Word: demo
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...over Italy for five out of its six postwar years, thus giving a troubled nation a stable government and the West a good friend. But to do this, he has had to conciliate almost all factions (save the Communists, whom he fought uncompromisingly all the time). In his sprawling Demo-Christian Party there are some who favor land reform and some who resist it; some who support a balanced budget and others committed to heavy spending to help the unemployed. De Gasperi learned how to appoint one wing to office, make private promises to its rival, and deliver public speeches...
...government promised to expropriate 3,500,000 acres of land and redistribute it to the poor peasants; in fact, it has redistributed only 225,000 acres. Unemployment is close to 2,000,000. Italian productivity lags behind that of Britain and France. In the spring municipal elections, the Demo-Christians lost ground in the popular vote (TIME, June 25). Last month, beset by a revolt within his own party, De Gasperi resigned...
...read the results of Italy's spring municipal elections with vague uneasiness. Although the Communists had lost most of the towns & cities they had dominated, they had made disturbing gains in popular vote: Red ballots were up to 37.2%, v. 30.3% in 1948; in the same period, the Demo-Christian vote had dropped from...
...Communists achieved their gain after years of Marshall Plan aid to Italy, at a time when the country was probably in better economic shape than at any time in modern history, and despite the Roman Catholic Church's strong intervention for the Demo-Christian De Gasperi. Italian politicians had some explanations...
...Church's direct appeal from the pulpits for Demo-Christian votes may have hindered as well as helped, for while 99.6% of all Italians are Catholics, many cling to a stubborn anticlerical tradition in politics...