Split

Italy's coalition government fell apart. Deserted by the right wing of his Cabinet, Premier Ferruccio Parri resigned. To Italy's fractious factions he addressed a warning:

"Beware of civil war ... of reopening the door to fascism. . . . There are rumors that Washington and London had no trust in me. The real reason for this lack of trust is that Italy has only a fragile front of antifascism. ... I hope my successors will follow the only worthy policy for Italy: left of center. . . ."

Two Gianninis, not related, helped bring the crisis to a head. In Milan, Editor Guglielmo Giannini's Uomo Qualunque (TIME, Nov. 26) insistently demanded a new government of nonpoliticians. In Rome, gruff U.S. Banker Amadeo Peter Giannini of California's Bank of America answered a Parri Government request for credits with "Italy's present precarious situation does not permit the safe investment of capital. . . . Without a strong government you will be unable to prevent rioting. . . ."

Looking ahead to the Constituent Assembly elections next spring, the right wing feared lest it lose prospective votes by remaining in an unpopular coalition. First the Liberals, then the Christian Democrats and Labor Democrats walked out on the Actionists, Socialists and Communists. The six parties seemed irreparably parted. Cried Benedetto Croce's Liberals: "The era of antifascism should end, giving way to a new, peaceful constructive era of post-fascism. . . ." Protested Christian Democrat leader Alcide de Gasperi: "Fascism will never happen again. Never." Growled Pietro Nenni's Socialists: Italian reaction, egged on by Anglo-American capital, was plotting to swing Italy back to the old conservatism.

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