865.01/2299: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 5—2:30 p.m.]
1174. Pravda22 for April 3 publishes a 14 column inch [sic] despatch from London reporting Ercoli’s announcement that the Italian Communist Party had decided to propose to the other opposition parties that their demand for the abdication of Victor Emmanuel be postponed and that they support a proposal for the formation of a government enjoying the support of all parties.
The item identifies Ercoli as “the well-known Italian Communist leader” and states that a week ago he arrived in Naples from Moscow where he had spent 18 years in exile and was a member of the Comintern.
The new program of the Communist Party as announced by Ercoli contains three main points:
- 1.
- Assurance of unity of the anti-Fascist parties.
- 2.
- Solution of the question of the state structure of Italy after the war by democratic methods.
- 3.
- The formation of a national government on broad basis.
In a statement in the Communist paper units [L’Unita?]22a Ercoli is reported to have referred to the effort to find a way out of the impasse into which the political parties of liberated Italy have fallen since the armistice. He emphasized that the principal immediate task is to carry on and win the war and to this end suggests the formation of a broad front of united political parties. An elementary condition for a national reconnaissance is the purging of fascism from Italian life. This however does not mean revenge or the removal of experienced and capable army officers who are necessary for the conduct of the war. There are however two governing considerations. (1st) Italy was led to the brink of catastrophe and it is impossible to avoid the question of responsibility for this situation. (2nd) The war against the Germans must be won.
[Page 1090]The immediate tasks of the Communist Party are action in close agreement with the Socialists and an alliance with all other anti-Fascist forces of the country. Italy must take effective action against Hitlerite Germany. To remain an indifferent spectator would not only be an error but a crime. The Communist Party must raise the flag of national interests which were betrayed by fascism.
Ercoli stated that the Communist Party was republican in principle and proposed the conversion of the Italian State into a democratic republic at the proper time. For the present however the decision of these questions must be postponed since the abdication of the King cannot be effected immediately.
Repeated to London and to Algiers for Reinhardt.