GOUZENKO' AND U. S. SECURITY
OVERSEAS DISPATCH By Sigfrido Ciccotti li Spctial Sew Leader Correspondent in Italy. Igg-\{>ME, January 1947 — The crisis which had long troubled the Italian Socialist Party has an ivcj *^(P...
...The en^^Btant of a thorough totalitarian "apparatus" ^¦M have taken long to reduce it to a mere in^^¦Mt of the Communist Party, without ideological Hl*l Its own, and with a value and political signif^Hb%atir superior to that of the "Youth Front" "League of Italian Women" and other camou^HtanutioM with Stalinist trends to which we ^HMMr* become aceustomed...
...And while this is happening above ground at the sessions ot the United Nations, underground the Russians and* (heir American Fifth-Column are frantically endeavoring to discover and send to Moscow whatever information they con wangle from government files and from persons in the-know...
...i Inside the Socialist Party, voices were raised denouncing the "inefficient organization," the lack of "firm policies," and the interminable internal arguments and frietion, as the cause for the electoral defeats...
...Rjlthe University City of Rome the philo-communistic ¦Ifer/Hy of the Party continued the work of a conifi'ess Jfjita hail already been rendered monotonous by the ¦Mtjeiited unanimity of opinions...
...We are certain, from the Canadian experience, that this is going on...
...At many points the tale has threads which run across our northern boundary line...
...and Pietro Nenni played his game ably and np to the test minute maintained a state of tension ia the Congress...
...After the first moment of shock, the funionists reacted violently with jeers snd Insults...
...At the sumo time, ¦M$a golden and grandiose baroque hull of the Hai¦¦sai Palace, the Italian Workers Socialist Party — fljjpttot of the International Worker- was benur con¦jMtd...
...In fact, there are no reasons to identify the "left" with the pro-Communists, nor to state thst the "right" is constituted by those who are for indepentent socialist politics...
...But the' old fighter remained adamant at the rostrum and concluded: "It is not a fault to change your mind, but it is certainly imprudent to leave the direction of the Psrty in the hands of a man who has changed feto often his political colors...
...Moreover, ^Hplcame {Missive spectators of the actions which ^HM*" fusionists adopted with renewed vigor for ^^¦tauatt of the Party, using a vast machinery of ^^Hjftada and penetration, backed by a large capital, ^^Bftgular emciency...
...There are hundreds of units of provinces where the votes which were totaled by the fusionist are equal to the total of the Party-members...
...We learn that employees from this or that department in Washington have been discharged...
...Against this charge it was objected, with good reason, that the "Uomo Qualunque Front" which had raised tha flag Of anti-Communism had made important gains in tha elections...
...Yet we, in general, do not know who is doing it, or how, or with the help of what government employees...
...We have the authority of Canadian investigators for the fact that the Communist espionage apparatus in the United States is far more elaborate than any that was set up among our northern neighbors...
...Welcomed with loud acclaim, the patriarch of Socialism, the most illustrious survivor of the group of Turati went to sit at the Director's table, to witness with his mute presence his adherence to the new Party...
...what would it stop at once it possessed the whole power of the direction of the Party...
...The efforts of the USA, Britain, and the smaller powers, to secure international control of the AtomBomb and other forms of armament are persistently sabotaged by the representatives of the USSR...
...And there is, too, fear that investigations carried on by such men will fail of their purpose...
...She blamed him for being unable to defend the Socialist Party against the Communists now with the same energy be had once shown in 1921-22...
...L^L^Er • « * ^^HWQ the months of October and November »f ^^Hlk>r In some thousands of Italian communities, ^^B*Uatlve elections wire held...
...Moreover, in the Party, and especially among the former followers of Turati and Matteotti, there was deeply entrenched the "esprit de corps" which is tha "patriotism of party," and which made it particularly difficult to think of any idea of division...
...But the division was an already existing factor...
...TheArtuation which caused the division bad its 01 ii>in l^Wt'i, when the Socialist leader Pietio N'enni aimed [ a fusion with the Communist Party...
...It is known that 20,000 membership-cards were given at the very last moment to the Federation of Milan...
...We have hers the irrefutable evidence that Canadian citizens, soma of them Communists and some not, betrayed their country in the interest of the Russian Government...
...The units tot up to clean our Communis ta, Fascists, and fellow-travelers, from kep positions mutt, flret of all, be w*lU*lorm$<L Tat frenetic purgers who are aeeklng meanly to capitalise on our national crisis will defend neither our liberties not our security...
...And then, speaking directly to Nenni, she recalled the attempt he organized against her life, when he was a member of the Republican Party...
...wfid so, with singing, embraces and tears of emotion •Which with Latin ease key noted the .salient phased Jj^ji Autj^KoiiK> ess - the old Italian socialist aiid inrltatioualist tradition was re-born...
...Nobody better than a cynical man can take advantage ef the feelings of other people...
...The same day, Angelica Balabanoff landed in Naples from the United States...
...The situation is, to put it mildly, disturbing...
...And we warn: high-handed and tgnvrti»t men who would difend the national iu/*ty by trampling traditional Amtrtcan §aftguard« an a menw, not milg to democratic rigkU, but alio to a gtnuint program Im (A* protection of 1st American ptnpl...
...An Editorial — 'Gouzenko' and U.S...
...The latest item comes from the Aberdeen, Md., Proving Grounds, Thu is the chief Army installation for the testing of weapon* and explosives...
...SlCK, unable to speak at a public meeting for the opening of the congress, Giuseppe Emanuele Modigliani, leaning heavily on his cane, asked to be driven to the Barbarini Palace...
...In spite of their own feelings and affections, the independents were forced to leave the old house in which they had lived and fought so many years, and in which now they felt as strangers, because the Socialist Party had become Socialist only in name...
...parently, gathered and piesented by the FBI...
...But in spite of his unquestionable* ability, there was the evidence of the "machinery" with its ominous efficiency...
...Igg-\{>ME, January 1947 — The crisis which had long troubled the Italian Socialist Party has an ivcj *^(P tt its inevitable conclusion...
...These showed a H(> popularity of the parties of the "centre," ^^Hp*t*i downfall of the Socialists, and a general ^^Hfct to- tko Communists and the pro-fascist ^^HAM|taa|SN Frost...
...In some of them' the votes obtained by the fusionists are greater than the total of the Party-members: in this case, evidently, the "apparatus" had been too efficient...
...There mutt be a unlftod petty for internal defense agalnat foreign espionage a*4 a untied ergaanation staffed by men eaual la knowledge and astuteness to those against whan they are pitted, ft it high Unit that oar politieal limUsiaats ret rafted AmetfcMs who art petitieally iataiiifasH...
...A little reading between the lines of the press reports suggests that the Army had plenty of reason to act in the live cases in question...
...In face of the distance shown by the majority of the party-membei s i,th«j idea of a fusion, the would-be collaborator* Hndrew to a second line: the project of constituting KpMngle party of the working class" which was to bo ¦¦gilt from the ruing of the two parties, the CommuHptand the Socialist...
...Their action was probably bated on aecasrata information furnished them by others, but the igaeraace of Communism and Fascism which they displayed in questioning the five persons involved puts the whole transaction under suspicion...
...Our grave situation in the A torn-Bomb ago Is cause enough for anxiety and alarm...
...She arrived in Rome, and the morning after she went to the fusionist congress at the University City...
...Particularly in big cities ^¦^fMtalat of aaort than half a million - ^H** mm l«tt —pfirt to the Socialists in the ^Hgl nftd law months previously the elector* ^P>> •bsfetaaa' torn voting, or voted for the .»p^Hp>*' >ho IwiiHiti, Fresn aecond place (nv« milfflon votes to the Communist four million) the Socialists had passed to third place...
...She was received by Nenni...
...Like the Manhattan Project, it is one of the key spots where danger of espionage is great, and uperial are is required...
...Ftt the Florence flongress in May of last year, the Hn^endents succeeded once more in saving the SoMMjht Party by voting Pietro Nenni and his fusionist, IMpMreri into a minority...
...Hp* already evident that what remained of the ^^¦pf and independence of the Socialist Party wji ^^H| te disappear within a short time...
...The same day Angelica Balabanoff went to the Barbe rini Palace and with a strong speech she made her dramatic entry into the new Psrty...
...In last May's Florence Congress the independents had the majority...
...Brigadier General Charles (Juinton and his personnel director demonstrated pretty thoroughly their lack of understanding of the whole business...
...Security IT is with a definite purpose that The S'eio l.endtr is publishing the story of Igor Gouzenko as culled from the official Canadian report...
...We will say to the Party-members who have remained outside, that we have left the ashes and have brought with us the flame...
...In his pamphlet of 98 closely-typed pages, Matteotti has followed step-by-step the workings of the totalitarian "machinery" jvhich, with an incredibly abun Ijuc supply of funds, had been built up inside the Party...
...Under these circumstances American cititens era naturally concerned...
...The responsibility—declared tha "left" fusionists—belongs to the Directors of the Party (composed mainly of anti-Communists) who adopted antijbommunism for their electoral campaign...
...The reply is contained In the statement of Saragat: "The success of the PSLI will depend upon the measure in which it will not be a Socialist Party, but it will be able to establish itself as the Italian Socialist Party...
...It Inevitably leads to fear of a witch-hunt and all of the hysteria which would accompany it...
...It had to come...
...Paraphrasing Jaures, the leader of the new Party, Saragat, said: "The Socialist Party has been reconstituted...
...Men may be removed for having heard about Karl Marx, or for reading the Manehttttr Guardian, The real culprits will be able to tneak through a dragnet manipulated by hands not trained either in political Intelligence or in legal democratic procedures...
...If the secessionists were strong and politically and morally important, a Party deserving the name would emerge...
...There is no minority which can accept remaining in a party in which it is absolutely sure that it will never become a majority...
...The way in which the matter was handled, however, leaves much to be desired...
...From time to time pertinent bits of news leak out...
...He made some formal concessions to his adversaries...
...But the main causes of the electoral defeat may be tjunj in more profound and — at the same time — simpler aspects which can be summarized as follows: He who wants to vote Communist, votes directly for the Communist candidate and not for the socialist pro-Communist, for the simple reason that we all prefer the authentic product and the original as opposed to imitations and substitutes...
...For years to come there will probably be no such thing as international security...
...During tha campaign they have tried hard—and up to a certain point succeeded in identifying the pro-Communists with the "Left" and, as a consequence, the independents with the "Right...
...Hat it moat hot ho allowed to become an excuse for hysteria anil poHtlral blackguardism...
...Five workers have boon discharged, and their demand* for further inventlgjtien have been turned down by Secretary of War Patterson...
...So, from the PS1UP (Partito Socialista Italiano dl Units Proletaria) the PSLI (Partito Socialista del Lavoratori Italian]) has beep burn...
...every resistance would have to surrender to the impudence of the "Stalinist Fifth Column...
...What happened to them is completely unknown...
...Tha Party was losing favor with the majority of electors...
...This is what dcided the division...
...The information wan.'ap...
...The reply to this question has been supplied in tha documents concerning the workings of the "left" proCommunists, prepared by the young Member of Parliament Matteo Mattcotti, son of the martyr and >ne of the leaders of the anti-fusionist faction, "Iniziativa Socialists...
...WhyT The jCoalition-Government I But the Communists, too, were part of the Government, and this did not impeda their progress...
...What still had to be seen was where tha line of division would occur...
...For devotion to national security is inseparable from devotion to our civil liberties...
...This was known to Pietro Nenni who, with the lack of prejudice and scruple which comes from his profound skepticism of men in general, and his Party-fellows in particular, decided to accept the challenge...
...It gives the public thn idea that in these dangerous timet our public security !• in the hands of blunderers...
...Now, after twenty years of fascism and the consequent decline of the political education of the masses, it is not surprising that this game has succeeded in convincing many voters...
...The anti-fusionista knew that their leaders would hare been ejected one after another...
...Under Public Law BOS the Army and Navy have the authority to waive Civil Servlo* regulations and suminn lily discharge employees for security reasons...
...Italian Socialists who still believe m tlx: flpfk function of a Socialist Party, divided and disjW from a Communist Party, were getting ready to mm the path of Turati and Matteotti...
...letter on, they carried out a new BjMcal withdrawal to the position of "unity of action'' HjfMen the two parties, winch should, in theory, have Mjtted the autonomy of the Socialist Party, but which M|Mht actual intentions of the authors of the formula HpCto prepare its absorption into the more decisive ¦MJiaciplined Communist body...
...The critics concentrated their fire...
...How is it possible that only seven months later the fusionists have been able to more than double their ranks, becoming a strong majority In the Rome Congress...
...Nevertheless, this arbitrary identification has had an enormous psychological effect, because there were in the Party some non-socialist masses which would have run to vote even for the Pope, if someone had succeeded in convincing them that in acting that way they were at the "left...
...Sho ascended the speakers' platform, welcomed by the unanimous cheers of those present...
...It is here, after all, that the main prir.es are to be dug up, and it is to efforts within our boundaries that the chief efforts of the conspirators have been directed...
...It began in the opposition and had succeeded in patting the fosioniats in possession of the Party...
...From the wellknown speculations of Mussolini, for which Fascism meant anti-Communism, they have easily passed to the other one for which anti-Fascism means Communism...
...It served the aims of the fusionists by tiring the memberr of the Party, and capitalising on "irreguarities" in the polling operations took possession of the Federations, sometimes by electoral corruptions visibly organ* feed in certain Ministries and Departments...
...Moreover, there is a psychological factor which plays . a definite role in favor of the fusionists...
...In a loud voice, she viewed the historic struggle of international socialism...
...What shall its destiny be...
...Whenever the Socialists forget to be themselves by Joining with the "right" in some cases, or — aa frequently happens in Europe today, where a widespread inferiority-complex is evident in face of the Communists — by assuming a secondary role ia tha great Stalinist show, the electors take their revenge by votiug for the extremes, showing their prsfereuca for tha genuine article...
...But their victory was of Mpt duration for the simple reason.that their slight ¦jtgilr was the fruit of a coalition between three ^HlK currents—the "right" Critica Sociah, the "left" Hhh Sociaktlm, and the "centre" led by Ignasio ^Hj£ And, as usually happens in these cases, the ^Hpn was unable to survive in victory...
...She indicated amazement that after having been bound with the "reformist right" in France in 1930, he was now fighting so bitterly against it...
Vol. 30 • February 1947 • No. 5
