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Readymade Launching Pad. In an Italy where hardly an admitted Fascist was to be found the day the Allies arrived, Fanfani has never tried to hide his Fascist record; but unlike many of his countrymen, he freely admits that he was wrong. Turning his boundless energies to other causes, he worked for Catholic Action, joined the Christian Democratic Party. With a group of fellow intellectuals called "The Little Professors," he formed a New Dealish clique, known as Democratic Initiative, inside the Christian Democrats, a national party whose membership spreads across the spectrum from monopolistic right to socialistic left. As Premier, Fanfani will find a readymade launching pad from which to accelerate the state's intrusion into the country's economic life; as a hangover from Fascism, postwar Italy already has the highest percentage of state-run industry of any country outside the Iron Curtain.
"Fanfani has colleagues, associates, acquaintances and subordinates," says one politician. "But I have never heard much about his friends." In the eyes of his critics, 5-ft. 3-in. Amintore Fanfani is brusque, sarcastic and dictatorial. His indefatigable energy and his passion for efficiency have carried him far in twelve years in politics. But they have also left enmities.
No Time for Siestas. As a Cabinet minister, Fanfani, bounding in sharply at 8 a.m., was the scourge of Italy's late-arriving civil servants. Government workers still recall the time that Fanfani entered a division chief's office without knocking. The man, who was casually shaving, did not turn around but shouted rudely, "Who is it?" Snapped Fanfani: "I am the new minister, and you're fired." As Minister of Labor he once kept all the participants at a bargaining conference in a room without food for 48 hours until agreement was reached.
Having failed to get invested as Premier four years ago, Fanfani took note of some of the hostility towards himself. He now appears far less the martinet and displays increasing humor and tolerance. When he awaited the call to the premiership four years ago, he paced his room for hours. This time, he sat at the piano playing Verdi operas. A deeply moral man, Fanfani believes something must be done immediately to help the 2,000,000 Italians who have no jobs and the other millions who, even with jobs, live in poverty. "Even if we make only pots and pans, candy and children's night lights," says Amintore Fanfani, "we must give the Italian people work."