Evening star., 1953-08-02

Rowdy's the Word
For PurIiument
By WiIIiom Porter

but only few thousand more votes
in last months Italian elections
would have given Premier Alcide de
Gasperi working majority in Par
Lament. And the Italian Parlia-
ment, of all places, is where work.
ing majority is really needed.
A more rowdy deliberative assem-
bly, could hardly be imagined. SEN
ators Mccarthy and Lehman, at
their cat-and-dog worst on Capitol
Hill, are little gentlemen compared
with Italian legislators under nor
NAL conditions. And when things
get bad in Parliament, it is time to
follow the arrows to the bomb
shelters.
Yet the heated sessions which last
week toppled Signor de Gasperi
from the premiership, appeared to
Roman political. writer's to be models
of decorum. When the new Parlia-
ment met to deliver the death blow
to the De Gasperi government, one
Rome newspaper marveled:
"A new parliamentary custom,
which takes into account reciprocal
rights and mutual respect, seems
to be developing in the Chamber Of
Deputies"
Normally. the man who has the
floor in the Chamber of Deputies
must be prepared to defend himself
vigorously. Strong language is not
at all uncommon; the epithet GRIM
male is SO frequently used that it
seems part of parliamentary busi-
ness.
Occasionally words lead to deeds.
Late last winter the De GaSperi
government pushed through the
electoral reform law. When it's
passage finally appeared inevitable.
the left-Wing opposition tried at
first to amend it to death Failing
this, they turned to violence. First
the urn containing black and white
balls used in voting was dumped
by Communist deputy; attempts
were made to charge the podium
and get at the presiding officer:
there were dozens of f1st-fiightS.
sooner or later almost every NOV
able object from inkwells to
benches-in the handsome old red
velvet chamber was used as a
weapon-ironically one of the mis-
siles used was the heavy manual
Of parliamentary procedure, which
discourages this form of debate.
The discussion was equally spirit
ed when the bill came before the
Senate a few weeks later. After
few days of 1T the President of the
Senate, whose function is non-parti-
san, resigned in obvious fear for his
own safety. His successor managed
to stay in Office until the electoral
reform bill was passed in a marathon
bedlam; he then announced his
withdrawal from active political life.
f@s The most serious casualty of the
discussion was an usher who re-
ceived a fractured skull when he
was struck by a chair hurled by an
unidentified statesman. There were
bruises and lacerations galore in
both houses. The government forces
as it developed, took their Jumps for
nothing; although the law passed.
the center parties failed to get a
majority in the election of June Z.
and the law did not apply.
Similar violence had taken place
once before in Italys postwar Par
Lament, during the debate over the
Atlantic pact. It is hardly a COIN
cldence that these measures were
most bitterly opposed by the Com
munistS. In both cases, disturb
ances in the Chamber and Senate
conceded with clashes between
street demonstrators and police.
1talys Communist bosses have DEM
onStrated any number of times that
they can turn violence on (as in the
1948 elections) or off Gas in last
June's, when there were no disturb
ances whatever at the polls). And
it obviously can be turned on in the
Chamber of Deputies as easily as
in the Piazza del Popolo.
Even if the occasional outburstS
OF violence can be blamed to some
extent on the Communists, however.
the boisterous air of normal legis-
latlve doings cannot. Other factors
are involved.
Chief OF these, perhaps, is political
mmaturity. Italy has existed as a
unified nation only since 1870. Until
the fall OF faSciSm in 1943, it had
been governed first by a monarchy
and then by dictatorship. 1t has
had constitutional democratic
regime for only seven years-hardly
enough time for the establishment
of a solid legislative tradition.
The structure of the government
under the present constitution also
encourages instability. The head of
the state is the President, currently
the highly respected Luigi EinaudD
whose function is non-partisan and
whose position resembles that of
constitutional monarch; outside of
unofficial pressures which he can
bring to bear through his prestige.
he Is poWerleSs.
For five years the Christian DEM
ocrats of Alcide De Gaspari and
their center-party allies had a clear
majority in both houses and were
thus able to govern with some au-
thority. The election of last June,
however, saw increases in both the
left and right at the expense of the
center. and the resulting dispersion
of strength has left Italy's Parlia-
ment somewhat in the traditional
position of the French.
There is final factor that con-
tributes to the boisterous gcings-on
IN the Chamber and Senate. The
Italians have always liked their poll
tics guilty and their politicians
gaudy. Politics is the perpetual
topic A of Italian conversation, and
politicking in Italy-like making
love or wearing a uniforms a
thing that must be done with flair.
Or as that Rome newSnaner Said