REBIRTH OF ITALY

Evening Star, Issue 25566, 20 August 1945, Page 7

REBIRTH OF ITALY

COUNTRY GROPING FOR DEMOCRACY LEADERS FROM THE NORTH (From Rome correspondent, published in London ‘Times’) When the Italian political parties spend long weeks in tedious argument in an effort to produce a Government, it behoves the British critic to be indulgent. There, is more behind this waste of time thaii mere pettiness of spirit. Italy is at a crisis in her history. Revolted by the results of Fascist rule the Italian people is clamouring for democracy, with little idea of how* to achieve it. The other day an Italian quoted to me the words of Proudhon, the French political economist, spoken in' the middle of last century: “Until the Italians have had their revolution they will be at the mercy of the foreigner, the priest, and the pretorian.” The pretorians have been disposed of for the moment, but they may rise again. The influence of the priest extends further into politics here than in almost any other European country. The foreigner is much in evidence. A PRECARIOUS GRASP. The Italian people’s first gropings after democracy did not get it far. Constitutional government was no great success in the. 50 years which followed the union of Italy. In 1920 its breakdown opened the way to Fascism. Now, after being deprived of the opportunity, of free speech for 20 years, it is as hard for the Italians to establish a democratic regime as it is 'for a man who has been bed-ridden from childhood to -walk. Most of the men who stand for democracy in Italy to-day have suffered for _it and are profoundly attached to it. Signor Nenni fought for it .in Spain. Signor Seoccimarro spent 17 years in prison for professing it. Others have been hunted by the police and have risked death for - it. Yet, paradoxically, their knowledge of its true meaning remains fragmentary and theoretical. They understand little more about it than the Athenians did of the Unknown God whom they worshipped on Mars Hill. They know that their grasp of it is precarious, and that one false step may lose it for them again. That is the meaning of these protracted negotiations.

Fascism stamped its mould on the Italian people, but it never’ struck deep. Mussolini had succeeded in enrolling roughly 10 per cent, of all ages and sexes into the party, but the mass of the people, especially in the country districts, remained indifferent and slightly sceptical, if not passively hostile. It is this diffident, largely uneducated mass which, the anti-Fascist parties now aim to rear in democracy in much the same way as a young pupil teacher tries to' instruct a class without having a clear grasp. of the subject himself. Each party is trying to establish itself as the .best guide to the desired bourn. THE BIG BATTALIONS. Three parties claim with some justification to represent the masses. They are the Socialists, the Communists, and the Christian Democrats. Each-has a history and traditions behind it. The Socialists- are the party from which Raseism . 'emerged. Their leader; Pietro ;Nenni, was a comrade and colleague - of Mussolini in pre-Fascist days; Communism as a creed is comparatively new to Italy, but it derives immense * reflected prestige from the exploits of the Red army. The Christian Democrats have inherited the mantle of the. old Popolari, l and with it the whole-hearted support of the Church. Their principal strength‘lies in the rural areas, but they have a strong backing both among the middleclass and the industrial workers. The other three parties of the coalition have mainly a “ black coat ” following. The'Liberals stand for progressive conservatism, and' find their strongest support among the bettersituated middle class. The Action Party’s programme places it alongside the "Socialists and Communists, but it is essentially a party of. intellectuals. The Labour Democrats are mild for a united effort.

Socialists, who would never have been in the Rome Committee of Liberation had they not been 1 the party of Signor Bonomi. Such following as they have is in Sicily and the south. The first three are generally admitted to have’the big battalions. Yet until national elections have been held no true notion can be obtained of their relative strength.- There are, moreover, parties outside the C.N.L., which are not to be despised. The Republican Party is no candidate for government at present, because it declines to have any truck whatsoever with the monarchy. The Italian Democratic Party supports the monarchy without admitting it, chiefly by poking fun at the C.N.L. Either of these might poll fairly heavily. The voting which has taken place in the factories since the liberation of, North Italy for the election of factory committees affords a partial indication of the preferences of the working class, but the picture it gives is occasionally surprising. For example, elections which were held in a group of the'Monte* catini works in Milan province for

the appointment of a “ cleansing committee ” gave the following results Among 5,092 employees who voted, the Communists obtained 1,101 votes, the Socialists 976, the Christian Democrats 1,046, the Liberals 912, the Action Party 740, and the Republican Party 318. Although this distribution is not typical, it nevertheless shows that the claim of the Communists and Socialists to monopolise the working-class vote is not well founded.

Uncertainty keeps the parties intensely nervous; how nervous may be judged from the indignation with which a proposal made last year by the Christion Democrats to settle the question of Monarchy versus Republic by a plebiscite was rejected by all the others. Hence the vigorous thumping of rival tubs and constant bickering between professed allies. There .is a latent hostility between the . Christian Democrats and the Communists which comes to the surface repeatedly. The Communists —and not they alone —are deeply distrustful of clerical influence in politics. For them the shadow of the Vatican spells reaction. The force of anti-clerical sentiment was felt distinctly during the recent crisis, when the Christian Democrats laid claim to the Ministry of Public Instruction. Such a storm arose as nearly wrecked Signor Parri’s efforts at conciliation. The Christian Democrats and the Liberals are equally suspicious of the hand of Moscow. Signor Togliatti’s conciliatory speeches have striven to dispel this distrust, but the Christian Democrats cite case after case of priests being beaten up or howled down by Communist rowdies, and they openly preach that a Communist Government means Fascism under another name, with Stalin instead of Mussolini. PAINT-BRUSH POLITICS.

The tactics adopted by the Communists and Socialists often support the idea that there is little to choose between them and the Fascists. It does not seem to occur to them that to send a man round with a paint pot to daub hammers and sickles and “ Nenni e Togliatti al governo ” on doorposts is following directly in the "steps of the Fascists, and does little to prove their case. Now the right is retaliating with “ A morte la dittatura comunista,” and a bloodless battle is fought out nightly with paint brushes on the walls of Rome. During the Fascist regime it was difficult for anyone who could not 6how the Fascist ticket to obtain employment in any big works. The same obstacle'is now being put in the way of men who do not belong to one of the “ mass parties.” All this is done in the name’ of democracy.. The remarkable thing is that with these strains within its ranks the C.N.L. still holds together. Even •when the-Socialists and the’ Action Party remained outride the last Bonomi Government there was never a real rift, in the anti-Fascist front. This is the most encouraging feature in the politics of the new Italy. At Milan, in the C.N.L. for Northern Italy, this split-of co-operation is seen at its best, for the Milan committee is a band of brothers who have plotted together and suffered persecution together -for years. They know what they- are searching for, even if they do not know how to find it. It- was a happy outcome of this last crisis which led the parties, . after fighting hard for first place, to fall back, on Ferruccio Parri as a man above party. The new. Prime Minister more than any other . incarnates the conception of team, whrk and; mutual tolerance which has -■ been the ; strength of. the resistance movement in the north. Noiv that ,he presides, over the Government there is some hope that... these ideals, which became traditional in Lombardy and Piedmont during the struggle against the Nazis and Blackshirts, will become acclimatised in Rome.

The six-party coalition has been given a fresh lease of life, and many weeks of argument are not too high a price to pay for that. The value of the Parri Government is that it promises reasonable stability durng a period in which the strains between right and left are likely to become intense. The preparation of the elections for the Constituent Assembly contains elements of controversy, but polling is not .likely before next year. Meanwhile another winter as grim as the last can be foreseen.