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ACTION EUR-12
INFO OCT-01 ISO-00 IO-10 CIAE-00 DODE-00 PM-04 H-02 INR-07
L-03 NSAE-00 NSC-05 PA-02 PRS-01 SP-02 SS-15 USIA-15
SAJ-01 DHA-02 COME-00 EB-07 LAB-04 SIL-01 /094 W
--------------------- 008275
R 141015Z NOV 75
FM AMCONSUL MILAN
TO AMEMBASSY ROME
SECSTATE WASHDC 4379
UNCLAS SECTION 1 OF 2 MILAN 2128
E.O. 11652: N/A
TAGS: PFOR, PINT, PINR, PGOV, IT
SUBJECT: CABLE FROM BERGAMO
1. BERGAMO IS CATHOLIC TO THE CORE. BUT BERGAMO'S CATHOLICS
HAVE HAD IT WITH ROME. THEY HAVE HAD IT BECAUSE THEY BELIEVE
THAT THE NATIONAL CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP IS DRIVING
ITALY INTO THE HANDS OF THE COMMUNISTS. YET, WHILE THEIR
RATIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE SITUATION LEADS BERGAMO LEADERS
INEVITABLY TO THIS CONCLUSION, SOME HAVE A MYSTIC CONFIDENCE
THAT, IN THE END, ITALIAN VOTERS WILL PULL BACK FROM THE
FINAL PLUNGE IN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS. THAT IS THE MAIN
CONCLUSION FROM CONVERSATIONS WITH MORE THAN A DOZEN BERGAMO
OFFICIALS AND LEADERS ON NOVEMBER 3 AND 12.
2. HARDLY AN HOUR FROM MILAN, BERGAMO IS A TRADITIONAL
CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC STRONGHOLD. IT ALONE CONTROLS 206 OF
THE 250 TOWN COUNCILS IN THE PROVINCE. WITH 48 PERCENT OF
THE VOTE IN JUNE LOCAL ELECTIONS, THE DC GAINED HALF A
PERCENTAGE POINT IN THE CITY OF 125,000 ALTHOUGH IT LOST 3.5
POINTS IN THE PROVINCE DROPPING TO 55.3 PERCENT. THE COMMUNISTS
JUMPED FROM ALMOST 20 PERCENT TO ALMOST 27.5 PERCENT AND THE
SOCIALISTS FROM NEARLY 11 TO NEARLY 14. THE GREAT LOSERS,
AS ELSEWHERE, WERE THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATS AND LIBERALS WHO
HAVE NOW ALMOST VANISHED IN BERGAMO AS ORGANIZED PARTIES.
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3. THIS SITUATION BRINGS LITTLE JOY TO BERGAMO CATHOLICS.
THEY FORESEE NATIONAL LOSSES IN THE PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
THAT WILL BRING THE COMMUNISTS TO POWER. NOT BECAUSE OF
THEIR LOCAL SHORTCOMINGS. BUT BECAUSE OF THE SHORTCOMINGS
OF THE NATIONAL LEADERSHIP OF THEIR PARTY. IT WOULD BE
DIFFICULT TO OVERSTATE THE ANGER AND FRUSTRATION VOICED
UNANIMOUSLY BY LOCAL DC LEADERS AT ROME AND THE NATIONAL
LEADERSHIP. THESE MIDDLE-AGED MEN FEEL THAT THE ITALIAN
DEMOCRACY FOR WHICH SOME LABORED IN THE RESISTANCE AND ALL
WORKED DURING THE POST-WAR PERIOD, IS IN DANGER OF BEING
SWEPT AWAY. NOT BY COMMUNIST VIOLENCE. BUT BY CHRISTIAN
DEMOCRATIC DEFAULT SECONDED BY SOCIALIST MUDDLING.
4. THE BISHOP, A POWERFULLY BUILT AND INCISIVE SEPTUAGENARIAN,
WAS AS BLUNT AS THE REST. THE DC PARTY, HE SAID, WAS DEAD.
THERE WAS NO ORGANIZATION, NO LEADERSHIP. THE LOCAL LEADERS
WERE INDIVIDUALLY HONEST, DECENT AND ABLE. BUT THERE WAS NO
GUIDANCE OR LEADERSHIP FROM ABOVE. IN FACT, ONCE ELECTED,
MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT WERE NEVER SEEN IN BERGAMO AGAIN.
THEY KNEW NOTHING ABOUT LOCAL ATTITUDES AND DIDN'T WANT TO
LEARN.
5. THE DC MAYOR, AND IMPRESSIVE MAN IN HIS EARLY 50'S, AND
HIS CITY COUNCIL COLLEAGUES, HAD NO KINDER WORDS. ROME WAS
DEAF TO THE GRASS ROOTS. IT HEARD NOTHING AND UNDERSTOOD
NOTHING ABOUT THE LOCAL SITUATION. OUR SKIRTS ARE CLEAN AND
OUR STREETS ARE CLEAN, HE ARGUED, BUT WE ARE BEING DEFEATED
BY THE COMMUNISTS BECAUSE OF THE OLD FACES, THE CORRUPTION,
THE DONOTHING LEADERSHIP IN ROME. WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH. THEY
HAVE GOT TO KNOW IN ROME THAT IT'S ALL OVER. AT THE LOCAL
LEVEL, WE'VE HAD IT.
6. AT THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT LEVEL, THE ATTITUDE WAS THE
SAME. THE WHOLE TOP OF THE DC PYRAMID MUST GO - THE WHOLE
LOT - FANFANI, MORO, RUMOR, ANDREOTTI, COLOMBO, TAVIANI,
PICCOLI, BISAGLIA. IT WAS USELESS TO TRY TO GO ON WITH A
GENERATION OF LEADERS DISCREDITED IN THE EYES OF THE PUBLIC
WHO HAD PLAYED MUSICAL CHAIRS FOR 30 YEARS. NO DEMOCRACY
ANYWHERE ELSE WAS STILL RUN BY THE LEADERS OF THE FORTIES.
THESE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT DC LEADERS WERE IN THEIR FIFTIES.
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THEY WERE NOT ASKING JOBS FOR THEMSELVES. THEY WANTED
YOUNGER MEN THAN THEMSELVES GIVEN A CHANCE NOW - NOT SOONER
OR LATER. SOONER OR LATER WOULD BE TOO LATE. TO THEIR
IMMENSE FRUSTRATION, ROME WAS IMPERVIOUS TO THEIR PLEAS.
MAYBE THEY WERE MAKING SOME PROGRESS. BUT IT WAS TOO LITTLE
AND TOO SLOW.
7. THE DC CITY AND REGIONAL SECRETARY DROVE HOME THE
SAME THEME. BUT HE ADDED HIS STRONG
OPPOSITION TO A CATHOLIC-COMMUNIST DEAL IN THE COMPROMESSO
STORICO. THAT, HE WARNED, MIGHT SUIT THE CHURCH AND
SOME LEFT WING CATHOLICS. BUT IT WOULD BE AT THE EXPENSE
OF ITALIAN LAY DEMOCRACY WHICH WAS THE ITALY THAT THE
BERGAMO CATHOLICS WERE DEFENDING.
8. WHILE THE BISHOP DESCRIBED COMUNIONE AND LIBERAZIONE
AS THE ONE BRIGHT LIGHT, PARTY LEADERS SAW IT MORE DIMLY.
THEY WERE GLAD ENOUGH TO HAVE MORE DOOR BELL RINGERS.
THEY WERE A GOOD DEAL LESS GLAD TO SEE A NEW CAHTOLIC
PRESSURE GROUP THAT LOOKED LIKE A CLERICAL PHOENIX.
9. NO ONE HAD A KIND WORD FOR THE SOCIALISTS - BUT NEITHER
COULD I FIND A SOCIALIST TO SEE WHO MIGHT HAVE SAID ONE
FOR HIMSELF. WHILE ALL DEPLORED THE SOCIALIST GAME OF
OSCILLATING BETWEEN COMMUNIST AND CATHOLIC, OPPOSITION
AND GOVERNMENT, MOST FELT THE SOCIALISTS WERE THE LYNCH PIN
OF THE FUTURE. THE REGIONAL SECRETARY WAS EXPLICIT. THE
SOCIALISTS HAD HURT THE DC GREATLY. BUT THEIR ATTACKS
WERE NOT WHOLLY UNJUSTIFIED. THE DC NEVER WANTED TO SHARE
REAL POWER WITH THEM NATIONALLY. NOW THEY HAD TO BE WON
BACK BY MAJOR CABINET POSTS TO MAKE COMMON CAUSE AGAINST
THE COMMUNISTS. AFTER THE ELECTIONS, IT WOULD BE THE
SOCIALISTS WHO WOULD DECIDE WHETHER ITALY WOULD BE
RULED BY THEMSELVES AND THE COMMUNISTS OR THEMSELVES AND
THE CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS.
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43
ACTION EUR-12
INFO OCT-01 ISO-00 IO-10 CIAE-00 DODE-00 PM-04 H-02 INR-07
L-03 NSAE-00 NSC-05 PA-02 PRS-01 SP-02 SS-15 USIA-15
SAJ-01 DHA-02 COME-00 EB-07 LAB-04 SIL-01 /094 W
--------------------- 010430
R 141015Z NOV 75
FM AMCONSUL MILAN
TO AMEMBASSY ROME
SECSTATE WASHDC 4380
UNCLAS SECTION 2 OF 2 MILAN 2128
10. WITH SEVERAL NOTABLE EXCEPTIONS, ALL AGREED THAT
THE LOCAL ECONOMIC SITUATION WAS BAD AND GETTING WORSE.
THE EXCEPTIONS WERE THE PREFECT WHO SAW SIGNS OF UP-TURN,
THE BISHOP WHO HAD A DETAILED ACCOUNT OF THE SITUATION
AND THOUGHT THINGS WERE PRETTY FAIR, A CHEMICAL
MANUFACTURER WHO SAID THE LOCAL CHEMICAL INDUSTRY WAS
RUNNING WELL AHEAD OF LAST YEAR, AND THE UIL REGIONAL
SECRETARY. THAT A TRADE UNIONIST SHOULD SAY THE WORST
HAD PASSED, THAT UNEMPLOYMENT WAS DECLINING AND THAT THE
RANK AND FILE OF ALL THE LOCAL UNIONS WAS UP IN ARMS
AGAINST FURTHER STRIKES IS A NOTEWORTHY IF NOT ENTIRELY
EXPLICABLE EVENT. THERE WAS GENERAL AGREEMENT THAT
THE LOCAL ECONOMIC SITUATION WAS DAMPENED BY POLITICAL
UNCERTAINTY WHICH LED OWNERS TO HOLD BACK ON INVESTMENT
BECAUSE OF FEAR ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES OF A COMMUNIST
SUCCESS IN 1977.
11. A RECURRING THEME WAS THE IMPORTANCE OF UNITED STATES
SUPPORT. THE SECRETARY'S NOV. 2 STATEMENT TO THE HOUSE
WAS KNOWN BY NEARLY ALL AND APPROVED. AND FROM THE
BISHOP TO THE TRADE UNION SECRETARY (A REPUBLICAN OR SOCIAL
DEMOCRAT) THERE WAS A UNANIMOUS URGING THAT THE UNITED
STATES SHOULD NOT ABANDON ITALY. MOREOVER, THERE WERE
ENERGETIC RECOMMENDATIONS THAT THE UNITED STATES SPARE
NEITHER TIME NOR PERSUASION TO FORCE A CHANGE IN THE
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NATIONAL DC LEADERSHIP. IT WAS, OF COURSE, PRIMARILY AN
ITALIAN PROBLEM AND PRIMARILY AN ITALIAN RESPONSIBILITY.
BUT A COMMUNIST ITALY WOULD NOT ONLY BE A DISASTER
FOR ITALIANS. IT WOULD BE A DISASTER FOR WESTERN EUROPE
AND FOR THE UNITED STATES AS WELL. FOR THAT REASON, SEVERAL
ARGUED, THE UNITED STATES WHOULD FORGET THE NICETIES
WHILE THERE WAS STILL TIME. THE COMMUNISTS WEREN'T
PLAYING GAMES. THEY WERE PLAYING FOR KEEPS.
12. DESPITE THE LOGIC OF THEIR OWN ANALYSES, HOWEVER,
THERE WAS A STRANGESECOND CONCLUSION BY SEVERAL. THE
BISHOP, THE TRADE UNIONIST, AND THE PREFECT, ALL CONCLUDED
THAT DESPITE THE EVIDENCE THEY SAW, THE VOTER WOULD NOT
VOTE FOR THE COMMUNISTS IN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS AS
THEY HAD ON JUNE 15. IT WAS A MATTER OF FAITH IN ITALIAN
GOOD SENSE. BUT THAT WASN'T AN EXCUSE FOR LYING DOWN.
IT WAS RATHER AN ENCOURAGEMENT THAT DESPITE THE ODDS, IT WAS
STILL WORTH FIGHTING.
13. ALL OF WHICH SEEMS TO MEAN THAT THE BERGAMASCHI ARE NOT RESIGNED
TO THE INEVITABILITY OF A COMMUNIST SUCCESSS IN THE PARLIA-
MENTARY ELECTIONS AND ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT A RIGHIST SOLUTION.
BUT OUR GREY HAIRED CATHOLIC CONTACTS ARE PROFOUNDLY OUT OF
SYMPATHY WITH THEIR NATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND OBVIOUSLY INCREAS-
INGLY FRUSTRATED BY THEIR PNABILITY TO INFLUENCE NATIONAL
DECISIONS.FINA
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