Correspondents' Correspondence
HENEGHAN, SILVIO F. SENIGALLIA \ TOM
Correspondents' Correspondence BRIEF TAKEOUTS OF MORE THAN PERSONAL INTEREST FROM LETTERS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS. The PCI and China Rome—Leaders of the Italian Communist...
...In fact, Rinascita severely condemns China's foreign policy for being inspired by antagonism toward the Soviet Union...
...Exact figures are not known, but it is estimated that since then normal assimilation has been steadily reducing the percentage of the population claiming to be Slovene...
...A member of the Italian Communist delegation that flew to Peking from Hanoi in 1965, Natoli has revealed in the weekly Expresso that the "unscheduled" stop in the Chinese capital was authorized by the Kremlin, and that the delegation was briefed by leading Soviet ideologist Mikhail Suslov...
...Maintaining a language and customs distinct from those of the German-speaking majority, the Slovenes have been subjected to discrimination in education, in business and in the courts, where they have been forced to use interpreters...
...Jacoviello's criticism has been supported, though, by former PCI deputy and now extreme Left-winger Aldo Natoli...
...the Soviet Party's first communication to Peking in over 10 years was merely a feeler testing the attitude of the post-Mao leadership...
...Friction among the nationalities of the country's six republics is a constant worry, and with Marshall Tito ailing, the leadership apparently wants to distract from its own ethnic difficulties by emphasizing those of neighbors...
...For years the PCI—whose so-called Eurocommunism repudiates Soviet domination and encourages different brands of Socialism—had refrained from taking an anti-Chinese stand, thereby blocking Moscow's efforts to have a world conference of Communist parties condemn the Mao heresy...
...L'Unita promptly rebuked its reporter, saying his views were mistaken personal opinion not representative of the party line...
...German-speaking extremists in Carinthia have countered Belgrade's shrill attacks on Austria's minority policies by staging anti-Slovene rallies and tearing down Slovene signposts...
...But the Italian Communists were shocked by Peking's announcement that it had no party-to-party relations with the PCI and would not accept its message...
...So did neighbors from Italy's earthquake-shaken region of Friuli...
...The whole show, in fact, soon became mired in another problem from the past...
...Chancellor Bruno Kreisky, President Rudolf Kirchsclager and the entire Cabinet came to the provincial capital of Klangenfurt for the festivities...
...Still, Peking reportedly remained unconvinced by the PCI's claim of neutrality between the two great Communist powers...
...The results will be used as guidelines for establishing councils to protect minority rights...
...Belgrade bitterly opposes this plan...
...Their acceptance of different brands of Socialism does not mean espousing Peking's line...
...Now it has scheduled a special census for November 14...
...Seizing on this, the country prepared to at least observe the decacentennial of Carinthia, Austria's southernmost province, bordering on Italy and Yugoslavia...
...Although the 1955 state treaty ending the Allied occupation of Austria contained provisions aimed at eliminating such inequities, as Kreisky himself admits, Vienna has been slow to act on them...
...correspondent of the Italian party daily, L'Unita, if the State Department gives him a visa...
...Of course, the area was settled by the Celts centuries before Christ, and Vienna was once an outpost of the Roman Empire...
...The official PCI version contends the visit was a spontaneous, last-minute attempt to avoid a final break with the Chinese...
...In towns where more than 25 per cent of the population does not speak German, bilingual roadsigns and other facilities will be introduced...
...Historians' most accurate estimates place the start of the nation somewhere between the years 950 and 1,000—a bit too imprecise even for the easygoing Austrians...
...Jacoviello and Natoli have dealt a blow to Communist credibility, providing dialectical ammunition for the PCI's opponents on both sides of the political fence...
...It has been at odds with Vienna over the Slovenes since World War I. In recent months the Yugoslav press has vehemently attacked Austria almost daily, comparing it to South Africa and accusing it of "ethnic genocide...
...But neither the invited guests from the adjacent Yugoslav republic of Slovenia nor the representatives of the local Slovene community appeared...
...slated to become the first U.S...
...3) The PCI is not willing to change its policy of impartiality and take Peking's side against Moscow...
...The census will be used to show how "insignificant" the Slovenes are in Carinthia, Belgrade claims, and to provide the grounds for their "statistical liquidation...
...When the Carinthians voted in 1920 to remain in the Austrian Republic created after the breakup of Austria-Hungary in 1918, about 10 per cent of the province's 500,000 inhabitants were Slovenes...
...The PCI and China Rome—Leaders of the Italian Communist party (PCI) suddenly have been forced to reassess their relations with the People's Republic of China...
...The position of the Slovene minority in Austrian society has long been a controversial issue...
...Berlinguer may be willing to cross Moscow on regional problems directly involving the PCI's Western ubiety, but he does not intend to go out on a limb in the case of a major issue affecting the already precarious international equilibrium...
...The celebrations took place this summer...
...The Italian Communist leaders are so sensitive to these charges that within 10 days of Peking's rejection and the publication of Le Monde's articles, the party cultural weekly, Rinascita, devoted virtually an entire issue to the Chinese question...
...Milan's Corriere Delia Sera aptly noted, although Rinascita's "Chinese issue" demonstrates an unprecedented effort by the party to objectively appraise Maoism, the Italian Communist leadership considers the Chinese model an outlandish experience unsuitable for Europe...
...Part of the reason for Yugoslavia's concern in the matter may be internal...
...Citizens will be asked whether their mother tongue is German, Slovene, Croatian, Hungarian, or any language currently spoken in the country...
...There was none...
...moreover, it has always sought to resume friendly relations with Peking...
...There was one confirmed date, however: 976, the year the Duchy of Carinthia was established...
...In all, hardly the atmosphere the Austrians had hoped for to mark their decacentennial...
...The Italian Communists, in other words, continue to dissassociate themselves from Moscow's anathemas against China, but mainly to stress their opposition to the leadership of a single party...
...Traditional anti-Communists savor what they consider evidence of the PCI's total unreliability, while the pro-Chinese Left points the finger at the PCI for working in cahoots with the Soviet Union...
...Unexpectedly, this skepticism was also voiced by a noted Italian Communist journalist, Alberto Ja-coviello, who is (was...
...In addition, worry about unofficial local hostility could make many Slovenes reluctant to reveal their nationality during the census and produce even lower results than expected...
...The Slovenes have replied with demonstrations of their own, as well as a bomb attack on a nationalist memorial...
...When the Chinese bluntly rebuffed a similar message of sympathy sent by the Central Committee of the CPSU (rather than Soviet state authorities), few here were surprised...
...And the Italian Communist papers, unlike the Soviet press, devoted entire pages of praise to the life and deeds of the late Chinese leader, following the announcement last month of his death...
...The Vienna government had hoped the census would point the way out of this polarization, but prospects have grown dimmer and dimmer...
...Eager to prevent what the Yugoslavs warn may become the "new Ulster," Austrian authorities are considering barring any further demonstrations...
...There is some justification for these fears...
...But the actual birthdate of what is now Austria is nowhere to be found...
...Tom Hene-ghan...
...Silvio F. Senigallia Austria at 1,000 Salzburg-The Austrians wanted to celebrate their 1,000th birthday in style, but the party simply refused to get off the ground...
...2) The Italian Communists are ready to start a new dialogue with Peking whenever the Chinese Party, under its new leadership, realizes the time has come for a reappraisal...
...In two articles in the Paris newspaper Le Monde, Jacoviello attacked the PCI's policies toward China, questioned its autonomy from Moscow, and called for a full appraisal of its past relations with Peking as a prerequisite for giving real meaning and substance to Eurocommunism...
...Meanwhile, minority leaders have urged the Slovenes to boycott the census, and Belgrade keeps hinting it might take the issue to the United Nations...
...The first problem was determining an exact date...
...Bulgaria, for example, has come under harsh criticism for the treatment of Macedonians, another group represented by a republic in Yugoslavia...
...The reappraisal became imperative after Peking rejected the PCI's fraternal condolences on the death of Chairman Mao Tse-tung, triggering a reaction in Italian Leftist circles...
...Rinascita's major points are: 1) The PCI is not responsible for the 1965 break...
...This stand, I think, can be better understood if seen in the light of the PCI's Eurocommunist policies...
Vol. 59 • October 1976 • No. 21
