The Red Boot: the history of Italy in the Cold War (TLIAW)
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- Start date
The charmless reformer
BENIAMINO ANDREATTA
The charmless reformer
Calvino's succession was surprisingly quick and peaceful, as the Prime Minister had indicated to the Politburo and Parliament his designated successor as early as 1982.
However, the news that Calvino’s successor would be Beniamino Andreatta, his Minister of the Economy, took many Italians and international observers by surprise. Not only was Andreatta the first PSI member to be appointed Prime Minister, but he was also an almost unknown figure within the Third Republic because of his extreme secrecy.
Since his appointment to Calvino's Politburo in 1975, Andreatta had given very few interviews, and had appeared only in a small number of photographs. However, his secrecy had not prevented him from playing many important politica roles throughout his life.
At the outbreak of the Second Civil War, Andreatta was only a law student in Padua, not particularly interested in politics. His political neutrality came to an end following the violent suppression of student protests by the Italian army between 1949 and 1950.
By the time the Popular National Front insurrection reached Padua, Andreatta had been radicalized enough to side with the government in Bologna. Andreatta did not participate directly in the conflict but joined the local military administration office making sure that soldiers fighting in the Veneto received the necessary supplies.
After the end of the Second Civil War, Andreatta was put in charge of the Veneto Regional Council for Economic Development. Under his leadership, the region became one of the most productive industrial states in northern Italy.
His success had been one of the reasons why in 1965 Rome had placed him on the National Council For Southern Development, the new ministerial body that was to implement Longo's Five-Year Plan in southern Italy. Despite the instability of the region, Andreatta achieved important successes, accomplishing some of the goals set by Longo a year or two in advance.
After the expulsion of many parliamentarians following Longo's death, Andreatta was chosen by the Socialist Party to replace one of their expelled members. It was during his time as an MP that Andretta met future Prime Minister Italo Calvino. Andreatta's economic ideas impressed Calvino so much so that he wanted him as his Minister of Economy during the formation of his Politburo
During the ten years of Calvino's government many parliamentarians began to ironize that Andretta was actually not only the Minister of Economy but also the Minister of Defense and Foreign Affairs. Andreatta had accompanied Calvino on all his foreign trips, and he was who negotiated many of the economic and diplomatic agreements with NATO and Libya.
Because of his decades-long collaboration with Calvino, many members of the Politburo and Parliament expected Andreatta to continue his predecessor's foreign policy.
Indeed, the international situation seemed to offer the Third Republic numerous opportunities to expand its influence. The Brazilian government had been ousted by the communists of Maurício Grabois, general Bui Tin had succeeded in reunifying Vietnam, and many communist groups seemed on the verge of winning the conflicts that had erupted in Africa and the Middle East because of the Arab Winter.
Instead, during his inauguration speech, Andreatta declared that his government would focus on strengthening the economic situation of the Third Republic.
Andreatta's new policies were due to the fact that Calvino's legacy was politically rich but financially poor. The state coffers were almost empty, both because of the continued sending of arms to communist rebels in North Africa and because of still rampant corruption.
Although the economic position of the Third Republic had definitely improved, Rome could therefore not afford a puppet state. Andreatta had seen the Soviets and Americans waste huge resources in China, South America, and the Middle East only to obtain unstable dictatorial regimes loosely affiliated with Moscow or Washington.
Andreatta believed that the Third Republic had neither the funds or the means to do this. And even if Rome could have afforded it, many of the states receiving their aid would have preferred to side with the Soviets rather than with the small and distant Social-Communist nation.
In addition, the Prime Minister feared that an aggressive foreign policy would allow army leaders to gain more power. Andreatta's conversion to Socialism had begun when he had seen his fellow students massacred by Scelba's soldiers, and de Lorenzo's eventual fate had only reinforced his distrust against armed forces.
During his government, Andreatta focused on increasing the production of consumer goods, and improving the health care system in Continental Italy. Funds from the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of Industry were almost doubled between 1988 and 1993 to complete the renewal of the Third Republic's road and rail networks.
Although the quality of life in mainland Italy increased under his government, Andreatta's popularity soon began to decline. His extreme secrecy made it almost impossible to appreciate his reforms, and many Italians were convinced that he was simply continuing programs already begun by Calvino.
On the contrary, Andreatta's decision to increase the number of ministries was seen as the personification of rampant corruption, and of the bureaucratic difficulties that the people of the Third Republic had to endure on a daily basis.
At the same time, Andreatta became extremely unpopular with many members of the armed forces and their families. His distrust of the military had led him to repeal some of Ingrao's reforms, increasing the number of political commissars and giving more power to the Security Services to oversee the actions of Italian generals.
In 1989, Andreatta's popularity was further undermined by his decision to militarily support the new Iraqi president Abd ar-Razzaq an-Naif against the invading Islamic Republic of Arabia. Although much of Third Republic society sympathized with the Iraqis, many were nevertheless disgusted by Rome's support for an anti-communist government, traditionally allied with the United States.
Rumors soon spread that Andreatta's Politburo had agreed to support Iraq in exchange for large sums of money from Baghdad and Washington. The fact that this rumor began to spread around the same time new trade deals with the West were announced only increased suspicions against the government.
While Andreatta had managed to get himself reappointed Prime Minister in 1987 thanks to the popularity of his predecessor, his reappointment in 1991 was successful only thanks to the launch of the first Italian satellite into space. The Italian Space Agency's first success temporarily boosted the reputation of Andreatta, to the point that the Communists decided to renew their support for the next four years.
It had not escaped Andreatta that he had barely received the number of votes needed to win another mandate, or that most of the Communist party now seemed to distrust his socialist policies.
Only the success of the satellite launch, and the internal divisions of the PCI had allowed Andreatta to obtain another mandate. The Prime Minister doubted that he was going to have as much luck in the 1995 elections.
Andreatta also suspected his re-nomination would have failed if it had taken place just two weeks later. On December 8, 1991 Yuri Gagarin, the man who had planted the Soviet flag on the moon in 1969, was named the new leader of the Soviet Union.
Many Italian parliamentarians found themselves envying the Soviets because their government seemed intent on facing the capitalists and celebrating the successes of its revolution unlike the one of the Third Republic. Seemingly ignoring the economic woes and political instability of the Soviet bloc, parts of the Italian Parliament became increasingly critical of Andreatta.
Whie the Prime Minister wished to boost his popularity, Andreatta could neither act against his opponents in the PCI nor change his foreign policy without compromising the internal stability and international reputation of his government.
Andreatta then decided to turn his attention to the space program of the Third Republic.
On 17th December, the Prime Minister announced that before the conclusion of his third mandate, the Mediterranean League would send its astronauts into space. A crew of seven Italian, Yugoslav and Libyan astronauts would have made a space flight, circumnavigating the planet and were going to land just in time to celebrate the anniversary of the victory in the Second Civil War of the National Popular Front.
Andreatta's mistake was to entrust the management of the space mission to Bettino Craxi, Minister of Industry and his potential successor. Craxi was a diligent worker, an excellent organizer and one of the most corrupt politicians of the Third Republic.
For the next three years, Andreatta paid no particular attention to the Italian space program. Craxi, on the other hand, collaborated with his Libyan and Yugoslav counterparts both to hide the technical difficulties of the program and to lie about the costs, pocketing part of the budget. Thanks to his almost absolute control over the space program, none of the scientists and workers could criticize or denounce his actions.
Craxi thought that the use of poorer materials would in no way affect the success of the mission. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Craxi was wrong.
On 10th November 1994, the Space Shuttle Garibaldi departed on what was supposed to be a three-week journey. In reality, its journey ended after just eighteen minutes due to a fuel leak from its tank.
The explosion of the Space Shuttle was captured by Italian and international cameras, quickly traveling around the world. A wave of criticism from Italian and foreign politicians hit Andreatta's government and the streets of the peninsula were filled with protests against the Prime Minister.
Andreatta did not put up any resistance. Apparently shocked by what happened, Andreatta accepted full responsibility for the explosion of the Shuttle and announced that he would not run again at the end of his mandate.
The only political initiatives Andreatta took in his last six moths in office were the creation of a special fund for the families of the killed astronauts, and the appointment of Craxi as the new ambassador to Tunisia.
Andreatta did not run again in 1995 and after the end of his government he completely abandoned the political life of the Third Republic.
The former Prime Minister died of a heart attack in 1999 while at his residence. Surprisingly, his successor granted him a state funeral, despite their past political rivalries.
The charmless reformer
Calvino's succession was surprisingly quick and peaceful, as the Prime Minister had indicated to the Politburo and Parliament his designated successor as early as 1982.
However, the news that Calvino’s successor would be Beniamino Andreatta, his Minister of the Economy, took many Italians and international observers by surprise. Not only was Andreatta the first PSI member to be appointed Prime Minister, but he was also an almost unknown figure within the Third Republic because of his extreme secrecy.
Since his appointment to Calvino's Politburo in 1975, Andreatta had given very few interviews, and had appeared only in a small number of photographs. However, his secrecy had not prevented him from playing many important politica roles throughout his life.
At the outbreak of the Second Civil War, Andreatta was only a law student in Padua, not particularly interested in politics. His political neutrality came to an end following the violent suppression of student protests by the Italian army between 1949 and 1950.
By the time the Popular National Front insurrection reached Padua, Andreatta had been radicalized enough to side with the government in Bologna. Andreatta did not participate directly in the conflict but joined the local military administration office making sure that soldiers fighting in the Veneto received the necessary supplies.
After the end of the Second Civil War, Andreatta was put in charge of the Veneto Regional Council for Economic Development. Under his leadership, the region became one of the most productive industrial states in northern Italy.
His success had been one of the reasons why in 1965 Rome had placed him on the National Council For Southern Development, the new ministerial body that was to implement Longo's Five-Year Plan in southern Italy. Despite the instability of the region, Andreatta achieved important successes, accomplishing some of the goals set by Longo a year or two in advance.
After the expulsion of many parliamentarians following Longo's death, Andreatta was chosen by the Socialist Party to replace one of their expelled members. It was during his time as an MP that Andretta met future Prime Minister Italo Calvino. Andreatta's economic ideas impressed Calvino so much so that he wanted him as his Minister of Economy during the formation of his Politburo
During the ten years of Calvino's government many parliamentarians began to ironize that Andretta was actually not only the Minister of Economy but also the Minister of Defense and Foreign Affairs. Andreatta had accompanied Calvino on all his foreign trips, and he was who negotiated many of the economic and diplomatic agreements with NATO and Libya.
Because of his decades-long collaboration with Calvino, many members of the Politburo and Parliament expected Andreatta to continue his predecessor's foreign policy.
Indeed, the international situation seemed to offer the Third Republic numerous opportunities to expand its influence. The Brazilian government had been ousted by the communists of Maurício Grabois, general Bui Tin had succeeded in reunifying Vietnam, and many communist groups seemed on the verge of winning the conflicts that had erupted in Africa and the Middle East because of the Arab Winter.
Instead, during his inauguration speech, Andreatta declared that his government would focus on strengthening the economic situation of the Third Republic.
Andreatta's new policies were due to the fact that Calvino's legacy was politically rich but financially poor. The state coffers were almost empty, both because of the continued sending of arms to communist rebels in North Africa and because of still rampant corruption.
Although the economic position of the Third Republic had definitely improved, Rome could therefore not afford a puppet state. Andreatta had seen the Soviets and Americans waste huge resources in China, South America, and the Middle East only to obtain unstable dictatorial regimes loosely affiliated with Moscow or Washington.
Andreatta believed that the Third Republic had neither the funds or the means to do this. And even if Rome could have afforded it, many of the states receiving their aid would have preferred to side with the Soviets rather than with the small and distant Social-Communist nation.
In addition, the Prime Minister feared that an aggressive foreign policy would allow army leaders to gain more power. Andreatta's conversion to Socialism had begun when he had seen his fellow students massacred by Scelba's soldiers, and de Lorenzo's eventual fate had only reinforced his distrust against armed forces.
During his government, Andreatta focused on increasing the production of consumer goods, and improving the health care system in Continental Italy. Funds from the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of Industry were almost doubled between 1988 and 1993 to complete the renewal of the Third Republic's road and rail networks.
Although the quality of life in mainland Italy increased under his government, Andreatta's popularity soon began to decline. His extreme secrecy made it almost impossible to appreciate his reforms, and many Italians were convinced that he was simply continuing programs already begun by Calvino.
On the contrary, Andreatta's decision to increase the number of ministries was seen as the personification of rampant corruption, and of the bureaucratic difficulties that the people of the Third Republic had to endure on a daily basis.
At the same time, Andreatta became extremely unpopular with many members of the armed forces and their families. His distrust of the military had led him to repeal some of Ingrao's reforms, increasing the number of political commissars and giving more power to the Security Services to oversee the actions of Italian generals.
In 1989, Andreatta's popularity was further undermined by his decision to militarily support the new Iraqi president Abd ar-Razzaq an-Naif against the invading Islamic Republic of Arabia. Although much of Third Republic society sympathized with the Iraqis, many were nevertheless disgusted by Rome's support for an anti-communist government, traditionally allied with the United States.
Rumors soon spread that Andreatta's Politburo had agreed to support Iraq in exchange for large sums of money from Baghdad and Washington. The fact that this rumor began to spread around the same time new trade deals with the West were announced only increased suspicions against the government.
While Andreatta had managed to get himself reappointed Prime Minister in 1987 thanks to the popularity of his predecessor, his reappointment in 1991 was successful only thanks to the launch of the first Italian satellite into space. The Italian Space Agency's first success temporarily boosted the reputation of Andreatta, to the point that the Communists decided to renew their support for the next four years.
It had not escaped Andreatta that he had barely received the number of votes needed to win another mandate, or that most of the Communist party now seemed to distrust his socialist policies.
Only the success of the satellite launch, and the internal divisions of the PCI had allowed Andreatta to obtain another mandate. The Prime Minister doubted that he was going to have as much luck in the 1995 elections.
Andreatta also suspected his re-nomination would have failed if it had taken place just two weeks later. On December 8, 1991 Yuri Gagarin, the man who had planted the Soviet flag on the moon in 1969, was named the new leader of the Soviet Union.
Many Italian parliamentarians found themselves envying the Soviets because their government seemed intent on facing the capitalists and celebrating the successes of its revolution unlike the one of the Third Republic. Seemingly ignoring the economic woes and political instability of the Soviet bloc, parts of the Italian Parliament became increasingly critical of Andreatta.
Whie the Prime Minister wished to boost his popularity, Andreatta could neither act against his opponents in the PCI nor change his foreign policy without compromising the internal stability and international reputation of his government.
Andreatta then decided to turn his attention to the space program of the Third Republic.
On 17th December, the Prime Minister announced that before the conclusion of his third mandate, the Mediterranean League would send its astronauts into space. A crew of seven Italian, Yugoslav and Libyan astronauts would have made a space flight, circumnavigating the planet and were going to land just in time to celebrate the anniversary of the victory in the Second Civil War of the National Popular Front.
Andreatta's mistake was to entrust the management of the space mission to Bettino Craxi, Minister of Industry and his potential successor. Craxi was a diligent worker, an excellent organizer and one of the most corrupt politicians of the Third Republic.
For the next three years, Andreatta paid no particular attention to the Italian space program. Craxi, on the other hand, collaborated with his Libyan and Yugoslav counterparts both to hide the technical difficulties of the program and to lie about the costs, pocketing part of the budget. Thanks to his almost absolute control over the space program, none of the scientists and workers could criticize or denounce his actions.
Craxi thought that the use of poorer materials would in no way affect the success of the mission. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Craxi was wrong.
On 10th November 1994, the Space Shuttle Garibaldi departed on what was supposed to be a three-week journey. In reality, its journey ended after just eighteen minutes due to a fuel leak from its tank.
The explosion of the Space Shuttle was captured by Italian and international cameras, quickly traveling around the world. A wave of criticism from Italian and foreign politicians hit Andreatta's government and the streets of the peninsula were filled with protests against the Prime Minister.
Andreatta did not put up any resistance. Apparently shocked by what happened, Andreatta accepted full responsibility for the explosion of the Shuttle and announced that he would not run again at the end of his mandate.
The only political initiatives Andreatta took in his last six moths in office were the creation of a special fund for the families of the killed astronauts, and the appointment of Craxi as the new ambassador to Tunisia.
Andreatta did not run again in 1995 and after the end of his government he completely abandoned the political life of the Third Republic.
The former Prime Minister died of a heart attack in 1999 while at his residence. Surprisingly, his successor granted him a state funeral, despite their past political rivalries.
"Salo" tecnically exists, but it had a very troubled production.Pasolini in the government is a nice touch - I wonder if he was still able to film some movies or at least finance them, given how Salo' depicted the Fascist elites as immoral deviants, I can see it, or something like it, still being released in the mainland...
ITTL Pasolini started working in it in 1967, but he was interruptee by the death of Longo and the subsequent chaos (de Lorenzo really didn't like homosexual writers moking him) .
He did restart working on it under Ingrao, but his nomination to Minister of Culture meant he had to stop.
Finally he completed the script in 1983, giving direction duties to Dario Argento.
After two years of work the movie was finally filmed.... except Calvino died, and Andreatta didn't share his predecessor's fondness for Pasolini.
Andreatta was kinda horrified by the movie (the gore and violence were somohow worse than OTL) and ordered a recut. Even the ending was changed, with a brief shot of Communist Partisans attacking the villa and a brief text reassuring the viewers that all the victims were rescued.
Originally they collaborated a lot. Cagliari lacked men and resources, while the Mafia was terrified of the Reds arriving on the two islands.
However the collaboration ended after the return of democracy in Sicily-Sardinia, and the assasination of some popular politicians
A Yugoslavia with its capital in Sarajevo stands a better chance of surviving, as long as it doesn't go capitalist. The way how Craxi was integrated into the story was horrifyingly good.
Tito moved the capital there in 1970, as he assumed de Lorenzo and the Soviets were going to invade Yugoslavia.
It didn't happen, but Tito realised it kept the population united.
Also this part was totally premeditated of my TL, and not a mistake.
Thanks.
The old fox
GIORGIO NAPOLITANO
The old fox
Already during the last month of Andreatta's government, discussions began about who would be his successor. Since all the members of Andreatta's Politburo had been discredited by the shuttle explosion, it would be up to Parliament to find a suitable replacement.
It was a foregone conclusion that the new Prime Minister would be chosen from the PCI, given the unpopularity of the Socialist Party.
Although many of the younger members of the Party tried to run for the position, the PCI leadership, still controlled by the old guard, preferred older candidates.
The PCI believed that the nomination of a party member who had participated in the Second Civil War would reassure the people of the Third Republic after Andreatta's controversial government.
Seventy-year-old Giorgio Napolitano was considered the ideal candidate for multiple reasons.
Since joining the PCI in 1944, Napolitano had served in numerous institutional roles including mayor of Naples, federal secretary of the PCI in Caserta, and Foreign Minister during Calvino's government.
For this reason, many people in the Third Republic associated him with Calvino's diplomatic successes and his Neapolitan origins that would finally prove Southern Italy's full adherence to the ideals of the 1952 revolution.
Better yet, the political rivalry between Napolitano and Andreatta was well known. Napolitano had never tolerated the former Prime Minister's interference in the affairs of his ministry, and, according to some rumors, in 1985 had attempted to present himself as an alternative candidate to Andreatta after Calvino's death.
Napolitano also enjoyed the support of the armed forces, as he had promised to repeal many of Andreatta's unpopular initiatives. Finally, the PCI leadership hoped that the new economic, and political reforms proposed by Napolitano would weaken the radicals within the Communist Party.
Thus it was that in late 1995 Giorgio Napolitano became the new Prime Minister of the Third Republic. Ironically, Napolitano promised many members of the PSI and DP various positions within his Politburo so they would support him despite his advanced age.
During his first term, Napolitano was mainly concerned with rewarding his supporters and getting his rivals out of the way.
To begin with, the influence of the armed forces in the government increased significantly. General Alberto dalla Chiesa, hero of the Second Civil War, was appointed as the new Minister of Defense and the funds allocated to the military were almost doubled.
Under Napolitano the modernization of the navy was also completed, and the propaganda of the Third Republic began again to talk about the inevitable reunification of Sicily-Sardinia with mainland Italy.
Military parades soon became the norm under Napolitano's government, which introduced new anniversaries and holidays just for this purpose.
In addition to strengthening the military, Napolitano's first term focused on the fight against corruption. The Internal Security Services, led by new Justice Minister Silvio Berlusconi, began a long campaign of arrests against various politicians and industrialists accused of embezzling public money or accepting bribes.
While it wasn't as bad as the Red Hands scandal, quite a few parlamentarians were forced to resign, and were replaced with younger canditates.
In foreign policy Napolitano proved much more active than his predecessor. The new Prime Minister personally organized many of his diplomatic visits around the world, becoming the first head of state of Mainland Italy to visit the Republic of Australia and the the Kingdom of Pakistan.
His many meetings with Western heads of state had only one topic: the increasingly apparent and growing weakness of the Soviet Union. After Gagarin's death in 1997, it had become apparent that the new Soviet leader Gennady Yanayev was unable to cope with the many problems plaguing the Stalingrad Alliance.
While Washington and the rest of NATO feared that Soviet instability could result in a nuclear war, Napolitano on the contrary saw it as an opportunity. The Prime Minister had been ambassador to Athens between 1967 and 1969 and he hoped to exploit Soviet weakness to avenge the humiliation of 1968.
Between 1997 and 2000, Napolitano's government secretly contacted Kyros Florakis, head of the Greek secret police and considered by many to be the true leader of the People's Republic of Greece.
The offer was attractive: in case Soviet influence in Greece weakened or even collapsed, Rome would support Florakis militarily and financially against any external and internal enemies.
Rome's offer would be realized in 2001 at the beginning of Napolitano's second term. As many of the European regimes loyal to Moscow collapsed during the European Spring, Rome moved to eliminate the pro-Soviet regime in Athens.
The Third Republic's fleet began a series of exercises in the Ionian Sea and Napolitano personally sent a telegram to King Constantine II, threatening severe consequences if the government in Crete tried in any way to interfere "with the free will of the Greek proletariat."
Evidently Belgrade had received a different message, since at the same time the Yugoslav government was sending many of its troops along the Greek border.
In the end there was no invasion. Thanks to the aid he had previously received from Rome, Florakis took control of the country and, having obtained the support of the army, violently suppressed the protests of the students gathered in Syntagma Square.
After the coup in Greece, Napolitano was the first world leader to offer a diplomatic solution to resolve the crisis which was devouring much of Eastern Europe. Not only did Napolitano fear that Yanayev would resort to the Soviet nuclear arsenal, but he was also concerned that a total collapse of the Stalingrad Alliance would also have negative consequences in the Mediterranean League.
In the end, nuclear war was advertd not so much because of Napolitano's diplomatic offert but more because neither Michail Gorbačëv, head of the NKVD, nor Boris Yeltsin, Minister of Defense, wanted to die as a result of Yanayev's folly. On July 16, 2001, the two ministers announced that Yanayev had died due to a sudden illness (a weird way to say suicide) and that Alexander Rutskoy, formerly Foreign Minister, was the new Soviet leader.
Although Third Republic propaganda still insists that Rome's role was pivotal during the Helsinki Accords, many historians agree that Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema did little besides pose for journalists. President Colin Powell did not trust Rome, and the Soviet government was furious about what happened in Greece.
Although Napolitano gained international recognition for Florakis as the new leader of mainland Greece, the Prime Minister could prevent neither the reunification of Germany nor the end of communist governments in East Austria, Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Worse, the remaining European members of the Stalingrad Alliance (Romania, Bulgaria and Albania) were still fiercely anti-Italian and loyal to Moscow.
In any case, the expansion of the Mediterranean League and the partial end of Soviet power in Eastern Europe made Napolitano the most popular man in the entire Third Republic. Unfortunately, this popularity was not destined to last.
Almost immediately, the People's Republic of Greece proved to be a heavy and costly burden. The Greeks hated the brutality and corruption of the new government, and soon the entire country was rocked by numerous protests and strikes.
Greece joining the Mediterranean League in 2003 also produced contradictory results. While it allowed Rome to control much of the trade routes along the Mediterranean, it also rekindled tensions with Washington.
During his third term, Napolitano thus had to face the increasingly hostile President John Bolton. What humiliated the Prime Minister was not the imposition of sanctions, but his inability to respond. The Third Republic's economy depended mostly on trade with the United States, making it almost impossible for Rome to impose sanctions against Washington in turn.
Because of the events in Greece, many PCI members began to lose confidence in Napolitano. The party's liberal current was disgusted at the idea of supporting the openly Stalinist regime in Athens, while the more radical current criticized the Prime Minister for refusing to send troops to defend Florakis.
The coup de grace for Napolitano's government came on Nov. 7, 2005, when the Mediterranean Bloc found itself bordered by another openly anti-communist alliance.
Although the Helsinki Accords had provided for their complete neutrality, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia and East Austria announced the formation of the Warsaw Pact, a military and economic alliance based on the model of the European Commonwealth.
French Prime Minister Noël Mamère's diplomatic visit to Warsaw confirmed that the new alliance was not neutral as it claimed to be, but on the contrary was supported by NATO.
As a result of these events, Napolitano almost completely lost the support of Parliament. The PCI thought that the 80-year-old prime minister was unable to cope with the new dangers , while the PSI had never forgiven Napolitano for his old rivalry with Andreatta.
Napolitano could have won a fourth term in 2007 if he had agreed to expel members of the other parties from his Politburo and replace them with more radical members of the PCI.
Perhaps hypocritically, however, Napolitano did not want to grant power to what he called "red fascists." By now the Prime Minister had achieved his political goals, and he was still moderately popular.
If he could not be loved like Calvino, at least Napolitano could retire from politics without being hated like de Lorenzo.
During his last speech in Parliament, Napolitano warned his party against the growing influence of the Togliattian current and named his successor.
To secure even more fame in the history books, Napolitano announced not only that his successor was going to be a woman but also that the new Prime Minister was part of the DP instead of the PCI or PSI.
After the conclusion of his third and final term, Napolitano returned to his native Naples. His stay in the city was abruptly interrupted by the events of 2012, however, and he currently resides in the People's Republic of Brazil.
The old fox
Already during the last month of Andreatta's government, discussions began about who would be his successor. Since all the members of Andreatta's Politburo had been discredited by the shuttle explosion, it would be up to Parliament to find a suitable replacement.
It was a foregone conclusion that the new Prime Minister would be chosen from the PCI, given the unpopularity of the Socialist Party.
Although many of the younger members of the Party tried to run for the position, the PCI leadership, still controlled by the old guard, preferred older candidates.
The PCI believed that the nomination of a party member who had participated in the Second Civil War would reassure the people of the Third Republic after Andreatta's controversial government.
Seventy-year-old Giorgio Napolitano was considered the ideal candidate for multiple reasons.
Since joining the PCI in 1944, Napolitano had served in numerous institutional roles including mayor of Naples, federal secretary of the PCI in Caserta, and Foreign Minister during Calvino's government.
For this reason, many people in the Third Republic associated him with Calvino's diplomatic successes and his Neapolitan origins that would finally prove Southern Italy's full adherence to the ideals of the 1952 revolution.
Better yet, the political rivalry between Napolitano and Andreatta was well known. Napolitano had never tolerated the former Prime Minister's interference in the affairs of his ministry, and, according to some rumors, in 1985 had attempted to present himself as an alternative candidate to Andreatta after Calvino's death.
Napolitano also enjoyed the support of the armed forces, as he had promised to repeal many of Andreatta's unpopular initiatives. Finally, the PCI leadership hoped that the new economic, and political reforms proposed by Napolitano would weaken the radicals within the Communist Party.
Thus it was that in late 1995 Giorgio Napolitano became the new Prime Minister of the Third Republic. Ironically, Napolitano promised many members of the PSI and DP various positions within his Politburo so they would support him despite his advanced age.
During his first term, Napolitano was mainly concerned with rewarding his supporters and getting his rivals out of the way.
To begin with, the influence of the armed forces in the government increased significantly. General Alberto dalla Chiesa, hero of the Second Civil War, was appointed as the new Minister of Defense and the funds allocated to the military were almost doubled.
Under Napolitano the modernization of the navy was also completed, and the propaganda of the Third Republic began again to talk about the inevitable reunification of Sicily-Sardinia with mainland Italy.
Military parades soon became the norm under Napolitano's government, which introduced new anniversaries and holidays just for this purpose.
In addition to strengthening the military, Napolitano's first term focused on the fight against corruption. The Internal Security Services, led by new Justice Minister Silvio Berlusconi, began a long campaign of arrests against various politicians and industrialists accused of embezzling public money or accepting bribes.
While it wasn't as bad as the Red Hands scandal, quite a few parlamentarians were forced to resign, and were replaced with younger canditates.
In foreign policy Napolitano proved much more active than his predecessor. The new Prime Minister personally organized many of his diplomatic visits around the world, becoming the first head of state of Mainland Italy to visit the Republic of Australia and the the Kingdom of Pakistan.
His many meetings with Western heads of state had only one topic: the increasingly apparent and growing weakness of the Soviet Union. After Gagarin's death in 1997, it had become apparent that the new Soviet leader Gennady Yanayev was unable to cope with the many problems plaguing the Stalingrad Alliance.
While Washington and the rest of NATO feared that Soviet instability could result in a nuclear war, Napolitano on the contrary saw it as an opportunity. The Prime Minister had been ambassador to Athens between 1967 and 1969 and he hoped to exploit Soviet weakness to avenge the humiliation of 1968.
Between 1997 and 2000, Napolitano's government secretly contacted Kyros Florakis, head of the Greek secret police and considered by many to be the true leader of the People's Republic of Greece.
The offer was attractive: in case Soviet influence in Greece weakened or even collapsed, Rome would support Florakis militarily and financially against any external and internal enemies.
Rome's offer would be realized in 2001 at the beginning of Napolitano's second term. As many of the European regimes loyal to Moscow collapsed during the European Spring, Rome moved to eliminate the pro-Soviet regime in Athens.
The Third Republic's fleet began a series of exercises in the Ionian Sea and Napolitano personally sent a telegram to King Constantine II, threatening severe consequences if the government in Crete tried in any way to interfere "with the free will of the Greek proletariat."
Evidently Belgrade had received a different message, since at the same time the Yugoslav government was sending many of its troops along the Greek border.
In the end there was no invasion. Thanks to the aid he had previously received from Rome, Florakis took control of the country and, having obtained the support of the army, violently suppressed the protests of the students gathered in Syntagma Square.
After the coup in Greece, Napolitano was the first world leader to offer a diplomatic solution to resolve the crisis which was devouring much of Eastern Europe. Not only did Napolitano fear that Yanayev would resort to the Soviet nuclear arsenal, but he was also concerned that a total collapse of the Stalingrad Alliance would also have negative consequences in the Mediterranean League.
In the end, nuclear war was advertd not so much because of Napolitano's diplomatic offert but more because neither Michail Gorbačëv, head of the NKVD, nor Boris Yeltsin, Minister of Defense, wanted to die as a result of Yanayev's folly. On July 16, 2001, the two ministers announced that Yanayev had died due to a sudden illness (a weird way to say suicide) and that Alexander Rutskoy, formerly Foreign Minister, was the new Soviet leader.
Although Third Republic propaganda still insists that Rome's role was pivotal during the Helsinki Accords, many historians agree that Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema did little besides pose for journalists. President Colin Powell did not trust Rome, and the Soviet government was furious about what happened in Greece.
Although Napolitano gained international recognition for Florakis as the new leader of mainland Greece, the Prime Minister could prevent neither the reunification of Germany nor the end of communist governments in East Austria, Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Worse, the remaining European members of the Stalingrad Alliance (Romania, Bulgaria and Albania) were still fiercely anti-Italian and loyal to Moscow.
In any case, the expansion of the Mediterranean League and the partial end of Soviet power in Eastern Europe made Napolitano the most popular man in the entire Third Republic. Unfortunately, this popularity was not destined to last.
Almost immediately, the People's Republic of Greece proved to be a heavy and costly burden. The Greeks hated the brutality and corruption of the new government, and soon the entire country was rocked by numerous protests and strikes.
Greece joining the Mediterranean League in 2003 also produced contradictory results. While it allowed Rome to control much of the trade routes along the Mediterranean, it also rekindled tensions with Washington.
During his third term, Napolitano thus had to face the increasingly hostile President John Bolton. What humiliated the Prime Minister was not the imposition of sanctions, but his inability to respond. The Third Republic's economy depended mostly on trade with the United States, making it almost impossible for Rome to impose sanctions against Washington in turn.
Because of the events in Greece, many PCI members began to lose confidence in Napolitano. The party's liberal current was disgusted at the idea of supporting the openly Stalinist regime in Athens, while the more radical current criticized the Prime Minister for refusing to send troops to defend Florakis.
The coup de grace for Napolitano's government came on Nov. 7, 2005, when the Mediterranean Bloc found itself bordered by another openly anti-communist alliance.
Although the Helsinki Accords had provided for their complete neutrality, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia and East Austria announced the formation of the Warsaw Pact, a military and economic alliance based on the model of the European Commonwealth.
French Prime Minister Noël Mamère's diplomatic visit to Warsaw confirmed that the new alliance was not neutral as it claimed to be, but on the contrary was supported by NATO.
As a result of these events, Napolitano almost completely lost the support of Parliament. The PCI thought that the 80-year-old prime minister was unable to cope with the new dangers , while the PSI had never forgiven Napolitano for his old rivalry with Andreatta.
Napolitano could have won a fourth term in 2007 if he had agreed to expel members of the other parties from his Politburo and replace them with more radical members of the PCI.
Perhaps hypocritically, however, Napolitano did not want to grant power to what he called "red fascists." By now the Prime Minister had achieved his political goals, and he was still moderately popular.
If he could not be loved like Calvino, at least Napolitano could retire from politics without being hated like de Lorenzo.
During his last speech in Parliament, Napolitano warned his party against the growing influence of the Togliattian current and named his successor.
To secure even more fame in the history books, Napolitano announced not only that his successor was going to be a woman but also that the new Prime Minister was part of the DP instead of the PCI or PSI.
After the conclusion of his third and final term, Napolitano returned to his native Naples. His stay in the city was abruptly interrupted by the events of 2012, however, and he currently resides in the People's Republic of Brazil.
The Fake Hope
ROSY BINDI
The Fake Hope
At the time of her appointment as Prime Minister, Rosaria "Rosy" Bindi was the first leader in mainland Italy not to have fought in the Second Civil War and to have been born in Social-Communist territory. In fact, Bindi was born in 1951 in Tuscany, while both central and northern Italy were already under the control of the Second National Liberation Committee.
Raised in the birthplace of the Italian Revolution, Bindi became interested in politics at an early age. She joined the Italian Communist Youth Federation as soon as possible and impressed some of her teachers with her knowledge of Marx and Togliatti.
However, after graduating with a degree in engineering, Bindi joined the DP, attracted by what she percieved as a "good mixt of socialist ideas and rational Italian values". Her decision surprised many of her professors , with many now believing that Bindi's political career had been nipped in the bud.
Indeed, Bindi's political career could only begin after Calvino's liberalizations. Despite being a member of neither the PSI nor the PCI, Bindi joined the Regional Economic Council of Tuscany in 1978.
Thanks to her organizational skills, in 1985 Bindi became Premier of the Council and was awarded the Order of Longo for overseeing the modernization of the Arno floodway, making the canal completely navigable.
Andreatta's rise greatly helped the career of Bindi. In an attempt to weaken his communist opponents, in 1989 Andreatta appointed Romano Prodi as new Foreign Minister.
Prodi was a longtime ally of Bindi, and hastened to bring her into the foreign ministry. After her appointment as “ Undersecretary for European diplomatic relationships ”, Rosy Bindi participated in numerous diplomatic visits both in Western Europe and in the Soviet Bloc.
It seems that this experience influenced her future political ideas. On one hand, Bindi was surprised by the way Western Europeans openly expressed their views and criticized their political leaders which was absent in the Third Republic. On the other hand, she was disgusted by the rampant poverty in the Soviet Bloc and how local communist leaders preferred to protect their power rather than improve the situation.
In 1993, Bindi succeeded Aldo Moro as leader of Popular Democracy. Although some DP members criticized Bindi for ger frequent absencies from Parliament, and her decision to move the party further to the left (including adding sickles and hammers to the party logo) , her leadership proved fundamental in 1994.
Bindi in fact hastened to declare that the DP would no longer support Andreatta and his Politburo after the explosion of the Garibaldi spacecraft. At the same time, she met secretly with Giorgio Napolitano.
Bindi knew that the PCI wanted to appoint Napolitano as new Prime Minister, but that they did not have enough votes. In exchange for support from the DP, Napolitano had to accept Bindi and some of her allies within his government.
So in 1996 Bindi became the new Minister of Industry. Her appointment proved to be fundamental for the modernization of the armed forces, wanted by Napolitano.
Although the task should have fallen on the Minister of Defense, it was Bindi who oversaw the project, finding all the necessary funds and resources.
It soon became clear that Napolitano had designated Bindi as his successor. During his second term, Napolitano allowed Bindi to preside over some of the Politburo meetings and even encouraged her to take an interest in other political areas, in addition to industry, preparing her for future higher positions.
At the time of her appointment as Prime Minister in 2007, Bindi had inherited almost absolute control of trade routes in the Mediterranean , an unstable economy in rapid decline, a bad relationship with the Soviets and NATO and enough nuclear warheads to transform much of France into a radioactive crater.
Bindi belonged to a new generation of politicians, too young to remember the time before the revolution. Like many other members of her generation, the new Prime Minister was more familiar with the corruption and burocratic problems of the Third Repuclic than with all the nationalistic claims of Rome against Sicily-Sardinia or Greece. It was clear that many more reforms were needed.
In her inauguration speech, Bindi declared that her political program was based on the three concepts of “Apertura, Velocità e Trasparenza” (Openness, Acceleration and Transparency).
First, Bindi forced many of the older and more hostile parliamentarians to retire. Furthermore, the government of the Third Republic introduced new individual freedoms for citizens, regarding freedom of speech and religion.
The Third Republic media was finally allowed to express limited criticism of the Third Republic government, especially against the corruption and wealth of some members of the PCI and PSI. During her rule, Bindi also tolerated some strikes and unauthorized demonstrations from Rome.
To demonstrate the validity of her reforms, Bindi began to participate in public debates and conferences, where she answered the questions of the spectators ( with the necessary precautions to avoid dangerous questions and uncomfortable situations obviously ). For the first time since 1971, a politician from mainland Italy admitted that their predecessors, including Longo and Calvino, had made many mistakes that still plagued the country.
Political reforms coincided with new economic initiatives , as Bindi intended to completely transform the economy of the Third Republic. During the Parliament's session on April 25, 2009, Sergio Marchione, Minister of Economy, announced that the government was considering a new set of laws to legalize the private ownership of service companies, in the manufacturing industry and in external trade.
At first it seemed that Bindi's reforms were working, at least in the field of foreign policy. Although Washington continued to be wary of Rome, other heads of state decided that they could negotiate with the new government of the Third Republic.
Bindi was able to restore diplomatic ties between Rome and Tel Aviv, interrupted after the Libyan revolution of 1982 and managed to obtain important agreements for the reduction of the number of nuclear warheads both with the European Commonwealth and with the Warsaw Pact.
Bindi's reforms had different effects in the rest of the Mediterranean Bloc. If on the one hand the Libyan government refused to adopt those reforms, on the other the Yugoslav Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić approved similar initiatives to reduce ethnic tensions within the country.
However, Bindi's main concern was to apply her reforms in Greece. The stability of Greece was fundamental for the economic and political success of the Mediterranean League, but at the same time Bindi did not want to waste resources to support an unpopular government.
In 2010, Bindi personally met Kyros Florakis, urging him to recognize that he did not enjoy the support of the Greek proletariat and to try to agree with the opposition to create a stable government.
The results of Bindi's insistence were first contradictory and then, disastrous. Florakis agreed to suspend martial law and to grant more freedom of movement but at the same time refused to resign and initiate the required economic reforms. Attempts to negotiate with his political opponents also proved futile, as none of them wanted to negotiate with the butcher of Syntagma.
The only result of Bindi's insistence was the killing of Florakis in 2010, an event that plunged Greece into chaos. His successor hastened to restore martial law across the country while numerous armed groups, supported by both NATO and the Soviets, rose up against Athens.
The Second Greek Civil War took Rome by surprise, and divided the government. The First Minister was reluctant to send troops into a foreign conflict, while most of the Politburo and Parliament feared that the loss of Greece would damage the economy and reputation of the Mediterranean League.
Eventually, Bindi approved the sending of Italian troops to protect the main Greek cities, but she refused to militarily assist Athens in its military campaign against the rebels.
“ Our allies can rely on our bullets and financial support. I do not consider it necessary to add our blood to the aid sent. ” So it was that Bindi justified his decision in one of her last speeches to the Parliament.
Despite this, Italian soldiers began to die once again in Greece, due to car bombs and aguates in the cities they protected.
Violence in Greece was not the only problem caused by Bindi's political decisions. In 2010 the conclave of Avignon elected as new Pope Luigi Padovese, archbishop of Milan.
Padovese was the first Italian elected Pope since the death of Pius XII. He was also well known for his firm opposition to the government of the Third Republic, to such an extent that he had been arrested multiple times for subversive activities. The new Pope soon got to work, preaching against the immorality and brutality of the Third Republic, and arguing that it was the duty of every good Christian to oppose the communists and their allies.
Many Italian parliamentarians accused Bindi of being responsible for the election of the new anti-communist Pope. Without her liberalization and failures in Greece, Avignon would never have dared to humiliate Rome in this way.
Some even began to suspect that Bindi was secretly working for the Pope, as her party was well known for its support for Catholic-communism, an ideology that mixes the precepts of the Bible with Marx's theories.
Many of her old allies had also begun to be wary of the First Minister. Her economic solutions had not produced significant results, and political reforms were damaging the institutions of the Third Republic.
Thanks to the relaxation of censorship and greater freedom of speech, the inhabitants of the Italian peninsula knew that the situation in Greece was getting worse every day, to such an extent that sending other soldiers against the rebels would soon become inevitable. Many had also begun to lose faith in the government, as they now knew how many of its institutions were corrupt, and that Bindi's solutions were apparently not working.
Eventually, Rosy Bindi's government did not end because of the new civil war in Greece, the economy or the new Pope, but because of homosexuality.
In early 2012, Rosy Bindi proposed a new reform to her Politburo that would completely decriminalize homosexuality throughout the Third Republic. In fact, Bindi asked to make the unofficial policy of tolerance of Calvino official.
Bindi, however, had not realized how much the recent failures had radicalized part of the parliamentarians of the Third Republic. In their eyes, Bindi's proposal was only a further attempt to normalize another symbol of capitalist corruption.
Many MPs also feared that this decriminalization would once again harm the government's popularity. Many inhabitants of the Third Republic had grown up with the idea that homosexuality could not exist in the perfect social-communist society and now Bindi wanted to officially admit that the government had never believed in its own propaganda.
None of them intended to see the Third Republic collapse because of Bindi's utopian hopes. It was necessary to act.
Bindi's government ended in October of that year, while the First Minister was on vacation in Genoa. On the morning of ’ 8 December the streets of Rome were invaded by army tanks and all television channels began to broadcast Verdi's Nabucco repeatedly.
The government of the National Security Committee had just begun.
The Fake Hope
At the time of her appointment as Prime Minister, Rosaria "Rosy" Bindi was the first leader in mainland Italy not to have fought in the Second Civil War and to have been born in Social-Communist territory. In fact, Bindi was born in 1951 in Tuscany, while both central and northern Italy were already under the control of the Second National Liberation Committee.
Raised in the birthplace of the Italian Revolution, Bindi became interested in politics at an early age. She joined the Italian Communist Youth Federation as soon as possible and impressed some of her teachers with her knowledge of Marx and Togliatti.
However, after graduating with a degree in engineering, Bindi joined the DP, attracted by what she percieved as a "good mixt of socialist ideas and rational Italian values". Her decision surprised many of her professors , with many now believing that Bindi's political career had been nipped in the bud.
Indeed, Bindi's political career could only begin after Calvino's liberalizations. Despite being a member of neither the PSI nor the PCI, Bindi joined the Regional Economic Council of Tuscany in 1978.
Thanks to her organizational skills, in 1985 Bindi became Premier of the Council and was awarded the Order of Longo for overseeing the modernization of the Arno floodway, making the canal completely navigable.
Andreatta's rise greatly helped the career of Bindi. In an attempt to weaken his communist opponents, in 1989 Andreatta appointed Romano Prodi as new Foreign Minister.
Prodi was a longtime ally of Bindi, and hastened to bring her into the foreign ministry. After her appointment as “ Undersecretary for European diplomatic relationships ”, Rosy Bindi participated in numerous diplomatic visits both in Western Europe and in the Soviet Bloc.
It seems that this experience influenced her future political ideas. On one hand, Bindi was surprised by the way Western Europeans openly expressed their views and criticized their political leaders which was absent in the Third Republic. On the other hand, she was disgusted by the rampant poverty in the Soviet Bloc and how local communist leaders preferred to protect their power rather than improve the situation.
In 1993, Bindi succeeded Aldo Moro as leader of Popular Democracy. Although some DP members criticized Bindi for ger frequent absencies from Parliament, and her decision to move the party further to the left (including adding sickles and hammers to the party logo) , her leadership proved fundamental in 1994.
Bindi in fact hastened to declare that the DP would no longer support Andreatta and his Politburo after the explosion of the Garibaldi spacecraft. At the same time, she met secretly with Giorgio Napolitano.
Bindi knew that the PCI wanted to appoint Napolitano as new Prime Minister, but that they did not have enough votes. In exchange for support from the DP, Napolitano had to accept Bindi and some of her allies within his government.
So in 1996 Bindi became the new Minister of Industry. Her appointment proved to be fundamental for the modernization of the armed forces, wanted by Napolitano.
Although the task should have fallen on the Minister of Defense, it was Bindi who oversaw the project, finding all the necessary funds and resources.
It soon became clear that Napolitano had designated Bindi as his successor. During his second term, Napolitano allowed Bindi to preside over some of the Politburo meetings and even encouraged her to take an interest in other political areas, in addition to industry, preparing her for future higher positions.
At the time of her appointment as Prime Minister in 2007, Bindi had inherited almost absolute control of trade routes in the Mediterranean , an unstable economy in rapid decline, a bad relationship with the Soviets and NATO and enough nuclear warheads to transform much of France into a radioactive crater.
Bindi belonged to a new generation of politicians, too young to remember the time before the revolution. Like many other members of her generation, the new Prime Minister was more familiar with the corruption and burocratic problems of the Third Repuclic than with all the nationalistic claims of Rome against Sicily-Sardinia or Greece. It was clear that many more reforms were needed.
In her inauguration speech, Bindi declared that her political program was based on the three concepts of “Apertura, Velocità e Trasparenza” (Openness, Acceleration and Transparency).
First, Bindi forced many of the older and more hostile parliamentarians to retire. Furthermore, the government of the Third Republic introduced new individual freedoms for citizens, regarding freedom of speech and religion.
The Third Republic media was finally allowed to express limited criticism of the Third Republic government, especially against the corruption and wealth of some members of the PCI and PSI. During her rule, Bindi also tolerated some strikes and unauthorized demonstrations from Rome.
To demonstrate the validity of her reforms, Bindi began to participate in public debates and conferences, where she answered the questions of the spectators ( with the necessary precautions to avoid dangerous questions and uncomfortable situations obviously ). For the first time since 1971, a politician from mainland Italy admitted that their predecessors, including Longo and Calvino, had made many mistakes that still plagued the country.
Political reforms coincided with new economic initiatives , as Bindi intended to completely transform the economy of the Third Republic. During the Parliament's session on April 25, 2009, Sergio Marchione, Minister of Economy, announced that the government was considering a new set of laws to legalize the private ownership of service companies, in the manufacturing industry and in external trade.
At first it seemed that Bindi's reforms were working, at least in the field of foreign policy. Although Washington continued to be wary of Rome, other heads of state decided that they could negotiate with the new government of the Third Republic.
Bindi was able to restore diplomatic ties between Rome and Tel Aviv, interrupted after the Libyan revolution of 1982 and managed to obtain important agreements for the reduction of the number of nuclear warheads both with the European Commonwealth and with the Warsaw Pact.
Bindi's reforms had different effects in the rest of the Mediterranean Bloc. If on the one hand the Libyan government refused to adopt those reforms, on the other the Yugoslav Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić approved similar initiatives to reduce ethnic tensions within the country.
However, Bindi's main concern was to apply her reforms in Greece. The stability of Greece was fundamental for the economic and political success of the Mediterranean League, but at the same time Bindi did not want to waste resources to support an unpopular government.
In 2010, Bindi personally met Kyros Florakis, urging him to recognize that he did not enjoy the support of the Greek proletariat and to try to agree with the opposition to create a stable government.
The results of Bindi's insistence were first contradictory and then, disastrous. Florakis agreed to suspend martial law and to grant more freedom of movement but at the same time refused to resign and initiate the required economic reforms. Attempts to negotiate with his political opponents also proved futile, as none of them wanted to negotiate with the butcher of Syntagma.
The only result of Bindi's insistence was the killing of Florakis in 2010, an event that plunged Greece into chaos. His successor hastened to restore martial law across the country while numerous armed groups, supported by both NATO and the Soviets, rose up against Athens.
The Second Greek Civil War took Rome by surprise, and divided the government. The First Minister was reluctant to send troops into a foreign conflict, while most of the Politburo and Parliament feared that the loss of Greece would damage the economy and reputation of the Mediterranean League.
Eventually, Bindi approved the sending of Italian troops to protect the main Greek cities, but she refused to militarily assist Athens in its military campaign against the rebels.
“ Our allies can rely on our bullets and financial support. I do not consider it necessary to add our blood to the aid sent. ” So it was that Bindi justified his decision in one of her last speeches to the Parliament.
Despite this, Italian soldiers began to die once again in Greece, due to car bombs and aguates in the cities they protected.
Violence in Greece was not the only problem caused by Bindi's political decisions. In 2010 the conclave of Avignon elected as new Pope Luigi Padovese, archbishop of Milan.
Padovese was the first Italian elected Pope since the death of Pius XII. He was also well known for his firm opposition to the government of the Third Republic, to such an extent that he had been arrested multiple times for subversive activities. The new Pope soon got to work, preaching against the immorality and brutality of the Third Republic, and arguing that it was the duty of every good Christian to oppose the communists and their allies.
Many Italian parliamentarians accused Bindi of being responsible for the election of the new anti-communist Pope. Without her liberalization and failures in Greece, Avignon would never have dared to humiliate Rome in this way.
Some even began to suspect that Bindi was secretly working for the Pope, as her party was well known for its support for Catholic-communism, an ideology that mixes the precepts of the Bible with Marx's theories.
Many of her old allies had also begun to be wary of the First Minister. Her economic solutions had not produced significant results, and political reforms were damaging the institutions of the Third Republic.
Thanks to the relaxation of censorship and greater freedom of speech, the inhabitants of the Italian peninsula knew that the situation in Greece was getting worse every day, to such an extent that sending other soldiers against the rebels would soon become inevitable. Many had also begun to lose faith in the government, as they now knew how many of its institutions were corrupt, and that Bindi's solutions were apparently not working.
Eventually, Rosy Bindi's government did not end because of the new civil war in Greece, the economy or the new Pope, but because of homosexuality.
In early 2012, Rosy Bindi proposed a new reform to her Politburo that would completely decriminalize homosexuality throughout the Third Republic. In fact, Bindi asked to make the unofficial policy of tolerance of Calvino official.
Bindi, however, had not realized how much the recent failures had radicalized part of the parliamentarians of the Third Republic. In their eyes, Bindi's proposal was only a further attempt to normalize another symbol of capitalist corruption.
Many MPs also feared that this decriminalization would once again harm the government's popularity. Many inhabitants of the Third Republic had grown up with the idea that homosexuality could not exist in the perfect social-communist society and now Bindi wanted to officially admit that the government had never believed in its own propaganda.
None of them intended to see the Third Republic collapse because of Bindi's utopian hopes. It was necessary to act.
Bindi's government ended in October of that year, while the First Minister was on vacation in Genoa. On the morning of ’ 8 December the streets of Rome were invaded by army tanks and all television channels began to broadcast Verdi's Nabucco repeatedly.
The government of the National Security Committee had just begun.
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The end of an era?
THE NATIONAL SALVATION COMMITTEE
The end of an era?
“Italy is sick and we are the cure.” It was with this sentence that Elisa Zeli, officially the new First Minister of the Third Republic, concluded the first press conference of Il Comitato Di Salvezza Nazionale (the National Salvation Committee) in 2012.
With these words, the Committee referred to the mysterious conspiracy that had made necessary the intervention of the armed forces and the arrest of a large part of Parliament and the entire Politburo of Bindi. According to a series of documents released by the new Italian government, in the last seven years the political institutions of the Third Republic had been infiltrated by agents serving both Moscow and Washington.
For this reason, the thirteen members of the Committee had been forced to intervene, collaborating with other patriots in the army to depose the treacherous government and restore stability in the Third Republic.
Obviously this news was received with much skepticism by the rest of the world. Not only was such a collaboration between Moscow and Washington highly unlikely but all members of the Committee were well known for their past opposition to Bindi's reforms.
The first action of the National Salvation Committee, after revealing the existence of the alleged conspiracy, was the imposition of martial law and the dissolution of Parliament. Although its members originally promised that it would only be of a temporary measure, the state of emergency has been in force in Italy for more than four years.
Due to censorship and the closure of borders, it is difficult to know what is going on in the Third Republic. However, what emerges from the stories of many Italian exiles is not reassuring.
Following Rosy Bindi's sudden death in early 2013, CSN decided to extend the state of emergency indefinitely. Although Bindi's death occurred in unclear circumstances, the Committee still claims that the woman was killed by agents working for the mysterious international conspiracy.
The hunt for all these agents and those who helped them started the so-called “ Great Italian Purge ”. We can only speculate on the number of Italians arrested and tried since the CSN coup, but, according to some rumors, it is a very large number.
Although at the beginning the purge had affected only the political allies of Bindi, it has now extended to every sector of Italian society. Many of Ingrao's old reforms have been abolished, significantly increasing the authority of the Internal Security Services.
Political ideas are not the only reason why an inhabitant of the Third Republic now risks arrest. According to the CSN, many ideas and behaviors tolerated by previous governments are now part of the mysterious “ disease ” that afflicts mainland Italy.
Ironically, Catholics and homosexuals are now persecuted in the same way by Rome. Churchmen and those who considered sinners of the worst kind often find themselves sharing the same cell, accused of working for one or more foreign governments.
It is not clear what CSN hopes to achieve with this purge. If the aim is only to eliminate the old supporters of Bindi, the Italian government has long since achieved this result.
Yet the arrests and sham trials are continuing, even against Italian politicians who had originally supported the coup or at least had not protested in any way.
Perhaps CSN members fear that they themselves will fall victim to a coup d'état at the hands of unsuspected Italian politicians and soldiers. Or perhaps they desperately need scapegoats to justify many of their failures.
In recent years, the CSN has discovered that, unlike many of its true and alleged political enemies, the economy cannot be intimidated by the secret police or be arrested in case of problems. The repeal of Bindi's reforms and the imposition of more stalinist economic policies have only worsened the difficult economic situation of the Third Republic.
At the same time, CSN's foreign policy has prompted the United States, the USSR and their allies to impose heavy sanctions against the Third Republic.
Under the National Salvation Committee, the Third Republic has undertaken a very aggressive foreign policy. Previous diplomatic agreements with the Warsaw Pact and the European Commonwealth have been canceled, while the production of weapons and atomic bombs has been increased.
Some international observers believe that this production is an attempt by the Third Republic to dissuade the Soviets and Americans from arming rebel groups active in Greece.
Indeed, Rome made this increase in war production coincide with the beginning of its special military operation in the greek mainland. According to the propaganda of the National Salvation Committee, the Italian army had to intervene militarily in Greece to defend Athens from the attack of Cretan fascist-capitalist groups, supported by the Soviet Union and NATO.
There must be many fascist groups in Greece, given the high number of Greek fighters and civilians killed by the Italian expeditionary force, starting from 2012. And Italian soldiers must be very unfortunate, since 5000 of them have already been killed by what Rome calls “ poorly organized fascist robbers. ”
Although Rome continues to insist that victory against the Greek rebels is imminent, Athens now controls only the areas surrounding the main Greek cities. On the contrary, the rural areas of the country are controlled by several rebel groups, which enjoy the support of the population.
Perhaps for this reason, the Italian army recently declared that it is necessary to increase the number of Italian soldiers to be sent to the Greek Socialist Republic. At this point it seems that Rome also wants to impose military leverage on university students, and perhaps even remove the age limit for the recruitment of soldiers.
For now, the CSN government survives only thanks to its brutality. The recent student protests in Milan and Rome have been mercilessly suppressed, and not a day goes by without the approval of at least one new decree relating to internal security.
Yet there are many future dangers that CSN risks facing, starting with its internal rivalries.
Although the CSN has proudly called itself a collective dictatorship, it seems that the fear of popular revolt is the only thing that holds its thirteen members together. The recent resignation of Beatrice Ornelli, former Minister of Defense, over the military failures in Greece, clearly shows that numerous internal struggles are taking place within the CSN
In addition to the rivalries between its members, a further danger for the CSN is represented by the Italian armed forces. Many generals are in fact furious with the government both for the numerous purges and for its interference in the management of the special mission in Greece.
The recent criticisms of Mario Andena, commander of the Italian expeditionary force in Greece, against the military strategy adopted by Rome and the poor training of the new recruits seem to confirm this discontent.
General Andena is extremely popular in Italy for his victories against the Greek rebels, and has many connections with the Libyan and Yugoslav governments. If the general tried to take control of the Third Republic, he would have the support of the rest of the Mediterranean League and a large part of northern Italy.
And finally, the population of the peninsula itself could end the government of the CSN and perhaps the Third Republic itself. The revolutionary zeal of the Cpmitee has in fact created numerous problems in Southern Italy.
Many inhabitants of the southern regions, traditionally more conservative and religious than the rest of their compatriots, aren't happy about the renewed persecution against the Catholic Church or the imposition of new taxes to finance the war in Greece.
For this reason, many suspect that the explosions that hit the air bases of Naples and Cosenza last February were terrorist attacks, and not simple accidents, as reported by the media of the Third Republic.
We have no way of predicting what will happen in mainland Italy in the coming months or years. Perhaps the CSN will survive, perhaps the army will turn against it, or perhaps popular discontent will cause a new revolution or a civil war.
Unfortunately, all these scenarios represent a significant risk for Europe. If the CSN remained in power, the political instability of the Third Republic would only increase.
An army takeover could restore political stability in mainland Italy, but the situation in Greece would deteriorate significantly. Andena and his supporters are in fact convinced that Rome's military strategy in Greece should be much more aggressive, to the point of suggesting the use of chemical weapons in areas controlled by the rebels. In addition, some of them still refuse to recognize the independence of Sicily-Sardinia, and in the past they have also proposed an invasion of the small republic.
Finally, many fear that a popular uprising could start a third civil war in Italy, especially if Yugoslavia and Libya decide to intervene. Since both the Third Republic and its two allies have numerous nuclear warheads, the risk of an atomic war is high.
In a few months it will be the sixty-fifth anniversary of the victory of the Second Liberation Committee during the Second Civil War. Who knows if by then there will still be someone in mainland Italy alive and healty enough to celebrate it.
The end of an era?
“Italy is sick and we are the cure.” It was with this sentence that Elisa Zeli, officially the new First Minister of the Third Republic, concluded the first press conference of Il Comitato Di Salvezza Nazionale (the National Salvation Committee) in 2012.
With these words, the Committee referred to the mysterious conspiracy that had made necessary the intervention of the armed forces and the arrest of a large part of Parliament and the entire Politburo of Bindi. According to a series of documents released by the new Italian government, in the last seven years the political institutions of the Third Republic had been infiltrated by agents serving both Moscow and Washington.
For this reason, the thirteen members of the Committee had been forced to intervene, collaborating with other patriots in the army to depose the treacherous government and restore stability in the Third Republic.
Obviously this news was received with much skepticism by the rest of the world. Not only was such a collaboration between Moscow and Washington highly unlikely but all members of the Committee were well known for their past opposition to Bindi's reforms.
The first action of the National Salvation Committee, after revealing the existence of the alleged conspiracy, was the imposition of martial law and the dissolution of Parliament. Although its members originally promised that it would only be of a temporary measure, the state of emergency has been in force in Italy for more than four years.
Due to censorship and the closure of borders, it is difficult to know what is going on in the Third Republic. However, what emerges from the stories of many Italian exiles is not reassuring.
Following Rosy Bindi's sudden death in early 2013, CSN decided to extend the state of emergency indefinitely. Although Bindi's death occurred in unclear circumstances, the Committee still claims that the woman was killed by agents working for the mysterious international conspiracy.
The hunt for all these agents and those who helped them started the so-called “ Great Italian Purge ”. We can only speculate on the number of Italians arrested and tried since the CSN coup, but, according to some rumors, it is a very large number.
Although at the beginning the purge had affected only the political allies of Bindi, it has now extended to every sector of Italian society. Many of Ingrao's old reforms have been abolished, significantly increasing the authority of the Internal Security Services.
Political ideas are not the only reason why an inhabitant of the Third Republic now risks arrest. According to the CSN, many ideas and behaviors tolerated by previous governments are now part of the mysterious “ disease ” that afflicts mainland Italy.
Ironically, Catholics and homosexuals are now persecuted in the same way by Rome. Churchmen and those who considered sinners of the worst kind often find themselves sharing the same cell, accused of working for one or more foreign governments.
It is not clear what CSN hopes to achieve with this purge. If the aim is only to eliminate the old supporters of Bindi, the Italian government has long since achieved this result.
Yet the arrests and sham trials are continuing, even against Italian politicians who had originally supported the coup or at least had not protested in any way.
Perhaps CSN members fear that they themselves will fall victim to a coup d'état at the hands of unsuspected Italian politicians and soldiers. Or perhaps they desperately need scapegoats to justify many of their failures.
In recent years, the CSN has discovered that, unlike many of its true and alleged political enemies, the economy cannot be intimidated by the secret police or be arrested in case of problems. The repeal of Bindi's reforms and the imposition of more stalinist economic policies have only worsened the difficult economic situation of the Third Republic.
At the same time, CSN's foreign policy has prompted the United States, the USSR and their allies to impose heavy sanctions against the Third Republic.
Under the National Salvation Committee, the Third Republic has undertaken a very aggressive foreign policy. Previous diplomatic agreements with the Warsaw Pact and the European Commonwealth have been canceled, while the production of weapons and atomic bombs has been increased.
Some international observers believe that this production is an attempt by the Third Republic to dissuade the Soviets and Americans from arming rebel groups active in Greece.
Indeed, Rome made this increase in war production coincide with the beginning of its special military operation in the greek mainland. According to the propaganda of the National Salvation Committee, the Italian army had to intervene militarily in Greece to defend Athens from the attack of Cretan fascist-capitalist groups, supported by the Soviet Union and NATO.
There must be many fascist groups in Greece, given the high number of Greek fighters and civilians killed by the Italian expeditionary force, starting from 2012. And Italian soldiers must be very unfortunate, since 5000 of them have already been killed by what Rome calls “ poorly organized fascist robbers. ”
Although Rome continues to insist that victory against the Greek rebels is imminent, Athens now controls only the areas surrounding the main Greek cities. On the contrary, the rural areas of the country are controlled by several rebel groups, which enjoy the support of the population.
Perhaps for this reason, the Italian army recently declared that it is necessary to increase the number of Italian soldiers to be sent to the Greek Socialist Republic. At this point it seems that Rome also wants to impose military leverage on university students, and perhaps even remove the age limit for the recruitment of soldiers.
For now, the CSN government survives only thanks to its brutality. The recent student protests in Milan and Rome have been mercilessly suppressed, and not a day goes by without the approval of at least one new decree relating to internal security.
Yet there are many future dangers that CSN risks facing, starting with its internal rivalries.
Although the CSN has proudly called itself a collective dictatorship, it seems that the fear of popular revolt is the only thing that holds its thirteen members together. The recent resignation of Beatrice Ornelli, former Minister of Defense, over the military failures in Greece, clearly shows that numerous internal struggles are taking place within the CSN
In addition to the rivalries between its members, a further danger for the CSN is represented by the Italian armed forces. Many generals are in fact furious with the government both for the numerous purges and for its interference in the management of the special mission in Greece.
The recent criticisms of Mario Andena, commander of the Italian expeditionary force in Greece, against the military strategy adopted by Rome and the poor training of the new recruits seem to confirm this discontent.
General Andena is extremely popular in Italy for his victories against the Greek rebels, and has many connections with the Libyan and Yugoslav governments. If the general tried to take control of the Third Republic, he would have the support of the rest of the Mediterranean League and a large part of northern Italy.
And finally, the population of the peninsula itself could end the government of the CSN and perhaps the Third Republic itself. The revolutionary zeal of the Cpmitee has in fact created numerous problems in Southern Italy.
Many inhabitants of the southern regions, traditionally more conservative and religious than the rest of their compatriots, aren't happy about the renewed persecution against the Catholic Church or the imposition of new taxes to finance the war in Greece.
For this reason, many suspect that the explosions that hit the air bases of Naples and Cosenza last February were terrorist attacks, and not simple accidents, as reported by the media of the Third Republic.
We have no way of predicting what will happen in mainland Italy in the coming months or years. Perhaps the CSN will survive, perhaps the army will turn against it, or perhaps popular discontent will cause a new revolution or a civil war.
Unfortunately, all these scenarios represent a significant risk for Europe. If the CSN remained in power, the political instability of the Third Republic would only increase.
An army takeover could restore political stability in mainland Italy, but the situation in Greece would deteriorate significantly. Andena and his supporters are in fact convinced that Rome's military strategy in Greece should be much more aggressive, to the point of suggesting the use of chemical weapons in areas controlled by the rebels. In addition, some of them still refuse to recognize the independence of Sicily-Sardinia, and in the past they have also proposed an invasion of the small republic.
Finally, many fear that a popular uprising could start a third civil war in Italy, especially if Yugoslavia and Libya decide to intervene. Since both the Third Republic and its two allies have numerous nuclear warheads, the risk of an atomic war is high.
In a few months it will be the sixty-fifth anniversary of the victory of the Second Liberation Committee during the Second Civil War. Who knows if by then there will still be someone in mainland Italy alive and healty enough to celebrate it.
Incredible. Will you do any other TL's here? If you do; please pm me
I'm wondering on what this would have on the world. Red Italy would have an interesting effect on socialism the world over and meanwhile, there's how that would affect the mob over in the US and so on.
1. The Italian Revolution caused anti-communist hysteria in the West. France banned for a few years the PCF, while Franco ordered a new crackdown
2. The Italian mob in the US was hit hard by the fall of the mainland. New York Governor RFK went hard on them after one of their bosses killed his younger brother
3. Italy's weird communist-socialiast democracy was imitated in a couple of countries, like San Marino and the Congo
Less OTL North Korea (ITTL the dubious honor goes to Albania), and more akin to OTL East Germany between 1987 and 1989. Main difference is that a lot of people want to keep the Socialist-Communism istitutions
Eh, a lot of TLIAD/TLIAW end up in a positive note. I also wanted to point out the problems said country would realistically face
I was thinking a TLIAD/TLIAW about Sicily-Sardinia
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I wonder if there's any secessionist sentiment in both islands, given how distinct they are from the mainland
Even the most secessionist sicilians consider the exiled government a better option than the Atheist Reds
In Sardinia, it was more complicated and there was a lot of violence in the 50s-60s