THE PASSAGES FROM THE VENTOTENE MANIFESTO THAT WERE NOT READ IN THE ITALIAN PARLIAMENT

Not even the best experts in Russian "disinformation" could do better than the masterpiece that has been wrought by the right in the distortion of the Ventotene Manifesto. Meloni&co have devoted themselves surgically to isolating only what of that text is dead-because dated, confused, positions from which even Spinelli himself and Rossi in their lifetime distanced themselves.

But the right has, cunningly, kept silent about what is alive in that text.

These are those passages for which that Manifesto is cited, in Italy and abroad, and which-rightfully- Meloni has every right to criticize and comment on, saying, "this is not my idea of Europe." It is not.

Not only Meloni's followers but also a queue of journalists and pundits always ready to take the side of the crystal breakers, in the name of a kind of exasperated guaranteeism of error, have been quick to smear the Ventotene Manifesto by making the signatories look like Marxist-Leninist debunkers. Apart from Colorni-who was slaughtered by the fascists of the Koch gang-the political affair of Spinelli and Rossi was anything but a struggle for the dictatorship of the proletariat and other junk that is also contained in the Manifesto.

Incidentally, Altiero Spinelli is named after one of the buildings in the European Parliament that Meloni has been frequenting for years-and perhaps she should ask herself why on earth that building was named after a Marxist-Leninist loser as she made him out to be in Parliament.

Those who have a few minutes of patience can read these excerpts from the Manifesto, which I have selected. They represent what is alive in that text. Serious pro-Europeans would have done well to read them repeatedly in Parliament as a response to the Prime Minister's rally. Here they are

This piece criticizes the stravlution of the idea of nationhood

“The nation is no longer regarded as the historical product of the coexistence of men, who, having arrived, through a long process, at a greater uniformity of customs and aspirations, find in their state the most effective form for organizing collective life within the framework of the whole of human society. Instead, it has become a divine entity, an organism that must think only of its own existence and development, without in any way caring about the harm that others may suffer. The absolute sovereignty of nation-states has led to the will to dominate over others and considers its "living space" ever larger territories that allow it to move freely and secure the means of existence without depending on anyone else. This will to dominion could only be appeased in the hegemony of the strongest state over all other enslaved states.“

This passage condemns the mercanitilist philosiphy that...today inspires the tariff war...

“The most obvious concepts of economic science must be considered anathema to present autarkic policy, balanced exchanges and other ferravecchi of mercantilism as extraordinary discoveries of our times. Because of the economic interdependence of all parts of the world, vital space for any people who want to preserve the standard of living corresponding to modern civilization, is the whole globe; but the pseudo-science of geopolitics has been created that wants to prove the consistency of the theory of vital spaces, in order to give theoretical guise to imperialism's will to overpower.”

Here are the passages most in which the visine of the United States of Europe is contnued

"The problem which in the first place must be solved, and failing which any other progress is but appearance, is the final abolition of the division of Europe into sovereign nation-states

Spirits are down now much better disposed than in the past to a federal reorganization of Europe."

“And when, transcending the horizon of the old continent, one embraces in a vision of the whole all the peoples that constitute humanity, one must at the same time recognize that the European federation is the only conceivable guarantee that relations with the Asian and American peoples can take place on a basis of peaceful cooperation, in anticipation of a more distant future in which the political unity of the entire globe becomes possible."

“The dividing line between progressive parties and reactionary parties therefore now falls, not along the formal line of the greater or lesser democracy, of the greater or lesser socialism to be established, but along the substantial brand new line separating those who conceive, as the central field of struggle the old one, that is, the conquest and forms of national political power, and who will, albeit unwittingly play into the hands of reactionary forces, letting the incandescent lava of popular passions solidify back into the old mold and resurrect the old absurdities, and those who will see as the central task the creation of a solid international state, who will direct the popular forces toward this end and, even having conquered national power, will use it in the very first line as an instrument to bring about international unity.”

“It is necessary as of now to lay the foundations of a movement that will be able to mobilize all forces to raise the new body, which will be the grandest and most innovative creation that has arisen in centuries in Europe; to establish a broad federal state, which has a European armed force in place of national armies, decisively sweeps away the economic autarchies, the backbone of totalitarian regimes, has the organs and means sufficient to enforce in the individual federal states its deliberations, directed at maintaining a common order, while leaving to the states themselves the autonomy that allows a plastic articulation and development of political life according to the peculiar characteristics of the various peoples."

“A free and united Europe is a necessary premise of the strengthening of modern civilization, of which the totalitarian era represents a halt. The end of this era will be to resume immediately in full the historical process against inequality and social privileges.”