Evening star., 1943-08-11
The War Goes on

SutA al AAoecliiiiS pOStS ike oWlGIeT-
land need not be taken at face value.
there seems to be little doubt that
Marshal Badoglio Is not only con-
tinuing his policy of resistance to
Allied demands for immediate un-
conditional surrender, but that he
also has gained measurable de-
gree of popular support for this pol
icy, His first public manifesto after
his assumption of power ended with
the words: THE war goes on" Ac-
cording to a semiof11cial statement
reported from Berne, he announces:
THE war will continue, therefore,
until such time as more intelligent
appreciation of the Italian situation
will have dispelled preconceived
ideas on diplomatic and military de-
velopments that are inconsistent
with the destiny of our nation"
Strange though it may seem to us,
this attitude probably reflects that
of important sections of Italian pub
lie opinion. We Americans are apt
to take too simplified view of Italy's
situation, which is not simple at all
but involves a frightful dilemma.
What the overwhelming majority of
Italians ardently desire is peace, in
the full sense of the word-meaning
a neutralized status under which the
Allies and the Germans would both
keep clear of the peninsula and do
their fighting elsewhere. But the
Allies cannot grant such terms be-
cause they need Italy as base of
operations against Germany, the
archenemy. So what the Allies offer
Italy is, not peace, but an armistice
under which they can use Italian
territory for military purposes as
they see fit.
However, Germany never will
assent voluntarily to any such ar
rangement. And a big German
army actually is in Italy, whereas
the Allied forces are still largely tied
diately to chase the Germans from
the peninsula. An armistice signed
today would convert Italy into a
battle-ground at once. Furthermore,
the best part of the Italian Army is
in the Balkans under German con-
troll while hundreds of thousands of
Italian workers are in Germany it
Self-all hostages against a policy
of unconditional surrender to the
Allies. No wonder Italy breads Ger
man vengeance and spars for time
But time is just what the Allies will
not grant, especially after Sicily is
cleaned up. So Italy must expect
to be bombed, blasted and invaded
by the Allies within the near future.
Yet it is not strange that many Ital-
ians prefer to temporize, hoping
desperately that, as Mr.. MicaWber
put it, something will turn up" to
avert, or at least palliate, these
dreadful alternatives.
Another important factor in the
Italian situation Is the absence of
united and competent political coali-
ton to take over from Badoglio and
his admittedly stop-gap regime of
generals and administrative tech
nicians. Two decades of Fascist
tyranny effectively weeded out all
organized opposition and bred a gen.
Grafton utterly ignorant of parlia-
mentary procedure. The sudden
disappearance of Fascist authori-
tarianiSm has left sort of political
vacuum into which all sorts of fac
tions are rushing, without much
mutual understanding or co-ordina-
ton. They range from anarchists
and Communists through Socialists,
both MARKHAM and Catholic as rep
resented by the So-called Popular
party, radicals and liberals in the
traditional sense, to conservatives
and monarchists of the extreme
right wing. These diverse groups
differ in their ideas regarding both
the war and the domestic postwar
settlement. So they tend to cancel
out each other in the positive sense,
and indirectly confirm Badoglio in
his policy of temporarizing and
playing for time.
Obviously. this Is a condition of
unstable equilibrium which may be