Preventive Counter-Revolution in Italy

The Fanpage.it investigation, which exposed the infiltration of a provocateur—one Leonardo Cusmai—into the ranks of the political party Potere al Popolo, is an event that deserves much more than a brief mention or a passing reference in talk shows. This is not an isolated incident, nor a simple act of “intelligence.” It is a deeply concerning element in a broader strategy of preventive counter-revolution, carried out by a government that, while formally legitimized by elections, in practice acts in an authoritarian, repressive, and reactionary manner.

A “Preventive” Infiltration into a Transparent Party

Potere al Popolo is not a clandestine organization. It does not organize uprisings, incite violence, or plan insurrections. It is a legal, peaceful political party engaged in grassroots efforts of mutual aid, civic participation, and social advocacy. It operates within the—albeit limited and bourgeois—mechanisms of parliamentary representation and electoral competition. Yet this very movement was infiltrated by an agent who posed as an activist for a full year, recording conversations, collecting names and information, and attempting to insert himself into positions of responsibility.

Giuliano Granato, national spokesperson for Potere al Popolo, rightly called the event a form of political espionage. And who could disagree? When the state sends an undercover agent not to fight crime, but to “monitor” the meetings of a legally recognized and peaceful party, we are witnessing a blatant abuse of security apparatuses, bent toward ideological control.

The “Crime” of Dissent

What is being criminalized here is not illegal action, but political identity. Today, the “far left” is surveilled not for what it does, but for what it represents: an alternative—however partial and reformist—to the dominant neoliberal, authoritarian, and conservative model.

This is not merely repression. It is ideological prevention. A party that operates outside the boundaries set by economic and media elites—even when doing so transparently and peacefully—is perceived as a potential threat. Therefore, it must be monitored, controlled, and neutralized.

This is the deeper meaning of infiltration: to delegitimize in advance any critical voice, any space of dissent, any attempt—no matter how moderate—to build an alternative political subjectivity.

A Systemic Strategy: Preventive Counter-Revolution

This episode is part of a larger picture. From harsher penal codes targeting environmental movements and labor strikes, to the treatment of students protesting the genocide in Palestine, to the systematic discrediting of feminist and transfeminist movements—everything contributes to a clear political strategy that we could call preventive counter-revolution.

The concept—developed by thinkers like Domenico Losurdo or, in different contexts, Michel Foucault—refers to the tendency of liberal regimes in crisis to repress any potential mobilization, even in the absence of real threats. The possible is punished, the future is repressed. This amounts to a kind of “molecular fascism,” which seeps through the formal frameworks of democracy to drain it of meaning.

What If It Happened to Everyone?

Many—even within the institutional left—downplay the situation. Some even mock it. But we must ask: what if this had happened to the Democratic Party (PD)? What if an intelligence agent had infiltrated a local chapter of PD or +Europa to “monitor” party activity, record conversations, and report names?

It would cause an uproar. Headlines in the news, parliamentary inquiries, outraged editorials. But when it happens to the “radical” left, the indignation disappears. Because ultimately, to those in power, this left is not part of the game. It is tolerated—as long as it remains irrelevant. But when it starts to grow, to take root, to speak to millions of poor and precarious people—it is treated as the enemy.

This case demonstrates that we live in a variable-geometry democracy, where political rights are only guaranteed to those who don’t fully exercise them. When a movement like Potere al Popolo organizes, runs for elections, builds social centers, solidarity networks, conflict, mutual aid... then the rules change. Suspicion arises. Surveillance begins. Infiltration follows. All in the name of “security.”

But whose security? That of the State? Or that of capitalism, which can no longer tolerate even the idea of a social alternative?

A Wake-Up Call

The case of agent Cusmai is not just a political scandal. It is a wake-up call. It is proof that the Meloni government, while presenting itself as the guarantor of order, is acting in line with the worst authoritarian traditions. The state is being used to suffocate dissent, infiltrate law-abiding movements, and target those who fight unarmed—but with ideas.

There is still time to react. But it requires clarity. It requires awareness. And more than ever, it requires building a political and social opposition capable of rising to the historic challenge before us.