On 1948 Italian General Election And American Polity To Italy

In 1948, Italian general election was not only an important event in the course of Italian democratic politics, but also an experiment conducted by the United States to contain"communist expansion"in the early period of the Cold War. The Italian general election in 1948 was an important chance for the Italian Communist Party to return to the government. To set up an anti-communism, pro-American and democratic government in Italy, and to prevent"Italian communists"from winning the election, the American government brought forth a document series of NSC-1, setting the goal of keeping a pro-American and anti-communism government in Italy and trying by hook or by crook to prevent communists from returning to the government. During the process of its intervention in Italian general election in 1948, the American government tried out for the first time its national security mechanism with its national security council as its soul, making full use of economic aid, political action, cultural infiltration, intelligence activities, covert activities, and all the other means except war, successfully interfering in Italian politics, setting up a pro-American and middle-right-wing state power in Italy, and further stabilizing its sphere of influence in middle and south Europe.There are about three stages in American intervention in Italian internal affairs. The first stage (from January to May in 1947): American policy makers decided to entrust De. Gasperi (leader of the Democratic Party of Italy) with most of American economic resources and political legacy, attempted thus to break the deadlock in Italian government, and make Italy carry out necessary economic reform. The second stage (from May to December in 1947): In response to America's promise to support, Gasperi forced the left to withdraw from the government and carried out economic reform. The left political party's response to the government is starting stronger violent movement, which would lead to an outbreak of a civil war in Italy at any moment. In response to"Italian communists"armed revolution threats, the United States adjusted its policy to Italy in time, and strengthened Gasperi's tottering political alliance. The third stage ( from January to April in 1948 ) : Early in 1948, the public opinion poll showed that the Communist Party might win in the general election in April. So, the United States made and carried out a secret acting plan effectively. To beat the left at a stroke, the United States directly interfered in the Italian general election, propped up the Democratic Party to power and controlled Italy in politics.Early in 1947, Italy was at the crossroads to stabilize its home situation after the war. The United States'general estimate of Italy's postwar situation was that Italy's postwar political reconstruction might be said to be smooth, but that the failure of the plan for economic reconstruction subsidized by the United States was a grave threat to the building of Italy's democratic system. So, the United States enlarged its support to Gasperi's government, and with economic aid and political support as chips, successfully helped Gasperi push communists out of the coalition government in May, 1947.Seen from geopolitics, Italy had its strategic advantage in geography, and this made the United States take the following as its basic goal in its policy to Italy: guarantee and keep Italy to be independent, democratic, friendly to the United States and able to take part in the resistance to the expansionism of the Soviet Union's communism. Italy is situated in south Europe and Mediterranean area, which had an important strategic value for the United States who attempted to set up world hegemony, to control the Mediterranean Sea and enter north Africa and the Middle East after the Second World War. After the outbreak of Cold War, the security of Western Europe and Mediterranean area came to involve the national security interests of the United States, and Italy was just at the strategic point of the two areas. So American government started for the first time the national security mechanism with its national security council as its soul, brought forth a series of NSC-1 and set the tactics, means and goal of interfering in Italian politics. At the beginning of 1948, Italian general election was coming. Guided by the series of NSC-1, the United States and private groups took a series of actions before the general election, including larger economic aid, political support, conducting propaganda, secret acting and arousing the Italians with American nationality to write letters to Italians known as"letter movement", and carried out overt or covert intervention in Italian general election. On the intervention of the USA, the Democratic Party headed by Gasperi finally won the election, and the Italian Communist Party and the left wing of the Social Party lost.How to evaluate America's intervention in Italian general election in 1948? How to evaluate the nature and feature of America's intervention in Italian politics and the influence of such an intervention? My opinion is that America's intervention in Italian general election in 1948 has the nature of hegemonism and power politics, carries a strong ideology coloring, and is one of the products of Cold War. My conclusion is that America's action to"suppress communists"has its gain and loss, but generally speaking, its gain is bigger that loss. Through such an action, the United States realized its main political goal, i.e. setting up a pro-American and middle-right-wing state in Italy, preventing the Italian Communist Party from seizing state power or returning to the government, thus stabilizing its sphere of influence in middle and south Europe. The bigger significance of America's successful intervention in Italian politics is that it marks the beginning of America's new dangerous foreign policy of interventionist policy, creating a precedent for America's successful intervention in the internal affairs of other countries with strong propaganda and secret acting.