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But soon, political factions lined up alongside Crusader Merlin. The Moscowliners, claiming that the bill was all their own idea, ordered all left-wingers to vote against "a typical plague of bourgeois society." The Communists found allies in their old adversaries the Christian Democrats. "We can't afford," said one Christian Democratic politician, "to give the Communists an opportunity to attack us on moral grounds." Of all the senators, only dissident Socialist Pieraccini spoke out against abolition with any real vehemence. "[The bill] would turn all Italy into the sex jungle of Europe," he roared. "We are all senators here," Pieraccini persisted, in earthy phrases. "How many of us can say we have never been in a whorehouse? Only about 10%."
It was a noisy try, but it failed. Interior Minister Mario Scelba himself rose to present the government's hearty endorsement of the Merlin bill. For the first time in anybody's memory the Communists joined in enthusiastic applause for a Scelba speech. The united front against vice would not be split. When the vote was taken, abolition of prostitution passed by a thumping 187 to 67. Passage by Italy's lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, is expected within a few months.