PEACE GROUPS AND LEADERS IN INF BASING COUNTRIES

Created: 11/1/1982

OCR scan of the original document, errors are possible

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Peace Groups and Leaders in INF Basing Countries!

A Rwcarc* Paper

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Peace Groups and Leaders in INF Basing Countries!-

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APiper

Peace demonstrations in Italy have been comparable in iiK ton other INF basing countries and public opinion *urvev* show that antinuclearextend* considerably beyond group* thaieace activism in Italy is concentrated more on lhe far IcftUban i* the case in oihcr INF baling countriej During the past year, peace activity ha* increased, primarily because the lulian Communist Party IPCU ba* dcci can profit polmcal'x bv,he "

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In principle, lhe Italian peace movement consist* of moreocal regional, and nationaland associations representing both secular and religious organisation* across the political *peeirum. with the exception of the extreme right. Yet most of the non-Communist groupsmall mcmbenhip. and no Mrong national organization devoled exclu*ive-ly to "peace" has arisen. The imall Radical Party i* militant and active, bul il* influence i* weak. The activities of lhe PCI and.imited extent, the lulian Socialist Party (PSI) have important io the peace movement

In general, the peace movement has wifferedeadership vacuum;

.major political figure ha*he peacehe movement Itself ha* nothariimaiie figure capable of uniforming il into anforce thai van exert significant presaure on ihe lialian Oivernment. The preeminent role of lhe PCI in peace aciivily ha* not precluded difference* whhin the movementr.thing from ideology toroad community ofometime* unite* the diverseinajor difference* of am-mW arc never far from lhe surface and haveii'cd>-ulfls'- uciueen rival groups on occaiion.

vlgorou* laciks to impede GLCMComiso. Sicily,ew demonsiraiors haveobstruct eonstniciion vehicles. Act* ofINFcrutse mHiile deploymenl may occur,security official* have said thai ih*pose* no threat to lhe stability ofor lo ihe sugcssful insullau'onin

In contrast to ihe peace movement* in the oiher INF countries, the lialian movemeni focuses almon exelu-livelyuc* that affect ltal>(andess contact wiih foreign peace scliviii* lhan the move-menu in Northern Europ? In addition lo theit receive* in ibe media, and especially in the Communisthe movemeni has generated ii* ownisseminate il* message!

."believe lhal because manyk _emomTr7iionseen planned and or^izd bybliihedpoliticalihesc^rcojjhave financed them from their own resource*.

Origin* Of Ihe Italian Prtee Mosraseo*

The Italian peace movement attract* the young in general and the leftist oriented in particular. The movement began a* an apparently sponlaneou* effort on the pari of minor leftist political parlies, lhe lulianouth FederationiFGCIk and some pari-fist groups. The immediate popular *uccess of the march for peace between the town* of Perugiai*i. which was sponsored by those groupsttracted the attention of ihe PCI and some elements of the PSI. which saw in ihe peaceay io enhance iheir popularity wiih ihe electorate. In our judgment, the two panic* feared lhal they were losing out on ihe peace bane with voiers and uukkly developed iheir own peace policies in an attempt to organise tfisd channc ihe movement for their own political end

I In- lialianso far ha* foeufced mostly -midcinunu ration* ond ralliesl,ilinenmp* advocate mute

Rofe* of the PCI. ibe PSI. and Orgamied Ubot

The PCI. Ihe PSI. and lhe union federations are probably she only orgamraiion* capable of providing the peace movement 'he leadership iLneed*iik an effective national force.

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KI. Since Ihe fall1 ihe PCI has been ihe domiiuai force behind ihc Lirgcr dcmonviiitioni. Oenpiie hi major role in ihc peace movement,the PCI hai been rclucuni io pull out ill iheagainstINT program:

The party wants the Italian people and otherropejn turixi io retard itestern party and notlivtsa 'ollo-er at the Sonet line-

The PCI heutatcs to allack the Socialists, who vuproit NATO'i INF pohllion. becau* il needseration from the Socialiiuain* uin it> control in local government coalitions

Thus the PCI wailed umiI uibcr Wcsi European group, had demnn-jraudNIcai before silling lis own prmc.lt The partyrominent role inemonstration in1I thai aluriniruntidcmuMcirai-un. while primarilydin| ekptoyrncnt ia Italy.ncntbo organized ihe

-liximiuioii onpril i'll? in Coiniui, which i'lr.uKil jiin -ir,emontiration'll?y nearly IllO.OtXI. amin Home that

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[We believe that the PCI tiepped W> it. igitaiioa in1 mainly became in leaders hoped to ptafa politically from being the main -force for peace' in Italy, and to focus the party'* energies on something other than internal bacteria* over rrunulia Poland In our judgment. PCI kaders hoped lhal once Ihc peace movement had become respectable inLuropc. ihe party coukieading role in lulian activity aad ifl Ibc process create difficultiesival, ihe PSI. They probably hoped Uui ihc Sociiliits. as members of the government that hid supported NATO's dual decision onould have lo choove between rrrruining oai of ihe movement, thereby appearing io be against peace, or playing second fiddle tn what *atCI show. The second choice couldllowed ihe PCI to lead the Socialists into pmtl-ont ihu ooutd make rcUlion.ilh their coalition partaerv csircrncly iwkwardjl he PCI ha* failed, however, to draw other ma>or panic* into the peace movement on il*nd in order io atotdi rwlati-d. the Contmuni-.lv have triedad ceaiuasl*ii- during ibe past few munihi

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I'M The loci kudcrthlp of (he PSI haiit wiH wpport ihe deployment of INF ifululioa of ihe "zero opt ion' provesNevcrthelcu. the panybeen fcclinicautiously ever tince Ihe big upiwini oflast year, and in moves have not alwaysSoeialm

ummuwidy ot lhe Pcrugia-Auisi march and embarrassed by iu own absence from ihe impressive demontlralWn. Later that faf/the PSIrief aiiempiestablisheace credemiali by organizing de montt rations iaialian en,a. The party cmphaiircdernes inch a* lhe needalanced reduction in arrm and iht negative cf'ccn of Soviet arms policy, and refrained from opposing lhe government policy on INF. These peace action* did not hive the dewed impact on the public,gelt because (he press and other panic* PSI activity aiblatant political maneuver

iremnt. anti*

After some months of indecision, the PSI now seems inclined to refrain from peace agitation, even though some factions of ihe pany arc pressingore active stancebelieve that lhe parly pulled back partly because ita efforts were unsuccessful, but also because iu leaden had decided thai they couldcriticism for not being ia tbe forefront of peace acirn(vJPtfhap* more lignlficani. ihey were able to attack lhe PCI for whai was NATO, and anti-US activity

rfjhe PSI leadership has been unable to prevenl some party men-ben from participating in peace demon-

siratiom

.nii.iiv few Socialivii appeared at the deissonsiration in Rome onJune, for example Nevcrthelesi. inier-nal tension* periivi. The president of ihe Sicilian RegionalSI member, has al limes lentin the demands of locald lhe PSI leadership has been trying io bring him mm tine withoutublic oac "ui of ihe disagreement

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ak Ianembers wonira lonanicinstc demonmialhin in Comito but did not doif fc-nu. 'rmn lln ru Ik anal level party

OfM/inl Labor. Another kciot of society urn Weeally boosting peace ictiviiy in Italy uorgarufed labor. During lhe fall of imi. leaden ofmaidr unions mad* public lUtemenu in tuppon of lheovement lhal appearedresage major laborin inarches and demonuralions. Since ihcn.aguer and more rm"Jc'*lc_appioach_hai_ becn evident.|

labor is deepty crnueuthe usscsltOrTor participalion in demor.it rat tons lespe-cially those dominated by the PCs well as on lhe spccificjssuc* addressed by the pcac- campaign)

ujvusiiim.

The Italian United federation of Labor Uniona it composed of lheontrolled General Ccaucdcra-tion nf Italian Labor (CCILL lhe Chnsaian Dcmo-eraiic Pany-oricmcd Confederation of ItalianSyndicate* iCISLL and the Union of Italian Laborhich is affiliated with the PSI and the Social Democratic and Republicanheillion anionI meat half of the Italian workingback the foreign policy deciiion* of the United Federation leader*hip. Generally supportive of detente and disarmament, the United Federation alsoith varying degrees of eathe need for lhe North AilaniK Alliance

The United Federationhole has taken the nouiton ihai disarmament negotiations should be cihauucd before proceeding with the NATO aackai modcrniiation program. Leader* of CISL and ihe UIL say lhat they will mppon lhe decision lo deploy CLCMs ai Comito if negotiation* fail: ibe CGIL. kowever. st'ongly oppose* the installation of mimics at Comiso. The Geneva disarmament negotiations and ihe criiis in Poland have lomewhai distracted trade union tuppon for the peace movement. Organized tabor did noi help sponsor lhe Comrto dcmonsuit. n. and CISL andefused to participate in lhe oneune)

Original document.

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