Marriage of Inconvenience

"There are risks and the risks are great," warned left-wing Socialist Leader Pietro Nenni. We must accept "the margin of risk," declared Christian Democratic Chief Aldo Moro. The atmosphere plainly was more suspicious than auspicious for the new Italian government. After months of dickering, while the nation marked time under a caretaker Cabinet, the Christian Democrats finally were ready to conclude their marriage of convenience--or perhaps inconvenience--with Nenni's left-wing Socialists. It was the first time in 16 years that a doctrinaire Marxist party would share power in any major West European Cabinet.

"I'm Going Ahead." Biggest obstacle had been the divisions inside Nenni's own party, whose warring factions range from halfhearted supporters of the Atlantic Alliance to faithful followers of the Communist Party. At the last minute, the pro-Reds threatened to rebel against the proposed coalition with the "capitalists," but Nenni declared flatly: "The door is open. You can go through it with me or not. I'm going ahead." His central committee backed him up by a 59-to-40 vote.

Spurred on by the Kennedy assassination--both Nenni and Moro feared that President Johnson might not be as sympathetic to the "opening to the left" --the negotiators then hammered out an 8,000-word program of cooperation that was just vague enough so that either party, or any faction, could interpret it as desired. On foreign policy, the Socialists balked at pledging "fidelity" to NATO but settled for "loyalty" to the Atlantic Alliance and agreement to continue discussions with the U.S. over Italian participation in MLF, the proposed fleet of Polaris-equipped surface ships. In return for accepting anti-Communist Social Democrat Guiseppe Saragat as Foreign Minister, Premier-designate Moro promised the Socialists that he would engage in a "passionate pursuit of peace"--a semantic exercise which seemed to be satisfactory to everyone. Nenni himself was slated to become Vice Premier in the Cabinet; other left-wing Socialists are due to take over lesser ministries, including transport, industry, public works, health and tourism.

Details of the domestic program were just as fuzzy as the foreign policy agreements. Moro said he favored economic development "through planning," but insisted that private enterprise would receive the greatest possible initiative. Both sides also agreed to limited controls overspeculation in urban real estate, gradual abolition of sharecropping and raising tenant farmers' share of the profits from 53% to 58%. The agreement also included a political loyalty oath: the partners promised not to join in Parliament with either the Communists on the left or the free-enterprising Liberals, Monarchists and neo-Fascists on the right. But outside Parliament, on the local level, the Socialists are still free to collaborate with their old Communist allies. This could become particularly troublesome in the new "regional governments" to be set up at some unspecified future date in 15 areas, including the key northern industrial sections.

"Toward Communist Shores." What do the uneasy partners expect to get out of the coalition? The Christian Democrats hope that participation in the government will educate the Socialists to the responsibilities of power, produce the necessary backing for economic and social reforms that may steal political thunder from the Communists (who did alarmingly well in the last elections). For the Socialists, the lure of Cabinet portfolios offers the opportunity to shape Italy's future along Marxist lines, before enlightened capitalists make socialism and its slogans thoroughly obsolete.

The deal was promptly and bitterly attacked by foes from all sides. Nenni's pro-Communist wing continued to denounce it as a sellout to the bourgeoisie. Liberal Spokesman Giovanni Malagodi said the coalition heads Italy "directly toward Communist shores." Comrade Palmiro Togliatti sneered at Nenni's claim that the Socialists would change things once they got into government, and snapped: "We could define such a vision of power as Stalinist."

The center-left coalition is neither Stalinist nor a sellout. It is a muddled alliance between parties of essentially different aims, and it could break up at any time. The future, as Moro said, "is new, difficult and full of problems."

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