THE J JABLET, November 12th, 1955. VOL. 206, No. 6025
Published as a Newspaper
THE TABLET A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER & REVIEW
Pro Ecclesia Dei, Pro Recjina et Patria
FOUNDED IN 1840
NOVEMBER 121h, 1955
NINEPENCE
TWO S c a l e s : State Security and Liberal Education
Israel Encompassed : The Mounting Tension in the Near East. By David Walker
M in ority Members : After the Ulster Petitions. By H. Phillip Levy
“ People from B eyond” : The Views o f New Arrivals from Eastern Europe
Italy and the English Poets : Chaucer, Dante and Boccaccio. By Kenelm Foster, O.P.
Readings at the Inns o f Court : “The University o f the Common Law”
Dr. Mascall’s Mishap : An Error about Sacramental Intention. By Maurice Bévenot, S.J.
B o o k s R e v i e w e d : American Government and Politics, by Allen M. Potter ; Pageantry o f the
Law, by James Derriman ; Secours de la Grâce et Secours de la Médecine, by Jean-Pierre Schaller ; Home for the Holidays, by Winifred Peck ; Cracks in the Cloister, by “ Brother Choleric” ; A Beginner's Guide to the Sea, by Frank Knight ; Celestial Navigation for Yachtsmen, by Mary Blewitt ; The Bay is Not Naples, by Anna Maria Ortese ; Jan, by Stella Morton ; and The Grass Roots o f Art, by Herbert Read. Reviewed by Ursula Branston, F. H. Lawton, Alphonsus Bonnar, O.F.M ., Phyllis Holt-Needham,
Angela Antrim, M. W. Richey, Christopher Hollis and Peter Watts.
THE OTHER END
O NE end of Moscow’s policy can be seen at Geneva ; the other must be sought elsewhere. Signor Nenni has returned from China without bringing back the expected promise of the release of Italian Catholic missionaries. But his visit to M. Khrushchev appears to have been more successful, since a change of tactics has been immediately noticed in the conduct of the Communist and Socialist parties. When recently a Government measure concerning the powers of Italian military courts was put to the vote, Signori Togliatti and Nenni—who had previously opposed it—gave their support, and they did so again at the budget debate. In Sicily, too, Communists and Socialists voted for the Christian Democratic Government, and, indeed, for a Christian Democratic Mayor of Palermo.
The object of these new tactics is to win over those elements among the Christian Democrats and centre parties who sympathize with the Left, and thus prepare the ground for ultimate political co-operation. At the same time, divisions among the present Government coalition can be deepened. Already Italian newspapers are asking who is really behind Signor Segni’s Government. Nor are these Nenni tactics confined to Italy. The French Communists, led by M. Duclos, gave their support to M. Faure in the electoral question, and this certainly comes as part of a general plan by means of which the Communists will hope to infiltrate into the existing parliamentary majorities in Western Europe in order finally to influence the foreign policies of these countries.
This policy is a more acute danger in Italy than in France, since Soviet intervention in the Middle East has caused considerable alarm in Italy. Moreover, the recent Soviet refusal to support Italy’s admission into the United Nations without suitable rewards makes the Italians particularly sensitive to Communist pressure.
Last Spring’s Communist losses in shop-steward elections in big industrial concerns such as the Fiat, Borletti and Olivetti works have not been confirmed by subsequent results. More recent elections in the works of Pirelli, Alfa Romeo, and Necchi sewing-machines showed that the Communists can hold their majorities comfortably. This situation was discussed at the recent congress of the Association of Italian Catholic Workers (ACLI) which, though a non-political organization, seeks to provide an effective Catholic alternative to Communist leadership among the workers. At the Bologna Congress, which received messages of encouragement from the Pope and from Cardinal Lercaro, Archbishop of Bologna, criticisms were made of the Christian Democratic Party and the Christian trade unions, which were said to be respectively too conservative and too innocuous to stem Communist propaganda. There were demands for extending the scope of ACLI to the political and trade union fields, and with some 800,000 members all over Italy it has a basis for such action.
The present uncertainty of the Italian political climate and the lack of party discipline among the various correnti of the Christian Democratic Party facilitate the activities of Signori Togliatti and Nenni. By witholding or giving their support to the Segni Government they will be able largely to dictate matters in the Chamber and thus contribute to the gradual dissolution of the anti-Communist front to build up which was the work of the late Signor de Gasperi.
Looking ahead to a future when local Communists influence the foreign policies of France and Italy, the Russians are in no hurry. They want to keep “Operation Smiles” alive, but to avoid making any real concessions, especially over Germany. They may hope that the blame for the lack of progress or results will be attributed to the present Conservative Governments in the West, and that a propaganda can then be started to the effect that new Popular Front Governments can secure
