Suarez 1

Unite States (Cold War Politics/Marshal Plan)

Communist Party (Palmiro Toggliati)

Church

Christian Democracy (De Gaspari)

Italy: 1950-1960
This graphic shows the principal actors of these decades; however, they are not the only ones.

Suarez 2

Timeline
May, 1947: The United States Secretary of State, George Marshall, George Marshall, wrote to James Dunn, the American ambassador at Rome, foreseeing the perils of October election and urging De Gasperi to govern without the Communists. Spring, 1947: In Harvard, George Marshal gave a speech regarding the rebuilding Europe after WWII, funded by the United States. United States supports the Christian Democrats and helps them to win elections. Summer 1948: Christian Democrats won absolute majority. Anticommunist campaign.
1947: George Marshall at Harvard. Down: George Marshall.

July 14, 1948: Palmiro Togliatti is shot by Antonio Pallante: the leader of the Communist Party is seriously wounded. The murder of Giacomo Matteotti is remembered. 1949: Italy joined NATO. 7 June, 1953: End of De Gasperis political career and the emergence of neo-Fascists as a permanent force in Italian politics. 50s: Throughout the 1950s the weekly magazine Famiglia Cristiana had an enormous circulation, reaching more than a million copies by May, 1961. January 3, 1954: Introduction of television. Two million of unemployed people. 1956: 20th Congress of the Russian Communist Party. Khrushchev denounced Stalin for having carried out the Great Purges, destroyed inner party democracy and created a cult

Suarez 3

of the personality. Togliatti introduces in an interview in the journal Nuovi Argumenti (May-June) the concept of polycentrism: the international socialist movement was no longer centered solely on the Soviet Union, but was increasingly diffuse and thus polycentric. 1957: Italy, Germany, France and other countries found the European union. 1958: Festival della canzone italiano di Sanremo. Domenico Modugno presents Nel blu, dipinto di blu (Volare). This song represented a change (renovation) in Italian music; in the past, sex and sensuality was seen as something dirty; however, with Modugno, la sessualit era felice, libera, vissuta senza trauma, senza complessi di colpa, con naturalezza (Borgna, p. 227). Modugno appeared in television spalancando infatti le braccia (p. 227). 1958-1963: The Economic Miracle. Great increase of industrialization: Fordism (the automated mass production of consumer goods) and consumerism became the twin gods of the age (Ginsborg, p. 213). Great migrations to urban centers. 1965: 49 per cent of Italian families owned a television set. 1968: Student riots in France escalate into a national uprising, soon followed by similar protests in Germany and Italy.

Suarez 4

Alcide Amedeo Francesco De Gasperi was an Italian statesman and politician and founder of the Christian Democratic Party. From 1945 to 1953 he was the prime minister of eight successive coalition governments. His eight-year term in office remains a landmark of political longevity for a leader in modern Italian politics. A conservative Catholic, he was one of the Founding fathers of the European Union, along with the Frenchman Robert Schuman and the West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer.

Palmiro Togliatti (26 March 1893 21 August 1964) was an Italian politician and leader of the Italian Communist Party from 1927 until his death. He was nicknamed by his supporters Il Migliore (The Best). During the 1950s, even the comic books for children were influenced by politics. Il pionere belonged to the Communist Party (it dedicated a number to the boys that fought against the Fascists in 1943). Il Vittorioso belonged to the Catholic Action: it defended traditional values as family and used biblical references.

Suarez 5

Historical and Critical Questions

After Second World War, Italian politics, culture and society were deeply influence by American geopolitical and economic interests. In fact, Christian Democratic campaign for the elections of 1948 was supported ideologically, economically and culturally by the USA. It is worth asking, what was the price of this help? What was the impact of the mass media, specifically the TV, in the process of modernization of Italy? In what sense can we call miracle to the history of Italy during the 50s and 60s? In what spheres of life can we seen a progress or regression? See Pasolini.

What are the reasons for the ambiguities of Togliatti? In 1956, he denounced Stalins cult of the personality; however, as Ginsborg affirms, he expressed shock in 1956 but in the thirties he must have been, at the very least, a witness to Stalins dictatorial powers (p. 205).

How previous Fascist experience influenced in the decisions taken by the Communist party (especially in Togliattis decisions)? Did Fascist experience prevent the Communist Party to take a more energetic decision regarding the political and economic path that the Christian Democrats where taking (supported by the USA)?

Suarez 6

Propaganda Christian Democracy

Suarez 7

Communist Party

Suarez 8

1. Che cos il post-war settlement? The next three years (1945-1948, after Ferruccio Parri, Maurizio, beloved partisan, became Prime Minister; with him, it seemed that the Resistance had come to power), with first De Parri and then De Gasperi as Prime Minister, far from witnessing the triumph of the ideals of the Resistance, saw the gradual development on both a national and international level of two vast opposing fronts: the one having its focal point in the employing classes: the Christian Democrats and the United States; the other centered on the working-class movement, the Communists and Russia (p. 73). Vi ricordate quel dicciotto aprile (song, 1948) Vi ricordate quel diciotto aprile d'aver votato democristiani Senza pensare all'indomani a rovinare la giovent O care madri dell'Italia e che ben presto vi pentirete I vostri figli ancor vedrete abbandonare lor casolar Che cosa fa quel Mario Scelba con la sua celere questura? Ma i comunisti non han paura difenderanno la libert E operai e compagni tutti, che sempre uniti noi saremo e tutti in coro noi canteremo: Bandiera rossa trionfer1.
1

Informazioni: 1948, di L. Bellotti. Contadino, militante del P.C.I., scritto lindomani della sconfitta del Fronte Popolare alle elezioni. La versione contenente una strofa in pi, nel finale, che dice: E operai e compagni tutti/che sempre uniti noi saremo/e tutti in coro noi canteremo: Bandiera rossa trionfer, stata

Suarez 9

The essence of Christian Democrats practice was that interclassism which is the prerequisite for any modern conservative pa rty. Through the support of the church and its lay organization, Azione Cattolica, the Christian Democrats hoped to reach believers of all social classes (p. 75). ceti medi: backbone of Mussolinis support but also of the Christian Democracys.

2. Qual il programma politico e ideologia della DC? 3. Quale programma politico e ideologia del PCI? Togliatti was convinced, and his conviction lies at the origins of what can be called an enduring fallacy of PCI strategy, t hat the Christian Democrats were potentially a progressive force in Italian society. When Camilla Ravera expressed doubt on the subjects, he said to her: But, no, believe me, De Gasperi and I agree on a host of things, from agrarian reform to trade union unity. You ll see well achieve a lot together. This was not only to misjudge De Gasperi, but to mistake the actual nature of Christian Democrats. Between 1945 and 1947, while the communists made concession after concession to keep the alliance intact, the Christian Democrats became ever more firmly the representatives of those forces in Italian society for whom the concept of progressive democracy was total anathema. As Pavone has pointed out, the Communist error is at least partially explained by their commitment, for far too long, to pre-Fascist political models (p. 83).

4. Tre esempi del ruolo importante giocato dalla chiesa nella vita politica e sociale italiana

raccolta da Bermani e Leydi dal repertorio della mondina R. Varotto (Novara): Indicazioni bibliografiche: Vettori Giuseppe, Canzoni italiane di protesta 1794 - 1974, Roma, Newton Compton, 1975.

Suarez 10

After the historic victory of April 1948, neither Christian Democracy nor church ever seriously considered going their separate ways. Fanfanis attempts to build a mass party could not mask the fact that throughout the 1950s the Christian Democrats continued to rely very heavily on the churchs profound permeation of Italian society, and on its explicit political support at election time (p. 168). Catholic Action organized a very wide range of religious and social activities. The male youth movement (GIAC), covering the ages ten to thirty, set itself the following tasks: the formation of its members, especially in the areas of prayer, act ion and sacrifice; proselytizing amongst youth: the preparation of young men for family and social life; the furtherance of a healthy intellectual, physical an recreational education () Cultural activities included a very active network of cinemas, where fi lms approved by the church authorities were shown. By 1954 Catholic Action ran over 4000 cinemas in the country, of which 2700, were in the North (p. 169). Compulsory religious education, as agreed in the Lateran Pacts, gave the church all -important access to children in state schools. In addition, the POA (Pontifica Opera di Assistenza) organized a large number of educational and recreational activities. These varied from seaside and mountain camps to kindergartens, to doposcuole (afternoon activities for six- to twelve-year-olds), to case del fanciullo and della fanciulla for teenagers in need of assistance. By 1952 in Naples alone there were 155 case del fanciullo catering for 30000 boys. Overall, and again the statistics are for 1952, the POA offered assistance to one and a half million children and youths, who were aided by 128350 religious and lay collaborators. (p. 170). 5. Tre esempi del ruolo degli Stati Uniti nella vita italiana