The Diplomatic Crisis -Toward a Democratic Italy
KEENE, FRANCES
The Diplomatic Crisis —Toward a Democratic Italy Suggestions for a Liberal Political Policy Based on European Realities By FRANCES KEENE -^behavior of the last few week* will lead to- w*>hiae*to...
...Thereupon they will fenagle some kind of a peace mtiLm Russia, which by this time is of course most heartily ajff and tired of fighting a* war in which it has had to do practically all of the dirty work...
...Otto1 is the Incarnation of all that is princely and noble and bright and progressive...
...The inevitability of --- ¦ -w-1— recognition of tiie Committee, though admitted from the first, did not guide us in our gestures...
...a conflict between nations is won by that party which has the best psychological insight into the nature of its enemy- Today the party with the best psychological understanding of the situation happens to live in the Kremlin in Moscow and to his friends he is known as Uncle Joe-Joe...
...We will then be confronted ^"••interesting spectacle of a Soviet-protected govern^7-*Acting the political,destinies of the primary Catholic °* Europe...
...Ota our repudiation of Badoglio, after his rejection of ^"Jertng," the threats were resumed against the Italian "You haven't come through as we planned, so now 'gSfgat tough...
...AsM that at a time when said "world criminal" was nowhere umw their frontier and when the record of Switzerland as s dhv penser of the Right of Asylum is so unimpeachable that it never before has* been questioned by any other Batten., ad • e • The FeaoeJs o,d f*e ffrtrrd, feet* nTHERS the matter stands today and what I fM...
...Got rid of your absurd Adolf Hitler and I will talk peace with you...
...Discussion ^ OTHER contribution to The New Leades dlscnsB_fSj...
...H| ' * * • PJJ* ¦ nothing more important to clarify in the world ^•H^these days than the fact that our ally Russia is ZTv* *** political turn and that, in- many ways, we h«v« ^Tjf^*o doubt the truth of this need only recall our <jj!hL ~ Russia in recognizing the French Xkifnmittee i^^w Liberation...
...It is 4m a pleasant prospect but it will be the direct and inevtajUt result of fighting a wsr with words (snd not even very esvMk ones nor very well arranged) rather than fighting s way with both our eyes firmly fixed upon the actualities of a struggle which is rapidly reaching a point where the, «k hausted and tortured people of Europe will accept any kmm of compromise rsther than suffer another three years of death and degradation...
...if proof were needed, that Siciliy is already alive with, political unrest, I quote from Homer Bigart, Herald Tribune's correspondent in Palermo...
...Why .must he pick on me...
...With Badoglio, STdone it again...
...The means of access are in our hands, and they have been put at the disposal of such Fascists as Milan Hodza...
...On the contrary, it baa intervened constantly in its agreement with the Fascist State, in its repudiation of the Spanish Loyalists, in its diplomatic flirtation with Hitter Germany when PaceUi was'Papal Secretary of State...
...1 2—Our government should facilitate who return of the political exiles to the area of operation...
...Their spokesmen have an alternative to oppose to the Papal "solution...
...Meanwhile, we have lost the 2iroonJ of the political battle for Europe...
...The branding of legitimate concern as "European propaganda,'* or of political alignment on the Italian issue as "factional dispute," seems, to say the least, hostile on the part of our State Department...
...Van Loon's Diary - War, Politics and The Ugly Shape of Things to Come By HENDRIK WILLIM VAH LOON rFHK other day I seem to have toid somebody that I expec ted peace to break out this faU...
...and I would net at all case to Jive under the Commoaist dispensation...
...They know what kind of a war this is...
...They are pro3Tpurely and simply by the failure of a scheme, the See of a plan...
...when not a magazine will take anything you write with your absurdly pessimistic views...
...I do not base my contentions upon either the Four Freedoms or the Atlantic Charter, for I don't think that they have anything at all to do with the outcome of this war nor eves with its conduct...
...The Diplomatic Crisis —Toward a Democratic Italy Suggestions for a Liberal Political Policy Based on European Realities By FRANCES KEENE -^behavior of the last few week* will lead to- w*>hiae*to Itd»_M* *» *___,...x„ -> ITtf new vision does not come to check the current tm^inf...
...t ^% In pmf...
...imported revolution at thatItaly is getting away from us after we bridgehJSSa^Sf^'whS^ m t,„™ n ,„ „„ _ „_ , ^rationalizations to thank...
...from abroad that we try dealing with, the recognized democratic elements...
...A thousand dollars indeed...
...A writer who has been as hopelessly out of step for as many years as I, fondly remembers the Jays when he could have said, "Jimrr.ie...
...strikes me as the individual who best of all understands the lay of the European land...
...3—Our government should pelmet the resumption of open political activity in the occupied territories...
...Four weeks age we roe Id hsve taken Italy otrt of the Axis set-up without any trouble, if we had not been hampered by the dead-tetter of that Mgh resolve- ijfS "everything or nothing...
...For Russia is strong on guarantees iZL'ia,81* *PParently Planless...
...This is primarily a problem of procedure...
...They have not had any turkey for almost a dozen years...
...One Hell of a war aad boy, you said it...
...No, not me...
...every reader knows as well as I do...
...Already there are stirrings under4—Out government should facilitate the return of the political exiles to areas where they may be put in toast with the leaders of the emergent parties within Italy...
...and the German people should have shown that they had hod enough of aspiring to the idiotic role of being the world's supermen...
...Mew, I do not have any great personal affection for Uncle Joe-Joe (Martin Dies, please notice...
...I am sorry for the American schoolms'ams whs wees going to teach the Germans aad the other European nations history a TAmerteshM, fed them by the spoonful frees American text-boohs...
...Today I stand lereaied as the man who predicted peace for this fall...
...Papacy only because uiey feei there is no other read, let us examine the legitimacy .of this assumption...
...vvhat to Do With Italy" is offered this a^*V* fte article by Frances Keene...
...I reseat—we ceuM have eS^pm * Italy eat without the less sf saothor man, bat we were., prevented from doing this by having closed every door that might have led to a sssstbte arr—gemoat Ne nation, unless beaten so hopelessly that It can no tenger ' breathe, will accent eueh terms, aad so the wsr with Italy...
...No use offering me bets...
...And the larger program of which they form a part has the advantage of being, realistic in its appraisal of the Italian situation...
...The interested motivation for us here might well be that unless there is a choice of liberal elements, the people of Italy will be confronted with but one strongly organized alternative to the authoritarian regime of Badoglio...
...cated members by the hundred thousand for joining in the horrors of the Nazi's un-Christian program, or the Franco spoliation, or the crushing fear of the Fascist mobs, then all must turn to it today in gratitude for such fearless leadership...
...They exist aad...
...fte was it tried if not in the hone that, history notdSLaJjfcJ a Badoglio could hold the lid down...
...By figatisg desperately for a little while longer they may still hope to bring about some kind of stalemate, but a complete and absolute victory is out of the question...
...Terms that wfll imply a decent order sad a lasting peace ? But, assuming- that there are those among our pofleymakers who turn to the...
...That remark was repeated to an industrious newspaperman...
...the Sicilians cannot be expected to live far long in a political vacuum...
...When thft happens, there is only one thing we can do and what that one thing is...
...Only thus can the formation of even a temporary, proviT^pst,, government be truly representative, for the exiled leaders will be is direct contact with those elerTfr^" -ff-'^-r within their, country, and the local Wad - ers will be enabled to profit from the contact* sad the experiences of those who have been working for Italy's liber^oTfrom outside...
...Aad now thai Badoglio has "let us down-" in relation to Ital*, where will we tarn...
...chance to hearten the resistance movements of all Europe and to gain for ourselves mass support J^Feur logical allies was notably lessened by the policy **5LK»ncv which dictated the Darlan deal...
...But that is what I think will happen snd now you knew...
...On Asgast 9th...
...Repeatedly it has been urged both domestically and...
...In that capacity (as the best psychologist, he knows that there is no use making a threat unless you hsve the power to enforce it No use my saying to Joe Louis, "Hey, fellow, get off that sidewalk or I will push you off...
...TSe bieom in Uscie Joe-Joe's Eyes KIAPOLEON was only halfway right when he said that * wars are won by the party with the greatest number of battalions...
...and reaches oat with his land to help me get back to my feet Undo Joe-Joe of the Kremlin therefore refrained from tufki^g any threats of which he was not sure that he could put them into practice %hd he refrmfifed from shouting about -unconditional surrender" when he did not even know whether he would be able to bold his own...
...aad that alternative is inevitably Communism...
...Not the peer kids to the Army and Navy...
...It goes without saying that the State Department's policy of "non-recognition" of these movements is at strict variance with such proposals...
...And our own hero (whoever he was) was only hallway right when be said that battles were won by the party who was there firstest with the mostest men.' In the end...
...Even part of a drum-stick would be welcome...
...We need not be concerned here with the puppet King...
...There has been no Cardinal Mercier for this war, not bold worldchallenging moral leadership...
...ami * why I predict a speedy end to this war is this: ItBfS&'f clever recognition of the brutal facte which will decide thf* war will make the Germans get rid of Hitler...
...a world of nonsense than any other weekly.now being published, asd I will use The New Tirrrr" to offer a feeble defense for my "idiotic notion,'" as most correspondents describe my expectation of a short-lived war...
...are well-known...
...And in order to shew that he meant what he said, he formed a nice and fairly reasonable German government on Russian soil, to take over as soon as Hitler should have been assassinated (what is another little murder in Uncle Joe-Joe's life...
...1—fkur government should assure the Italian, people that , ^ Italy will not be dismembered, aad that we recognize that Sicily and Sardinia are as vital parts of Italian nationhood as is the peninsula itself...
...But its record has been on the ether side of the ledger...
...Twe—or was it three years ago?—a number decided to form a German government pro tern right bees of intelligent and highly patriotic Germans—fine feHows— in those United States...
...Miss Keene is the editor of iCrar "berty Nor Bread...
...And Italian Communist h?_Brcoli, Amendola, Sereni have been given aid ^Jy^fforts to liberate their homeland, while democrats ^••viusts...
...They also wanted to create a Qm% man battalion composed of Germans who knew the business of war and who had every reason to hate Hitler aad his foul brood...
...The Kremlin TextBook Company (Joe Stalin ft Co...
...Those who are honestly at a loss fee the alternative, should consider the following four points...
...he reported as follows: "Under Amgot's rule, there is a complete ban on political activity of any kind, bat...
...But this is the "realistic" point—the one sure method, to achieve the object of its inmost fears, a Communist-inspired revolution, is to blunder on the |mHtjeal expediency of dealing with democratic elements' By lack of political vision, by lack of an everyday faitb in true democracy, U. S. foreign policy will sow the seeds of fits own defeat...
...But I have get to confess that Tavarish Stalin (or is he Bareea again...
...But our public at large only sees the pictures of the lovely ladies who are hastening to our far-flung fronts to console the dear boys (and is that a way of consoling them...
...He flattered me...
...For wo are fighting this war oa sue day -dreams...
...And those who pretend to some knowledge JjLvts erucu of the Italian people during the past twenty t*n must have known that the scheme would fail...
...A second proof has thus been given **fos *** always ready to deal with any element we Zj win maintain a semblance of public order...
...We are playing haS^lSS^% ^ T ha™ ™ly our °T "T*^ gie had in 1918 is still alive, nunchee agaia, and the old racket of "they weren't so bad" ll^tod'S with SaitfWerng° f fuU ^ instead of threatening, wheedling, dealalio*™, eS2 HDrfei^.1^* Emperor) or Pope, Instead, we gave the Faacfat hier^Zjnarisn, as anti-populist as the Gaydas arid the jJJC^t (but of a smoother grain)—a chance to consolidate hffllith the Nazis who are well dug in now at the head *Sso Valley...
...By trying to save, we will have to spend VTkssvily in two months...
...I am afraid that they war never have their free trip to Faroes...
...Jones eC the State Department's Italian Desk) could take him too seriously...
...True, of _j.„ evolution sweeping the peninsula there are few Jjj^ jft have our schemers achieved even a' temporary The reports from Switzerland and from Italy itself indigZ woeful confusion, of mind among Italians who might J!]*^— expected to stand behind us...
...Theea nsmor* are, of court*, reported baseles, or to use Berle's words: "These are truthless trifles which circulate in was time ..i - borne on the 'currents of factional dispute or European propaganda...
...One kind gentleman from North Carolina promised to deposit a check for a thousand (11,000.06) dollars if I would do likewise...
...h*'P 'Huminate these vital proses mo of inter¦^ZSr-fi'elfc policy...
...They have been worked out by Italian liberal elements both in this country and in the theatre of war...
...Now, while most non-Catholics throughout rue world honestly respect the Mother Church's faith, they are put off by the political and governmental appeasements for property and power that have.marked its policy in recent years...
...But they »ill get it bseasse we oorselves willed it so...
...Herald Tribune...
...For our lea ami delisted to tstVtlk* long-suffering Axis people, 'Unconditional surrender or wo won't even talk to you...
...It has not abstained from political intervention...
...Though both governments may have iSJl *?* .8ame conclusions, though both took time to implications of commitments to the Committee, ?4 t2*2f^.m tne manner of recognition was so marked 13 JJjU"'"^ were still further alienated from us and "** closely drawn to Russia...
...No oae (not eve* Mr...
...But let us accept.this explanation, for the sake of argument, aad recognize the fact that it paves the way for a prosecution of our planless, schemeful political warfare...
...Our next attempt must be to reinforce the overtures we have already been making toward the Church...
...When not a radio, this side of a soapy Paradise, will let you proclaim predictions which the majority of its listeners will resent as a direct attack upon their happy heme in then- Never Never Ladd...
...North Africa was taken and liberated...
...Instead, it provoked such hostility and comment as would lead the French to conclude that it alone woo the came of our- tardfr caeketr "You'll get it anyway, so.you might as well got it now...
...Ho printed it Next a syndicate picked it up...
...That radio blast from Moscow, good reader, is something that will greatly interest the Germans who now realize that the game is up so far as world domination is concerned...
...It fellows k 8s»»?u8 a"alyses b> Gaetano Salvemini and George lat^yyftma- and offers a concrete program which has ,^Von»nIated by a great many liberals in the anti??"1 community...
...Sk ^ Cirnsiy ond Italy, aad Antrim MOW I will tell you something that is no secret, for I don't know any secrets...
...and they feel that all must be once more for the best in the best of all possible worlds, and they ate making clans for their own commercial campaigns which are to follow in the wake of the terrific blood-letting which awaits us...
...In future issues additional contriand from differing points of riew,"will be preHuZj...
...an anthology hiteery ad "¦worn...
...will get the contract...
...The State Department has excused its reluctance to facilitate such., returns on the basis that "The degree of support which free movement or leaden in exile may have in their own countries...
...For if wo consistently refuse to deal with democratic elements within Axis-occupied countries, than, we must look elsewhere for our contacts to effectuate the overthrow...
...Pressure has not been exerted with suffi2**t to overthrow the collaborationists...
...But the Germans who wanted to do UsWWteu (and they were a crew of hard-fisted and tough hpfrsl jBt* nowhere at all...
...can be only a matter of coaiectare until there are means of access to their own 000010...
...They have not swung ^*^ar «de...
...please draw a check for a thousand, dollars and send it to that bank in North Carolina with my compliments...
...Under those circumstances, why not declare Hitler insane or unsafe and get rid of him and talk turkey to the Kremlin...
...They were not wsorted and now Uaem J^BVJoe of the Kremlin has his German govonunsnt-in-exUo sad we have got nothing...
...Utile chance foe them to do any dreaming...
...Instead of a German battalion, we got .an Austrian battalion under the leadership of that britHaat prince, His Majesty the Emperor Otto of Austria . . . for you are not going to catch me calling any member ot i former ruling house a moron...
...However, there still is The New laansa, which these last three years has contained more senss...
...As such (as a highly enlightened member of the House of Habsburg and well known lover of freedom) the powers that were in Washington gave His Majesty Ins own Leib-Korj*, which died shortly afterwards of m«l ridicule...
...goes oa and that is antsy ia still an the side of the Germans...
...I only know what I read in the history books...
...For good measure we thereupon addressed a highly iaagfring note to the proud and quite war-like people of flnltsta' land, threatening them with God knows what ia -ease SMS should give hospitality to a fugitive "world criminal...
...Many persons have taken me seriously (for which I am grateful), but I have only a small snorting instinct...
...have been kicked from corridor to corridor and ™ repudiated by our strategic schemers...
...General Eisenhower's strictures against sash activity hate been discussed before'in these pages by George de> Santillaaa and by Salvemini...
...Bad the Church exeemmuai...
...This is too scriau* a business to be treated as if ft were a horse race or a presidential election...
...He told the German people, "I hare no quarrel with you as a people but I have s quarrel with you as a people which has let itself be led by a wrong leader...
...Can the Papacy, with Paced as Pope, make teems for the Italian people...
...Jf^e first round...
...Russia's consistent pi egging for the French roahmMsm at— mente and Stalin's obvious willingness to- accord the Committee diplomatic recognition far sooner than last week, justifies the following editorial conclusions: "French, opinion continues to regard the Soviet action as the most generous of any major Allied power, while the restrictions which hedged American recognition were seer as in sharp contrast to it...
...Why are they still denied those who have labored in the interests of the liberation of their country for the past twenty years...
...The threats are not dictated by any jiiSJHfr1* sequence of ideological strategy, nor is there in m*?ssf recognition of the fact that it is the people who am* for vision, for reassurance, for faith...
...The next moment I will find myself in th& gutter, while Joe Louis mumbles to himself, "Silly man...
...The interested motivation, here might well be the precedent established in the French situation: if we don't give such assurances, then Russia will...
...Their examination of the problem ;. comes to the same conclusions as are reached by leaders of other free national movements: namely, that poMtteal activity of a sort goes on anyhow andthatfromour point of view, it is more desirable for the military occupation to have some idea of those elements which are seeking to activate the people the* to be completely in the dark as to the issues at stake and the protagonists of the various groups operative within the area under its control...
...Tibor Eckhardt and the picturesque General Bergonzoli...
...They approached the State Department and wars not received...
...But Uncle JoeJoe did something much cleverer...
...No, I still dent wsnt to take any beta...
...Badoglio has grown taller by our timing, for he has at least J* censietent, and this takes some courage in a toppling If Russia Italian territorial integrity, Italian "nationhood,", ^TT"8 w« had counted on as our allies may become less then they are now...
...Next Russia she Germany (then under Russian tutelage) will become allies...
...August 30, 1*43.$ . - . ,: * In the Italian field, sufficient attention has already been focused on our foreign policy for Assistant Secretary of State A. A. Berle to be obliged to deny rumor* of deals with reactionary and conservative elements...
Vol. 26 • September 1943 • No. 36
