ITALY: Assault on Communism

Secure for a while at least with a small parliamentary majority, Italy's Premier Mario Scelba last week announced that he was launching a head-on assault against the nation's No. I problem—the Italian Communist Party, which is the largest, richest and most powerful in the West. The trackdown was good news to Italy's antiCommunists, many of whom have felt such a move to be long overdue. It was good news for U.S. strategists, for whom the Italian party has lately loomed as. a real threat to NATO, EDC and the basic free-world stand against Communism. It was even good news to many in Italy who have been drifting reluctantly toward Communism because they wanted to be on the winning side if the Reds took over.

Good as it was, the ne,ws was nonetheless taken with some reservations about its. chances for real success. Premier Scelba's crackdown on the canny and deeply entrenched Italian Communists showed in itself a determination to meet, an issue which Italy's previous postwar Christian Democratic governments had notably avoided—with near-disastrous results. But to make the crackdown succeed, Scelba was going to need close support from his hairline majority. The question was: How determinedly will his coalition back him?

Stop the Rake-Offs. Key parts of the plan:

¶ Investigation of Communist-operated trading companies which have been doing business with Iron Curtain countries and paying a fat rake-off (estimated by Scelba at $45 to $50 million a year) to the Italian Communist treasury. Presumably the investigation will be followed by measures to stop, if not the trade, at least the rake-offs, thus depriving Palmiro Togliatti's comrades of a fat revenue source. ¶ Government seizure of property formerly owned by Mussolini's Fascists and seized by the Communists after the Allied liberation. Up to now, it has been allowed to stay in Red hands. Included in the property tentatively slated for seizure are the presses on which the Communist daily L'Unità is printed, the sumptuous headquarters of the CGIL (Communist-run labor federation) on Rome's Corso d'ltalia, a large number of municipal Communist headquarters, numerous seaside resorts, gymnasiums, athletic fields, movie houses. In some cases, the Communists have paid nominal rent or purchase prices, which may make seizure legally difficult or impossible. ¶ Readjustment of "cultural relations," meaning chiefly that if Russia wants to send soccer teams, lecturers, movie stars and other such emissaries of culture to Italy, then Italy will expect to have a chance to reciprocate. ¶ cleanup of Communist infiltration in the Italian theater and cinema. A recent press-agency survey showed that of the country's 14 leading film producers, four were Communists and four more fellow travelers. As of now, the Italian movie industry is a heavy contributor to the Togliatti treasury.