The Main Political Problems to Be Solved

Economic and religious issues are- not the only burning questions bound up in the general problem
of Italy’s future. There are a number of outstanding political issues that are just as hot. Like the
others they all have their domestic and their international facets. The decisions reached with respect
to each will be partly made in Italy and partly made by the direct or indirect influence of non-Italian
forces. And whatever the answers may be, they will concern both Italy and its near and far neighbors.
Will the monarchy be kept?
On one side of this argument are those who want to throw out the House of Savoy and set up a
republican government. They say that Italy has no great monarchic tradition; that its republican
traditions go much deeper; that the flourishing city-states and republics of the Middle Ages prove;
the Italian people are capable of democratic self-government; and that republican forces and
republican leaders, like Garibaldi and Mazzini, were always in the vanguard of the fight for national
unity and independence in the nineteenth century.
They clinch their argument by recalling the responsibility of the king for fascism and his
subservience to Mussolini. As Mussolini was overthrown, so must the monarchy be eliminated, they
say.
On the other side of the argument the advocates of keeping the monarchy admit the great republican
traditions, but say they were politically ineffective and that unity could never have been achieved
without the leadership of the House of Savoy and its great prime minister, Cavour. Before 1922, they
contend, the monarchy had been truly liberal and sincerely respectful of the rights of citizens. Its
share in fascism is real, they admit, but they say that whereas Victor Emmanuel III ought to be
removed, his heirs should be left on the throne.
In the difficult years ahead, the monarchists say, continuation of the monarchy will provide one
element of certainty in what may be an otherwise confused situation.
The question of colonies
Italy entered the race for colonial empire rather late: Most of the prime lands in Africa had already
been grabbed up. With English backing, however, Italy acquired certain bases on the Red Sea coast
of Africa and later expanded them into the colony of Eritrea. Some wasteland along the Indian Ocean
was also acquired and given the name Italian Somaliland.
An expedition bent on conquering Ethiopia in 1896 suffered a humiliating defeat and slaughter in the
battle of Adowa. The defeat at the hands of the Ethiopians put a stop to Italian moves in that
direction, but it rankled in the memories of Italian superpatriots and spurred the idea of revenge in
the 1935 attack on Ethiopia.
An ultimatum presented to the tottering Ottoman Empire in 1911 led to a short war and the
acquisition of the immense area of Libya, mostly desert, and the Greek-populated Dodecanese
islands in the Aegean Sea.
This was the total of Italian possessions before fascism. The area in square miles was impressive, but
it was mostly sand. Only a few thousand Italians settled in the colonies while millions migrated to
other countries. Except for very small amounts of cotton and bananas produced in southern
Somaliland, no useful economic development was in sight.
What to do with them?
The possession of colonies, however profitless, gave many Italians the feeling of belonging to the
charmed circle of colonial powers. Others saw the colonies as the fruit of early discoveries in Africa
by a long series of notable Italian explorers:
In launching on the conquest of Ethiopia in 1935 Mussolini exploited these cravings and also the
resentment felt by many Italians that none of the former German colonies had been assigned to Italy
after World War I. The glory that was Rome in the days of Caesar was a big talking point, of course,
in all fascist colonial propaganda and figured somewhat in the annexation of Albania.
The sudden and unlamented passing of fascism meant automatically the end of all Italian claims on
Ethiopia, already liberated by British armies and on Albania. Italy appears to agree that the
Dodecanese islands should and will go to Greece. These matters are not open for discussion. The
question of what to do about the old Italian colonies of Eritrea. Somaliland, and Libya, however, is
open for debate and decision in the councils of the United Nations.
Italy hopes, for sentimental and economic reasons to retain the old colonies—especially if the other
great colonial empires are allowed to survive unchanged. The economic argument is that Italy needs
the colonies, no matter how slight their economic value, because of its own greatly reduced means.
Many Italian sources, however, have suggested that an international trusteeship for all colonial areas
would be the best all-round solution.