Christian Democracy in Italy, by Webster

[p022] Christian Democracy in Italy. By Richard Webster. Hollis and Carter, 30s. Although the tactics and strategy of the Roman Catholic Church in politics have varied with changing circumstances, its fundamental role has remained the same—that of the staunchest and most outspoken defender of the existing social order. When Mazzini, Garibaldi and Cavour ‘Yaunched the Risorgimento, which transformed Italy into a modern bourgeois state, the Vatican put up a last-ditch resistance. It excommuni- cated all the leaders of the Risorgi- mento and was not finally reconciled with the Italian State till it concluded the Concordat with the Fascist regime in 1929, This study of the Vatican in Italian politics provides the interested student with a wealth of facts and background material and is very ably presented. It presents the great change in the attitude of the Church—from Francis Tt to Mussolini it sought to exercise influence through alliances with the rulers; since the end of World War IT it has come to recognize the power of the masses and has tried to give a ‘liberal’ and ‘democratic’ form to its appeal. It has to compete with a Communist and Socialist movement which has the support of great sections of the Italian working class. The Church actually began to feel ite way toward a friendlier attitude with the State at one of the most shameful periods in Italian history, the conquest of Libya (1911-12). ‘Much of the Catholic hierarchy and press’, writes Webster, ‘did more than support the war as a patriotic duty: from pulpits and in public meetings the Libyan conflict was actually declared to be a “holy war”.’ This period also saw the coming together of important Catholic factions and Italian nation- alist movements —the precursor of the future happy co-operation under fascism. The Lateran Concordat signed by Pope Pius XI and Mussolini achieved two objects. It made the Church and the Fascist State virtual partners, each supporting the other. More important still, in the light of later events, it provided the Church with the opportunity to build up an alternative political force ready to take over on the day Fascism should fall, and thus forestall a possible social revolution. When the Italian ruling class needed it most, Christian Democracy, under De Gasperi, arose after the war to play the role required of it—the preservation of the capitalist social order. The author notes that with the decline of Stalinist influence in the Italian Socialist Party, there is a marked move away from Christian Democracy. Despite all the efforts of the Church, Italy’s workers persist in thinking along class lines. C.V.G. The Missing Secret