ITALY: DON ENRICO BIDS FOR POWER

"The question is not whether the Communists should come to power, but whether the domination of the Christian Democrats and their suffocating power system, which has wrought so much damage and brought Italy to such disorder and poor government, is any longer tolerable. "

—Enrico Berlinguer at a rally in Cosenza

"This is the most important test we Christian Democrats have faced since 1948. The basic question is whether the country will be led by us or by the Communists."

—Aldo Moro, campaigning at Canosa di Puglia

Up and down Italy last week, from the earthquake-shattered Alpine foothills of Friuli in the north to the fields of Calabria and Puglia in the south, already burning under the summer sun, an estimated 41 million voters were involved in a national election that may be the most crucial in the country's history. It was not only the Italians who were deeply concerned about the outcome. In the capitals of Western Europe, in Washington and Moscow, politicians and diplomats were anxiously waiting to learn what the voters will decide when they line up at the polls on June 20 and 21. Reason: the central and overriding issue of the campaign—crucial not just for Italy but for all of Western Europe—is whether or not the huge, superbly organized Communist Party, led by Enrico Berlinguer, will finally come to a share in power after nearly 30 years in opposition. In the wake of World War II, Italy's Communists —then led by the late Palmiro Togliatti —were turned back. But now once again a Red threat looms over Italy, although it is a very different Communist Party that is bidding to enter the government. Just how different is the big question.

The competing parties were doing their best to make the voters aware of the election's importance. Almost every inch of available wall space last week had been plastered with posters pro claiming the slogans and accomplishments of rival candidates, accompanied by a blitz of campaign ads and appeals. In all, the parties will have spent an estimated $20 million by the time the voters finally decide an election that no one wanted in the first place.

President Giovanni Leone was forced to call the election a year ahead of schedule—the statutory term for a Parliament is five years —since the country's imperfect governmental system had once again worked imperfectly. The latest patchwork Christian Democratic government, headed by Premier Aldo Moro, finally collapsed last month after the Socialist Party withdrew its necessary support. Leone had no choice but to let the voters make a fresh choice, under a parliamentary system that in 30 years has produced nearly 40 revolving-door governments.

In most of the previous postwar elections it could be safely assumed that the Christian Democrats would gain the largest individual share of the vote, with the Communists coming in a distant but looming second. No longer. In regional elections last June, the Communists gained 33% of the vote—only two points less than the Christian Democrats. Either alone or in coalition with other leftist groups, they gained control of such strategic cities as Turin, Florence and Naples; there and elsewhere they have on the whole provided effective and honest local government.