The episode is too tasty, even if it dates back to 1989. Goffredo Bettini, who at the time was a young Communist leader, tells us: “When there was a turning point, Occhetto called all the members of the PCI management and said:” we owe the turning point to do because otherwise the communist name, which has fallen out of favor, drags behind the ideals of renewal and equality of our history. And if we don’t change our name, he said just like that, “Craxi is kicking our ass and we have to try to go to the government.” But from that moment we have only dealt with government, government and government ». Here is the problem of the left today.
Andrea Orlando puts it flat, without paraphrasing: “We need a cohesive left as a political current, able to speak even outside, with the left that does not recognize itself in the Democratic Party.” Clearer than this: a current that also speaks to Bersani, D’Alema, Speranza and companions, with whom to re-aggregate. Without hurting the Democratic Party or the government. And on this Bettini, ideologue and animator of an evocative meeting «The left in the field», is equally clear: «Draghi is irreplaceable, but we are not Draghi». Here is the point. Find the strength of ideas. And don’t waste a hope, free it from the muffled sound of a voice strangled by the mute. The left of the Democratic Party wakes up and brings together two of the strongest personalities at its disposal: the political scientist, founder of the Democratic Party and historical leader of the PCI, Bettini and the Minister of Labor Orlando. «Let’s not start from containers – says Orlando – but from what to do: recover a clear profile on the economic and social issue. We must deal with social and civil rights together. And at this moment the Democratic Party must take on a profile and this time I see the possibility of a restart of the left ».
Bettini believes in it, he has given the impetus to this process which must be built on the issues of rights and work, on the understanding of the dominant paradigm, that of “solitude”. «The Democratic Party – notes Bettini – is a center-left party and I have the feeling that this left has long been overshadowed. Of course, not now that we are in battle, but in a future perspective this left must build its own culture and ideals, it must weigh more inside and outside the party ”. How? “Trying to build a common ground, in which to recognize each other without leadership for now, which would be ridiculous because a thought and a path are missing: they will be built when things start to move”. And it will take time, because today “the left is dispersed, disjointed, unable to have a weight and build a unitary profile. There is no critical vision, the effort we are trying to make is to unite ».
In short, a new current of the Democratic Party was born, potentially stronger than the others. We will see how much it will manage to clear the cards, if it will remain anchored in the Democratic Party or if it will produce other splitting stimuli, difficult now that Letta is building a radical identity to the party on civil rights issues. But everything will happen after the administrative, in which this left plays a lot, because most of the candidates of the Democratic Party, in Naples, Rome, Bologna, come from its ranks.