Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-06-14
BY MARY McGRORY
star staff Writer

star staff Writer
ROME. June l4.--Mario Alo-
cate is the editor Of L'Unita,
the official voice of the Italian
Communist Party. He is also a
member of its central commit
tee and o Deputy in Parlia-
ment. representing Siena.
He Is interesting to talk to
about the Communist Party In |
Italy, which never had 1t so
good. It's disconcerting Million
vote gain in the April elections |
has made President Kennedy |
determined to come here-new
Pope and new Premier or not
to remind Italy Of its Western
commitments.
Mr.. Allocate is q man in his
mid-4Os, highly intelligent and,
like all Italians, immensely
communicative. He sat in his
office in the sparkling new
building jointly occupied by
"LUnita" and its comrade,
"Paese Sera." and talked for two
hours about Italy's Communist
Party, which is the largest in
Europe, and which continues
to make a forceful appeal to
the intellectuals and the youth
Of the country.
Perhaps Typical
His is perhaps a typical
italian Communist case history.
Born poor in Naples, graduate
Of the University Of Rome, he
was imprisoned for anti Fascist
activities during the Mussolini
regime and converted to COM
munism in prison. In the re-
sistance movement. Of which
Communists were the core, he
played q gallant role.
He is. incidentally. a devotee
Of American literature, q reader
of Melville and voluble on the
subject of F. Scott Fitzgerald,
whom he regards as Americas
greatest writer in the Goth GEN.
tury. He follows American poll
tics avidly, regards President
Kennedy as a new and "sympa-
thetic" type Of American leader.
The Communist record of
anti-fascism and partisan ac-
tivity, he thinks, accounts for
the tolerance Of Communists
In Catholic Italy.
I'VE are not strangers" says
Mr.. Allocate. I'VE are not men
from Moscow. we are Italians"
Points to Dissent
He points out that Italian
Communists do not always fol-
low the Moscow line. He cites
the case of Premier Khrush-
chev's recent anti-intellectual
directives. Palmiro Togliatti,
Italy's commissar, called q
press conference to announce
local dissent.
Dissent, however, Is always
In detail. The Italian Reds
eventually swallowed the Mos
COW version of the Hungarian
revolt as "a Fascist bourgeois
uprising" OF this crisis Of con-
science, says Mr.. Allocate, "You
notice that none Of the farmers
In Hungary joined. They knew
1t was a plot to take their land
away and give 1t gack to the
former owners"
The most interesting aspect
Of Mr.. Alocate's account of how
the Communists scored so
heavily in the April election is
that it is not seriously dis
puted by the Christian Demo-
Gratis.
1t was a matter Of organiza-
ton, immigration, television and
Pope Johns kindlier attitude
not towards communism, but
towards Communists.
Vote Of Dissatisfaction
Italy's new-found prosperity.
which filtered down somewhat
to her millions Of "have-nots"
and was expected to render
them grateful to the capitalist
system, had the opposite effect.
Overworked Italians who got
something for the first time in
their lives, wanted something
more. There was no easier
way to put the Christian Demo-
Gratis on notice that they were
not satisfied than to vote Com
munist.
They realized for the first
time italy did not need to be
a poor country" said Mr.. Alo-
cate.
The organization showed up
all over Europe. The thousands
OF landless southerners stream
ing north to partake in Italy's
industrial renaissance wereI
taken in hand at the train by
the comrades.
Over a million and a half
Italians went to seek work in
Northern Europe, leaving their
families in misery behind.
Comrades helped them to get
settled In England. Germany
and Holland. Some 500, 900
came home to vote. They ex-
pressed their bitterness at
homesickness and exile by vot-
ing for the Communists. With