PARTISAN REVIEW
clever formulas are of no avail, though it is felt for some reason
that traditional patterns (or vested interests) help. The new realistic
school is triumphant. Except that in Italy realism is no news: it
always meant cynicism. And a strong man at the top.
The point in today's political realism is that it turns political life
into a question of mass inertia, not of change. Realpolitik necessarily
feeds on mass habits and imbedded traditions, not on new ideas and
spontaneous surges. In fact, its effort must be continuously directed
toward mobilizing the first and suppressing the second. It must con–
sistently follow the logical pattern of the movie producer who main–
tains that bad movies are made by the public, not by him. To the
Realpolitiker, tl1e issue as it comes up or exists in social life is never
primary; what is essential is what was there before: the vested
interests, the reliable inertia of habits. The monarchy should be
abolished, but to start with we must compromise with the monarchists;
self-government is the goal, but bureaucratic tradition is a fact: we
must let bureaucracy have its way until further notice; we want the
Church curbed, but it is imperative that we don't alienate the church–
goers, hence let's give the Church what she wants
now.
In Italy,
these arguments have all been employed by the Communists at one
moment or other.
But the kind of reasoning such arguments represent is by no
means the monopoly of the Communists. When Togliatti arrived from
Moscow, in
1944,
to become a Minister of the King, it was not only
a temporary deal he brought with him: he was bringing back to
Italy the Golden Rule of Italian politics, which had been shaken by
events. The fighting, Allied rule, and the "cold w.ar" did the rest.
Today, the Italian ruling class is thoroughly alive to the necessity of
being "realistic." (Togliatti is universally regarded as a political
genius. Until recently, conservatives were likely to tell you that he
could become "a second Giolitti," an admirable liberal-conservative
statesman that is, if only he wanted to.
It
so happened that Togliatti
wanted them to believe precisely that.)
The result is that if one excludes the adventure of Communist
conquest, the Italians, after a disaster that has completely changed the
terms of their national problems, are being shown by their leaders
only one clear path, the path that leads back to the traditional ways
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