating not for political but for union reasons, but to have the courage to go, if you like, and be as Radicals a mitigating factor in the group [...] who are fighting a just and serious battle. Why so much scepticism and so much wisdom? I believe, friends, that in our friend Rossi (8), so courageous and generous, there is a margin of resignation - even in him, at bottom - with regard to life in our country and the possibilities of our party. He said, and I quote: "How can we ask the unions

to ..." - but dear friends, let us first ask the unions to do certain things, let us ask them every day, minute by minute, and if they tell us no it will be a political victory for us if you like, even if a sad one, and it will be clearer to the country and to entire left what the Radical Party is. But we cannot do without money, because "how can you ask the unions for money...".

We cannot do without contacts with the unions, because "how can you go and speak with the unions...". We cannot do without being federalists - dear Rossi this is a banner too like the Concordat - just because Mendes-France (9) was blind six years ago about Europe, forgetting that other data too exist. And we cannot forget, cannot renounce a priori, just because we are certain of wanting democracy and freedom, being at times mistaken by the country even for Communists when the situation demands it. We have some forms of [...] that are possible and do not give themselves away, just because our speeches are sometimes excuses for practical action. The speech I gave yesterday and which you took for an organisational speech, was not an organisational speech. I agree with Valiani's ideas, but there is a difference of conception when I say that those political premises have a different practical and political life if they mean that tomorrow or the day after that the whip of the Radical Party's National Commission wi

ll make the personal sacrifice, perhaps on your behest, and go to the Hon. Mr. Foa or the Hon. Mr. Gioia, or go somehow to seek, to verify, to show itself to the press, even in the company of Communists if necessary. I am not making a plea here for forming fronts, I am following the thinking of Valiani's speech when he said: "When Nenni (10) has now said the supremacy of democracy and freedom is clear and of the values of their supremacy, then we are not even particularly interested in the return to forming fronts because they could be tactical errors". This is true and it is also true for us; so then let us look more openly at the things we have been saying for three years. They are exactly right on the condition that they are put into daily practice. Only then will we have the return of that political force that I am sure we as Radicals can have. And quite aside from any party formalities, I must give heartfelt thanks to Mr. Piccardi who - even if I was not present every day, and I do not often agree with

Mr. Piccardi - acted the party executive every day, every day I have seen him out in the squares, and every day I have seen him present in the assemblies, every day present in the political life of the party (interruption)

[...] but I must also say that there is a difference, not of trivial practical method, but of conception when one sees a party as being a single web of practise, thought, and action, and when, on the other hand, one believes it to be an occasion for illuminating it with immensities or illuminating it with things that are extremely correct but which those among us who may have the least seriousness also have the duty and the right to go and study in books.

Dear friends, I bear no ill-will, believe me, but only seriousness and conviction. I assure you I feel not only esteem but real affection for all of our executive officers and for each individual Radical. There are so few of us that this is no sentimental way of expressing a precise fact, but I want for you to feel how the speeches of every Radical - of Bassoli at Modena, or Tiberini in Trieste, or Caporale at Pescara - which have been given every day and which seemed limited and paltry - these little practical difficulties, this milieu that suffocates us and this admiration at bottom because one cannot be a Radical in Italy without being admired by the central party - this is a little the sensation, correct me if I am wrong, that many friends in the provinces feel: that to be a Radical is, at bottom, to be as the other parties want [...] followers who love only the best people in Rome.

Therefore friends, I fear that in eight minutes, which are now up - I don't ask for any more - one can have some misunderstanding of what I have said, but I am also certain that for years, since the day the party was founded, I and several friends, and several friends and I, have had no doubts, have always acted consistently, knowing what we wanted. And that is why, having been able to do so once again in this congress until now, we say that we leave this congress quite confident and appealing to all of you friends, who for practical reasons sometimes feel tired of being Radical-liberals, not to be discouraged, because I believe that even practically, politically, and as a party, to be liberals will be possible and satisfying in the future.

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TRANSLATOR'S NOTES

1) Valiani, Leo - (Fiume 1909) - Writer, historian, Italian statesman. A Resistance leader, he was in 1943 one of the founders and most prominent leaders of the Partito d'Azione. A contributor and editorial writer for »Corriere della Sera . Named Senator for Life in 1980.

2) Crocian - refers to Croce, Benedetto - (Pescasseroli 1866 - Naples 1952) - Italian philosopher, historian, writer. After a brief youthful flirtation with Marx, he and Giovanni Gentile were responsible for the idealistic and Hegelian revival at the end of the last century. Anti-Fascist, essentially a liberal-conservative, after the war he was a member of the Liberal Party and was also a part of one of the first Italian post-Fascist governments. Under Fascism he exerted great influence on important sectors of the youth. As a philosopher he is to be remembered for his reform of Hegelian dialectics and his aesthetic and logical studies. His historical studies are important (»Storia d'Europa nel secolo XIX and »Storia d'Italia dal 1871 al 1915 , etc.) in which he emphasises the liberal development in Europe before the war in polemics with the "crisis" of post-war totalitarian systems.

3) CGIL - Initials of the Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro. Founded in 1906 by Socialist reformers, this labour union today is mainly Communist and Socialist oriented, which parties (especially the former) were the driving forces in labour spheres and were it is still by far the largest. Among its most prestigious representatives are Giuseppe Di Vittorio, Luciano Lama, Silvio Trentin, Ottaviano Del Turco, etc.

4) Basso, Lelio - (Varazze 1903 - Rome 1978) - Anti-Fascist, Secretary of the Italian Socialist Party (1948-49), in 1964 he joined the schismatics who eventually founded the PSIUP (Socialist Proletarian Unity Party) of which he was president. Parliamentary deputy, essayist and political scientist.

5) Il Mondo - Weekly review of politics and culture founded in Rome in 1949 by Mario Pannunzio. For seventeen years it was the expression and symbol of hte best lay, liberal, Radical and democratic Italian tradition. A large number of its journalists were among the founders of the Radical Party. It ceased publication in 1966 and started up again by Arrigo Benedetti in 1969. Later it was turned into a weekly economic review.

6) Benedetti, Arrigo - (Lucca 1910 - Rome 1976) - Italian journalist and innovator of journalistic models from the beginning of the Fascist period. With the weekly »Omnibus , which was submitted to the rigours of Mussolini's censorship, he developed the techniques and editorial policy of the illustrated magazine. After the war he was managing editor of »L'Europeo and, most of all, he founded and ran »L'Espresso (1955-1963).

7) Partito d'Azione - The Action Party, an Italian political party founded in 1942 by the merger of the liberal-Socialist movements and »Giustizia e Libertà . It had an important role during the Resistance but dissolved after the election defeat of 1946. It represented the last attempt in history to form a "modern party" of a reformist but not ideological pragmatic type of intransigent laicism, etc. Derives its name from the party of G. Mazzini's (1853-1870) followers, with a republican revolutionary programme.

8) Rossi, Ernesto - (Caserta 1897 - Rome 1967). Italian statesman and journalist. A leader of »Giustizia e Libertà [an anti-Fascist movement] he was arrested and convicted by the Fascists in 1930. He remained in prison or in confinement until the end of the war. With A. Spinelli he wrote the »Manifesto di Ventotene and led the European Federalist Movement in the fight for a united Europe. He was among the founders of the Radical Party. An essayist and journalist, he promoted from the pages of »Il Mondo a lively campaign against clerical interference in political life, against the economic potentates, industrial and agrarian protectionism, the concentration of public and private power, etc. His articles were collected into famous books (»I padroni del vapore etc.) After the dissolution of the Radical Party in 1962 and the ensuing rupture with the managing editor of »Il Mondo M. Pannunzio, he founded the review »Astrolabio from whose pages he continued his polemics. During his last years he establishe

d close ties with the "new" Radical Party with which he collaborated in launching the "Anti-Clerical Year" in 1967.

9) Mendes-France, Pierre - (1907 - 1982) - French Prime Minister (1954-55), Socialist, ended the war in Indo-China.

10) Nenni, Pietro - (Faenza 1891 - Rome 1980) Italian statesman, first a Republican and from 1921 on a Socialist. Managing director of the party daily »L'Avanti , forced into exile in France in 1930 he reunited the branches of the PSI (Socialists) and in 1934 brought about a pact for united action with the PCI (Italian Communist Party). In 1943 he was PSI party secretary and then again from 1949 to 1964. Vice Prime Minister (1945) and Foreign Minister (1946 - 47). Author of the agreement with the PCI, he was defeated in the 1948 elections. Received the Lenin Peace Prize. Gradually he assumed an independent position and in the Sixties worked for a centre-left government with the DC (Christian Democrats); in the centre-left government he was Vice Prime Minister (1963 - 68) and Foreign Minister (1968 - 69). Named Senator for Life in 1970.