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Motion 2 - 26%:
‘Ernesto’ faction around Claudio Grassi

It opposes Rifondazione’s condemnation of some Iraqi groups as “terrorists” and demands undifferentiated support for ‘the resistance’. It also calls for uncritical “support for Cuba” and has only the nicest of words for Brazil’s president Lula (“despite some criticisable choices in economic policy”). Most importantly, it offers no clear alternative to Bertinotti’s turn to the Olive Tree, arguing instead for conditional support to a Romano Prodi coalition. It is also the only organised trend within the party that speaks out clearly against Rifondazione’s abject turn to pacifism.

This faction has most to lose from the changes to the party’s structures, as its comrades have been represented on most of the leading bodies (at the 2001 congress, they supported Bertinotti’s faction). No surprise, then, that they are also the most outspoken when it comes to criticising the attempt to sideline the opposition.

Valentina Steri, PRC councillor in Rome, told the Weekly Worker:

"The debate before congress has been extremely undemocratic. Before the unexplained influx of at least 12,000 new members (most of whom we have never seen locally) both motions 1 and 2 had roughly 40-45% support. Bertinotti was not sure to win at all. Not once has the proposal for the government turn been brought up on the national committee, our most democratic body.

“All of a sudden, things have changed dramatically. Now Bertinotti has a ‘winner takes all’ attitude. He wants the entire opposition out of the main leadership bodies. We asked Bertinotti to include some of our criticisms in his motion, so that we can be united again - but he would not have any of it. There is a real problem in the party now: a clear majority of the real activists support either motion 2 or the other opposition positions - but the leadership is going in a totally different direction. This will do real damage to the party and its democracy.”

Motion 4 - 6.5%:
‘Erre’ faction of the Fourth International

Previously called Bandiera Rossa, this faction contains Salvatore Cannavò, deputy editor of Rifondazione’s newspaper Liberazione. Just like Luciano Muhlbauer, he has previously been a prominent representative of Rifond-azione in the European Social Forum - but has been somewhat sidelined since the party’s turn to the Olive Tree.

Salvatore Cannavò told the Weekly Worker:

“It is not possible to build a viable alternative to reformism by linking ourselves - in a supportive role - to that reformism. The danger is that Rifondazione will become a new social democratic organisation - a left version, but nevertheless something that is not communist any more.

“The reformists cannot absorb the social movements. But at the same time, the movements need a political expression. If Rifondazione moves to the right, this will politically disenfranchise the radical section of society that is in revolt against capitalism. That is the real question before this conference.”

These comrades were keen supporters of Bertinotti at the 2001 congress, where they did not put forward a separate factional paper (and were rewarded with a position on the national secretariat). They are pretty much stuck in this tactic: while they accuse the Bertinotti faction of “betraying the movements” with the new turn, they criticise most of the other opposition forces for “never having thrown themselves into the social forums and the movements”.