“Partisan Soliani (ANPI deputy) says: ‘The left is out of step. We don’t need a symbol to avoid the primaries, but a dream.’”

Or a partisan – what about the primaries? “Do you know what I thought after reading about putting forward a partisan as leader of the left-wing coalition?” What did you think? “That they’re out of touch, that they confuse history with spirit, and that feeling nostalgic for those years is an incredible short-circuit. I also thought that in this country, so often mistreated, there is one word that unites us, ignites us, inflames us and soothes us: partisan’. A partisan? ‘But do you know that the partisans were communists, Christian Democrats, reds and whites, and that there were even priests amongst them?’. Should we hold primary elections for partisans? Well then, Albertina Soliani, vice-president of the ANPI and former president of the Cervi Institute, replies that “on the left, the problem is substance” and that “there’s a difficulty on the part of the generations and the leaders to rise to the challenge of these times. Do you see any ideas?”. Is putting forward a partisan as a candidate an idea or an act of desperation? “It’s an evocation – for goodness’ sake, a beautiful one – a word that has the merit of restoring a sense of community and solidarity.” A shortcut? “Undoubtedly a word that gets straight to the point. But have you ever heard the word ‘dream’ used these days? The partisans had a dream, but what dream does the left have?”

To Albertina – ‘the partisan’ Albertina, who was also a senator for the PD, close to Prodi, and Under-Secretary of State for Education, and is now vice-president of the ANPI – I say that partisans are even being asked to free the Left from its nightmares, after having freed us from the Nazi-Fascists. Is that not a bit much? We smile, but Albertina, who possesses the partisan spirit – that ‘thinking on one’s feet’ which, as Sergio Solmi writes, is ‘the thinking of men immersed in historical immanence, men busy and engaged in action’ – says that the problem with the broad coalition is not finding a figure, a ‘third man’, let alone a great-grandfather with a handkerchief and the scars of the Resistance: “For there to be leaders, we need ideas; we need a project. Do you know why they thought of a partisan? Because it’s an immediate, easy idea. Can you find an equally immediate idea today, on the left? Yet it’s not complicated; the left shouldn’t struggle to have a dream. The left has one. And it has already provided it.” I ask her how many partisans are still left, and Albertina replies: “Very few, but you see, even here things get oversimplified. Who is a partisan? It’s not just a period of existence or a way of life. The partisans were young people emerging from twenty years of fascism. The Resistance was the product of intellectuals’ thinking and a part of an epic that did not end with the war. Those who had liberated Italy then witnessed the Portella della Ginestra massacre, and then there was red terrorism. That’s why I say that feeling nostalgic for those years, to the point of evoking a partisan, is an incredible short-circuit.”

Albertina keeps repeating the word ‘dream’ insistently: ‘Who, when speaking of partisans, realises that that experience brought Christian Democrats and Communists together? That the Scout movement was also involved, and that priests such as Don Minzoni died, killed by the regime. What do we mean by a partisan? I mean that ability to endure tragedy and hardship’. Her mind drifts back to her experience in the first Prodi government, when the role of the rebel party was played by Rifondazione Comunista, just as Conte now plays the role of the spoiler. Can one argue over the primaries and still envisage forming a government, leading it through the wrangling? She replies in her usual loud voice: “We struggled every day, but it was all clear and transparent. There was a dream, and of course, we had Prodi, who patiently held the coalition together.” I ask her who should lead the coalition. Albertina, a lifelong supporter, believes that role should fall to the PD, the party with the most votes and the one that is most open: “Without a plan, there’s little point in thinking about the leader. Let’s return once more to the spirit. If we resort to the term ‘partisan’, it’s proof that we’re going through a time of great crisis, but if that word is used as propaganda, people realise it and vote for others. Evoking it is of little use unless we prove ourselves worthy of that word.” Salvatore Vassallo, the ‘father of the primaries’, also thinks that primaries are unnecessary today. They’re disappearing like Pasolini’s fireflies. “On the contrary,” says Albertina, “they are a wonderful opportunity for democracy, but it’s true that without a dream, in a vacuum, they are simply harmful.” Shall we send Conte and Schlein up the mountain? “I’d suggest they meet every day, to get to know one another, with transparency. Every day.” A dream? “A dream that inspires others to dream.”