ABSTRACT: The Radical Party's secretary and treasurer present their resignations to the Federal Council due to the grave situation regarding the membership campaign and self-financing. Since this meeting was held in Israel, focal point of the world's attention, they here enunciate the party's position on the Israeli question, also because of the PLO's polemics on this Radical initiative. Thus the report proceeds along the party's trans-national course and underlines the divisions between what has been done, what is being done and what must be done. In conclusion the secretary and the treasurer report on the mandate given them by the Federal Council of Grottaferrata: to prepare for the disbanding of the party.

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Mr. President and comrades,

At Grottaferrata the Federal Council took notice of the grave financial crisis and the consequent need of "freezing" the party's activities as well as the self-financing campaign which we promoted and actuated to acquire the necessary resources and complete the programme approved in Brussels which were estimated at a minimum of 1,500 million [lire] to be acquired by December. They underscored in the concluding motion that the "responsibility of the success or the disbanding of the party was more than ever entrusted to the members, one and all, as well as all democrats and people concerned with the right to life and the existence of justice, and that in the present circumstances that the success or abandoning of the project and the party depended upon them". With this deliberation the Federal Council directly connected the financial crisis to the success of the self-financing campaign, whose objective response will be the citizens' adherence to the Radical project of being trans-party and trans-national

which they can express and manifest by becoming party members.

Dear comrades,

What have been the results of this call of ours? Of our message? Of this initiative which I would not want to call an appeal because - for our party - to ask for and to insist on membership and on money are normal things and a necessity connected to the party's very nature which must and which wants to be self-financed and which entrusts every moment of every year of its existence to this response.

THE RESULTS OF OUR CALL

Between July 18 and September 30 we have had 636 new memberships and gathered 557 million [lire]. The number of new members in August, while having reached the all-time maximum number in this month was certainly no exalted figure, while the total amount of money collected by that date, on the other hand, was no doubt an important result. The figure was only slightly below the minimum requirement of the estimate's monthly average (300 million), a result that could have been significant if it could reasonably have been taken to be an index of the progress for the next three months. In fact, we were all aware that the critical month, the "moment of truth", would be October. The two preceding months had in fact profited from entirely exceptional sources and were thus not to be repeated.

Today, at the end of October, we have had a total of 772 new memberships and 618 million [lire] with an increase over September of only 137 new members and 61 million - a result that exceeded the worst forecasts. The decrease in October has been a vertical one: less than half (43%) of the average number of new members who joined in the preceding two months and a fifth with regard to funds.

TODAY THE SITUATION IS MORE SERIOUS

The campaign for memberships and self-financing has allowed us to up to now, in fact, only another six months of life, not more. The state of the party is worse than was declared at Grottaferrata. Today - with only two months to go - the possibility of holding our annual congress in January is in question - that is to say a requirement of our statute which has never been ignored in the entire course of the party's existence.

WE PRESENT YOU WITH OUR RESIGNATIONS

In the face of these facts, this situation and these conditions, when on Wednesday October 13 not a single request for membership arrived - an occurrence that had not taken place for more than a year - Paolo Vigevano and I took the decision to present our resignations here right before you.

This decision we communicated to our comrades of the Secretariat and to the information organs.

Dear comrades,

We have told you right now that our decision was forced on us: the form in this case is certainly equal to the substance.

It is unquestionable that it will be impossible for us to bring to a conclusion the programme approved at Brussels nor at the moment to guarantee holding the congress.

That programme in Madrid - having ascertained the impossibility of reaching the goal this year of three thousand members residing outside Italy and the four billion [lire] of self-financing fixed by the Bologna congress (the members of the Secretariat will recall my interest in calling a special congress and my offer in those circumstances of giving up my mandate) - in which it was nevertheless proposed, even if with more limited goals, giving the party a trans-national character, Paolo Vigevano and I indicated, among other things, the difficulties to be overcome, and that the progress of memberships and self-financing did not augur a party large enough for reaching the goal: 6,000 members in all by the end of the year of whom not more than 1,000 living outside Italy and 1,500 million in self-financing.

Today we cannot even be sure of this result in its entirety. Even in problematic terms, on that occasion, with our analysis and our interrogatives, we tried to introduce and start up a debate in sufficiently organic and precise terms on the reasons for the obstacles which were impeding the realisation of the trans-national and trans-party project - reasons which find their synthesis and expression in dimensions that are not only connected with the internal conditions of the party. This was a debate that subsequently at Grottaferrata we brought up in clear and precise questions when considering financial prospects and which was taken up in an editorial in <>. I evoked in our paper the idea of 10,000 members for this year - a necessary step for winning in succeeding years the 20,000 - 30,000 members indispensable in my opinion for guaranteeing the party's existence and its self-sufficiency.

EVALUATIONS SHOULD BE MADE WITH COMPLETE FREEDOM

All of this, together with what we did in ten months - of which I will speak later - has produced nothing except the results that you already know. It would be absurd on our part not to draw the right and logical conclusions to allow everyone, including ourselves, to face, at least without reciprocal conditioning, the inevitable considerations and evaluations. If anyone is responsible, we are the first to be, and this too must be considered in complete and unconditional freedom.

Without any doubt we have had our uncertainties, errors and inadequacies, but these too must not interfere with the serenity, the clarity and the rigorousness of the debate as they inevitable would if only because of your affection for us if we were not to resign.

On the other hand, this is also true for the members of the Secretariat who must make their contributions, each and everyone, without undue caution. Our decision must thus facilitate an ample and far-reaching debate that will favour the clarifications and conclusions that each and all of us need and without which I cannot see how we can proceed and with whom.

OUR DECISION MUST FAVOUR A FAR-REACHING DEBATE

Our resignations also correspond to the need of representing as forcibly as we can to the party, those outside the party, the people and public opinion the situation of the party which at this time and with these results is such as to make us believe that the choice they have made is for the abandoning of the project and of the Radical Party.

THE INFORMATION PROBLEM

Certainly the problem of information poses itself here in its full significance. Information regarding our party which is distinctly limited and inadequate. But with regard to Italy the old problem pops up of the information media, above all the press and the RAI-TV [Italian state radio and tv, ed.], which pursue ever more insistently the policy of silence, of distorted and partial reports and of mystification with recent and evident examples of sectarianism to the point of finally exciting, in however belated and contradictory a manner, the elevated protests of other parties - among them the very clear and precise one of the Hon. Giorgio La Malfa, the secretary of the Republican Party, a party participating in the majority coalition.

With regard to this front, the party's reactions have not always been prompt and adequate, even if we must acknowledge the increasing difficulty on both the objective and individual levels.

Let us now go on to some considerations on the Federal Council and this meeting.

THE FOURTH FEDERAL COUNCIL OF 1988

After Brussels, Madrid and Grottaferrata, this meeting in Jerusalem is the fourth time the Federal Council of the Radical Party has met in 1988. In Brussels the Federal Council decided to meet five times this year, and we also fixed the dates which have all so far been respected. The fifth meeting is scheduled for Zagabria where we have decided to hold the 35th Party Congress during the first days of 1989.

In Brussels we also decided that at least three of our meetings should be held outside Italian territory, which decision has also been put into effect already. In this respect I even believe that I can add that the trans-national commitment, as far as it regards the Federal Council, has been punctually and adequately respected up to now. This organ, in the new prospective, was necessarily to assume a more important and significant role in the general economy of the party, assuming in the course of the year a more precisely defined role in political evaluation, support and control.

This is a need emphasised by the Bologna Congress, first because of its composition (as everyone knows, the Italian residents are in the minority) and which was expressed not only in the regularity of the meetings and where they were held, but - I maintain - also in the preparation and participation in the debates, in the forms they assumed and in their guaranteed duration.

Only here in Jerusalem we have had to reduce the time from four to three days in consideration of the travelling time and the total costs.

I want to give my heart-felt thanks to our Italian and Israeli comrades whose dedication and contribution we must largely thank for making this meeting possible which would otherwise have been prohibitive for us.

At Grottaferrata I had already made clear that it would be impossible for us at this time to get translations of the speeches to all the members of the Council before the meeting. I realise that this is an important problem, but among other things the early preparation of the texts is impeded by the need for information as complete and up-to-date as possible which is subject to all kinds of changing factors too often unforeseen and unforeseeable. We excuse ourselves for this with our non-Italian speaking comrades.

COMMUNICATIONS

But this may be the opportune moment to point out how the problem of communicating is one of the party's greatest obstacles. In comparison to the past, the diversity of languages and the question of distances are an aspect that not only weighs on deadlines such as the dates of the Federal Council meetings but even more on our daily work. Our structures are not capable of dealing with this not only because of specific technical inadequacies (knowledge of languages by the switchboard operators is only the most obvious but not an unimportant one), but also because of our general disposition of a technical and cultural nature. This is an aspect that directly involves the party's original way of operating with regard to the various elements of time, space and order it requires, the complexity of its mechanisms, the availability of people and which in general reflects heavily on its costs. This is a typical aspect of the "different dimension" required by the trans-national party which we only discover in the

day-to-day experience of its consequences and is difficult to realise even when one can and wants to do so.

BEING IN JERUSALEM: A CAUSE FOR SATISFACTION

To be meeting here in Jerusalem is, to my mind, a cause for satisfaction. This satisfaction is not only due to the political significance of this decision, but above all to the fact that the party managed to bring it off. The dedication and the individual and collective organisational energy, which is always also political and cannot be reduced only to a logistic factor, put into relationship with our resources and the conditions, general and specific, in which the party finds itself, has been something to respect highly, if this is not an inadequate term. The Treasurer and I had hesitated a lot before choosing this difficult solution. The merit for the results must go to Emma Bonino for her careful, constant and productive commitment as well as to the other comrades who collaborated.

To be here in Jerusalem on the eve of Israel's national elections does doubtlessly carry some substantial risks primarily regarding the interpretation that may be given to our presence here. Not a few of our comrades in the Secretariat openly and clearly showed their reservations about whether this was an opportune and profitable choice. For myself, one motivation prevailed: not to neglect, not to lose a chance that concerns the need to strongly affirm our will and our capacity to be a trans-party and trans-national party. It is a requirement that, we know, can only be successfully fulfilled in difficult conditions of elevated risk in which the results awaiting us are always highly uncertain.

I do not think it can be denied that to be present here in Israel, one of the most tortured and delicate places in the world, where the attention of all brings a massive concentration of the principle information media, also offers us a greater opportunity to affirm more concretely as well as emblematically our existence, our singularity, our strong capacity for political proposals. With what result? In the worst of cases, none, of course. But in my opinion we always had to make the attempt and we shall always have to. On the other hand, what other, better result would we have obtained as a trans-party and trans-national party if we had met in Strasbourg rather than Catania or in any other possible place?

THE WORLD'S ATTENTION FIXED ON ISRAEL

For a long time the world has been prodigal with its suggestions about what Israel should or should not do in regard to the tragedy of the Palestinian people. One of the reasons we are here is because we know what it is that Israel cannot do,

convinced as we are that not only the problem of peaceful co-existence with the Palestinians cannot be properly solved within the narrow limits of national spheres, but that these spheres are by now in all cases disastrous.

OUR POSITION

Israel is a democratic state, the only one in the Middle East. The irresponsible and inadequate behaviour of the present government towards the Palestinians and the people of Israel themselves has been condemned unequivocally by many of us. The violence and the crimes committed have struck us - struck us more directly and deeply than what has been and is happening in a far, far more serious and systematic form in other Middle Eastern countries (or in other parts of the world) precisely because Israel is a democratic state that has arisen and affirmed itself as such after immense and tragic trials inflicted by anti-democratic regimes of all kinds - not only Nazi and Fascist ones.

On the other hand, the Radical Party has never been disposed to give in to the temptation along with a large part of the left in Italy and Europe which sees the germ of Western imperialism, in every movement and every action in the Middle East, first of all in the adversary rather than the oppressor, acting along ideological and political lines which include any and every act of violence against democracy. This attitude has long ago become a fact of "prevailing culture" which opposes an aversion for Israel by favouring the Arab states and organisations without considering that if the situation were to change, racism, once it had again arisen, would be ready to lash out against coloured immigrants - Arabs too, why not? - as well as against Jews.

Our activity here in Jerusalem in these days, if it should excite any reaction at all, how will it be received, evaluated, interpreted?

HOW WILL OUR ACTION BE RECEIVED?

We do not know if the information media will take notice of us. But certainly we can make no a priori assumptions on how our action will be received and interpreted. For this reason we considered it necessary to buy space, notwithstanding the party's critical financial situation, in several daily papers, the <> among them, which is published in English and sold in many countries on many continents, after years of trying to solicit minimally correct information on the Radical Party. Certainly we are here to do our work as we would have done it anywhere else. Certainly we do not intend with our presence here to interfere in the elections in favour of this or that group unless it were in favour of democracy, of tolerance, of non-violence and of peace. We have never asked for meetings with the government or any other political group, but we are ready as always to accept those who might want to help in our work and to have information and clarifications regarding the party and our activities

. This is our position, these are the reasons and the meaning of our presence here in Jerusalem.

A REPLY TO THE PLO

A few days ago the representative of the PLO in Rome decided to let the public know in the name of his organisation that our decision to hold the Federal Council meeting in Jerusalem could only be understood as "a gesture of the Radical Party's support for repressive policies of the Israeli government of occupation and support for the army of occupation and of the daily assassinations of Palestinian children at the hands of Israeli soldiers. It is surprising that the Radical Party holds its Council meeting in our occupied country while continuing to speak of the economic crisis."

The translation of our report was well underway when this communique reached us.

We did not change one iota of what had already been written since we believe it is adequate as a reply. We can repeat here what Marco Pannella declared to the press the next day: "We welcome the intervention of the PLO's representative in Rome against the meeting of the Radical Party's Federal Council and it indicates just how far his military and political organisation has to go before it can be recognised as a legitimate and democratic representative of a country and a people.

"He accuses us" Pannella continued, "of wanting to support and comply with the murder of children at the hands of Israeli soldiers. We reply that this accusation is a fatuous insult and made in bad faith. When men, women and children are killed by the hundreds or thousands in Lebanon or elsewhere because of the criminal and fratricidal wars among the Arab factions, or thousands of them are victims of Middle Eastern regimes the PLO seems to be distracted and is always implicated. We are in Jerusalem despite our economic difficulties, without having coffers full of money owing to the exploitation of Middle Eastern peoples and coming from the ferocious allies who finance the PLO or from contributions coming from this or that "Western" lobby." And Pannella concluded: "We are in Jerusalem as a non-violent Gandhian party, as a party of everyone's human and political rights, as defenders of life and the democratic rights of all the Palestinians and all the Arabs not only when they run up against errors and eve

n crimes at the hands of the Israelis, but always".

THE STAGES OF OUR TRANS-NATIONAL JOURNEY

Jerusalem today, Zagabria within little more than two months: for the Federal Council, for the Secretariat, for for us, these are two stages of one journey. We began this journey from Brussels, the capital of an ancient and consolidated democracy which for decades has been among the most representative of stability and well-being in Europe, but which today encounters precisely in its ethnic divisions and the national state the major obstacles in maintaining civil conditions that until yesterday were indisputable.

After Brussels, Madrid, the capital of a country that only recently has regained its democratic condition and which, even so, does not manage to overcome the autonomistic impulses which find tragically violent expression in the Basque movements.

And now, Jerusalem, with the tragic lack of co-existence between the Israeli and Palestinian populations.

What is happening these days in Yugoslavia, with the resurgence of violent conflicts between its ethnic groups in a growing crescendo of threats and dangers not only for its own country, is the most evident demonstration of our ability to intuit and foresee and of the validity and significance of Zagabria, our next choice.

This is a highly significant itinerary which emblematically shows the validity of our decision to become a trans-party and trans-national party which is the one and only concrete hope of leading to the political unity of the North, the Mediterranean and the Central European countries for the right to life and a life of justice in a democratic system.

We know that this is a long and difficult journey and - for us alone - impracticable.

For this year only the last stage remains: that which leads to the Zagabria congress. It is the most difficult one.

This is the objective of these two months which still remain to us; this is our initiative for attempting once again to survive with reasonable margins of success.

THE DIVERGENCE BETWEEN WHAT WE DO AND WHAT MUST BE DONE

Comrades, what we have been expounding up to now is once again to indicate the capacity of a party to imagine and delineate itineraries of political initiatives, but weighed down by the ever-greater divergence between what it accomplishes and what it needs to accomplish in order to act adequately for reaching its goals: it is a divergence about whose growth it is hard to say if it is due more to the increase in the range of its ambitions or the reduction of its energies and available resources.

Sometimes the doubt arises - perhaps due to the anguish of the moment - that the phenomenon is due to both factors, the widening of our horizons, the distance to go, and the difficulties to be overcome, as well as the reduction of resources and the exhaustion of energies.

In my case, it is a doubt that assails me ever more often and insistently.

You are having to face the results that you have already been told about and which are the basis of our resignations. But I consider that one ought not to neglect remembering the initiatives and the activities assumed by the party in these first ten months of the Radical year 1988, for correctly evaluating the situation, for expressing the judgement that the council will distinctly have to make and when formulating the instructions and decisions you will certainly have to adopt.

THE <>

We cannot expound it all to you again here, but Danilo Quinto's intelligent and precise summary of the "agenda" starting from the programme approved in Brussels will help you. We have all received a copy of this gradually up-dated text, at least during the Federal Council meetings, and this time it has been sent to us all at home even if not yet translated.

For now it contains about 130 pages, so I don't know if we will be able to have the finished version translated for the Congress. I don't intend to attribute to the "agenda" an undue importance, nor - as I stated from its first draft - an importance that it never laid claim to. But I think it would be meaningful to be able to complete it and translate it as a testimony to a working method which, in my opinion, corresponds to the effective need for information, communication and control which are indispensable to the party in its new and different trans-national dimension. This is a method which, to tell the truth, it has not been possible to extend, not only for practical reasons which in themselves are already hard to overcome, but also because in various ways it conflicts with the nature and needs of the party in its national aspect and, hence, with different, well established habits. The treasurer, the assistant first secretaries, the federal secretaries and the assistant members of the Secretariat

will in their reports be able to include the items contained in the "agenda", in particular with regard to the initiatives and activities undertaken since the Grottaferrata congress.

To complete this report I will indicate briefly what have been the activities of the Secretariat. It is not in my competence to do the same for the treasurer and those who have collaborated with him. I only want to mention their constancy in carrying out a hard job.

THE COLLECTIVE TASK

With regard to the collective task, our work as a group, I must again acknowledge that I did not succeed in my attempt to introduce and actuate the concept and method I intended.

This was my personal lack of success due in part to an objective lack of time and in part to the perseverance of concepts and habits acquired and established in the past which corresponded to methods that on the national level had undoubtedly guaranteed results.

The initial idea of making use of the five first secretaries primarily (but not only) for political research, promotion, development and co-ordination with corresponding spheres of responsibility, wide but precise ones, soon failed. This was not only due to objections raised by several federal secretaries, but also and primarily to the verified impossibility of meeting regularly and quickly. This impossibility was determined by uncertainties and commitments coming from other responsibilities (above all parliamentary ones) and by the lack of enthusiasm for taking on global responsibility of a permanent kind and not merely connected to single, direct and specific mandates of the Secretary.

The habit of holding daily morning meetings among the federal secretaries and the assistant members was also quickly interrupted. This was for reasons analogous to the preceding ones as well as to lack of tenacity on my part.

One objective obstacle to collective work turned out to be the one-directional, inter-personal communications system. This was especially sticky horizontally and often made collaboration very difficult.

The tendency to get hold of specific tasks and have the exclusive rights to them seemed to me a very common and typical characteristic of the working method preferred by most people. It is a characteristic that has undoubted advantages, but if it is not compensated by strong motivation and acceptance of the responsibility of being part of a collective group, it causes frustration and isolation.

Let it be clear that these considerations are not meant to express a judgement. They are only observations, and on my part statements of fact.

On the other hand, on former occasions I have already stated my opinions regarding the system of organisation and the working methods I consider to be the most suitable to the new aspect of the party - its trans-party, trans-national and self-financed aspect.

My taking note in a reasonable way during these months of the obstacles which emerged on this level has convinced me more and more that the total design is probably impracticable.

In order to give complete information and for correct behaviour towards the comrades who have shared with me the heavy burden of running the party, I must also declare that the great difficulty of taking political initiatives that would be "involving and motivating" has been an issue which we all have had to face continually - they in particular - with ever greater and more frequent margins of uncertainty and with a show of conflicting attitudes and tendencies. These have been effective obstacles to the functioning of each and all which have worn down the potential for unity of expression and collective management.

For this reason too, most recently the meetings of the Secretariat have been less frequent, and with generally less intensity and participation. Thus certain situations have also been created leading the first secretary and the treasurer to make decisions which have not always won unanimous consensus.

I must and want now to remind you of:

- Paolo Pietrosanti's dedicated work with <>, the newspaper which this Council has indicated it wants us to publish every ten days during the self-financing and membership campaign. Since the Grottaferrata meeting until now eight issues have been published and distributed. We owe the French edition to the work of Olivier Dupuis and the comrades who worked with him in Brussels;

- the work of comrades Maria Teresa di Lascia and René Andreani who, under the co-ordination of Francesco Rutelli - who was also involved in parliamentary activities as well as useful work of co-ordination with the party - have directly seen to the self-financing and membership campaign in Italy;

- the CORA (1) initiative, which we have felt duty-bound to finance because of its importance and which has brought us in collaboration with many comrades - among them the Federal Council President Marco Taradash - to the Brussels "discussion"; this event is indubitably a valuable and meaningful step which we hope will secure the party's continuation and development on the international scene; one of the people who worked on anti-prohibition [of drugs, ed.] and the fight against crime, even though only part-time, was Andrea Valcarenghi, who was preparing several undertakings with Mauro Rostagno, assassinated by the Mafia in Trapani.

- Giovanni Negri's dedication to securing the European Parliament's favourable response to our proposals for the forthcoming elections and their adherence to our Yugoslavian initiative, especially with the Congress in view; and still in the sphere of Giovanni's co-ordinating activities in Brussels, the action that allowed us to be present and active in Czechoslovakia, Poland, and lastly in Hungary with the direct contribution of Olivier Dupuis and other comrades;

- the work of Roberto Cicciomessere with Sergio D'Elia and Gianfranco Spadaccia which enables the party, if the funds are found, to publish a "single issue" in nine languages to inform non-Italian speakers about what we have done, who we are and what we propose to do;

- Sandro Ottoni's presence in Yugoslavia to promote the party there and with the delicate assignment of preparing, as far as possible, favourable conditions for the reception of the party's next congress in Zagabria;

- Gianfranco Dell'Alba's work in Brussels which ensures the co-ordination of the party's activities with those of the European Parliament members; the work of Mario De Stefano aiming at ensuring the party's ties with problems of justice and assisting it in taking on and resolving the juridical and legal questions in which it is involved;

- Adelaide Aglietta, busy with her parliamentary job and the responsibilities connected with her election to the Trieste City Council, has contributed to our collective work and given her support;

- Massimo Teodori's assiduously followed responsibilities in Parliament have not permitted him to make the contributions that I had hoped for;

- Santiago Castillo, Luis Mendao and Maurice Duval, for varying reasons, were also not able to make the hoped-for contributions to the Secretariat's activities; Santiago had informed us in Madrid of his university duties; as for Luis, this period has coincided with that of his most intense professional activities, while for Maurice I believe his political tasks in France have been an obstacle.

We must find a better answer to the problem of securing conditions that would allow us to make more continuous use of the contributions of the Secretariat members who do not reside in Rome. I am also bound to remind you of the passionate and constant participation in our work of our president Bruno Zevi, his availability and dedication which have allowed us on more than one occasion to - not only in Italy - to secure and promote prestigiously the party's presence and activities. Nor do we want to forget the contributions of Gianfranco Spadaccia and Peppino Calderisi who, despite being overwhelmed with parliamentary duties, have always been actively present.

I cannot and we cannot, finally, neglect the contribution of Marco Pannella: there is no need to remind everyone of his stimulating, constant and singular work. I only want to thank him for his discreet but active and assiduous attention to our work.

Dear comrades,

I believe we can agree that the party during these ten months has not been passively waiting for events to occur: the initiatives assumed and actions taken have been considerable and consistent. As for me, they have been so more than I, during the course of time, have been conscious of and appreciated. Certainly and without doubt we could have done more and done it better, but this is true at all times. Given the situation which the party party faced and the conditions in which it had to work, I can only express my generally positive judgement.

I feel duty-bound to thank you all, members and activists, and all those who have supported us up to now. In particular, I want to thank Paolo Vigevano, the members of the Secretariat and the collaborators who all made active contributions.

In conclusion, we must consider for a moment some of the things we should have or could have done and then report on the mandate to prepare for the closing of the party, a mandate given us by the Federal Council at Grottaferrata.

In case the progress of the membership and self-financing campaign had kept up levels compatible with the first two months, the Secretariat had prepared a programme for renewed activity.

TAKING UP THE ISSUE OF THE UNITES STATES OF EUROPE AGAIN

First of all this programme provides for taking up the issue of the United States of Europe again by sending a second letter to Brussels addressed to all the members of the parliaments of the twelve member states. In part because of the forthcoming Rhodes summit, this letter intended to re-propose the initiative of our European Parliament members in connection with the three solemn declarations approved by the European Parliament.

We also had planned to but space in major European newspapers in a try to approach the public opinion of these countries directly and get it to support our initiative.

One aspect to which the programme gave particular attention was the proposal of allowing any citizen of each of the member nations to present himself as a candidate in the June 1989 elections of any of the other countries of the European Community - a proposal which was due in these very days to be presented for approval to the Italian Parliament by our comrades.

The decision of holding the party congress in Zagabria and of being present in Yugoslavia was also related to the issue of forming the United States of Europe.

OUR PRESENCE IN HUNGARY AND POLAND

Outside Italy, the programme also foresaw our presence in Hungary and Poland by accepting an invitation to participate in the congress of the Movement of Young Hungarian Democrats (FIDESZ) and a request presented by our Polish comrades.

OUR ANTI-PROHIBITION INITIATIVE

The programme also foresaw the preparation (in collaboration with CORA) and the financing of a Brussels discussion on anti-prohibitionism [of drugs, ed.] and subsequently the participation at the Washington meeting on the same issue (October 22) as well as preparations for the Madrid conference on the constitution of the International Anti-prohibition League tentatively planned for December.

ITALIAN ACTIVITIES

In Italy the programme foresaw the continuation of the membership and self-financing campaign with the added elements of signature collections on eight petitions and the holding of numerous assemblies with the participation of members of the Secretariat and of Parliament further supported by Radical Radio. A series of ads in Italian newspapers were to call attention to the party's trans-national choice and its initiatives in the attempt to stimulate requests and reactions.

THE MULTI-LINGUAL ISSUE OF <>

Besides that the programme foresaw the development of the project for a multi-lingual issue and distribution of <> translated into nine languages. This project also includes the study and definition of the most suitable methodology for compiling an adequate mailing list since the purchase of mailings lists differentiated only by group or category has turned out to be costly and unproductive for us to use when they are meaningless for our work.

THE <> NEWSPAPER

The publication and distribution of <> was maintained on a ten-day basis in the Italian edition and the French one on the basis of the various publication dates previously established.

<>

The publication of <> was foreseen in the programme with the same criteria and the same languages as in the original editorial programme.

Two other problems also presented themselves: that of studying the framework of the congress and that of the opportuneness of opening the membership drive for the Radical Year 1989 at the beginning of November.

THE COMMISSION ON THE FRAMEWORK OF THE CONGRESS

A commission made up of Roberto Cicciomessere, Gianfranco Dell'Alba, Giovanni Negri, Francesco Rutelli and Gianfranco Spadaccia confronted the first of these problems and has prepared a report which will be delivered by Roberto Cicciomessere.

The Secretariat furthermore discussed where this meeting of the Federal Council would be held: We have already reported on the reservations raised on the suitability of Jerusalem.

THE PARTS OF THE PROGRAMME THAT HAVE BEEN IMPLEMENTED

We have previously indicated how much of the programme has been carried and we will list it all here:

- above all, the continuation of the membership and self-financing campaign in Italy with the exception of newspaper advertisements;

- the publication of <> and <>;

- participation in Hungary at the Congress of Young Democrats;

- the continuation of activities for allowing the Zagabria congress to be held;

- the preparation of texts for the multi-lingual issue of <>.

To these activities there has been added the difficult task of organising this meeting of the Federal Council and the work of our members of Parliament in Brussels in favour of the Zagabria Congress which has already received the support of fifty other European Parliament members.

MARCO PANNELLA'S CANDIDACY FOR EEC COMMISSIONER

Next we must mention the unquestionable prominence given in Italy to the debate we have promoted concerning the candidacy of Marco Pannella for EEC Commissioner, a candidacy which has been gathering considerable support among political parties, movements and individual figures, and which may find an insurmountable obstacle only in the opposition of the Socialists. This candidacy could bring to light a calculated design in Italy conceived to block any Radical from being given important institutional post after episodes such as the non-support given to his candidacy for High Commissioner for the Fight Against Hunger and the twice reiterated blocking of the Radicals' and the Greens' participation in the government.

THE FIGHT AGAINST TOTALITARIANISM AND THE AFFIRMATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

For the fight against totalitarianism and the affirmation of human rights in Central and Eastern European countries, new areas have opened up for party action in recent weeks. On the one hand our first presence in Hungary where the situation seems to offer interesting openings, especially in the fields of ecology and conscientious objection; and on the other hand through the congress held in Rome on Romania and the presentation in the Italian Chamber of Deputies of a motion (after an analogous initiative in the European Parliament) against the destruction of villages inhabited by Hungarians and other ethnic minorities, a direct collaboration began with Romanian emigrés in France and other European countries, and with democratic opponents inside this country which is under the rule of the most oppressive regime in existence today.

THE ISSUE OF JUSTICE

Regarding the issue of justice, with which in recent years in Italy the party has been intensely involved and in which area it has had success and won credibility, there have been recent events which would allow for the re-launching of the party's initiatives in grand style: the polemics over the role of the High Council of the Magistracy [CSM] following the Meli-Falcone case, the arrests in the case of Calabresi killing, and the explosion of the nth Mafia and judiciary emergency in Sicily (the latest of which has been the assassination of Rostagno) while events in Calabria have again made topical the party's analyses and proposals on the role of the magistracy, the reform of the electoral system and the CSM, on a way out of the judicial emergency and on the defence of the citizen from the abuses and horrors of the judicial machine.

In recent days the party has prepared and presented a packet of bills on these issues, but it is evident that parliamentary action alone is not enough, that other initiatives must be thought up starting with judicial test cases that will involve the people and rally the interest and the participation of those active in the field of justice who stood by us in the referendum.

THE POINTS THAT WE HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO FACE AND RESOLVE

Here are three points, among many, which we have not been able to face and resolve: three points which, in my opinion, are highly indicative of a more general condition weighing on the party: the insufficient resources (women, men, tools and money) at our disposal. We have not been able to relieve Paolo Vigevano of the responsibility of being the single administrator of Radical Radio; we have not managed to move the party's Rome headquarters into the new premises that have been purchased; and we have not been able to reduce the party's operating costs and improve the operating structures.

These are points which have very little to do directly with political activity, but which in my opinion have a lot to do with "making politics".

PREPARING ALSO TO CLOSE DOWN THE PARTY

We began this report, comrades, by reminding you of that part of the motion you approved at Grottaferrata which directly connected the success of the membership campaign with overcoming the financial crisis.

In conclusion, we must remind you of the mandate you gave us on that same occasion: even to prepare, that is, to close the party.

The following up of this mandate has involved our commitment and attention in part because of its relevant aspects involving finances.

On the other hand, it has been necessary to make use of the juridical studies and analyses made when the possibility of "stopping party activity" was foreseen at the time of the "10,000 members campaign" and to bring them up to date in function of a more specific and thus different proposal, in brief, what has been called "the closing of the party".

Now then, it should be evident to everyone that stopping the activity of an organisation - of whatever kind - is something quite different from beginning a study on the actual disbanding of that organisation, because the latter case involves proceeding to the physical extinction of that organisation rather than limiting oneself only to acting on its activities. This much being said, the logical consequences of it are that the various problems studied when stopping activities was under consideration (protection of the party symbol, the connection of parties with the community according to art. 49 of the Constitution, maintenance of political areas, etc.) had to be reflected upon and newly considered from a juridical standpoint in which important aspects came up on the civil rights level which had previously, if not neglected, certainly been given short shrift.

The mandate conferred by the Federal Council "even to prepare the closing down of the party" thus meant analysing the problem from this side in order to pinpoint the ways, means and time spans for doing it which are necessarily tied to legal dispositions and mechanisms necessary in themselves. This implies a political-judiciary evaluation which the Federal Council must acquire wo that the preparation mandate entrusted to the secretary and treasurer is followed by an unequivocal working mandate and thus the tools will be ready in case the closing down of the party goes from being an exploratory hypothesis to being a precise line of possible political choice.

It is also necessary to say with extreme clarity that the spontaneous closing down of a political party - at least under the Italian ordinances currently in effect - is an unprecedented act, above all considering the public financing mechanism which has no small influence on the financial level and its consequent civil responsibility.

Nor, on the other hand, can the problems posed today by closing down the party be resolved in a straight and simple way by referring to other canons different from the Italian one that sometimes appear to make easier the formation and dissolution of associations to which a party structure can definitely be considered to belong.

All of this must be said because once it has been decided to close down a party - it is obligatory to this clear - one must accept all the political consequences and the constitutional-administrative effects of such a closure, while on the other hand one must immediately face all the effects, problems and necessities which loom prominently on the civil rights level - that is to say, in relation to the norms of the code currently regulating the category to which the party belongs. On the basis of these norms (art. 36 of the civil code by sentence of the Rome Court June 30, 1982, Court of Cassation, March 24, 1956 no. 846, October 28, 1959 no. 3138, November 11, 1970 no. 2410) a party is nothing but an unrecognised association to which can be applied by simple analogy the norms regulating the associations and foundations with no juridical character.

From this it follows - and one must make this very clear - that closing down the party is nothing less from a juridical standpoint than the dissolution of an unrecognised association, with the obligation of balancing its debits and credits and involving the personal responsibility of the organs representing such party (past and present) for any eventual residual debts towards third parties.

Things being thus, it is obvious that to prepare closing down the party - once such a decision is adopted - signifies in reality making available in advance, having this mandate, the means for extinguishing all the party's debts towards third parties, both the most recent and older or renewed debts.

And this is absolutely necessary since in the absence of our advance decisions such as to allow the party to immediately and effectively implement the order once given by the Congress, it would not be possible for the party as such to close itself down but it would be the judicial authorities to do so on the request of the party's creditors and by executive judicial action.

The true problem, dear comrades, is for us to be able to handle the responsibilities of closing down the party ourselves so as not, when and if it should happen, to have to entrust this to the will and initiative of others and to be exposed to probable judicial actions which would not only have negative effects on the identity and image of the party, but which could - in an uncontrolled course of events - turn into an unpredictable clutch of responsibilities for individuals.

In the face of such necessities, one must be able to proceed quickly, clearly, concretely, and precisely.

It could also happen that in closing down (in legal terms the dissolution of an unrecognised association) the party might turn out to have an credit surplus and this possibility - still to be verified - brings up the question of immediately deciding what to do with such a credit surplus.

In such a case, one idea which in fact has already been taken into consideration, might be the creation of a foundation whose goals would be to defend and affirm the values which the party today represents and to be a point of reference of those values and re-proposing them in the future, even in a broader form, whenever the necessary conditions should develop.

Finally, one must prepare the tools that will allow us to operate in a civilly and financially responsible manner, we must, that is, right from now see to it that the Grottaferrata motion is followed by a another deliberation of the Federal Council which will primarily allow the treasurer and first secretary not only to prepare but to do everything necessary in technical terms to allow for the closing of the party if that decision should emerge from the motion of the congress.

In substance, there are objective kinds of needs, procedures, and deadlines that must be met with the consequent necessary preparations and everything that must be decided and arranged from this moment on.

All of this, dear comrades, if you consider the closing of the party to be a real possibility and not merely a theoretical idea or an abstract danger.

Having said this, we have absolved the last of our tasks. It is now up to you, up to us all together, to examine and evaluate a situation that is among the most difficult, the most serious, certainly that the party has had to face in recent years. The congress is at the door, to take place within two months. It is the last chance we have this year. This too is a difficult and risky choice - it is useless to hide the fact from ourselves - and I am referring to the political value, meaning and commitment that this goal involves.

It may be that Paolo and I are inept imbeciles, but to overcome the difficulties and limit the risks - the political ones - relating to this single goal by actuating the programme mentioned, prepared with the secretary, the evaluations which have been made, in order to balance the expenses with the possible income, another 900 million [lire] are needed, which under present conditions, we cannot see how it will be possible for a party with little more than 5,000 members to acquire or who will give it to us.

For this reason, also taking into account what we have done and what we have tried to communicate, to transmit, and to make clear in these ten months on the situation and the prospects of the self-financed trans-party and trans-national party, we have dutifully given our resignations and are ready here and now to make our further contribution to the debate, still inspired by the hope that it will be possible together with you to pin-point those solutions which we are not capable of foreseeing.

And as we told you in Madrid, we repeat here that as far as we are concerned, we are certain of one thing at least: of having given everything we knew how to give. More than that you could not ask of us then and you cannot ask of us now. -----------------------------------------------------------------

TRANSLATOR'S NOTES

1) CORA - Stands for "Coordinamento radicale anti-proibizionista" or Radical Anti-Prohibition Co-ordinating Committee.