Evening star., 1949-08-03
Red Party's 5hrinkage
In Italy Exceeded by
Decline in Morale
BY Leo J. WoIIemborg
North American Newspaper Alliance

tian-Democratic Mario Scelba.
The minister received me in his
headquarters, located in the south
ern wing of the massive Viminal
Palace in Rome, which also houses
the Offices of Premier Alade de
GaspeE and of the Italian chief
of police. AS I was sitting in
Signor Scelba's Office. my mind
went back to the day, less than
three years ago, when I had seen
an angry mob of rioters storm
that same palace. Today an at
tack against those nerve centers of
the Italian state would be i'm
possible, not to say unthinkable.
And a large measure Of credit
: for the change goes to MIR. Scelba,
the bullet headed minister of the
interior who has become, to Com
munists and anti-Communists
. alike. the symbol of the authority
of the state.
! He won't say it in so many
: words, because this fiery Sicilian
, seems to have thoroughly assim-
F.: ilated the British art of under
statement. But to Mr.. Scelba,
bringing respect for government
back to the streets of Italy and
to the minds of Italians is kind
of mission. This explains why
Italian Communists have singled
him out as their No. enemy.
Reds Doom Declared Sealed.
THE doom of Communism has
been sealed" Mr.. Scelba told me.
mot so much by the guns and the
jeeps of our police, but by our
success in persuading the people
OF Italy that the government
means busineSs-that it won't
cave in before threats or intimi-
dation. This has been our not
so-secret weapon in the battle
of wits and endurance that we
have been waging against the
Communists in the last two
and a half years, the weapon that
has given new courage to all law
abiding citizens and made such
deep inroads in the ranks and
above all in the morale Of
Italian Reds"
The minister can and does list
with satisfaction the quantities of
illegally held arms seized by his
police last year: $50 machine
guns, almost 5000 submachine
guns, over 10000 rifles, 100000
rounds of ammunition. etc. But
he takes even more pride in
recalling that even greater num-
bers of weapons have been thrown
away by their owners. After the
April, 1948, elections, Mr.. Scelba
told me, those abandoned weapons
Uttered the streets, the bitches
and the fields of some Italian
regions like discarded campaign
buttons.
In the same vein, the interior
minister told me about recent
operation in a Northern Italian
factory, located right in the middle
of what used to be called Italy's
little Stalingrad."
'We had known for more than a
year that a large quantity of arms
was hidden somewhere in the
factory. We even drew up a plan
for the operation: 1000 men would
be needed, we estimated, to seal
off the grounds, search the
workers thoroughly and afford
protection against any reaction
by the Communists. But then I
felt that we might as well wait
and clean it up in our own good
time. A couple of weeks ago. we
got a precise tip as to the exact
location of the arms. We sent
over relatively small force which
accomplished the task in a few
hours: routine police operation,
which evoked no resistance and
caused scarcely a ripple either
locally or in the country at large"
Minimizes Neo-Fascists.
Turning to the opposite end of
the Italian political rainbow, I
asked Mr.. Scelba about the neo-
Fascists. who held their second
national convention here in Rome
a few weeks ago, amid shouts of
satisfaction over their growing
membership and renewed pledges
of anti-democratic action. The
minister cautioned against giving
organized neo-fascism too much
Importance.
ITO besure, some sectors of
public opinion do share a feeling
of dissatisfaction with and i'm
patience over our democratic
regime. 1t is a state of mind,
born of defeat and fascism and,
in many cases, by resentment over
a lost job or a relative killed in
the fight against the partisans.
But it is not an organized move
ment. and it won't become a
danger unless and until we make
some big mistake"
ussolini's rise to power
"goes to prove my point" the
minister added. AT that time,
it was the governments weakness,
the all too apparent lack of will
and ability to keep law and order,
which gave Mussolini a green
light.
II assure you that if in 1922
there had been sitting at this desk
minister who knew his job and
had the will to do his duty, the
Fascist march on Rome would
have been liquidated as a routine
police operation"
Today's Would-be Mussolinis,
be they of the extreme right or the
extreme left, are hereby given fair
warning.