European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 28, 1948, Darmstadt, Hesse                                S wet Lnu february 194a 4 v threats of armed revolt and fiery speeches Are All part of present Day electioneering As Italy prepares to vote Italy communists face a showdown by Melton Davis after suffering a series of major they wonder if they Ean hold their own at the first postwar government elections in april since the beginning of the twentieth the italians have had a a two occupational regimes and a provisional this after Twenty three years of on party Rule and two years of Post War the citizens of the new Republic of Italy will vote for their first permanent Republican government campaigning promises to be lodging from political accusations Al ready Modem Machiavelli Are Tan lire a there have Omi Nous parades of Well disciplined parti carefully timed strikes with Rigis enforced picket Small Rovt tag gangs have beat up fiery filled wife threats of armed Are being made in crowded party news comprising almost All of the try daily loads of vituperation and All this has been part of the present Day electioneering in at the forefront of these turbulent is has been the pc Partite to understand better the communist position in the italian i spectrum it might be Well the five major parties and their As they line up from political right to left in the present government Are de Gasperi of the Christian social Pac Dardi of the republicans and tight Wing socialist on t the outside looking wanting to get Nenni of the left Wing socialists and head of the immediately after the end of the War the communists were one of the three governing parties in the last May Premier Alcide de the Christian decided to try running things on a Oner party he eliminated the communists from the who have 104 out of 556 deputies in the temporary As and the pro communist social with sixty five that he has withstood All their attempts to in he took Paccia Dis mildly left republicans Twenty three deputies and Sara gats anticommunist socialists fifty one deputies into his Cabinet to get a stronger but the first setback for the communists came earlier in for two years socialist Pietron Enott had stood for of action with italian then he went so far As to speak of possible fusion of the communist and Jetish socialist a socialist party Congress was held to Settle the Giuseppe a reformist socialist at the was president of the he and Sev eral of the younger men attacked Nennis at the Twenty five Vearold Matteo whose famous father was murdered by Musso challenged Nennis for the communists and walked out the Sara Gat followed shortly after and together they formed the italian workers socialist the split socialist party thus lost its position a second strongest and Nenni resigned As foreign it was this move of the Sara Gat socialists that helped de Gasperi form a Cabinet for the first excluded the communists the Nenni sees to it that his followers still vote with the comm in the coming balloting the two parties will continue their Peoples which brought them into Power in 3300 out of 7500 How the time of the 1947 the communists had five tactical and each of which they have since first of these advantages was the skill with which the party made anti fascism its second was the communists ability to Roll with the punches approval of the Lateran pact with the Vatican being one third was the communists strength in organized fourth was the skillful and intensive use of fifth was their constant campaigning against High on the first some of the communists effectiveness started to be lost Palmiro party signed a sweeping amnesty for while minister of As More and More old friends of mus Solini returned life the communist Leader was increasingly put on the some of the fascist officials formed political and Giorgio Leader of Psi ital Ian social claimed that National socialism was Italy Best bet he wanted to repeal All anti fascist Emilio was kicked out of the extreme rightist common Man party As being too extreme right even for one of his Milder political statements anti fascism is already out of still another organization gave the fascist Salute when holding their meetings and Sang the fascist Togliatti was defend his he said that if a fascist had a change of heart and became a member of a left party be was to be he added that those fascists who stayed outside the fold should be meanwhile the Christian democratic government was taking its own it put the Leader of a particularly reactionary group into jail for a three year the second with the with the an the mar Baij continued on next Page 5