Over the course of the 20th century, Italy was fighting hard for a peoples revolution. The only difference between itself and Russia is Italy was within reach of the western imperial powers, and the socialist movement didn’t get started until after America was in Europe.
The Italian socialists struggled hard into post war Europe, overthrowing Mussolini with violence. During 1945 in the German occupied north, Americans gave Nazis easy outs to surrender industrial centers to them instead of armed socialists resistance fighters. In the post war elections socialists had good showings. GLADIO operations were focused on Italy, and the years of lead (which was literally false flag terrorism) really lasted up until the fall of the Soviet Union.
All of this intervention deals with both ideological and geopolitical motives of the Western Empire. Italy is perfectly positioned along the Mediterranean and the heart of the European Union, that it functionally cannot have any true independence from the west. If Italy were to push for an anti NATO agenda, Germany is immediately at threat. The Alps are near impregnable for offensives, the mountains in the south a bitch to get through. The coastline control for shipping would be an absolute nightmare for America and the EU. Would the Suez even be viable with a hostile Italy? It’s proximity to Africa opens up all types of alliances and power blocs.
America has worked hard in Italy to make it a subservient member of NATO and the EU. So many of the worst tricks in the CIA playbook were used there, and yet socialism is still not dead in Italy. In fact I think it has a better chance than most other western nations to actually succeed.
Outside of Milan, Italians live in well planned densely packed city’s that are naturally anti car. The train system is beloved. The regions are prideful of traditional communal settings and protected food systems. De growth actually seems possible in Italy.
Currently Italy is energy dependent. At some point I think people will fight for more energy independence as Italy can tap into geothermal, wind, and solar, at a level great enough to power itself and export power to other nations. To do that it would need outside investment, and who but China would do that. This type of relationship could change European diplomacy forever, while swiping America from a chance to act forcefully with military, the only action they seem to be able to think of recently.
In the 2030s Italy could be the key to the imperial core breaking up, or they could be in for yet another beating from CIA operations.
I for one salute the Italiano comrades.
Italy unfortunately has been the object of an anticommunist campaign since the 1990s. When Berlusconi ( literally a member of a fascistic conspiracy in the 1970s to consolidate the media and government to gain cultural hegemony, and coincidentally the owner of a large media conglomerate ) got to power he made alliances and went all-in on "it's the communists fault". The Eurocommunists sliding down the revisionism spiral to outright liberalism (the hated Prime Minister Renzi, the Italian Blair, was literally a member of the christian democratic youth in his past), economic imperialism from Germany, chud immigration fearmongering, leftist infighting and their participation in lesser evilist governments, etc. have given Italians some extra strong brainworms unfortunately.
It's also really easy for dissatisfied people, especially youths, to just fuck off abroad. I did it almost 10 years ago. In fact, when liberals said "we should strive to become more like Germany", people started seeing it as this kind of El Dorado where you can live out the
americandream in your life. Teenage me fell for it.And what of the radical left? It was vibrant, if declining until 2008. After that? It disappeared from the face of the earth into obscurity, and even the graffiti stopped showing up on walls.
I don’t necessarily view the current movement of socialism in Italy to be one to strive for. I just want to throw some light to the Italian struggle and how fucked they were by France, Germany, England, USA, and the Catholic Church, and how even through that they got closer than any leftist in NATO to actually projecting power at a national level.
As to the future, it is the material conditions of Italy that give me hope, not the party.
the only *talian I know irl is pretty cool
he does know a lot of pasta varieties though
Went there fifteen years ago for two weeks (very lucky), would go back in a heartbeat if I could (and if not for the pandemic).
