renin Tn il Ht eye ’ i! iV { gly Dy) | ecsevacetnatinisie Hl A : | hascrenansaneattfl ll Macconune ifivevetl tannieee ! iy Hh ii iBUE N ES : changes in Italy? JCHERE is yet another po- ' litical crisis in Italy, but this time new and important elements are involved. At its recent national. con- ‘ ference. the Christian. Demo- _ @tatic Party,.in power for the Past 15 years, approved. an pproach to the Nenni Social- ist Party for support in a new government. In Western Europe there Ere: Several precedents of co- alition governments between _ Conservatives and Social ermocrats, but this is the first time such an approach has been made to a Socialist Party, avowedly Marxist in Outlook. One may well ask how did this come about and What is behind it. NO MAJORITY The first thing to be clear about is that, without the So- Clalists’ Support, the Chris- tian Democrats could not ob- tain their parliamentary ma- Jority, In the summer of 1960 the €.D. tried a move to the Right when, under the reac: tionary. Tambroni. and- with _ When the CD. - Was to be held (end of Janu- . ary 1962). decided». the Support of the Monarch- ists and neo-fascists, they. formed a government. Anger swept the country; mighty. anti-fascist . demon- Strations were held, workers - Were shot down — but the Tambroni: government was forced: to resign. : After that, under Fanfani, he government with the So- ~ Cial Democrats, the Republi- fans and the Liberals, Last year the two former Right-Wing - barties announced their with- drawal from the coalition conference ae Liberals made it clear aod were opposed to many Or the measures proposed by the Christian Democrat s, Bure all, the proposed Cen- “Left government. ° peor a parliamentary level € Christian Democrats were therefore faced with the Problem of having to seek allies elsewhere in order to ‘retain their majority. A COALITION “hey chose a coalition with €ir two former partners, ee Social Democrats and the ea oe they decided to ett Liberals fall; and they to approach the awe Socialists ‘for what is €d-“external support.” 5: tis to say, to seek an annie with the Nenni a that. if they. were ,.. Prepared to vote for the ©vernment, at least. they ~ Would: abstain- As C.D.* Party secretary * Aldo Pedro: told his party’s Conference this “necessity for Rerfiamentary: support was Ot: the only reason for the tiations with the Socialists. -. The aim is to try to isolate Italy’s powerful Communist Party, to. build-a dam against the. workingclass .movement, whose growth they have been: means, LEFT STRENGTH Between them the Nenni Socialists and the Commun- ist Parties command almost 40 percent of the electorate. The Italian Communist Party — the strongest nu- merically in the country and second strongest in .Parlia- ment — has gone from strength to. strength. Its members play a lead- ing role in the trade unionis and other mass organizations; in over 2,000 local and dis- trict councils it administers jointly with the Socialists; in the past few years it has increased its- poll at every election. : Over the past few years, however, a new development has taken place within the Socialist Party. While still claiming to hold a Marxist standpoint, the party has been split into a Right Wing, lead by general secretary Nenni, and a Left Wing. On its central committee there are 44 of the Nenni group and 34 of the Left. The Nenni group is favourably inclined to the approaches being made by the Christian Democrats, although it also, as it must, stresses that So- unable to stem by any other} upon the program adopted by ~any; new government.: :;CAPITULATION: will: demand ‘a «special Party congress: At its meeting last month the Socialist Party’s execu- tive unanimously approved a minimum economic program. This includes educational and agricultural reform; auto- nomy for the regions; nation- alization of the electrical in- dustry; extention of trade union rights; and fiscal re- form and an end to the keep- ing secret of bank accounts. The party’s foreign policy platform includes a neutral Italy, no atomic arms for the West German Bundswehr. It does not insist on Italy’s withdrawal from Nato, but argues it should be a purely defensive alliance. Unquestionably, the Right Wing would be prepared to make some sort of compro- mise on both domestic and foreign affairs, but the Left Wing insists the above are immutable conditions for any collaboration with the Chris- tian Democrats. Communist Party leaders have repeatedly stressed they have never opposed co-opera- tion between Catholics and Socialists; the essential thing is on what conditions this co- operation is agreed. cialist support is dependent Speaking. in Siena last agazine Section hat'sbehindGov't The Left Wing +hhas warned: that.if a majority-on the.cen-} itralr: committee. decides « onF capitulation» to. the: C.D ith GOVT. CHANGES REFLECT RISING PEOPLES MOVE. MENTS IN ITALY. The present policy is leading Italy deeper into crisis. During recent months tHere have been rising movements of the people for new policies. Photo above shows a demonstration of coal miners in Carbonia in Sardegne, Italy on Jan. 25 when a 24-hour. general strike took place. They demonstrated for higher wages and full employment, weekend central committee| member Mario Alicata under-| lined. that the Christian! Democrats’ new approach,| their plan for a Centre-Left) government, was the result! of the powerful people’s; movement. It was true that the new political situation involved risks for the democratic and workingclass movement, that the Christian Democrats were aiming to split them. But there were also dan- gers for the Christian Demo- erats arising from their de- cision to abandon, at least partially, their old entrench- ed position. FRUITLESS It would be fruitless to try to calculate whether the risk was greater for the Christian Democrats or the working class and democratic move- ment, Alicata pointed out. What was decisive was that now, ‘we are entering a period of even sharper class struggle. It is a period in which the key question is the ability of the working class to gauge the situation correctly and to find the _ correct method of struggle.” The problem could not simply be solved on a parlia-« mentary level or by agree- ment between the parties. The real solution lay in the advance of a real people's movement, united. Tribute to Tom Uphill . .. HE “Man, from Fernie” has crossed the Great Divide. Thomas Hubert Up- hill, veteran Member of the Legislative Assembly of Brit- ish Columbia, first elected in 1920 and the MLA for Fernie for a full 40 years, passed away peacefully on February 17th in his 87th year. Holding a record of which he was justly proud, that of being the longest continuous parliamentary representative in the British Commonwealth Tom Uphill leaves behind him no large estate or ac- -cumulation» of this. world’s goods, But he does leave a deep» sense of loss and grief in the hearts of thousands of working men and women in .B.C., not only in his own con- stituency of Fernie, but far beyond. In his long parliamentary) ‘career as ‘Independent Labor” member for coal-min- -ing-and. farming constituency, and a local miner himself, Tom Uphill’s popularity with bToposal to enter into nego- and confidence of his people, -basis. of “promises”, and promptly’ forget these and their constituents between has no parallel in Canadian political life. For 40 years they returned Tom to the B.C. Legislature, sometimes unchallenged, sometimes in face of unprincipled Tory, Liberal, Social Credit and right-wing CCF opposition. Besides this, the people of Fernie elected him Mayor and later made him a ‘‘Free- man” of his beloved city. Tom Uphill was a man of unique sterling qualities. Un- like the general run of politicians who manager to get themselves elected on the i elections, Tom never forgot he was a coal. miner and a workingman, staying close.to his people, and they to him. To the common: people: of his constituency and his pro: vince Tom’s office in the B.C. legislature was “open house” always. If there was anything he could do to re- dress a grievance he did it. ‘most of today’s. alleged If it was beyond his powers, ... by Tom McEwen his sparkling Trish wit would produce a spicy joke that would transform the ‘“griev- ing” party or delegation into uproarous laughter. Tom be- lieved that if the world could laugh more, things would be a lot better. Even in the austere legis- lature, when things were dull and dragging with monoton- ous. speeches, the Member from Fernie would suddenly remember that “this is Guy Faulkes. Day” and would some “honourable” member please retire to the basement to see if there were any signs: of a gunpowder plot afoot since this place “sure needs an explosion to wake it up.” On many occasions in_ his heyday the august house rang-with real belly laughter when. Tom unloosed one of his vast fund of witty gems. One of the great qualities which placed Tom Uphill] head ‘and shoulders above, “Jabor” representatives was his total immunity to cold-| Salute to ‘The Man From Fernie’ war anti-Communist propa- ganda. Tom Uphill made no pretentions to Marxism or Communism, but his personal friendship with Communists Was sincere and genuine, a friendship underscored by his readiness to discuss any and all problems of the day, and by his long-standing and generous support to Com- munist journals, and to the Pacific Tribune in particular. To Tom Uphill the coldwar was a deadly disease, stand- ing between the unity of the common people and peaceful progress. : “They. would throw. you ia jail” Tom once said, “if you knowingly gave a man a bottle of poison to drink. But if you give him a big dose of this coldwar poison : they'll make you a university professor or appoint you to the senate. Man it’s terrible.” In the annals of B.C..poli« tics Tom Uphill became in himself an institution; an in- stitution .symbolized in the See UPHILL, -pg. 10° March 2, 1962—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5 which must be j | | i ij