ITALY " THIS SHIP IS LEAKING " ITALIAN DEMOCRACY LAST WEEK WAS 
STAGGERING TOWARD A POLITICAL CRISIS THAT MAY WELL PROVE TO BE 
THE WORST SINCE THE COMMUNISTS WERE NARROWLY DEFEATED 15 YEARS AGO 
. ON THE VERGE OF ENTERING THE GOVERNMENT WAS A MARXIST 
PARTY THAT, AT ITS WORST, IS OPENLY ALLIED WITH THE COMMUNISTS 
AND, AT BEST, IS ONLY A LUKEWARM AND NEUTRALITY-MINDED ADHERENT OF 
THE WEST . SEEKING PERMISSION . WHEN THE ORIGINAL APERTURA A 
SINISTRA (OPENING TO THE LEFT) WAS ENGINEERED A LITTLE LESS THAN 
TWO YEARS AGO, IT HAPPENED LARGELY BECAUSE THE LONG-RULING CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS 
FELT THEMSELVES SLIPPING AT THE POLLS AND GENERALLY DECLINING IN VIGOR 
COMPARED TO THEIR EARLY POSTWAR DAYS . THE SOLUTION ADVANCED BY 
LEFT-WING CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS, WITH THE ZEALOUS BACKING OF WASHINGTON, WAS A 
SERIES OF REFORMS IN EDUCATION, AGRICULTURE AND TAXATION, ALL INVOLVING LARGE 
MEASURES OF GOVERNMENT PLANNING . SINCE THIS PROGRAM WAS OPPOSED BY 
THE RIGHTIST PARTIES IN PARLIAMENT, INCLUDING THE FREE-ENTERPRISING LIBERALS, THE CHRISTIAN 
DEMOCRATS NEEDED SUPPORT ELSEWHERE TO BE ABLE TO FORM A MAJORITY 
. THEY SOUGHT IT FROM PIETRO NENNI'S LEFT-WING SOCIALISTS . ACCORDING 
TO THE APERTURA AGREEMENT, THE NENNI SOCIALISTS DID NOT ENTER THE 
GOVERNMENT BUT SUPPORTED IT IN PARLIAMENT . IN THE PROCESS, SOME 
CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS HOPED, THE NENNI SOCIALISTS WOULD BE WOOED INTO BREAKING 
THEIR LONGSTANDING ALLIANCE WITH THE COMMUNISTS . AS IT TURNED OUT, 
THE APERTURA FAILED TO ACCOMPLISH THAT OR ANYTHING ELSE EXCEPT THE 
UNNECESSARY NATIONALIZATION OF ITALY'S ELECTRICAL INDUSTRY . IT ALSO PAVED THE 
WAY, AT LAST SPRING'S ELECTIONS, FOR HEAVY GAINS BY BOTH THE 
COMMUNISTS AND THE LIBERALS . SINCE THEN ITALY HAS BEEN RULED 
BY THE CARETAKER GOVERNMENT OF PREMIER GIOVANNI LEONE . BUT BOTH 
PIETRO NENNI AND THE MAJORITY OF THE CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS UNDER ALDO 
MORO WANTED TO REVIVE THE APERTURA, THIS TIME WITH THE LEFT-WING 
SOCIALISTS ACTUALLY IN THE GOVERNMENT . LAST WEEK, PIETRO NENNI TURNED 
TO HIS DEEPLY DIVIDED PARTY TO GET ITS PERMISSION TO NEGOTIATE 
SUCH A DEAL . OUTSIDE ROME'S MASSIVE MARBLE PALACE OF THE 
CONGRESSES, 600 SOCIALIST DELEGATES PARKED THEIR FIATS, LOOKING FOR ALL THE 
WORLD LIKE BOURGEOIS CONVENTIONEERS . BUT INSIDE, SUGGESTING THAT YOU CAN'T 
TEACH OLD DOGMATISTS NEW TRICKS, THE STAGE WAS BEDECKED WITH RED 
FLAGS AND THE SOCIALIST EMBLEM : A HAMMER, SICKLE AND A 
RISING SUN . EYES GREW MISTY WITH TEARS AS THE AFFLUENT 
CROWD BROKE OUT IN EMOTIONAL RENDITIONS OF THE INTERNATIONALE AND BANDIERA 
ROSSA (RED FLAG) . SPOUTING JARGON . TODAY, SAID PIETRO NENNI 
FRANKLY, " SOCIALIST PARTICIPATION IN A COALITION GOVERNMENT IS NOT A 
QUESTION OF PRINCIPLE BUT OF POLITICAL OPPORTUNITY . " THEN HE 
LAUNCHED INTO A PRECARIOUS BALANCING ACT . HE DENOUNCED THE COMMUNISTS' 
" ARID THEORIES OF POWER, " AND URGED THE PARTY TO 
DROP ITS RULE DEMANDING COOPERATION WITH THE REDS IN LOCAL ELECTIONS 
. BUT HE DID NOT AS THE CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS HAD WANTED 
HIM TO ASK THAT SUCH ELECTORAL ALLIANCES BE SPECIFICALLY RULED OUT 
. IN FOREIGN AFFAIRS, NENNI ADVOCATED A VAGUE POLICY OF " 
POSITIVE NEUTRALISM, " WHICH MEANS UNENTHUSIASTIC ADHERENCE TO NATO AND OPPOSITION 
TO THE U.S . PLAN FOR A MULTINATIONAL SURFACE FLEET EQUIPPED 
WITH POLARIS MISSILES . THE POWERFUL PRO-COMMUNIST WING OF NENNI'S SOCIALISTS 
DENOUNCED THE PROPOSED COALITION GOVERNMENT AS " UNACCEPTABLE TO A WORKING-CLASS 
PARTY . " THE BALANCE OF POWER RESTED WITH THE SOCIALISTS' 
NO . 2 LEADER, RICCARDO LOMBARDI, WHO ONLY JOINED THE PARTY 
IN 1947 (BEFORE THEN HE WAS A LEADER OF THE LEFTIST 
ACTION PARTY, WHICH DIED IN 1946) AND FEVERISHLY TRIES TO MAKE 
UP FOR LOST TIME BY SPOUTING ARCHAIC MARXIST JARGON . HE 
ALSO MADE NEUTRALIST NOISES, AND UNLIKE NENNI, HE HINTED AT FURTHER 
NATIONALIZATION SCHEMES . STILL, WHILE HE DENOUNCED THE " MENACE OF 
CAPITALISM, " LOMBARDI ADMITTED THAT WITHIN A DECADE THE CAPITALISTS MIGHT 
SOLVE ITALY'S SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS SO THE SOCIALISTS HAD BETTER 
GET INTO THE GOVERNMENT NOW TO SHARE THE CREDIT AND INFLUENCE 
EVENTS . THUS, IN THE END, LOMBARDI THREW HIS SUPPORT TO 
NENNI, BUT WITH SO MANY QUALIFICATIONS THAT NENNI MIGHT YET FIND 
IT IMPOSSIBLE TO WORK OUT A COALITION WITH THE CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS 
. OF 101 SEATS IN THE PARTY'S CENTRAL COMMITTEE, TWO WENT 
TO INDEPENDENTS, 49 TO PROCOMMUNISTS AND 59 TO DELEGATES FAVORING THE 
COALITION . OF THESE 59, HOWEVER, 16 ARE HELD BY LOMBARDI 
SUPPORTERS . VIEWING HIS SHAKY VICTORY, THE AGING (72), AILING NENNI 
DECLARED : " THIS SHIP IS LEAKING ON ALL SIDES . 
" MORE MODERATE ? RIGHT-WING CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS, WHO HAD OPPOSED THE 
APERTURA IN THE FIRST PLACE, WARNED DIRELY AGAINST TAKING THE SOCIALISTS 
ON BOARD AT ALL . SAID LIBERAL LEADER GIOVANNI MALAGODI : 
" COLLABORATION WITH THE SOCIALISTS SIGNIFIES THE ABANDONMENT OF THE STRUGGLE 
AGAINST COMMUNISM, ABANDONMENT OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE WEST, ABANDONMENT OF A 
FREE ECONOMY AND AN OPEN DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY . " U.S . 
POLICYMAKERS, ALTHOUGH THEY NO LONGER SUPPORT THE APERTURA WITH THE SAME 
OLD ENTHUSIASM, PERCEIVE NO SUCH PERILS ; THEY ARGUE THAT NENNI 
& CO . WOULD BECOME MORE MODERATE AS MEMBERS OF THE 
GOVERNMENT THAN IF THEY REMAINED ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN . 
BESIDES, INSIST DEFENDERS OF THE APERTURA, THE ALTERNATIVE TO A CENTER-LEFT 
ALLIANCE IS A CENTER-RIGHT COALITION WHICH COULD NOT COMMAND A MAJORITY 
IN THE PRESENT PARLIAMENT WITHOUT THE VOTES OF MONARCHISTS AND NEO-FASCISTS 
. MANY ITALIAN RIGHT-WINGERS ACTUALLY WANT THE APERTURA GOVERNMENT FORMED, HOPING 
THAT IT WILL FAIL, THEREBY FORCING NEW ELECTIONS IN WHICH THE 
RIGHT-WING PARTIES EXPECT TO MAKE FURTHER GAINS FOR COMRADE PALMIRO TOGLIATTI, 
HE CHIDED NENNI FOR HIS ANTI-COMMUNIST TALK AND SWEETLY URGED BOTH 
THE SOCIALISTS AND THE LEFT-WING CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS TO ACCEPT COOPERATION WITH 
THE COMMUNIST PARTY . 