LIFE IN ITALY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 24 August 1944, Page 7

LIFE IN ITALY

WHAT THE ALLIES ARE DOING PATIENCE AND TOLERANCE DEMANDED COMMUNISTS MOST DYNAMIC PARTY (By James Lansdale Hodson. wellknown British Novelist and War Correspondent who is at present in Rome.) The liberation of Florence and the gratitude of the Florentines on • our swift bringing of 450 tons of food hard on the heels of the Germans who have looted private houses and despoiled noble bridges and art treasures which the entire world regarded as its own. gives rise to the reflection that a month hence maybe the Florentines will be less grateful than now. For that is human nature. Thus it has been here in Rome. So it will do no harm if wo put on record a few of the good things the Allies have done in Italy and some of the excellent work the Italians have done and are trying to do. First the refugees. Our army in Italy has had an excellent organisation for dealing with refugees, an organisation copied. I believe, by our armies 'now in France. The British Colonel-in-Charge said to me: “My definition of a refugee is one who cannot be assisted to stay put.” This officer realises that nobody needs more assistance from an advancing army than the farmer working his land and tending his cattle. We have had nurses, etc., where there is needful helping of such Italians. Where citizens must be moved so as not to impede the army, we have organised special camps with hospitals, etc., both in the forward areas and farther back. Through those camps, prior to the fair of Florence, at least 100,000 refugees had passed. One woman we successfully moved was about 101. Babies have been born en route. In those 100.000 only about 15 deaths occurred. One problem has been that the Italians thus encamped have tended to grow semipermanent residents. But again, human nature being what it is? this does not prevent the Romans now demanding all the refugees to go home or in the south some folk storming the trains to do so prematurely without time for adequate plans to be made. JUSTICE AND EDUCATION I have spent some little time in the past week investigating such problems as justice and education, and have had talks with the highest authorities on these subjects. 1 asked if Italy is now to have habeas corpus to preclude men from being kept in prison without trial. The answer was that she is, although the maximum time permissible pending trial will vary according to the gravity of the offence charged. The death penalty for civil offence has been now abolished. Moreover, no father can now be deprived of authority over his family merely because he was opposed to the regime as he was in fact under Fascism. Under Fascism also, the situation was that if a. Fascist minister or qfficial had been alleged to have been libelled or slandered, the citizen charged with the offence was not allowed to justify himself in court so that the Fascist automatically won his action. This exists no longer. A number of judges or magistrates expelled by the Fascists for racial or political reasons have been reinstated—probably about 30 in all. most of whom suffered for racial causes. These I have mentioned are only the first steps in the revision of the legal code which anyhow cannot be fully completed until all Italy is liberated but they are evidence of energy and democratic ideas. Allied experts believe that Italy’s lawyers were impregnated by Fascism less than some other groups. Turning now to education, the Allies have been fully employed so far in getting the schools back to work. Some arc held in canvas tents or derelict tramcars, and cobblers thread has been used on occasion to bind the revised text books. LONG-TERM PLANNING More thought is now being given to long term planning. The present Italian Minister of Education once wrote a History of European Liberalism and was given an honorary Doctorate of Oxford University just before the war. He hopes for a later school-leaving age and for more nursery schools. but these for the moment remain aspirations. He hopes also that the youth of Italy will be taught what evils too rabid nationalism can bring to a Ncountry. Youth must be given hope. He says that young Italians have been against Fascism of late years but a good deal of cynicism had grown up. I believe

| a close study of Italian history from the ! risorgimento to 1918 must be made, for ! during that period Italy’s leaders were j Internationalists and cultural development was marked also. Much re-writ-ing of history books will have to be done. Some purging of Fascist sentiments has already been accomplished. He hopes next year to have good new books. My own comment is that it must be constantly remembered that on this, as on many other subjects, this existing government may not long survive the liberation of all Italy, and new Ministers may have different ideas. They may indeed have ideas more attuned to totalitarianism than liberalism for probably the most dynamic party in Jtaly to-day are the Communists. POSITION OF TRADE UNIONS This is peculiarly true when we con sider that the trade unions of the industrial north have yet to be liberated. I Milan and Turin —these are powerful I places. It is true’*that some unions are I already re-established in mid and [ southern Italy. I am assured by their | leaders in Rome that 50.000 membership [ cards have already been distributed in Rome alone and that, in their view, the | response of the Italian workers in the parts already freed is better than they expected and they hope for in all four to five million trade unionists in Italy. To-day's Socialist paper “Avanti” appeals to the British Labour movement to call an international conference. No doubt I think Italy’s trade unionists are looking abroad for advice and help What is true is that we have given them freedom to organise the Unions and propaganda as they wish. This in itself is a great step forward for them. Our own Labour experts hare find such things as wage statistics difficult to obtain. The Fascists had refused to admit that the cost of living had risen and had refused wage increases as such, but gave extra sums for such quaint reasons as walking long distances to work or even for swatting flies. Meanwhile, although there is freedom to form unions we have made it clear that strikes interfering with the war effort would not be tolerated. None so far have been attempted. FOOD PROBLEM J will end with a word about food. 1 believe it is true to say that we thought Italy would be able to feed more of her people than has proved to be a fact. There are some facts which in the transition stage work to our disadvantage. For instance, the farmers under the Germans sold their cattle for killing knowing that the Germans would steal them; thus Rome probably had more meat than now. No farmer kills his cattle now because he knows they are safe. The Germans left many fields of crops mined so that they cannot be gathered. The Germans encouraged and dabbled themselves in the black market which brought food into the cities at fantastic prices but still it came in. j We attempt to destroy the black market which keeps the food out. In the long run this may be fine but, in the meantime, it leaves some bellies at all events empty that the black market would fill. %Under the Germans partisans learned to print false ration cards. That Weft well enough but to-day in Rome there are large numbers of false ration cards still being used which is much less excellent? We fix reasonable prices for field produce and some farmers thin* it too low so they withhold stocks or sell to such black markets as still exist. The lack of transport leaves wine and fruit in southern Italy which mid and northern Italy sorely need. PLENTY OF CRITICISM The Allies are criticised for all these Things and we have rightly created a free press which attacks us vigorously so our short-comings arc spread abroad. Time will perhaps bring its remedies but. meanwhile, we are probably attacked more than it just and praised rather less than we deserve, and we had better keep a sense of proportion and not hesitate lo publicise our good works. For example the Germans flooded the Pontine Marshes thus increasing the malarlcil period and we are using aircraft to spray the mosquito breeding grounds and also employing 5000 civilians in a malaria control programme and we have distributed already more than 6.000.000 Atebrin tablets for civilian use to ward off malaria. Yet human nature being what it is. if the Italians die of malaria it won’t be surprising if we are blamed more than the departing Germans. To do our utmost in Europe demands gifts of patience, tolerance and Christlike all-embracing compassion; this in addition to horse sense and abounding energy and hands as full of good things as those of the Magi.