The World: Berlinguer: 'We Are Not in a Hurry'

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"He's a good comrade, but not very comradely," a Communist official once said of Party Leader Enrico Berlinguer. Reserved and quiet, Berlinguer speaks in a dry, precise manner yet still manages to exude a certain magnetism. He is an anomaly in other ways. Though he leads the largest proletarian party in the West, his fragile hands have rarely been callused by any implement rougher than a sailboat's tiller. The descendant of an aristocratic, landowning Sardinian family, he is married to a practicing Roman Catholic but is an atheist himself.

Communists have little trouble resolving the apparent conflicts between Berlinguer's background and beliefs. Partly that is a result of the Italian tradition that a man's life is his own business; mostly it reflects party members' admiration for a master theoretician who has led them to unparalleled successes. Last week Berlinguer discussed his philosophy with TIME Correspondents William Rademaekers and Jordan Bonfante. Excerpts:

ON THE ELECTIONS' MEANING. We believe the voters were able to compare those administrations in regions and cities where the Communists are a force in the government with those areas which have been governed by the Christian Democrats at the exclusion of the Communists.

ON THE HISTORIC COMPROMISE. We do not feel we are on the eve of entering the national government. We are not in a hurry. At this stage we believe it should take the shape of a constructive relationship in Parliament. We do not propose national elections at present. However, we ask all the democratic parties to respect the trend indicated by the vote.

ON ITALIAN COMMUNISM. International Communism presents a varied panorama. Within this panorama is the Italian Communist Party with its particular traditions and its original traits. We have always assumed the best democratic and patriotic traditions of the country, going back to the Risorgimento. Our party has fought to guarantee all fundamental freedoms, including freedom of assembly and speech, within a more progressive social and economic framework. We have never believed, even in 1945, that one single party—or single class—can solve the problems of our country.

The Italian Communist Party is a mass party, as distinguished from some Communist parties based on cadres or militants. We have a membership of nearly 1.7 million. More than half are workers from industry and agriculture, but we also have white-collar members, artisans, intellectuals, doctors, teachers, working women and housewives—the working people hi the broadest sense.

ON THE AUTONOMY OF THE ITALIAN PARTY. The period of "leading parties" within the Communist movement is definitely over. There was a period in which an organized center of the Communist Party movement issued common and obligatory directives. That time is definitely finished. We have correct and friendly relations with nearly all Communist parties, but we feel that these relations must be based on absolute autonomy. For a long period of time—for example, during the Comintern—the Soviet Communist Party was recognized as having a special position of hegemony. We ourselves recognized that function, but now the sun has definitely set on that period.