Roman Circus

The 580 Deputies who fanned out before him in the high, oak-paneled chamber had Amintore Fanfani's fate in their hands. It was up to them to accept or reject him as Italy's new Premier. In the dry, precise style of an economics professor (which he once was), 46-year-old Amintore Fanfani outlined a substantial program: more government housing, another 65,000 schoolrooms, stone-clearing projects in Sardinia and reforestation in the mountain districts, cheaper loans for farmers, wage boosts for workers, better tax enforcement. These measures reflected his leanings to the liberal wing of his Christian Democratic Party. But he also wanted his anti-Communism fully understood: he would take steps against the massive Communist propaganda machinery, which "poisons the public spirit every day with lies and distortions." He would see that Italy "firmly pursues a policy of solidarity with Western nations."

From the center benches, Fanfani's colleagues of the divided Christian Democratic Party applauded, but with more politeness than ardor. The rest of the chamber sat in stony silence. Next day, when the time came for debate of the Fanfani program, there was no debate. Not a Deputy rose to discuss it.

Doomed Christian. The Communists (143 votes), Pietro Nenni's pro-Red Socialists (75), and the neo-Fascists (29) had already decided to oppose Amintore Fanfani. The Monarchists shook their heads at Fanfani's leftward bent. "He has put too much meat on the fire," said one.

Away went the Monarchists' 39 votes. And Giuseppe Saragat's 19 non-Communist Socialists, though they favored every word and comma of Fanfani's program, stubbornly stood against him, too. The 14 Liberals stayed aloof.

The contest was really all over. But the lions and jackals, not yet sated with crisis, would not be denied their sport. For the next two days the old Montecitorio Palace, which houses Parliament, was Rome's modern-day Colosseum and Amintore Fanfani its doomed Christian. Giuseppe Saragat, who held the power to install Fanfani and his democratic Cabinet by a thin margin, alibied that the Premier was trying to appear to be leftist, and yet was compromising with the Monarchists. "One cannot turn toward us and at the same time turn toward the right," said he in an emotional speech.

Fellow Traveler Pietro Nenni stalked the prey with a snarl. "We had hoped that Fanfani would prove to be the mouthpiece of the new, active spirit of the Catholic left," he said, "but instead, he reveals in the most stupefying and offensive way his conception of the corporate and paternalis tic state. Fanfani, your government is ... as dead as a sad smoked herring."

"No, No, Fanfani." Close to 6 on a rainy afternoon, word got around that the two most dramatic antagonists in Italy, Communist Leader Palmiro Togliatti and Christian Democrat Alcide de Gasperi, would meet in parliamentary combat. The galleries filled up and the chamber hushed for the performance of Italy's brilliant Red orator.

"This is no constructive program," said he, a condescending smile warming his round, spectacled face. "Everything is there as far as figures and plans are concerned -- everything from railroads to atoms, from roads to government stud farms. The only thing lacking is ... the Mont Blanc tunnel. Fanfani pretends to give us a plan for five years, when he will be lucky if he lasts five days." He talked of seeing "spurred boots and eagled hats" --symbols of Fascism--in Fanfani's ranks, and he cried that foreign monopolies were "trying to get hold of our rich subsoil." De Gasperi sat writing at his desk, seemingly not listening.

With acid in his voice, Togliatti turned on U.S. Ambassador Clare Boothe Luce. "Oh, we know that Fanfani's position is guided by a foreign power," exclaimed Togliatti. "The things you, Honorable Fanfani, have already said against us have already been said by the American ambassador on her peregrinations . . . My advice is, don't run after her. She brings bad luck." He turned back to the victim. "No, no, Fanfani. We have no confidence in you. The sooner you clear out, the better." The Reds cheered.

Up stood Amintore Fanfani to protest. "I consider it my duty ... to protest against words which are offensive to the representative of a foreign power accredited to the Italian government . . . The most elementary rules of chivalry have also been disregarded." Preconceived Hostility. Speaking for the first time since war's end from the rank & file benches instead of the government desks, Italy's resolute old Christian Democrat Alcide de Gasperi rose in a desperate effort to save Fanfani. Togliatti conspicuously opened a copy of a Communist newspaper and buried his head in it.

"I would have preferred," said De Gasperi, "to forget in silence this spectacle of a miserable Parliament which, after only five years, has replaced the first Assembly of the Republic. Fanfani finds himself today facing the same incomprehension of which I myself was the victim six months ago. It is a preconceived hostility decided upon beforehand.

"I feel that it is no longer a question of backing or refusing to back a government, but rather a question of how to make this chamber function. It is not the fate of this or that party, but rather the fate of Parliament which is at stake. The country watches, bewildered and amazed, at this incapacity to give the country a stable government. Christian Democracy has [already] sacrificed its best qualified men since last July in the attempt to cure this parliamentary paralysis."

After his speech, fellow Christian Democrats crowded around to shake De Gas-peri's hand and kiss his cheeks. Fanfani hugged him. But De Gasperi's effort, as his own despairing tone indicated, was not enough to save Amintore Fanfani.

With one decisive crunch of its jaws, the Chamber of Deputies demolished the Fanfani regime after only eleven days in office. The vote: 303 against him, only 260 for (the Christian Democrats and five Republicans).

The Christian Democrats dazedly looked for another candidate to put up, another program to put forward. The alternative was another national election, which the party, in debt, is in no condition to pay for, and, being divided and demoralized, is in little condition to fight.

Some foreign observers were quick to cry that Italy is hurrying down the road to Communism. That judgment made too little allowance for the resilience of the Italian system; but, in turn, Italian politicians by their fitful divisions were relying too much on that resilience. Chaos is an old friend of the Communists.

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