communists into central government. The Com-
munist Party provided comparatively efficient
administration in the ‘red’ central regions of
Emilia Romagna, Umbria and Tuscany, when
contrasted with the corruption of the other
parties. The communist response to welfare and
environmental needs spurred the Christian Demo-
crats and other parties to compete on these issues.
But political bargaining and central power in
Rome nevertheless predominate, inhibiting the
development of genuine regional autonomy as
intended by the Italian constitution. What the
regional system has not achieved is a levelling out
between the wealthiest and the poorest parts of
Italy. In 1978 against a gross national product
per head for Italy as a whole of 100, the poorest
region – Calabria in the southern toe – achieved
only just over half the average (53) and the
wealthiest – the Val d’Aosta in the north-west
corner three times as much (157), while indus-
trial northern Italy has more than twice the GNP
of the south. Italy remains divided.
There is a darker side to recent Italian history.
The grass-roots political militancy produced a
fanatical extremist element, small in number but
great in their impact because of the ruthless ter-
rorist tactics they employed; the best known were
the Red Brigades. Bombs were set off in railway
trains in Milan, in Bologna and elsewhere, with
considerable loss of life. Their purpose was to
destroy the social and democratic political struc-
ture. The most spectacular Red Brigade terrorist
action was the March 1978 kidnapping of Aldo
Moro, the leader of the Christian Democratic
Party, when he was on his way to parliament. The
terrorists demanded the release from prison of
thirteen of their companions. The government
held firm, despite heart-rending messages from
Moro. Eight weeks later Moro’s corpse was left
in the trunk of a car in the centre of Rome. The
general revulsion was so great that it strengthened
rather than weakened Italian democracy. But ter-
rorism continued, reaching a horrific climax in
August 1980 when bombs were set off in
Bologna railway station, which was crowded with
tourists. Eighty-four people were killed.
Italy also experienced common West European
problems – it was no longer backward, a nation
apart. For a long time Italians had had to emi-
grate to more prosperous countries to find work.
Now Africans were coming to Italy, and, as in the
rest of Western Europe, the stream of immigrants
- often performing menial functions for poor pay
which Italians no longer wished to take on –
created multi-ethnic communities in the cities
with their attendant problems of exploitation, dis-
crimination, poverty, crime and tension. At the
general election of 1976 the Communist Party,
now led by Enrico Berlinguer, hoped to overtake
the Christian Democrats, since Berlinguer’s open
defiance of Moscow and his leading role in the
rise of Eurocommunism had enhanced the party’s
standing. It came close to succeeding.
The communists demanded full acceptance
within the political system, particularly inclusion in
a government of national unity. They were sup-
ported by parties of the left. Italy’s NATO partners
were thoroughly alarmed and warned the Christian
Democratic leadership against such a step. To avert
the danger that no government would be found,
that Italy would be virtually ungovernable because
the Christian Democrats could form no coalition
with the non-communist left which would give
them a majority, agreement was reached with the
communists in 1976 that they would support a
minority Christian Democrat government in
return for consultation. This involvement of the
communists in the government of the country,
which was called the ‘historic compromise’, came
to an end after the 1979 election, when the
Christian Democrats formed a new coalition gov-
ernment with the non-communist left.
Widespread corruption and influence-peddling
continues to mar the workings of Italian democ-
racy. Links between Christian Democrats and the
Mafia in Sicily have proved highly embarrassing
to the party. The scandal of the freemason lodge
known as P2, which broke in 1981, was both
alarming and sensational. The lodge formed a
secret society of nearly 1,000 members drawn
from political, administrative and military elites,
including members of the government and
extending to links with high finance and the
criminal underworld.
Later investigation uncovered another murky
secret underground organisation called Operation