ITALIAN ARMY DISPLAY AT THE CAPITAL

Grey River Argus, 6 April 1948, Page 5

ITALIAN ARMY DISPLAY AT THE CAPITAL

LONDON, April 4. Twenty-five thousand of Italy's Allied equipped armed forces at Rome to-day put on the biggest parade of power since Mussolini’s dictatorship. Cheering crowds of nearly 500,000 answered Communist catcalls as the parade passed for two hours through Rome. The display was held a fortnight before the momentous elections. Officially it was called to mark the revival of an historic division, but the Government left no doubt that it was intended primarily to warn the Communists and reassure the anticommunists. ITALY & U.N.O. NEW YORK, April 4. The United States, Britain and France have sent a letter to the Security Council requesting reconsideration of the applications by Italy and Transjordan for admission to the United Nations. Russian vetoes in the Security Council have previously blocked the admission of Italy and Transjordan. COMMUNIST RALLY STOPPED IN TRIESTE REGION LONDON April 4. Four thousand Italians attempted to storm across the Yugoslav border after they had broken up a Communist rally at Gorizia. Border guards and Italian troops stopped them.

Italian Elections: Will Communists Win ? LONDON, April 3. Geoffrey Cox writes: On April 18 Italy will vote in her general elections which will decide whether power is to go to the Communists, and majority Socialists, who' from the Opposition. The result is uncertain; no good observer from Rome or Milan is prepared to hazard a firm guess one way or the other. What will be the effect if Senor Togliatti, the Italian Communist leader, is Premier on April 19? Italy will pass in her turn into the Soviet bloc. The frontier of Western Europe will, in any future war with the East, .then lie on the French Alps and the Tyrol rather than on the Isonzo river. The Russians will have gained the effective use of the industry of Northern Italy, and an aggressive position in the Mediterranean. We will, in any future war be back in the strategic position in the Mediterranean, of 1943, with the North African shore held by us but with Italy as a potential foe. This would be a loss to the West, but not an irreparable one. In any future war with Russia we would, in any case, have to calculate on Italy falling to invasion from the East, fairly rapidly. But what om the economic loss? Italy is due to contribute a good deal to the European Recovery Programme in manufactures and small amount in food. These wpuld limit still further the resources of Western Europe in the battle lor recovery in the next few years. But they, too, would not be irreplacable, particularly as the aid which would have' gone to Italy from the United Staes would then presumably be available for Britain, France and the Low countries. The economic blow ' could, I believe be sustained. But by far the most serious cost of a Communist victory in Italy would be political. It would precipitate such a crisis in France as to endanger political stability there and prevent France playing hefl due share in the European recovery programme. For a victory by Togliatti in Italy would almost certainly bring de Gaulle into power in France, and that, in turn, would lead to trouble with the French workers, strikes and perhaps even civil war. And that, in fact, would mean the effective end of Western European economic recovery, under the Marshall Plan. On the other hand, if the Catholics win in Italy, will there be a civil war there? Will the Communists call for a rising in the north as has been suggested, and the establishment of a Communist State in the plains of Venice and the Po Valley and around Milan and Turin? I believe this is unlikely. The information I get from Itaiy shows that the Communists are not preparing for any such action. The Italians have had one world war fought on their territory and they are not in a mood to invite another. There is a god deal of loose talk of such action, but at present at least there are no sure signs of it. My belief is that the Soviet will be glad to bring Italy into their bloc if the Communist Party of Italy comes along with power already achieved. But they are not going to risk burning their fingers to drag her in. . , , After all, the Italian peninsula does not contain only the Republic of Italy. It contains the Vatican State, which would be a very indigestible lump inside the Soviet area, and would provide a certain and hostile outpost in their midst. The real importance of Italy lies therefore, in my view, in the bufferState she forms between the East and the volcanic situation in France; her continued existence as a buffer is an essential element in the ..success of the Marshall Plan. That, to my mind, raises a further and most important question—what is the country to do if the Marshall Plan, as a result of Communist opposition or by the sheer ravages, of time, dees not succeed in promoting Western European recovery? We are committed as a country, tc making every effort towards securing recovery in Western Europe. Should not the Dominions, in view of the virtual bankruptcy of the United Kingdom, contribute men and money to Commonwealth overseas defence? This country was deeply moved by the Australian and New Zealand gifts of some 30 millions last I think it would have been much better if these gifts had taken the form of a straight contribution to the defence costs of the Suez Canal —for them we would have been entitled to some say in how the money was spent. This, too, would be woith discussing at a conference, if not cf the whole Commonwealth, at least ot. the Southern Dominions, the African colonies and India and Pakistan.

FACTIONS FIGHT NEAR NAPLES

(Received April 5, 515 P-™-) ROME, April 5. Many were hurt when fighting broke out between Communists and Socialists at a political rally at Vomero near Naples. The police discovered a large number of guns, with ammunition and explosives, mostly held by the Communists, thirty-two of whom were charged with the illegal possession of arms.