After two decades of domination, Italy's Christian Democrats at last seem likely to face a responsible and united opposition. In Naples, 700 delegates of the Social Democratic Party voted to merge with the Socialists of Pietro Nenni, with whom they split in 1947.
The Social Democrats, then headed by Giuseppe Saragat, broke with Nenni because he refused to sever his wartime alliance with Italy's Communists. Leading his party into coalition with the
Christian Democrats, Saragat backed NATO, reconverted to Catholicism in
1962 after the death of his wife, and two years later was elected President of the Republic.
Nenni has mellowed markedly. He...
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