The Unpopular Press

Italy's gilded Communist press, which rode high and mighty a few years ago, was forced to bring out a beggar's tin cup last week. At the start of the Reds' annual Press Month, Party Chieftain Palmiro Togliatti and his lieutenants pleaded anxiously for every reader to contribute generously. Their purpose: "to save the party press." But at the first rallies few Communists and even fewer readers seemed to be listening. The contribution boxes came back only half full. Complained L'Unita, Italy's biggest (est. circ. 390,000) Red daily: "Subscriptions began slowly in contrast with the rapid character of previous Press Month rallies."

45% Down. L'Unita understated the case. The Reds once ran an empire reaching nearly one-third of Italy's 4,000,000 daily-newspaper readers; now their press has shriveled to a handful of struggling newspapers with a combined circulation of barely 530,000--less than half of what L'Unita's Sunday edition alone used to command. Since 1954 four papers have been forced to shut down, including Florence's // Nuovo Corriere, which gave up one month ago. Only L'Unita, Rome's // Paese and Paese Sera and Sicily's L'Ora di Palermo survive. Even they have lost from 30% to 45% of their circulation, and L'Unita is considering folding two of its four main regional editions, leaving those in Rome and Milan.

For part of their woes the Reds can thank an increasingly tough campaign by the Italian government to curb their power. Starting less than three years ago under then-Premier Mario Scelba, the government forced Communists out of some newspaper plants illegally occupied during the last days of World War II, then ordered state-owned businesses to stop advertising in Red papers. When private businessmen also pulled out, advertising virtually vanished from the Communist press. Furthermore, where the Reds once got all the newsprint they wanted from Iron Curtain nations on unlimited credit terms, the Italian government refused import permits except for newsprint bought through normal channels, thus made the Communists pay out their cash for their supplies. As a result L'Unita alone loses more than half a cent for every copy it prints, has piled up a whopping $5,000,000 deficit over the last few years.

Sport & Hearst. The Communists can also blame the Kremlin for much of the trouble.The recent downgrading of Stalin, with all its agonizing zigzags in Red doctrine has confused and disgruntled even the most faithful readers. Beyond that, as international tensions ease and Italy's economy grows stronger. Communist rantings about the West are beginning to ring hollow to many Italians. Admits Giancarlo Pajetta. Italy's No. 2 Communist and the Reds' press boss: "Less international tension is bad for the party press. People lose interest."

Recently Italy's Communist press has been trying hard to woo back its lost readers by aping capitalist papers. L'Unita, once top-heavy with Marxist polemics, now goes easy on the politics, is substituting more news about the U.S., more sports and entertainment, is even going in for sensational tabloid-type crime stories. It takes eight wire services, including Hearst's International News Service, and plans to send a special correspondent to cover the Olympics in Melbourne this fall.

Few hardheaded Italians think that Italy's Red press will fade out entirely.

Party-owned businesses trading behind the Iron Curtain have heavy profits to pour into Communist papers to keep them going. With gifts from Russia and its satellites Italy's Red press is even building an ultramodern, five-story headquarters in Rome, will soon install six huge presses handed over by Czechoslovakia. But the Reds were getting precious little help from the people they must count on most: Italian readers. Said one disgruntled Red newsman last week: "I used to contribute all my spare cash to peace drives, campaign rallies and party activities of all kinds. Now I'm saving up for a new Vespa motor scooter."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.