Italy: the Communist advance continues

Alexander Chancellor

Rome On polling day I had lunch in Tuscany with a man who had two party membership cards: one Communist, the other Christian Democrat. My friend, who is basically a peasant but has a job as a chauffeur for officials of the local Communist government, could see nothing at all unusual in

this. Like most other people, in his area, he

was voting Communist. Like all Italians he professed utter contempt for the Christian Democrats who have ruled Italy so badly for the last thirty years. But he still felt, even in a strongly Communist part of Italy, that a Christian Democrat card was a useful thing to have. If you run into trouble with the bureaucracy, he told me, there are still certain services which the local Catholic association is better at providing than the Communist party or trade union. It is not by efficient administration or by enacting popular measures that the Christian Democrats have maintained their hold in Italy, but through the exercise of patronage, the distribution of favours. Ordinary Italians, whom history has taught to be cynical, don't like to be cut off from the sources of such patronage, and the Communists, who try harder, are even more useful friends to have in the places where they hold sway.

It is probably untrue, but I was told that a Communist Party card of, say, 1960, which would indicate a long record of loyalty to the party, costs about 100 if you want to obtain one today. The story in itself indicates the growth of Communist influence. There is a general feeling that they are on their way up and in, and this impression was not dispelled by the general election, which gave them an additional forty-eight seats in the lower house of parliament.

It has been widely said for a long time that the Italian Communists are very different from other Communists, and to an extent this is true. They wish to remain in NATO and to participate in the unification of western Europe as members of the Common Market. Signor Berlinguer, the party leader, even made the surprising remark in a newspaper interview last week that one reason why he didn't want Italy to leave the Atlantic alliance was that 'I feel safer over here'. The Italian Communists, indeed, present themselves as champions of freedom and democracy, pointing to the Fascist backgrounds of some Christian Democrats. Signor Berlinguer declared with passion at his last election rally that, although his party had made mistakes, there was one area in which it had never put a foot wrong, and that was in the defence of liberty. The Communists can fairly claim to have con tributed to the growth of democracy in those regions where they are in charge. They have developed systems for consulting a wide range of ordinary citizens before taking local government decisions, and the Italians seem to enjoy this unfamiliar experience. But despite their assiduous efforts to appear tolerant and democratic, even their recent behaviour has given rise to doubts. It was unfortunate, for example, that Signor Berlinguer's remark about feeling 'safer' in NATO should have been removed in a version of this interview published in the party newspaper, Unita, apparently because the grass roots might not 'understand'. And why is it that whenever the leadership makes a dramatic reversal of policy, such as its decision to seek membership of a broad coalition government with its traditional enemies, the Christian Democrats, there is never a single word of dissent to be heard? Revealing, also, is the party's harsh treatment of those who disagree with

i on the left, which contrasts with its deference towards its opponents on the right. There was a sad little incident during the election campaign when Marco Panetta, leader of the non-violent Radical Party, which campaigns for civil liberties, turned up at the Communist Party headquarters with a bunch of daisies and anemones in order to settle a quarrel, only to receive a punch in the face from a party thug at the door. However far they may have moved away from their Stalinist background, the Italian Communists seem to retain some of the nastier characteristics which are associated with communism everywhere.

The Communists, however, are at least comprehensible, a political party with a cause. The Christian Democrats, on the other hand, are a mysterious and purely Italian phenomenon. They are not so much a party as a way of life, a social system rooted in the Italian Catholic tradition. In his last election appeal, the Christian Democrat party leader, Benigno Zaccagnini, de

clared: 'Our identity is that of a party which is modern, democratic, popular, antifascist, pluralist, authentically secular, but faithful to its Christian inspiration' (which is not really a very easy identity to grasp). In another attempt to define what the partY stands for, Signor Zaccagnini wrote: 'The design remains that of a pluralist democracy, articulated in concentric circles, of which the family is the pivot, and which spreads out into larger and larger communities up to the international level.' Such statements are alone enough to indicate that the Christian Democrat Party is a different kettle of fish from the other conservative parties of Western Europe. It is too unwieldy and internally divided to provide Italy with an effective government, but seems for ever doomed by the size of its vote to occupy this role. One of the mysteries of Italy is why so many people vote Christian Democrat when it is almost impossible to find anybody who has a good word to saY for them. There is no doubt that, as a party, they are ineffective and corrupt. But despite the explosion of the Lockheed briberY scandal during the election campaign, nearly 39 per cent of the electorate took the advice of the right-wing newspaper editor, Indro Montanelli, and decided to 'hold their noses and vote Christian Democrat'. A major reason, of course, was a desire to keep the Communists out of the government, an objective which has been temporarily achieved. But it seems that manY Italians must feel some deep-rooted identification which continues to bind them l° the Christian Democrat Party, however much they despise it. Just as they like to get married in church, they feel more comfortable if they have voted Christian Democrat. For many, too, the fervent comradeship of communism is unattractive. They prefer the easy-going men of the Christian DeMOCrat Party, who didn't spend years of exile to Moscow during the Fascist era but stayed at home and compromised with the regiole like everybody else. But it does seer' despite the party's startling success in this election, that the Christian Democrats nlaY now be enjoying their last chance to reform themselves. With inflation running at 25 per cent, the lira down 24 per cent since the beginning of the year, and a vast budget deficit exacerbated by an estimated £4,0 million a year of unpaid taxes, Italy reallY does need an effective government. Following their humiliation in the divorce refer endum and in last year's regional elections, the Christian Democrats have been given a reprieve. Unless they now display an abilitY to act, they will probably not be forgiven.

The dreadful irony of this election result is that it has made the Christian Democrats' task much more difficult than it has ever been before. They have been restored, undeservedly, to the position of strength they had after the 1972 election, but only at the expense of smaller parties which might have helped them to form a majority government. That they were quick to realise this was shown by their lack of jubilation at their success on election night. Although the Communists were a bit disappointed that the Christian Democrats had not declined, they were sufficiently elated by their own achievement for thousands of young supporters to spend most of the night in fraternal jollifications outside the party headquarters. At the same time, the Christian Democrat headquarters were deserted.

Numerically, a centre coalition governMent is now impossible. The only feasible majority could be obtained by an alliance between the Christian Democrats and the Socialists, a return to the old and discredited 'centre-left' arrangement. But the Socialists fought the election on demands for the Communists to be brought into government, while the Christian Democrats campaigned from precisely the opposite Position. It is hard to see how either party can compromise. The Italian press has therefore declared the country 'ungovernable'. So it is, but nevertheless some government will have to be formed. Perhaps the best thing under the circumstances would be for the Christian Democrats to forgo wearisome and probably fruitless negotiations with the Socialists on constructing a Coalition, but form a minority government by themselves with a tough crisis Programme of economic and social measures. If the Socialists then decided to bring the 8overnment down yet again (as they did last time), they could hardly expect the approval of an electorate which is now Yearning for effective leadership. There was certainly relief among Italy's allies that the election produced neither of the two most dreaded results: a majority for the combined Socialist and Communist Parties or the emergence of communism as Italy's biggest single political force. Although Dr Kissinger has softened his position on the Italian Communists in recent Weeks, there is no doubt that the Americans were extremely worried about what would haPpen if the Communists emerged from the election as a party of government. Although they say they want to remain in NATO so as not to upset the process of de tente, the Communists cannot disguise their basic dislike of the United States. They have said they would like to reduce

American 'hegemony' and give Italy greater control over America's military bases,

Which have considerable strategic importance in the Mediterranean where the Sixth

,

leet is vying with the Soviet Navy. However much Signor Berlinguer claims that his Party would seek good relations with the .'nited States (and, in particular, that it ould be able to work satisfactorily with JW

are convinced that their relationship with Italy would undergo a profound change if the COmmunists came to power. Signor Berlinguer also maintained in a public speech that the British government was not ill-disposed towards his party, but that is the opposite of the impression that the Foreign Office seeks to convey.

Relief there may be in Britain and America, but it could be short-lived, for the election result was a major Communist achievement. The Communist vote increased by 7.3 per cent compared with 1972, whereas the Christian Democrat vote didn't increase at all. They simply made up ground lost in the 1975 regional elections. The Communists have kept up their momentum. Having gained in every election since the war, they look like a party moving slowly but inexorably towards power. One can only be deeply pessimistic about the prospects of stopping them now. Already the country seems to be preparing itself for what it regards as inevitable. The Italian

civil service, which has always been highly politicised, seems to be moving increasingly to the left. A friend in Alitalia, the national airline, tells me that it is now difficult at meetings to put forward simple propositions —such as the suggestion that people who get paid salaries ought to go to work— without being formally accused of rightwing tendencies. And in the areas where they do already have power in local government, the Communists seem to take charge very quickly of all aspects of local life— from the establishment of village social clubs to organising Sunday bicycle races. Just as the Mafia survives in Sicily by providing more efficient protection than the police, so the Communists, where they have the chance, seem to be better at looking after people than the Christian Democrats. Given the Italian character, with its resignation and readiness to compromise,the prospects are not encouraging. Maybe my friend in Tuscany will soon be able to tear up his Christian Democrat party card.