It was all expected. A defeat, that of the referendum on the Jobs Act and on citizenship, which has damaged the Democratic Party and its secretariat very much and at all the rest of the “wide field” (but not very wide). Because, if the Democratic Party loses, once and for all, its majority and federating vocation, AVS can very well claim, despite the lack of quorum, its identity struggle, while the 5 -star movement can continue to pretend nothing – as it has done during the very short referendum campaign. The pieces all remain in the democratic house, with a “reformist” minority – improper term, if we want, since it identifies only the most moderate part of the Democratic Party and not at all reformist, but so much so that it is pawing. And it is precisely the next step that the Elly Schlein secretariat will have to do: free reformists, perhaps after the next regional electoral events. Depending on the results, it may or may not strengthen its leadership. And while Elly Schlein will be engaged in this field battle entirely internal to his party, Maurizio Landini, secretary of the CGIL, greater sponsor of the referendum round, can continue to increase his leadership and his influence on the center -left coalition.

Landini won, even if he lost

Who has no problem to justify the referendum debacle, enjoying a truly enviable income position, is the secretary of the CGIL Maurizio Landini. Born in 1961 in the province of Reggio Emilia, quarter of five children, he began working as a welder at 15 years old. Active in Fiom, in the 1980s he became first official and then secretary general of the category in Reggio Emilia. Then, he leads the regional offices of Fiom and Bologna. In 2005 he moved to Rome, entering the national secretariat with responsibility in the two -wheeled vehicles and appliances sectors, as well as directing the union office. From the beginning he nourished political aims, so much so that in 2015 he promoted the “social coalition”, a political-mayor initiative supported by exponents of the left (by Stefano Rodotà on the Pencho Pardi, from Valentino spoken to Vittorio Agnoletto, passing through Alfonso Gianni and Gino Strada). Initiative that was stigmatized by the then CGIL secretary Susanna Camusso, who asked for clarity on the bonds that our entertained with politics. A somewhat bizarre request, that of Camusso, given that at least the last three CGIL secretaries – who preceded Landini – all landed among the ranks of the Democratic Party. The best known case is that of Sergio Cofferati, who was secretary of the CGIL from 1994 to 2002, and then was elected mayor of Bologna in 2004 with the support of the center -left, then entering the Democratic Party. Then there was Guglielmo Epifani, secretary of the CGIL from 2002 to 2010, who came to be even briefly secretary of the Democratic Party in 2013. And then Susanna Camusso, the first woman at the helm of the CGIL from 2010 to 2019, who in 2022, at the end of her mandate in CGIL, was nominated and elected to the Senate always in the ranks of the Democratic Party.

The precedents: Cofferati, Epifani and Camusso

An interesting parallel is that between the then CGIL secretary Sergio Cofferati – who on March 23, 2002 managed to gather about seven hundred thousand participants in the manifestation of the Circus Maximus in defense of article 18, threatened by the then Berlusconi government – and Landini who fails the referendum to dismantle the Jobs Act which has in fact abolished the same article 18. Circus Maximus, he was preparing to take the guide not only of the DS, but also of the entire center -left. Which, for many reasons, not least the re -entry of the then leaders of the DS – from Romano Prodi to Francesco Rutelli, passing through Massimo D’Alema – did not happen. Cofferati had the parable of a white dwarf that never became a red giant, slowly going to turn off, until the abandonment of the Democratic Party in the aftermath of his defeat in the 2015 center -left primaries for the candidacy for the presidency of the Liguria Region, beaten by the very Renzian Raffaella Paita. Opposed, more or less thinly, by the majority of the left of the early 2000s, was definitively defended by the Renziani. Lately he has also returned to the Democratic Party, but the Magic Moment has now been definitively passed. And while Cofferati was sunk by the same majority of the left, Landini was promoted to tribune of Fiom with unified networks on Michele Santoro’s talk shows. One of the most effective mass media promotion of the golden center of the anti-Berlusconi center-left.

Schlein on a mined field, Landini on a prairie

If yesterday Sergio Cofferati moved on a mined field, Maurizio Landini today has a vast prairie in front of him. The only exponent – entirely political – which can boast more of all a success, despite having lost the referendum round. The victory was having folded the secretariat of the Democratic Party to his narrative, with Elly Schlein who is characterizing his political profile mostly in defense of the rights of minorities, while he stands for defender of the right of workers. To date, he most of all – at least of the two most serious competitors, between Schlein and Giuseppe Conte – appears to be the best profile to stand for the leader of the center -left deployment. He has now launched his opa not only on the Democratic Party, but also on the whole center -left and the right profile appears for an honorable defeat to the next policies. Landini is now an expert in strengthening his position of income defeated after defeat, carving out an increasingly predominant role. The more the center -left loses, the more its role becomes central. Shrinking the wide field, and putting him at the center of the village. An opposition specialist, for whom it is not important to govern, how much to oppose and hold, Primus Inter Perses, the role of leader of the government counterparty. He has the lexicon of the most pregnant fist, a more defined and coherent political direction, has no internal enemies (he is the undisputed reigning of the CGIL, having dethroned any internal opponent) and has the most convincing narrative, both by Elly Schlein and Giuseppe Conte. The first lacks experience and curriculum, the second simply is not left.

The Ruffini factor will not be enough

Even the option of the moderate and liberal federator – the liberals in Italy have never existed, someone will also have to say it sooner or later – as Ernesto Maria Ruffini does not hold up with Maurizio Landini. The “Più Uno” operation – The name of the Association whose logo was filed by Ruffini Days or are, with graphic similarities with the logo of the olive tree of Romano Prodi – appears to be aftermath. How can, on the other hand, a former director of the Revenue Agency, with too many illustrious relatives and two baptism names, scratch the hieratic and populist aura of a secretary of the CGIL? How can an emulo of Prodi warm the heart more than a descamisado accustomed to the squares and the crowds, as well as to the television stands? It appears quite unrealistic to create a moderate leader in the test tube. On the other hand, it is already a company of no small importance to create a populist.