May 10, 2024
Italian Left
The Italian left is largely of Marxist origin, unlike in other countries. Until
the 1950s, in order to improve the economic conditions of the poorest, it
therefore pointed to the Soviet model. Then, gradually, it was observed that in
the West, the conditions of the masses were improving much more than in
communist regimes, and that the proletariat was becoming bourgeois. So, from '68
onwards, economic issues were set aside, and the focus shifted to defining
popular welfare as consumerism (consumerism is the true fascism, as Pasolini
said), talking about alienation, sexual freedom, gay rights, feminism, and so
on.
These issues are also important, but they matter little to those who struggle to
make ends meet; they are problems that concern the more affluent.