ITALY WANTS MAJOR REFORMS

...Scelba, as Interior Minister, is also head of the police...

...Especially for the 10,000 agitprops the Communists hired and who therefore received tangible privileges not accordea the mass of impoverished Italians...

...But Siena is also in the heart of Tuscany, which at the inception of Fascism was the scene of violence unparalleled anywhere else in Italy...

...INSURRECTIONISM has proved abortive, and parliamentarianism can get the Communists nowhere The Communist dilemma is best epitomized by Togliatti's empty threat at Civitavecchia, a small town near Rome, a short while ago: "The present situation between the government and the people cannot last much longer...

...from sanitation to agricultural organization...

...Such is progress...

...Although Italian Communism is in full retreat, it is far from being dead Complacency and crisis can revive it at a moment's notice...

...What did Scelba say...

...The Communist dragon is gradually having ail its teeth with drawn...

...Siena is the fair city of Saint Catherine, who was famous for her learning and political wisdom...

...V.Y...

...Against this background, Scelba's trip to Siena to challenge in a very bold speech the terroristic Communists, was considered to be an act of unheard-of pi ovocation...

...THE ITALIAN PEOPLE WANT something more than a victory over Communism...

...His police having proved to be more powerful than the Communist parliamentary organization, it is now possible for Italians to speak freely everywhere, in Northern as well as in Southern Italy, in public and in private, and even in the reddest Bolshevik areas, without fear of intimidation or violence...

...Togliatti was alluding to July 14...

...AT SIENA, Scelba readied the peak of his career as a "Fascist criminal...

...Number Two Communist, party strong man...

...Consequently, the strike has ceased to be a strategic weapon, and the Communis'.* have recently turned "parliamentary.' But a Communist party which no longer calls tieneral strikes, which no longer organizes violent demonstr.itoins...

...After the war many Italians found it stylish to switch allegiance from Fascism to Communism If Mussolini had once promised them a revived Roman Empire, Togliatti offerred a glorious subs'itute in the new Russian Empire...

...if the government wishes to avoid a repetition of the 14th of July...

...The Communists replied: 'The working class has the right to freely manifest its will for peace and its disapproval of all those who will take the road which leads to national disaster, through all constitutional channels...

...This, more than any other fact, explains why the Communists hate Scelba, and accuse him of being reactionary, Fascist, and much else...

...MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR Mario Scelba has become Com munist public enemy numbei one The ferocity with which he ha*been attacked since he assumed his post eighteen months ago is positive proof of his success in organizing an effective police force and in imposing respect for the law upon those who previously had none...

...It is the astonishing fart that, whereas a year ago they might have answered with a strike or a demand for Scelba's resignation...

...Nothing that any democratic Interior Minister with courage and honesty would not have saidMtere is the substance of his speech in hrs own words: "The incitement to haired, the violation of law...

...the Communists know, lie:scorn for those who hui 1 lies and insults under the cloak of parliamentary immunity...

...Devastated by war as ".ere few nations, Italy is ridden by s lameless displays of luxury by a privileged few as contrasted Willi the .widespread poverty which grips the rest of the nation...

...But in the end these strikes defeated Communist aims because the workers grew weary of the incessant agitation and eventually understood that they were being exploited for alien purposes...

...NATURALLY...

...increasing waves of unemployment...

...If the government frustrates the desires and aspirations of the people and falls to bring about the reformthat are necessary, then the Communists—or the Fascists—or any subversive group under whatever namewill attempt a comeback...

...which was set aside for a dress rehearsal of Bolshevik revolutionary power following the attempt on Togliatti's life by a Sicilian student But nobody was frightened by th" allusion...

...Concentration of land in the hands of a relative minority, an odious system of taxation based almost entirely on taxing of necessities...

...Although some who took out Communist party membership now realize they made a serious unstake...

...This writer knows Scelba well personally...

...but which bleats constantly of its respect for democratic processes offers a comic spectacle It als'o arouses widespread suspicion At the same time, it is more than a tacit admission of defeat...

...The change from black shirt to red kerchief was thus not difficult...

...What irks Communists, however, is that Scelba has demonstrated great physical and moral courage in the face of the most serious Communist threats, and is impassive in the Chamber of Deputies in the face of torrents of Communist vituperation...

...He represents the more progresive wing of the Christian Democratic party...

...most are unable to command enough courage to admit it Still, partv membership has dropped drastically, as 1 reported earlier to The New Leader (April 9. 1949...

...Political fanatics obey peculiar psychological laws A churchman may be tortured by doubt, but he will cling to the church never thetfss...

...the systematic apology for violence, the organisation of cells within the armed forces, she police and the government to encourage desertion and treason and to work in behalf of a party . . . which has openly proclaimed the support of the betrayal of one's own country and the subversion of the democratic Republic, cannot be tolerated...

...They want a way of lit • which now aided by thankful assistance from America -generates abundance and permanence...

...Luigi Longo...

...In accordance with European tradition...

...The most interesting feature of thjn exchange is not the evasive reply of the Communists...

...The Minister did not deny the "working class" the right to exprev-i its opinions but did warn the Com muni-ds that they ean.no longer vio late the law or commit treason with impunity...

...1948...

...But as soon as th.new Italian state took shape following proclamation of the Republic—as a result of u Inch a major element of uncertainty was eliminated—the Communists started seriously to lose ground...

...is marked in Italy's memory as the day when the threat of Coi.munism burst like a soap bubble For on that day the muchheralded general strike instigated by the Communists had to be called ofT a few hours after it was proclaimed, and the splendid display of perfectly disciplined, well armed police put on by the government accomplished the rest...

...Taking advantage of the confusion which immediately followed the war's end, the Communists organized a military and police force for the purpose of inciting terror and insurrection particularly in Central and Northern Italv...

...July 14...

...After these ominous words all he could add was: "Be patient, the day is coming...

...Next, possessing nearly full conlr.it of the laboi unions, the Communists tried desperately to blackmail the government through a series of tons and costly stukes...

...1948...

...now they limit themselves to a sober and irrelevant communique...

...Small, energetic, a former lawyer in Sicily, Mario Scelba has always been an anti-Fascist, from the time when it required real courage He is a convinced democrat and republican...

...No amount of fear or repugnance for totalitarianism Will then prevent such a misfortune from maturing SCELBA AT SIENA Rome...

...The Italian people themselves arcconscious of the need to accomplis : profound reforms in all areas of their life: from the courts to the school-, from social security to public woik...

...They want something positive...

...Worse yet Th< fighting spirit, the elan, are no longer present The number wiling to crusade m the name of the holy Kre-nliu is today rery scum...

...NO ONE EXPECTS that Communism will suddenly disappear...

...underground organizer, and commander of the nowmythical Communist army, in Milan a few days later characterized his party's predicament as "a pause, a lull in the battle which will be renewed with great vigor...

...Excepting possibly Spajjp and Portugal, economic inequality is nowhere as glaring us it is in Italy...

...They want economic and social reform...

...Under his calm demelmor...

...THE DOMINANT FACTS ABOUT ITALY at the moment are these: The Communists are in a panic and the question is whether or not the government—having achieved comparative stability—will proceed to those long overdue economic and social reforms without which Italy will never be secure from the Communist or any other subversive menace, and will never achieve anything remotely resembling true political and economic democracy...

...rampant injustice, lack of elementary comforts in many towns and villages, and in general the heritage of centuries of tyrannical regimes which Italy is now bewring—all of these must be removed without delay if Italy is to seise this breathing spell to build a secure, abundant and democratic way of life...

...The question is whethei th government is sufficiently alert these need.-> to attempt then realization now...

...More recently, Siena was accorded new notoriety by excesses com nutted by the Communists, many of whom are former Fascists who ne«'-»r relinquished their old terrorist ways...