ITALY: Flounder on the Left

The gaudy old Galleria Umberto Primo was bright with flags: seven Russian, one American, no British and a spate of Italian with the arms of the House of Savoy removed. Three of Italy’s antiroyalist parties—Communists, Socialists and Carlo Sforza’s Actionists—brought out some 7,000 cheering, rain-soaked Neapolitans to boo Badoglio and the King, shout fiercely for a republic. The biggest meeting so far permitted by the Allies, it was a Neapolitan answer to Churchill’s endorsement of their unwanted government.* The show ended with a ragged Partisan from Marshal Tito on stage, shouting “Down with the King and Badoglio! Viva Tito, Stalin and the Allies!” “Stalin, Stalin, Stalin,” chorused the crowd in return.

Next day they learned that Badoglio and Stalin had decided to exchange ambassadors, a kind of recognition never vouchsafed to Badoglio by Britain and the U.S. The news left Leftists floundering.

* For a forthright Missouri reaction, see page 62