A Look at Italian Democracy in 1956
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205601100304 |
| Published date | 01 September 1956 |
| Author | Massimo Salvadori |
| Date | 01 September 1956 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
A
LOOK
AT
ITALIAN
DEMOCRACY
IN
1956
Massimo
Salvadori*
EN
years
have
gone
by
since
the
plebiscite
of
June
2,
1946,
led
to
the
proclamation
of
the
Italian
Republic,
and
the
last
King,
Humbert
II,
left
the
country to
take
up
residence
at
a
pleasant
resort
near
Lisbon.
On
the
same
day
elections
for
a
constituent
assembly took
place.
Nearly
two
fifths
of
the
votes
went
to
marxist
parties
(the
Communist
Party
and
a
Socialist
Party
dominated
then,
as
in
1919,
by
fellow
travelling
"massi-
malisti")
which
saw
in
the
Soviet
Union
and in
the
people's
democracies
then
being
set
up
in
Eastern
Europe,
the
example
to
be followed. Over
one
third
of
the
votes
went
to
the Christian
Democratic
Party
in
which coexisted
those
who
had
been
the
followers
of
the
democratic
priest
Don
Sturzo
since
1919,
and
had
opposed
the fascist
dictatorship,
and
the
many
"clericali"
' 1
who
had
once
supported
fascism
and
whose
sympathies
in
1946
went
to
the
repressive
and
restrictive
practices
of
the
Portugese
and several
Latin
American
republics.
Among
those
who
voted
for
the
National
Bloc
and
similar
groupings
could
be
found
both
sincere
liberals
and liberal-conservatives and
also
many
who
hoped
for
a
return
of
an
authoritarian
monarchy.
The
monarchy,
however,
did
not
come
back
and
Italy
did not
become
a
marxist
or
a
clerical republic.
Instead,
it
joined
the
great
family
of
countries
finding
their
inspiration
in
the
liberal
democratic
tradition
which
has
triumphed
on
both
sides of
the
North
Atlantic
ocean.
Italy's
constitution,
approved
in
1948,
is
based
on
the
liberal principles
of
the
autonomy
and
respon-
sibility
of
the
individual, of
the
state
being
subservient to
the
citizens
and
not
vice
versa,
of
liberty
within
the
law,
of
the
diffusion
of
power
within
the
nation.
The
first
and
second
Presidents
of
the
Republic,
De
Nicola
and
Einaudi,
were among
*Professor
of
History
at
Smith
College
and
at
Bennington
College.
Professor
Salvadori
has
had
an
active
political,
administrative,
military,
and
academic
career.
He
was active in
the
underground
opposition
to
Italian
fascism
between
1929
and
1932
and spent a
year
in
prison
because
of
his
political activities.
During
the
Second
World
War
he
served
in
the British
army
in
North
Africa.
He
has
written
widely
on
political
and
economic
subjects.
His
writings
include
The
Rise
of
Modern
Communism,
1952.
1.
In Italy
the term
"clericale"
is applied
to
those
who
think
in
terms
of
traditional
authoritarianism,
of
Church
and
State
working
to-
gether
to
suppress
all
opposition,
heresy
or
deviation.
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