Stranica 2 [2]
Kalb
— page two =
unchallenged stay in power, and its to absolute control of the
governement, The fact is, inet there are the gravest accusation
of corruption levelled against the D.C, leadership, In many
instances these charges are fairly close to reality, and thus give
a magnificent opening to the opposotion propaganda, So far the
party has done little to answer these accusations, has chosen
the policy of ignoring them 3; this, unfortunately for them,
has spread the impression that they are simply unable to meet
the challenges :
Finally the universal anti-republican reactionwhich
is today like a ground-wave, is also affecting the political sis
tuetion profoundly. It especially reflects very much upon the
person of Premier Alcide de Gasperi, He is completely identi¬
fied with the establishment of the Republic, and the unsavoury
details which led to the change of regime, What heafré de Gasperi
most is a little slogan, never printed byt widely circulated by
word of mouth : How can you trust aman, the slogan says, who
first as Austrian betrayed his Emperor 3 then as Italian betrayed
his Kine. With such a record, is it not probable that as a Cas
tholie, he will one day betray his Church ? Rightly or wrongly,
the confidence in de Gasperi is gone, not only among the masses,
but also among many leaders of the Church,
It is these factors which have widely affected the
electoral situation, The Demoeracia Christiana would have been
fully beaten, had it not been for the strong intervention of the
This help was forcefule In sermons, private talks, visits etés
menduous spiritmal pressure brought to bear\in favour of the
partye Powerful men, iike Father Lombardi of\ the Jesuits left
their lofty religious position to campaign for the D.C, This
pressure, as we said, saved the day, Sut, this is important, it
tors of Rome and other great towns seriously warned against this
ection, and demanded. that the Church shpuid not\come out for one
party. there were numerous cases in which priests refused to take
a stand. They argued that the Monarchists, the Liberals had just
as much right to the Church support than the D.C, And their oppo~
sition was so violent, that while at present they finally sub¬
mitted to orders, like orders are unlikely to be given next time
since thet might arouse public protest by good \Catholics.
This was then the setting of the campaign. The result,
than those given by the propaganda, a a |
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