«We are saved and move forward if we act together and not just one by one». There are Enrico Berlinguer's ideas and values in these words which summarize the impulses that have always animated his political action. They come to mind when reading “Opposition. The last battle of Enrico Berlinguer” written by the journalist Luca Telese (Solferino, 384 pages) in bookstores today.
40 years after his death, on 11 June 1984, four days after the dramatic rally in Padua, memories and new food for thought emerge.
«Berlinguer's last battle - explains Telese - has been forgotten and removed, yet it must be rediscovered because at that moment it addresses issues and emergencies that recur today. 40 years later, the same conditions occur as in the last months of Berlinguer's life. There was the economic crisis, inflation, war, energy crisis and even then Israel was attacking the Palestinians. Now we deal with the same ghosts."
What are the compasses that Berlinguer follows on that night which is very similar to our night?
«It puts the social question and the moral question at the center of the debate and of its political action, two very current compasses».
Let's start with the social question.
«In the strenuous battle against Bettino Craxi, he defends the employees affected by the Valentine's Day decree which blocks the escalator, the mechanism by which paychecks are adjusted to the rise of inflation. In Italy, after the referendum on the escalator, pay slips grew less than in the rest of Europe. And at the same time, purchasing power has decreased."
The moral question, the other north star.
It was relaunched in the interview with Eugenio Scalfari in 1981. Many in the party expressed criticism: Now who do we form alliances with? It makes us argue with the socialists . Berlinguer is talking about the country, he is not talking about a party. The parties have occupied the institutions, healthcare, companies, information. It sounds like an interview given today."
