Italy: Marriage of Inconvenience

"There are risks and the risks are great," warned left-wing Socialist Leader Pietro Nenni. We must accept "the margin of risk," declared Christian Democratic Chief Aldo Moro. The atmosphere plainly was more suspicious than auspicious for the new Italian government. After months of dickering, while the nation marked time under a caretaker Cabinet, the Christian Democrats finally were ready to conclude their marriage of convenienceĀ—or perhaps inconvenienceĀ—with Nenni's left-wing Socialists. It was the first time in 16 years that a doctrinaire Marxist party would share power in any major West European...

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