Even Eternal Rome was beginning to wonder if it was eternal enough to outlast the filibuster in Italy's parliament. For 37 days the Communists had hog-tied the Chamber of Deputies with their desperate war against Premier Alcide de Gasperi's electoral reform bill.
The Reds proposed 2,300 separate amendments and wanted to debate them all. Night after night they sent a steady stream of speakers forward to keep parliament in session until dawn; when larynxes failed, they used fists, chair legs and football rushes. Once, as a vote approached on an important maneuver,...
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