Being in Politics

What are the skills that are required to be in politics? What are the virtues that are important for doing politics well?

In Italy, I would say patience. Patience, and the ability to support others, to take an interest in others. I think that politicians need to have two fundamental qualities: a vision of the future, a reasonable ability to see the future, to predict the future; and a large dose of altruism, in other words, attention to others. Not only to those currently present, but also toward the interests of future generations. These are the most important qualities for a politician to have: a well-defined vision of the future and, I would say, an interest in others. (The Catholics would say a "love" of others, but I find this term "love" excessive).

As a leader in the Communist Party you had to, in a way, bring all of these virtues to task before you, which was to lead the Left by creating a new party and leading it into the new millennium. What was involved in that set of tasks?

First of all, it needs to be said that the Italian Communist Party was a very peculiar party. It was a special party because it had a very strong democratic culture, distinct from other Communist parties. The Italian Communist Party was a great party, a great school of politics, not only because one studied -- one could say, in this respect, that it was actually a true school -- but because of the structure of the party. The pedagogic activity and the training component were very strong. And so it is important also to consider the cultural originality of Italian communism, which is strongly linked to Gramscian thought and the work of Togliatti. One could say that it was part of the heterodoxy of heretical communism -- a type of heretical communism. The transformation of the party in the face of the communist crisis, and the fall of the Berlin wall, was an act of great courage. It was one of those moments in which a vision of the future was essential. It was an act of great courage, and most militant communists saw it as a necessity. Yet, it was also the cause of suffering, a detachment from their past experiences.

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