THE DOORS

To be transformed from a sect to a powerful force, fascism needs the backing of big business. Only the monopolies can unlock the doors to political power and finance the campaigns and conspiracies of the extreme right.

Italy's fascist party, the MSI, already commands considerable support among the largest banks and industrialists and its influence spreads out to the army, the police. the state administration and the judiciary.

This following can only be explained against the background of economic crisis in the country.

The 'Italian miracle' ran out of steam around the late 1960s. After two decades of boom, industry slipped into a malaise from which it has never emerged. Production in 1971 actually fell 2.7 per cent and investment slumped 9 per cent.

The performance during 1972 was no better. Investment is now stagnant despite record amount of liquid capital held by the banks.

The recession has dealt the small businessmen a mortal blow. Bankruptcies are common-place and the devaluation of the lira and the sudden introduction of the Italian version of Value-Added Tax will make things worse.

Under VAT the small businessman will be forced to declare his true turnover for tax purposes and the practice of deliberately underestimating his level of business, to avoid the bulk of the inland revenue bill, will come to an end.

The giants-companies like ELLE considerable gloom. the big three, Olivetti, Pirelli and Fiat-also face the future Profits are not expected state support to survive. Industry is sheltered by enormous state trusts which pump in funds to guard against crisis and bankruptcv. Onlv the car industry, industankruptod manute cre manufacture and rubber are free from state However, one should banish the idea of nationalization, even on the British model. The state trusts are controlled by political groups who have the interests of private enterprise engraved on their hearts. The system is more like the ill-fated Industrial Reorganization Corporation which provided millions to stabilize the private shipyards of the Clyde under the last Labour government in Britain.

The difference in Italy is that the politicians who control the trusts demand a return in the form of millions of lira to the party funds.

One executive described the set-up when he recalled a secret political meeting representatives of his company attended.

'All the large corporations in Italy were represented, he said. 'We were asked to guarantee a huge loan to the party! Instead his company made an outright gift-'and had done with it'.

Another businessman describes the extent of this corruption:

'A company gives to political parties in proportion to the amount it thinks will be useful to its projects.' One big company, he said, 'gives to all the countries major parties. It gives to the communists-so they won't make trouble-and to the neo-fascists [the 'polite' term for MSI] in case they get more powerful'.

Bribery ('bustarella') is in fact institutionalized. Every major executive has a series of envelopes filled with varying amounts of lira tucked away in his desk. If he wants to get a tax concession or win a contract he calls in a 'consultant', and hands him one of the packages. If the 'consultant' shakes his head, a larger packet is brought forth, and so on until the required result is achieved. people in a Milan bank.

A letter has been published purporting to be a communication from a secret agent to Monti asking for funds to be handed over to the MSI.

Monti is involved with another admirer of the extreme right, the cement king Presenti (his Italia Cementi has a total monopoly of the product).

The two industrialists have formed a pact with Eugenio Caris the president of Montecatini Edison, Italy's biggest chemical and textile combine (it recently added pharmaceuticals to its empire by taking over the biggest firm in this sector).

The Montedison affair is an extremely complicated web of financial intrigue.

The company first made headlines over a year ago when its president, Cesare Merzagora, resigned after eight months at his post. He had discovered a $43m secret fund which was used by industrialists who had interests in Montedison for their own purposes - mainly to channel money into parties and newspapers of the right.

The president before Merzagora, Giorgio Valerio, was charged with embezzlement of company funds, accounting irregularities and deception of the public. Several other influential Italian industrialists