Sicilian Revolt

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28980, 22 August 1959, Page 12

Sicilian Revolt

Sicily, one of Italy’s four

semi-autonomous regions, has become a centre of political and ecclesiastical attention. The rise to power of Mr Silvio Milazzo, a renegade Christian Democrat who is now Chief Minister in the Sicilian Regional Assembly, was symptomatic of the Christian Democrat Party’s decline since it dominated Italian affairs in the early postwar years. Sicily was the second of Italy’s semi-autonomous regions to oust the Christian Democrats; the first was the Vai d’Aosta. Until late last year, Sicily’s Chief Minister had invariably been a loyal Christian Democrat. But Christian Democrats in Sicily have suffered to an exaggerated degree the afflictions that beset their party throughout Italy. Corruption, personal rivalries, debility of thought, lack of dynamic leadership, and disregard for public opinion all sapped their ability to withstand the wrecker from within. Widespread poverty, illiteracy, and an archaic social system contributed to the ease - with which the Wrecker worked. Last autumn, Mr Milazzo, irked by party dissensions, recruited support from the extreme Right and the extreme Left of the Assembly, and himself became Chief Minister. He and his closest associates were expelled from the Christian Democrat Party. He formed a new group, the Christian Social Union.

In June, Sicilians elected a new Assembly. Election posters depicted Mr Milazzo as the Trojan Horse carrying in his belly a sinister gang of Communists. In accordance with th* recent Holy Offiqe decree forbidding Roman Catholics to vote for parties that favoured the Com-

munists, Cardinal Ruffini, the powerful Archbishop of Palermo, banned support for Mr Milazzo and his friends. Nevertheless about 250,000 of the faithful voted for Christian Social candidates; and, because the new Assembly is so fantastically divided among the parties, Mr Milazzo has been reelected Chief Minister. In addition to Mr Milazzo’s Christian Social followers, the 90-seat Assembly contains 34 Christian Democrats, 21 Communists, 12 members of the extreme Right, and 11 Socialists. Mr Milazzo’s ascendancy is based on personal popularity and the current discontent with the Rome Government’s attitude towards Sicily. In his Christian Social Union he has tried to provide a nonCommunist champion for Sicilian grievances. His first Government was founded upon an extraordinary alliance of Left and Right; his second seems to lean more heavily towards the Left.

Events in Sicily are causing unwonted concern in both lay and ecclesiastical quarters of Rome. Since February, when Mr Segni became Prime Minister, Italy’s Christian Democrat Government has depended upon support from the Right—from Monarchists and neo-Fascists. If Mr Milazzo’s liaison with the Left achieves satisfactory results for Sicily, pressure for a similar arrangement in. Rome will increase. Anxiety for the future of the Christian Democrat Party is already mounting. Both in the Vai d’Aosta and in Sicily, Church intervention has failed to buttress the Christian Democrats; and the Church itself is confronted with a flouting of its authority. The pattern of Sicilian politics is bound to have important repercussions in the rest of Italy.