The CGIL-UIL-CSIL was forced to support this call in the hope of heading off the struggle. The PCI paper l'Unita explained that 'the union is going into the street to modify the government measures". Its only opposition was on the question of petrol price rises. The PCI sticks by its support of the wage freeze and other price increases.
The most important element in the present crisis is that the mass of Italian workers are rejecting in practice the strategy of the PCI for shoring up the rotten Christian Democratic regime. In the past week a massive strike has hit the industrial North of the country. This has been directed against the austerity plan and has generally been outside the aegis of the three main trade unions. The pleas of the PCI for. orderly protest to 'amend' the measures have been ignored.
Last Wednesday the key industrial city of Turin was paralysed by a general strike. This was finally supported by the three main unions, but only after a wave of spontaneous, unofficial stoppages. From there the strikes spread over the whole of Northern Italy.