contemporary ITALY

Korero (AEWS), Volume 3, Issue 3, 12 March 1945, Page 25

contemporary ITALY

By

in the New Statesman and Nation, September 30, 1944

Before crossing into liberated Southern Italy in June of 1944, I had repeatedly assured my Italian friends that I was bound for a land flowing with beer and cigarettes, cheap food, and plenty of it. These assurances made them curse the Germans with renewed vigour, while they cast skyward glances as if in search of the Allied armies. In spite of the effect of German propaganda, which especially amongst the younger people had managed to leave the impression that Italy was being liberated by hordes of Moroccans and American Negroes, there was a steadfast belief amongst Italians that General Alexander as a wholesale cigarette and chocolate merchant. During our advance into Sicily the mayor of a small town had greeted the crew of a Jeep, demanding to know how far behind them were the chocolate and grain lorries. The crew disclaimed any knowledge of these, whereupon the mayor produced a propaganda leaflet promising food to the liberated people, and his meridional blood boiled at the thought that he might have been duped. This is an extreme example of a general attitude. The mass of Italians now feel themselves to be very little concerned in the war, and since Britain and the United States have occupied their country they expect the two richest nations on earth to provide them with a pre-war standard of living. I have eaten excellent meals throughout Southern Italy, but 'my hosts invariably apologised for the quality and quantity ■of their food. Enormous dishes of very fine spaghetti were always cried on to the table with Non si tvova pin. niente. Dishes of peaches, plums, oranges, grapes slid down throats which uttered continu-

ously Povera Italia, quanto siamo ridotti. The Italians cannot or will not realize that the Allies are concerned in an unpleasant task which directs their energies into channels other than feasting. Despite the natural poverty of Southern Italy as compared with the North, the population there is incomparably better off than its brothers under the Nazis. The farmers have not been forced to sell their grain, eggs, and live-stock at very low prices. Cigarettes and other minor luxuries are easily obtainable, even though these may be American and English brands sold on the black market, and there is a sufficiency of bread and flour, 1 the basic ration recently being almost doubled. There are, however, friction and unpleasantness, such as attend any military occupation. The most obvious, although not the most important, concerns women. The Germans, with their organization of brothels, have managed to gain a reputation for “ correct ” behaviour in some parts of Europe. The Allies, relying upon the morals of the individual soldier, have managed to cause a few unpleasant incidents and an impression which' is not generally favourable. It would be wrong and unfair to insinuate that all Allied soldiers are engaged in a constant debauch, but the Italians talk as much as they breathe, and stories run around the beaches and bars which certainly tend to give that impression. In some cities, girls have had their hair snipped while walking in company with coloured and white troops. This type of incident is usually committed by Italian troops, still in uniform and armed with knives and bayonets, in sufficient strength to safeguard them against immediate

reprisals. These youths present a difficult problem. More strongly than other Italians they defend the prevalent notion that the Italian soldier is the most courageous and the most effective .'‘ infantryman which any army has produced. There are many stories which bear this out. The most stupefying concerns an Italian officer whose brigade had laid down its arms en masse in Africa, after a rattle of Bren-gun fire from one of our platoons. Having resided at Oxford for some years and being able to speak flawless English, he was invited to dine in a mess some fifty minutes after his capture. Here he discoursed on the war in this wise. “ You English undoubtedly have the best artillery ; the Germans are superior to everybody in their tank arm, while we, of course, have infantry second to none.” The experiences of the past hour had apparently been forgotten ! Taking into account this extraordinary view of the war, it is quite comprehensible why the Italians tolerate Allied troops rather than welcome their presence. They feel that these are on Italian soil under false pretences, and this applies especially to the French. “We conquered them, you know, in 1940.” There is little hostility to Allied Forces ; what there is, vents itself upon those women who, for one reason or another, keep company with the soldiers. In Naples there was a boom in the sale and diffusion of a little broadsheet, written by a street-singer. He parodied a well-known song and sang it in dialect to amused crowds. Cynical and slangy, its appeal to the Neapolitans was instant. The key is struck in the first three lines :—- Che mala fine fade tn che mala fine quando se nne vanno americane rimane cu na vranca e mosche mmane What trouble lies ahead of you, what trouble When all those fine Americans have gone And you alone remain to hold the baby. z There are many other similar ditties. One day the Italians will realize that they are singing these songs on the stage and selling them on the street without being carted to gaol ; when this realization comes they will apply themselves to work of a more constructive nature.

Indeed, the most effective contrast between a town in German-occupied Italy and one in the South is the amount and diversity of the newspapers and other literature. For many months I had read no 7 free ” newspaper at all, other than < Allied propaganda leaflets and an occasional issue of Avanti, organ of the Communist party on the Adriatic ; this was, incidentally, excellently printed and produced, a model effort giving much hard-headed advice. In Naples, however, one may count ten different dailies representing ten different factions on every paper-stall. In March I had a letter from friends in Rome describing how a host of different publishing ventures were in preparation against the day when Rome should be free. Books and pamphlets were being written, edited, and set aside with the printers’ contracts tagged to them, ready for a press action on the grand scale. In Naples all bookshops were displaying pamphlets and slim volumes, touching the present and the recent past. The reappearance of a free press and the very full advantage which the Italians are taking of it are the most encouraging aspects of Italy to-day. Although the dailies tend to sycophancy in their references to the Allies, there is the utmost virility in their general tone. The strangest feature of the entire press is the manner in which the war is to all intents ignored. Factionalism, which is not apparent amongst the people, looms monstrously in the political press, and is concerned almost exclusively with the reconstruction of Italy. The political situation in Italy is different from that in other countries, where . the existence of a faction presupposes some kind of popular support. One obtains the impression, especially in the country, that the politics of a nation are being carried on by a group of professionals who are constantly manoeuvring and counter-manoeuvring for some indefinite purpose of their own. How far the Socialists, Liberals, ■ Monarchists, and weird partisans of the pre- 1920 political chaos have the support of those whom they claim to represent is still a matter to be decided. At this moment the task of Italian politicians is to educate their people to

an acceptance of reality and show them the road out of the misery which their own passivity brought upon them. The only clear statement of present fact and future policy which I have seen is contained in a pamphlet issued by the Communist party in Naples. It was printed in 1943, and in the first paragraphs pointedly reveals the international position of the Italian people, pointing out how they suffered fascism for twenty years and abetted Mussolini in this and previous years. Its platform consists of three planks. First, national unity on the broadest lines, with the Italian working class as the basis of this unity ; secondly, a greater and more energetic prosecution of the war against the Nazis on their soil; and thirdly, the most efficient mobilization of all industrial resources left to them. Two months ago Palmiro Togliatti (Ercoli) spoke at Rome and repeated this programme, laying special emphasis on the need for national unity and appealing point blank to' the Allies to arm and equip a large Italian Army of Liberation. He rightly considers that the existence of a considerable armed Force composed entirely of Italian units, pursuing a successful war against the German invader and his Fascist satellites, would give a feeling of unity and purpose to the Italian people which is now totally absent, and it would largely remove the clogging apathy from their national affairs. If the Communist party has not got the largest support of the Italian parties, it has certainly enrolled the most- vociferous and propaganda-conscious elements.

Walls in working-class districts are smothered with red paint; symbols and slogans hit the eye at every corner urging death for the King and Badoglio, long life for Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin. Working parties of Italians roar through the villages in American lorries, continuously singing the Bandiera Rossa. Other parties remain silent and leave the paint in the shops ; their future supporters lie on the beach and tell you, “ Yes, there are many Communists, but there are even more who are against Communism. Why don’t they show it ? Well, they are not very interested in politics. I, for instance, prefer to lie here on the beach and get brown rather than paint walls and attend meetings. When the Allies leave Italy we shall settle our affairs ; until then we are helpless. No, Ido not know who Bonomi is. Croce is certainly a great man, but I have read none of his works ; I am reading architecture, you know, at the university, and he is hardly in my line. Incidentally, when you go back to camp, could you possibly get me a bar of soap ? Going already ? Popolo di cinque paste we call you English, ' five-mealers ’ ; you eat so much. When will we see all these supplies you talk about ? ” As I go I notice two new posters on the beach wall. One is the work of the apolitical students from the university and calls for a return to Catholic duty and study. The other demands to know who overthrew Mussolini and who was the natural leader of the Italian people. The answer : il Re, solo il Re.