Berlinguer: 'We Are Not in a Hurry'

"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.

ON COMMUNIST PLANS ONCE IN POWER. In the first place, on an internal policy level there would be important social reforms such as housing, schools, health, city planning, for example. Then we would push for a big step forward in agricultural and industrial production, based on technological modernization. Second, and this is vitally important, we would promote the moral cleansing of Italian political, social and judicial life. This was one of the major themes of our electoral campaign--to put an end to corruption and malfunction within both the public administration and the parties. There is a tie between common crime and political disorder, and until such a time as we eliminate corruption--particularly at the top--we cannot expect major changes at the level of crime in the streets.

ON NATO. We do not propose that Italy give up membership in any international organization to which it belongs, nor would we propose it if we were part of the government. I am speaking here in particular of the Common Market and NATO. There is now a process of detente in the world. The U.S. and Soviet Union are the main architects, but other countries also participate. A unilateral Italian withdrawal from NATO would upset the entire process of detente.

ON RELATIONS WITH THE U.S. In the past, some American politicians were unable to recognize the independence of national Communist parties. There has been a tendency to feel that all parties are integral parts of a Communist monolith. This was the case in Viet Nam. American leaders did not understand in time that they were dealing with a great national force. As far as the Italian Communist Party is concerned, we ask only that America not interfere in Italian internal affairs. I would very much like to have an opportunity to explain to American political personalities what our policy really is. in Italy's balance of payments deficit, but the country is still in recession. Crime increased dramatically: there have been 29 kidnapings this year alone. The Christian Democrats were scourged as the paradigm of "malgoverno."

They were also criticized for no longer sensing or seeming to care about the national mood. Along with the Vatican, the party was badly embarrassed last year in opposing a divorce law that Italians resoundingly supported in a national referendum. The Socialists effectively summed up broad general feeling in a campaign slogan: "The country has changed but the power has not."

With all sides talking about the need for rinnovamento (renewal), the Christian Democrats admitted some shortcomings in a slogan of their own: "Thirty years of liberty--some good, some not so good--but all of them in liberty." Party Leader Fanfani made 200 campaign appearances, pledging his party's protection for "the Italian democratic system against ambushes of any sort." He regularly reviewed the ledger of Communist duplicity: "Twenty years ago in Hungary, seven years ago in Czechoslovakia, just three months ago in Portugal--a thousand promises on arrival, and then a totalitarian system."

Realistic Aims. Fanfani's predicament was that Berlinguer's disciplined, efficient Italian Communists have made a point of distancing themselves from the Soviet Union and from Portugal's Communist Party as well. Berlinguer, who has endorsed both NATO and the Common Market, has openly criticized Portuguese Party Leader Alvaro Cunhal for unwisely using old-line Stalinist tactics.

Despite the disturbing implications of last week's election, Italy is not on the verge of turning Communist, although, through their heavy control of labor unions, the Communists have the capacity to bring all Italy to a halt (as they have demonstrated through innumerable strikes). Berlinguer is too much the realist to push for real power now. He aims first of all for a "consultative" share in policymaking at the parliamentary level, rather than a partnership in a formal coalition.

His strategy for the historic compromise is based on the example of the Allende regime in Chile, a socialist regime in another Catholic country that instituted radical change so swiftly that it panicked the middle class, provoked extremism on the right and frightened off foreign capital. Italian Communists seek to avoid these hazards by emphasizing moderation and stressing that they will zealously guard individual rights. Plainly, many of the 2.3 million 18-to 21-year-olds who were voting for the first time were convinced. So were droves of middle-class Italians.

A major dilemma confronts the Christian Democrats and the Socialists, who increased their share of the vote from 9.8% to 12% (3.6 million), but had been hoping to do considerably better. The Christian Democrats must reform their party before the next national election; the job may be difficult since the party has its own right-center-left factions, which constantly disagree. Leftists last week demanded Fanfani's resignation as a cure. One reformation might be to give his job to a younger, less rigid man like Defense Minister Arnaldo Forlani, a centrist more palatable to the left.

Steep Price. The Christian Democrats will be pressed hard by the Socialists, whose economic program does not differ seriously from the Communists'. In the past, the government could always control the Socialists by threatening to form a coalition with right-wing parties, but last week's vote makes that virtually impossible. Thus the Socialists are in a position to demand a steep price for continuing to support the Christian Democrats in a center-left government. They may insist, for example, on getting two of the three key Cabinet seats--Interior, Defense and Foreign Affairs. If they are denied, they could threaten to form a popular front with the Communists, since together they command more than 45% of Italy's votes. But they are reluctant to do this, partly out of fear of being overwhelmed, partly out of loyalty to the West and skepticism that the Communists would really remain in NATO.

If there is too much jostling between the coalition partners, Premier Aldo Moro's government might topple and lead to an early general election. That would be unwise, for, as one Christian Democratic strategist observed, "This regional election was like a high-wire act with a safety net--you fall and there's the net. In general elections, they take away the net." After last week's results, the Christian Democrats clearly need a lot more practice on the wire before they can remove the net.

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