ABSTRACT: On the occasion of early elections of June 1983, the Radical Party convenes an extraordinary Congress to decide on how to participate in voters' assemblies. The Congress is held in a particular manner: the debate is limited exclusively to the question of whether or not to present the party in the elections

so that the maximum number of participants can express their opinions. The Congress ends without approving any document; a motion in favour of being presented in the elections (first signed by Gianluigi Melega) is rejected. Thus the work of the Congress ends with negative results: the rejection of an automatic and unconditional presence in the election as an "obligatory action". The Congress's decisions will mature in subsequent weeks taking the form of presenting party lists for the sole purpose of reserving at least minimal television space to be used for open propaganda in favour of a voters' strike against the usurpation of government by parties.