"You'll Be Sorry"

The No. 2 focus of Western Europe's crisis was Italy. For the past month, the Communists had tried, through strikes and economic disruption, to overthrow il governo nero (the "black Government," i.e., Christian Democratic Premier Alcide de Gasperi's Cabinet). Then for nine days Communist Palmiro Togliatti and Socialist Pietro Nenni attacked De Gasperi in the Assembly. At 2:30 a.m. one day last week, came the showdown.

In all, three motions of no-confidence in the Government were introduced. De Gasperi got by with margins of 93, 47 and 34 votes successively. The Government was strengthened by a dramatic message from Washington that the U.S. had given up its share of Italian warships, awarded to the U.S. under the peace treaty. The Communists, seeing that De Gasperi was safe for the time being, withdrew their own no-confidence motion. The left's obvious strategy: to pin Italy's economic troubles on the Government as an excuse for further strikes and strife. Cried Nenni to De Gasperi: "You'll be sorry . . . perhaps within a few months ... or weeks. . . ."

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