Even today we need a reformist alliance between merit and need. The former minister Martelli speaks

“A society that excludes from its horizon the enhancement of those who are capable, in school, university and work, condemns itself to stagnation”. The one pronounced by Claudio Martelli it cannot be described as an endorsement to Giorgia Meloni’s government. Talk about the pedigree: long-time socialist, parliamentarian, former minister of Grace and Justice. If anything, it looks like a blow of the ears to those who have welcomed the Ministry of Education, redone in name and functions, with open annoyance. Especially in the galaxy of the union and in the world of culture, it is not a matter of a few units. Rodari is mentioned, Don Milani is reread, Trentin is dusted off. To summarize the controversy in a title, it would sound something like this: the right is headed by merit, an alarm in the reflective middle class. Worse, confusion. According to some, the choice testifies to the class and authoritarian legacy of the government that has just taken office. For others, it seems improper to think of rewarding the best while urgently having to heal the most serious inequalities.

Merits and needs, always there you return. Only, at the moment, it seems impossible to keep the pair together. “Instead we must not divide it. There is a risk of skidding, and it is the tragedy of the post-communists, between technocracy and welfarism, which chronicizes the areas, unfortunately vast, of misery. Without redeeming them ”underlines the former Minister of Justice. The opportunity to hear his opinion falls flat. It is not offered only by the controversy of the moment. In 2022 and on the left is the fortieth anniversary of a watershed discourse. World year: 1982 Speaker: Bettino Craxi’s young dolphin. Seaside venue: Rimini, PSI programmatic conference. Lucky title: For a reformist alliance between merit and need. Happy intuition: representing both through a modern interpretation of the Italian reality. Double and ambitious objective: to carve out a role that is no longer subordinate to the cultures of the two great churches, of Catholic and Marxist observance. And, with a similar posture, apply to lead the country. Result: strike on the first shot.

In close turn, in August 1983, the socialist leader swore at the Quirinale in blue jeans, immediately called to order by Sandro Pertini, and entered Palazzo Chigi. The eighties began. “Yes, in his own way, that formula made an epoch” Martelli reminds al Foglio. With additional self-criticism: “We did not always manage to keep faith with those words. The needs dictated by current events always take time and space away from declarations of intent ”. And it is the drama, this time, of the reformists. However, even then the debate flared up. “Inside and outside the party. Because to combat inequalities, we privileged the principle of equity over that of equality. Norberto Bobbio replied that without the latter the left made no sense to exist. On the contrary, I believed, and still believe, that equality cannot translate into leveling down. It would be a primitive and punitive form of socialism ”.

Soon the interview moves from the past to the present. From the abstract to the concrete. “Let’s take the credit, the tools to evaluate it in education exist: the Invalsi tests”. The education reform launched by the Renzi government rested on them. Rejected by the same sectors, under accusation for trying to create a school of performance. As for needs, the focus is on support measures. “It is necessary focus on work start-up, as it was felt before the arrival of the M5s in the control room ”observes Martelli. Reserving a critique of the effects of citizenship income, whose remodeling was promised by the newborn government. “He may have helped many, but he expands the number of illegal workers and those who do not want to work tout court. Moreover, it does not eliminate the causes of the conditions of poverty. So, let’s clear the field: it is not a leftist provision. At most of the grillini, who dream of a society without competition ”. Needs and merits, you always return there.