Italy: Craxi courted by Tories and Stalinists

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"I didn't get where I am today by leading a major political party" Bettino Craxi could justly say.

Craxi is leader of Italy's third party, the Socialists, which get less than one third of the number of votes as either the Communist Party or the Christian Democrats, Italy's Catholic Tories.

Yet at ine Socialist Party conference which took place last weekend nearly everyone who was anyone in Italian politics was there.

There was ahigh powered delegation from the Christian Democratic party, the SP's leading partners in the present coalition "centre left" government.

And from the CP there was no less a figure Enrico Berlinguer, the General Secretary.

It is a reflection of the extreme instability of Italian politics that such a small party as the Socialists can generate so much interest and that its leader, Craxi, can seriously entertain the idea of becoming Prime Minister.

The reason is simple. The Christian Democrats are now too discredited and lacking authority to rule Italy alone. But the SP gives them majority in Parliament.

But the SP would also very nearly give the CP a majority if they formed a left coalition.

Results

And the CP leaders are now very anxious indeed to end their 33 year , exclusion from government in order to show their increasingly radicalised rank and file that their policies of compromise can produce resuits.

This position as the much courted holder of the balance of Italian politics is much to the taste of the arrogantly ambitious Craxi, who sees it as his way to supreme power (or CP leader Berlinguer and i supreme as Italian premiers have!).

it is also reflected in the three-way political line up at the party conference.

The far-left of the wants the SP to join a left government with the Communists.

The less left want form a government national unity consisting leader Craxi all the "democratic" parties (i.e. everyone except the neo-fascist MSI).

And the right wants to continue in a coalition with the capitalist parties-principally the Christian Democrats--but to get more benefits from it (eventually the Premiership, though it is considered indecent to mention this openly).

This right faction, led by Craxi, has over 70% of the delegates to the conference as a result of appropriate wheeling and dealing.

This is somewhat ironic in view of the fact that the right wing opportunist Craxi (following Ramsay MacDonald, Harold Wilson and many others) rose to power with the support of the left.

Unfortunately for the Socialists they are not held in quite the same respect privately by the two large parties as their public positions would imply.

Craxi inspires more contempt than respect. And he may find in the end that far from balancing between the two big parties he is crushed to death between them and left holding the can for either the policies of the government or the chaos of But for the present Craxi can still put the fear of death into the other parties, especby threatening to withdraw his support from the tottering Forlani government and precipitate a general election.

And there is nothing that Italy's "democratic" politicians fear more than But as to Craxi's personal ambitions, his lust for the premiership will not be satisfied.

In fact in the topsyturvy world of Italian politics, if Forlani falls, it may not be that the SP is too small to provide the next Prime Minister. It may be too big.

The next Prime Minister may have to come from the tiny Republican Party-or from no party at all.