"Many have said that the union arrived unprepared in the face of the populist advance, a torrent in full flow that has made converts even in our ranks. This is nothing new, for some time the vote of those who militate in the three large confederations has been on leave, but this is not in itself a bad thing.
There are sensational cases that date back to the XNUMXs, when – following the dissolution of the First Republic and the disappearance of the old parties – many members were attracted by the sirens of the Northern League.
La loss of “working class conscience” it was referred to by many commentators as a "sign of the times". Now we realize how hasty that reasoning was.
More seriously, we slowly but surely abdicated the mission of civil, value and political education which is also part of our DNA. It is therefore useless to be surprised that the vote of members has taken such different paths over the years. We at the FIM do not feel like we are orphans of the party-union bond that has always been close to us.
Break the chains of ideology, cut (not completely) the psychological and cultural ties that give a community the awareness of finding itself in a common destiny, workers have discovered themselves (perhaps) freer, but above all more alone. And their loneliness has taken on the features of angry frustration as the changes have become more challenging.
In this transition phase, both the bureaucratic union and the reactionary-ideological one facilitated the process of fragmentation. The crisis did the rest, causing a equally (and perhaps more) angry reaction in the middle class, who found himself impoverished, but above all fearful of the future.
Now, I believe that this ripped fabric goes somehow mended. And we believe it is one of the most difficult, but also the most exciting tasks facing a union like the FIM.
Basically, as always, everyone votes as they wish, but we cannot remain neutral or silent on basic values, on civil commitment. The union is one of the most beautiful forms of collective solidarity, it was not and will never be compatible with racism and totalitarianism of any matrix.
We will continue to take sides on the contents and never with and within the parties. With conviction we have decided to support the constitutional reform (in a country where a Quaestor claims the unconstitutionality of the ban on the sale of glass bottles) but, even tugged by the jacket, we have stayed away from all the electoral initiatives or primaries of any party.
Attachments: Bentivogli report