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Fascists and, while a number of arrests of distinguished party members   
have been made the principal action thus far has been to dismiss small   
office-holders of known Fascist loyalty from public office.  He felt that   
this was an undesirable procedure and that there were in Italy perhaps not   
more than two or thress thousand who should be punished in one way or   
another for their Fascist activities and that the mass Who professed   
   Fascism because it was not necessarily be disturbed.     
 
                                                            
 
 
He was confident that the present Cabinet could weather any possible   
distemper in various parts of the country and after reorganizing from   
within from time to time would become a permanent mechanism to bring about   
more democratic satifaction in Italy.  He did not fear the Communist   
movement in Italy as the Communist Party, though large in membership and   
growing, had not shown the extreme Communist tendencies that in common   
parlance is understood as a dangerous and undesirable movement and felt   
that thus far in Italy the six parties who have collaborated to create the  
 present Cabinet, each having within it its own chosen member, work in a   
cooperative spirit which would not give rise to internal discord leading   
to disruption.  He discussed Badoglio and indicated that his failure to be   
included in the present Cabinet was because the majority of parites   
participating were unanimously against him.  He discussed Orlando who he   
said had been offered opportunities to cooperate with the new governmnet   
but had not ben willing to do so wxcept upon terms of individual power   
which was not congenial to the party plans and representation upon the   
   basis of which the present government was constructed.   
 
                                                            
 
 
On the whole his opinion was that Italy, starting with the present regime,   
would, with adequate help from without, restore itself politically in a   
democratic spirit, economically and spiritually.  We discussed relief in a   
brief way and it was obvious that there is concern in the present   
government as to italy's situation in hte coming winter, the principal   
difficulties confronting her being food, fuel and housing.  In the fought-  
over sections of Italy ther has been great destruction of homes and the   
tendency will be when winter comes for  the inhabitants to flock to Rome   
in the hope of finding living quarters and living conditions more   
congenial.  This will be, in his opinion, a difficult situation to meet.    
He inquired if Lend-Lease would likely be extended to Italy to which I   
replied that I did not know.  I did, however, indicate that the present   
       system of furnishing supplies to the Italian         
 
                       Government....