EDITH KURZWEIL
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tions are soiled, who have proven their incompetence, and who have
been in the center of many scandals. The Communists, though con–
sidered more honest and less trustworthy, have lost some of their
votes and their credibility since 1976, when Eurocommunism began
to appear less independent of Moscow than had been claimed, and
when it became clear that except for carefully formulated censures
of, for instance, the Soviet invasiori of Afghanistan, the PCl's foreign
policy does not really differ from Moscow's. Italians, it is said, have
become too enamored of democracy to swing to the far right, and too
disenchanted with the post-1968 left to follow the radicals or the
PDUP (a left splinter of the PCI) in large numbers. The Liberals
(PU) and the Republicans (PRI) - the only parties to have been on
the winning side of everyone of the five referenda - all along have
been considered too parochial, local, or narrow to draw a large con–
stituency. When President Pertini convoked the party leaders to
discuss a reshufHing of the government, Craxi, who had discharged
PSI functionaries belonging to P2, refused to participate. He wanted
to demonstrate that his party stands for honesty, social progress, and
Western-style democracy.
Neither Pertini (a Socialist) nor the Christian-Democrats
wanted to call a general election, or to be without a government
during the June administrative elections - the former because the
country would be too long without leadership, and the latter because
this would favor the Socialists. They could not manage to form an–
other government, but did prevent Craxi from becoming premier–
by favoring PRl's Spadolini. Still, Craxi's tactics paid off: in the
June elections he "detached" over 4.5 percent of the voters from the
"right" wing of the PCI - Italian Communists who distrust the Sovif':t
Union - and from the "left" of the Christian-Democrats - "progress–
oriented" Catholics - to enormously strengthen the PSI. As the trial
of the bankers, and of other P2 personages progressed, as more and
more evidence of corruption surfaced - implicating the heads of
banks including the central Banca d'Italia, and connecting
Christian-Democrat leaders and party finances to Sindona and
Celli - the need for the type of political and economic policies Craxi
advocated became ever more evident. A major shake-up, of course,
was long overdue; Italians had talked about it for years; and some of
them had even known about P2 . But this time there was too much
proof, and the press (one of its most prestigious papers,
Carriere della
Sera,
and the publisher Angelo Rizzoli had also been implicated) had
furnished too much irrefutable evidence. Craxi's enemies - the
