Reprieve

Premier Alcide de Gasperi, fighting for the life of his precarious Red-less Government (TIME, June 9), got a political reprieve last week. The Communists' best opportunity to kill the new Cabinet seemed to be the scheduled dissolution of the Italian Constituent Assembly this month, which would have been followed by general elections in the fall. The Communists were sure they could lick De Gasperi, or at least deflect his energies from the desperate business of government. But last week the Assembly decided to junk the schedule and to postpone general elections for at least six months. This gave De Gasperi a vital chance to show Italians that he could run and rebuild their country without benefit of Communist assistance--if he could do it.

Another new Red-less Government got a lease on life last week. Premier Paul Ramadier settled the French railroad strike, which had threatened to develop into a major crisis. The compromise settlement cost the Government some prestige and an estimated $165 million in wage boosts for the workers -- which made it even harder for the Government to hold the line against inflation. But the Communists, who had used the strike as a battering ram against tenacious little Ramadier, had not managed to topple the Government. June 7, a secretary of Communist Boss Maurice Thorez told a friend: "In two weeks we shall be back in the Government." Last week, he said: "Now I am going away on a six weeks' vacation."

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