ABSTRACT: The Federal Council, taking cognizance of the resignation of the federal secretary, Roberto Cicciomessere, and of the treasurer, Francesco Rutelli, motivated by the "persistence of the indifference of the Italian - and international - political leadership vis-à-vis the spread of the holocaust caused by hunger and war throughout the world", appeals to the highest political and religious authorities to ensure the passage of the "lifesaving decree" proposed by the Italian mayors to the Chambers, appeals to all "those who believe in other than the violence of power", urging them to join the Radical Party and support its activity.

(RADICAL NEWS No.1, 31 January 1984)

"The Radical Party's Federal Council, met in Chianciano on 13, 14 and 15 January 1984,

"takes cognizance" of the resignation of the Radical Party's secretary and treasurer, which had been announced on 31 December and which are now confirmed with a more comprehensive and detailed political motivation, relative firstly to the persistence of the indifference of the Italian - and international - political leadership vis-à-vis the spread of the holocaust caused by hunger and war throughout the world, to the incessant appeals which it has been addressed by the most prestigious and authoritative fora, to the political, parliamentary, civil initiatives of the Nobel Prizes, of the European Parliament, and - in particular - by thousands of mayors who represent about 30 million citizens; and after years of pledged which have been dodged by all the administrations since 1979;

"points out" that despite the Radical Party's strenuous, year-long struggle, despite the extraordinary success of the ongoing membership and support campaign - guarantied in conformity with a a congress mandate of the secretary and of the treasurer - which is unprecedented in the party's thirty-year history, the political and human imperative of devising and implementing concrete - and not just emblematic - operations aimed at ensuring the survival instead of the extermination of millions and millions of people, is ignored and denied;

"having analysed" the international political and parliamentary situation, "notes" that nothing authorizes - at the current state of affairs - to hope that in 1984 the government, the parties, the existing mass and opinion movements, will guarantee the passage of that parliamentary bill promoted by the Italian mayors which represents, in its method and objectives ("ensuring the survival of at least three million living beings within one year") beyond all doubts, the only feasible instrument capable of ckecking and stopping the holocaust and the policy which causes it;

"denounces", therefore, that it is in these days, at the latsest in these weeks, that the political intentions and choices will form themselves for the confirmation of the current extermination decree - against which, "to date", President Pertini and Pope John Paul II have recently cried their anguish and their rebellion, ordering to subtract resolve and money from the insane expenses in armaments and death to defeat starvation - or the lifesaving decree will assert itself, which has been for five years the objective and the reason of existing for the Radical Party first and for the pretigious initiatives it has inspired and supported.

"The Federal Council" solemnly denounces and warns that without immediate new events, without the "immediate" further growth of the Radical Party and the realization of the established targets in terms of membership, support and extreme initiatives for dialogue and information vis-à-vis the institutional, political, civil, social and religious forces and vis-à-vis the public opinion, the extermination decree will be entirely fulfilled and extended.

As a consequence, the Federal Council appeals above all to the 2,000 people who, to this moment, form the Radical Party of 1984, but also to each and everyone, starting with the President of the Republic, the Pope, the Prime Minister, the secretaries of the parties and of the unions, down to the simplest of citizens, to impose and ensure the passage of the lifesaving decree proposed by the Italian mayors to the Chambers;

"appeals" to all those who believe in other than the violence of power, money, injustice, food or nuclear wars, and to their unavoidability, so that in a outburst of hope and of dignity they might lend voice, value, substance, so that in the small margins of time which seem to exist, they might join the Radical Party and support its activity, thus lending their features, their hope, their strength to this activity, and enhancing it by uniting and organizing themselves into a party which links all or so much of its destiny to the survival of three millions of human being who are currently agonizing because of misery and want of food;

"points out" that it is the secretary's and the treasurer's task to prepare and ensure the statutory and political accomplishment of their resignation, and that, in the strictly necessary political-technical time requirements, all the radicals should in the meanwhile immediately mobilize for the elimination of the causes and the reasons of their political decision, as the party's executive bodies did, obtaining extraordinary results, between 31 December and the beginning of the current federal Council.

Everything that is possible should be done, in other words, to fulfil choices, commitments, hopes, objective deadlines (above all that of the life and death of those who are condemned to holocaust) which have represented and represent the party's very reason for existing.

The project submitted to the federal Council by the secretary and by the treasurer will represent a precious support for this purpose for the Radical Party".

"The motion obtained 25 favourable votes; the motion signed by Melega obtained 1 vote; there were 2 abstentions and 1 non-vote (the president).