ABSTRACT: Twenty-one days after the Transnational Congress in Rome, the Radical Party reached the target of 30,000 Italian members necessary for its survival. A target that was not only reached, but passed by a large margin with a final total of 37,000 members, including hundreds of well-known people from the world of culture, entertainment and art, journalists and about 200 parliamentarians from twelve different parties and parliamentary groups, excluding the extreme right. This is the final outcome of an extraordinary success, which was necessary not only for the survival of the nonviolent, transnational Party, but also for creating a new kind of politics in Italy, whose party system is in a serious state of crisis - a crisis which was first defined as "partycracy" by Radicals twenty years ago!

Italy's response to the Radical Party appeal was phenomenal. This is illustrated, to some degree, by the press reports which appear on these pages.

The fact that the media gave the Italian people the chance to become familiar with this "large company of strolling players", as Vittorio Gassman defines the Radical Party, resulted in tens of thousands of Italians supporting the transnational aims of the Party.

"The blindness and corruption of 'partycracies' oblige the individual to become involved personally and take a stance," Vittorio Gassman went on to comment. This, in fact, seems to be precisely the "message" contained in Italy's response: that by joining the Radical Party, one chooses to becomes a member of something new and different, which strengthens, but does not negate one's political, ethnic, religious or cultural affiliations.

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"The Radical Party has done it!" This is the headline that appeared in the newspapers the day after we achieved the "reasonable objective" set by the Rome Congress.

The following is a brief panorama of the campaign seen through the eyes of the press.

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(THE NEW PARTY, MARCH 1993)

"During the Congress in early February there were no more than three hundred new members a day - the "Corriere della Sera" reported on 3 March - and this continued until halfway through the month. Then things suddenly started moving, with two thousand people joining daily, but it was still not sufficient as an average. And in fact, they were still only halfway towards reaching their target on 25 February, with just three days to go before the deadline set by the Congress. At the last minute, they made the all-important leap forward: four or five thousand people applied for membership every day, via telephone, fax, money order, letter, credit card and friends; in other words, in every way possible."

We have to say that it was also thanks to the newspapers and television networks, who gave the initiative a lot of coverage and often communicated our phone and post office account nos., that we were able to reach our target.

"This Party with Gandhi as its symbol - the article in the Milanese newspaper continued - also inspired well-known personalities from the world of entertainment and culture to intervene, including Vittorio Gassman, Bernardo Bertolucci, Giorgio Albertazzi, Paolo Villaggio and many others. And also many politicians: four ministers, eight under-secretaries and 175 parliamentarians (including eighty Socialists, twenty Christian Democrats, fifteen Republicans, thirteen members of the Democratic Party of the Left, twelve from the PSDI, nine Liberals and one lady from the Rifondazione Comunista, have all joined the 'transnational' Party."

For days and days, you could feel the tension in the air at Via di Torre Argentina. "We're not going to make it, says a worried Emma Bonino", wrote "l'Unità", the official newspaper of the Democratic Party of the Left, on 27 February, and immediately went on to ask: "Will the Radical Party really disappear from the political scene if, as it would seem, it does not reach its target by tomorrow?" Emma Bonino replied curtly: "I don't want to think about that until tomorrow. However, I'm very pessimistic."

The most incredible things happened during those last few days. "The Radical Party Headquarters - stated one of the press releases issued then - has been turned into an enormous telephone exchange." Eighty lines. Approximately three hundred people - activists of all ages - worked in shifts to cope with the hundreds, and then thousands, of phone calls each day, from people who joined with their credit card or told us they were sending in their "membership offering", an "offering" which made the "lay miracle" - as many newspapers have defined it - possible.

On 1 March, "Il Giornale", an influential Milanese newspaper with a conservative outlook, reported a speech made by Muhamed Kresevljakovic, Mayor of Sarajevo, during a meeting held in Milan on 28 February: "The hopes of Sarajevo's citizens increase with each new Radical Party member. This is why I am asking your leaders to wait another week before closing membership." Marco Pannella replied: "There will be no postponements; however, we won't make the final count until Tuesday evening. We have to wait for all the postal orders to come in, and the contributions that have been promised but not yet paid." Kresevljakovic's suggestion of stopping the clocks was more or less taken up. At this point, waiting became almost unbearable.

Finally, on 3 March it was once again the "Corriere della Sera" which announced along with other newspapers that the campaign had been successful, and proceeded to give a colourful description of the final hours: "And so Marco Pannella, the great tightrope walker of Italian politics, has once again succeeded in reaching his ambitious target. And once again he has kept everyone waiting with bated breath until the last minute: it was only at midnight, in fact, that the Radical leader announced that his Party had not only reached but passed the target of 30,000 members and, therefore, would not have to disband. However, everyone knew they were going to make it.

At an improvised press conference held late yesterday afternoon at the Radical Party Headquarters, which have been transformed into a kind of telephone exchange, Marco Pannella, accompanied by Claudio Martelli (former Justice Minister, Socialist, and member of the Radical Party, editor's note), both of them with a card inviting people to join the Party round their neck, had already announced that: "We now have 29,004 members."

Radical comrades who were gathered together in the large hall at Via di Torre Argentina greeted the news with wild cheering. Many of them began to sing: Volare...oh, oh..., cantare...oh, oh, oh, oh...". A tribute to Domenico Modugno, former President of the Party, who was absent at that particular moment. It was also a way of letting off steam, as if they knew they had won their tough race against time and they were giving a big sigh of relief."

"Il Messaggero", Rome's own newspaper, interviewed Emma Bonino on 4 March, asking her what the next step would be now that they had reached their target. At last she was able to reply: "The second part of the congressional motion states that, if the target of 30,000 members is reached, the Secretary will officially take up office on 15 May and will be bound to call a meeting of the General Council in order to elect the various organs and present the programme of activities for '93." At which point, the journalist asked: "So are you going to be twiddling your thumbs for two and a half months?" "No - replied Emma Bonino - it is a question of understanding, between now and 15 May, what political initiatives we want to undertake to deal with the emergency situation at home and what our international priorities are, after which they must be discussed and approved. And by that date I must also have the Party organs worked out..."

Throughout the entire campaign, the Radical Party's extremely valid reasons for being, which was why we had to reach the target of 30,000 members, were strongly underlined. On 25 February, Emma Bonino reminded "Noi", a weekly magazine with a wide circulation, that: "People don't seem to have learned anything from history. Very few individuals seem to doubt that once again the Radicals could be right, that we could have put our finger on the cause of the crises that beset society and on what bothers public opinion in every country: science has worked miracles in every field, but the political class has shown itself to be impotent - as we approach the year 2000 - and remains at a standstill when it comes to solving a relatively simple problem like feeding a starving population or preventing hundreds of Bosnian women from being raped. Not to mention solving national problems which they should be more familiar with."

"On the one hand - Emma Bonino pointed out to 'Il Messaggero' - we've also created the 'International League for the Abolition of the Death Penalty throughout the World by the Year 2000'. I am particularly happy that the Italian project for an international court to deal with criminal offences has included this provision: the death penalty is not to be applied in any instance, whatever the crime. I hope that the UN upholds this clause. Then, we have to deal with the emergency situation in the ex-Yugoslavia." "Is anyone else having problems. Like the Palestinians, for example?" suggested the journalist, and Emma Bonino pointed out: "It's true. There are so many problems to choose from. However, in this case we're dealing with a question that concerns international law in general and, more particularly, its punitive measures. The democratization of the UN Security Council is at the heart of this problem. In practice, foreign policy is in the hands of the executive bodies, without any democratic, parliamentary,

or other form of opposition. And this is where the transnational Party comes in. The fact is that the Security Council is comprised of the powers who won the war. Since that time the order of Yalta has prevailed, but this collapsed two years ago. Now there is a risk that the new American order will hold sway when it is international law that should prevail. And this applies as much to the Palestinians as it does to the problem of the agreement to protect the whales. At this point, the setting up of an international court to combat crime is indispensable."

We would like to end this brief reconstruction via articles that appeared in the press during those exciting last few days, by communicating a hope expressed by Emma Bonino in one of the interviews. In answer to the question: "To sum up, 30,000 Radical Party members for '93, all of whom were obtained in a few days thanks to an extraordinary campaign. Are you going to have to start all over again next year?" And Emma Bonino replied: "Yes. But let's hope a few people will have understood, and we won't have to beg people to join next time."