Evening star., 1947-12-23
Peasant Groups
Formed 10 Make
Demands in Italy
Leftist Press Tells
Of Land Front Like
Thot for Industry
By the Assoeiotsd Press

ROME, Dec. 23.-The leftist
press announced today forma-
ton of a land 'front.' of agri-
cultural workers throughout
Italy to lead the peasants in de-
mands on the government.
A high command already has
been established on the Communist
dominated industrial labor front,
with a parallel purpose.
The Communist newspaper L 'Unita
and its allied left-wing Socialist
newspaper Avanti said land con-
stituent" of some 5000 representa-
tives of agricultural workers, meet
ing Sunday at Bologna, had ordered
committees set up in every village
to Spearhead a drive for ''eXpro-
priation of surplus properties and
against extension of land holdings.
Strike in Pc Valley Town.
Pietro Nenni, pro-Communist So
cialist leader, announced in Avanti
tlldG lllC lllDSlli1So AL oo-
logna and Congress in Milan on
MANAGEMENT Councils for factories
we're steps 10 circumvent the Chris
tan Democratic governments solid
parliamentary position.
Premier Alcide de Gasperi's Chris
tian Democrats have consolidated
with two small moderate leftist par
ties, the Labor Socialists and the
Republicans, further solidfying the
Premier's majority in the Assembly.
All three parties boycotted the land
constituents at Bologna.
Press dispatches reported a gen.
eral strike in the Pc Valley indus
trial town of Cremona.
The strike in Cremona was said
to have been called in protest
against a bomb explosion which
damaged Communist Party head
quarters there Saturday night.
Fatality Toll Rises to 26.
Cremona has a population of
about $4,000 The trouble there fol-
lowed 10 days of labor disturbances
in Sicily where demands for unem-
ployment relief and winter labor
benefits produced general strikes at
Palermo. Messina, Catenia. Cant
catti, Caltanisetta. Areentio and
Gela. Only the strike at Gela re-
manned in progress today.
Three of the IS persons wounded
I'm rioting at Canicatti Sunday died
yesterday, bringing to 26 the toll OF
fatalities in leftist-led disorders in
Italy since early December.
Italy was operating on new basis
today, with the reign of the House
of Savoy formally ended, after the
Constituent Assembly approved a
constitution for the republic last
night.
The assembly's vote on the con-
stitution, which marked the conclu- |
sion of II months of work, was 453
to 81. with most of the monarchists
and nationalists casting negative
ballots.
Enrico de Nicola. who under the
constitution becomes the first Pres
ident of the republic, told the
deputies in message that they had
completed an historic document"
on which "the judgment of history
would be serene" He has been
serving as provisional president.
Deputies Cheer Orlando.
italy actually was proclaimed a
republic on June 8, 1916, after a
plebiscite on the issue went against
the monarchy. The late King,
Umberto II, subsequently went into
exile in Portugal.
The deputies cheered last night
when Vittorio Emanuele Orlando,
Italian Premier in World War 1 and
the last surviving member of the
Big Four of the Versailles Treaty,
spoke of the work the assembly had
done and ended with the words:
God Save Italy
Two other elder statesmen, Ivanoe
Bonomi and Francesca Saverio
Nitti. also were present,
United States Ambassador James
c. Dunn, British Ambassador Sir
Victor Mallett and French Am
bassador Jacques Fouques witnessed
the proceedings
There was applause and cheering
when Umberto Terracini, Communist
president of the Assembly, an
nounced the vote. Everyone stood
Premier Alcide de Gasperi pledged
his government to the new charter
and expressed the hope that the
future would find the same concord
that the voting displayed.
The first full-fedged Parliament
under the republic will come into
being after an election next spring