Evening star., 1954-03-28
By jones F. King
Associated Pres. Foreign Correspondent


revolutionists. they are a motley
crowd.
One is q bon vivant, another
almost a recluse one q
furrow- -browed intellectual, an
other a street-corner agitator 4. .
one a quick-witted debater, an
other q bore =. one led school
revolt against his teachers at 13,
another won a university scholar
ship and a degree in philosophy
and one has the reputation
of being the only man in his
country to wear a tie. :.
These divergent personalities
are the leaders of the Com
munist parties in Europe.
Some in the West look upon
them as the Reds rogues
gallery" Among their followers
they are regarded as champions
of the oppressed.
Who are they and what makes
them tick? What is their back
ground? Their strength? Their
weaknesses?
ITALY.
The Kremlin's fair-haired
protege in the West is graying,
bespectacled Palmiro Togliatti,
who heads the two million
strong Italian Communist Party
the biggest in the free world.
The 61-year-old Togliatti is
known as a blue suit Commu-
nist"-he gives the outward ap-
pearance of being both modest
and conservative.
He's neither, but he's smart.
AS the son of college admin
istration clerk, his upbringing
was in comfortable circum-
stances. He was a bookish
youngSter and turned radical
later than some of the other
leaders of international commu-
nism-but since then he has
moved faster.
Fought in Spain.
First signs of political inclin-
ations came while he was at the
University of Turin, where he
gained degrees in law and phil
osophy on a scholarship. He
joined the Socialist Party, led
Italy'S first sitdoWn strike in
1919. and became a full-time
politician.
Jailed twice after MuSsolini
came to power. Togliatti was re-
leased on an amnesty in 1925
and then fed to carry on Com
muniSt intrigue in France, Ger
many and Belgium. He fought in
the Spanish Civil War as head
of the Garibaldi Brigade and
then sought refuge in Moscow
during World War II.
Togliatti returned to Italy near
the end of the war and served
as Vice Premier in the Italian
republican government for six
months in 1945.
AS a young Red. he married
Rita Montagnana, Turin dress
maker who became a close DO
litical collaboration. Four years
ago he switched his favor to
33-year-old Leonilde Iotti,
Communist deputy who shares
a villa with him-rent paid by
the party. Rita has dropped
out of sight.
Contrasting Personalities.
The Communist Party hier-
archy in Italy underscoreS the
contrasting personalities brought
together plotting the revolution.
Look at the polished Togliat-
It's chief deputies:
/. Pietro Secchia, so, who
never reached high school but
acquired culture of q sort from
books while serving nearly half
his lifetime in Fascist jails and
concentration camps.
2. Luigi Longo, so. son of a
farmer who gave up engineer
1ng-for which he holds a de-
gree - to become the Reds
strong arm man charged with
enforcing discipline in the ranks.
3. Giuseppe di Vittorio. so, son
OF peasants who launched a ca
reer as an agitator at the age
OF IL and heads the Red trade
unions in Italy.
FRANCE.
A hulking extrovert who likes
high living Is the secretary-gen-
eral Of the French Communist
Party, which has an estimated
strength of 100000 members.
Maurice Thorez can be ex-
tremely amiable in private con-
versation. But his opponents
know better fierce scowl under
o thatch Of ruddy brown hair.
Like Togliatti, the 53-year-old
Thorez was hiding out in Mos
cow during World War II. But
the French Red leaders up
bringing was on tougher road.
He knew poverty, well.
ThoreZ went into the coal
mines at IL. later gaining recog-
milton as a trade union leader.
Again, like Togliatti, ThoreZ
keeps his social life in the party.
His present wife, No. 2, is Julie
Marie Vermeersh. Communist
deputy from a Paris constitu-
ency.
Thorez. now in poor health, is
still a member of the French
Parliament and served for a
time as Minister Of State in the
postwar provisional govern
ment.
The active boss of the French
Reds is Jacques Duclos, 81, a
short. roly-poly man with a
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