Italy's Cabinet Crisis
SENIGALLIA, SILVIO F.
Dissension inside Christian Democratic party and break in Social Democratic ranks make solution difficult Italy's Cabinet Crisis By Silvio F. Senigallia ROME THE ITALIAN government crisis is...
...In other words, the only thing Social Democrats can do, individually or collectively, is to apply for membership in Nenni's party...
...Unification, he said, can take place only within the PSI and on the PSI's terms...
...This may mean, some observers noted, that under the new leadership based on "autonomy," the Socialist party would still be very close to the Kremlin on many practical problems...
...Understandably enough, the Social Democrats' reaction was indignant...
...The pre-convention fight was won by Nenni, who went to Naples as the prospective winner...
...In addition, the party Directorate, the executive organ appointed by the Central Committee, is formed exclusively of Nenni people...
...The Social Democratic daily, Giustizia, pointed out editorially that in spite of Nenni's battle with the Left, he had in no way advocated a break with the Communists inside the Communist-dominated General Confederation of Italian Labor (CGIL), the cooperatives and the administration of 2,300 municipalities...
...a second group was formed by the young leaders of the pro-Communist machine...
...The Christian Democratic- Social Democratic coalition had an extremely slim parliamentary majority from the very beginning...
...He stated emphatically that unification of the two Socialist parties is no longer possible...
...the Socialists see themselves not as allies of, but as a "democratic alternative" to the Christian Democratic party...
...Fanfani's resignation as Secretary-General of his party caught everyone by surprise, and it served to point up the depth of dissension among Christian Democrats...
...At the same time, the party displayed no less intransigence toward the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats...
...An indication of this is Nenni's friendly greetings to the recent Congress of the Soviet Communist party...
...Dissension inside Christian Democratic party and break in Social Democratic ranks make solution difficult Italy's Cabinet Crisis By Silvio F. Senigallia ROME THE ITALIAN government crisis is primarily the outcome of a deep split within the Christian Democratic party...
...Had the majority Christian Democrats not been so divided internally, the cabinet might have been reshuffled and the crisis resolved...
...The profound split inside the Social Democratic party and the resignation of Social Democrat Ezio Vigorelli as Minister of Labor were immediately responsible for precipitating the crisis...
...This split became even deeper following the January convention of the Socialist party (PSI), and is even more clearly reflected in the just-announced resignation of a leftwing group led by Matteo Matteotti from Giuseppe Saragat's Social Democratic party...
...They feel that the Social Democratic party has no future and that their place is in the PSI, now that it is no longer controlled by a pro-Communist machine...
...At the Socialist convention, three groups fought out their differences, the largest group was headed by party secretary Pietro Nenni and stressed the need for political autonomy from the Communist party...
...Nenni also slammed the door in the Social Democrats' face...
...For two months before the convention, these three waged a relentless fight at the local level to win the membership's support...
...The Social Democrats, however, are not unanimous in their rejection of Nenni's attitude toward their party...
...His group won 47 seats on the party's Central Committee, the left-wing won 27 and Basso 7. If we keep in mind that at its last convention, i,n February 1957, Nenni's group had only 28 seats, the left-wing 46 and the Basso group 19, it is clear that Nenni is no longer merely the titular head of the party, but its actual leader...
...Even now, with Premier-designate Antonio Segni in search of a vialble cabinet, quick resolution of the crisis is unlikely...
...The same paper was but one of the many Italian publications that scored Nenni's foreign policy program...
...In his hour of victory, Nenni had nothing but criticism and scorn for the Social Democrats...
...For some months before the government's fall, a group of Christian Democrats seeking to pull their party toward the right made life impossible for Premier Amintore Fanfani, who finally resigned even though he had not, technically, lost a vote of confidence in Parliament...
...The leaders of the leift-wing, Matteo Matteotti and Mario Zagari, commented favorably on the outcome of the Naples convention and what they considered the party's definite break from Communist influence...
...Nenni's victory indicates that the PSI is slowly but surely breaking away from Communist influence...
...In both his opening and closing speeches Nenni made it clear that he has no intention of leading his party into any kind of agreement, at parliamentary or government level, with the Christian Democrats...
...His desire to lead a party "autonomous" of the Communists did not prevent him from rebuking United States policies in the Middle and Far East and from endorsing, at least half-way, the Soviet stand on Berlin...
...They viewed Nenni's statements as additional evidence of the fact that a merger with the Socialist party is impossible at present...
...and a splinter group was headed by Lelio Basso, who advocated an in-between line...
Vol. 42 • February 1959 • No. 7
