ITALY: Illness in the Family

America's attention, so long fixed in morbid fascination on the sickness of France, was rudely diverted last week to an even more dramatic threat to the family of the West. Democracy is seriously ill in Italy.

The crisis could be dramatized in cold, simple arithmetic: the Christian Democrats, who govern Italy, hold only 44.4% of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies. Italy's Communist Party, the largest, strongest, richest and smartest this side of the Iron Curtain, controls 36.9%. With a switch of only 24 seats—4%—from the center to the Communist-controlled side...

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