One Little Fascist Vote

Three weeks ago Christian Democratic Premier Adone Zoli ringingly announced that he would not accept office on the strength of Fascist votes. Last week, in a performance that left even connoisseurs of political agility openmouthed, Zoli announced that he was, after all, prepared to swallow one little Fascist vote.

While members of Italy's Chamber of Deputies listened in hostile silence, Zoli glumly reminded them that it was not his fault that he was Premier of Italy. True to his original promise, he had resigned office just as soon as the tellers finally confirmed that without Fascist support he would have been one vote short of a majority (TIME, June 17). But when President Giovanni Gronchi, unable to find anyone else, coolly declared that Zoli was still Premier, "I felt," burbled Zoli into the silence, "that I had to accede to so high an authority." So ended Italy's longest political crisis (52 days) since the one that preceded Mussolini's accession to power. Said one Roman politician: "This government is not a solution to crisis, but merely a manifestation of it."

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