ITALY " THIS SHIP IS LEAKING " ITALIAN DEMOCRACY LAST WEEK WAS STAGGERING TOWARD A POLITICAL CRISIS THAT MAY WELL PROVE TO BE THE WORST SINCE THE COMMUNISTS WERE NARROWLY DEFEATED 15 YEARS AGO . ON THE VERGE OF ENTERING THE GOVERNMENT WAS A MARXIST PARTY THAT, AT ITS WORST, IS OPENLY ALLIED WITH THE COMMUNISTS AND, AT BEST, IS ONLY A LUKEWARM AND NEUTRALITY-MINDED ADHERENT OF THE WEST . SEEKING PERMISSION . WHEN THE ORIGINAL APERTURA A SINISTRA (OPENING TO THE LEFT) WAS ENGINEERED A LITTLE LESS THAN TWO YEARS AGO, IT HAPPENED LARGELY BECAUSE THE LONG-RULING CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS FELT THEMSELVES SLIPPING AT THE POLLS AND GENERALLY DECLINING IN VIGOR COMPARED TO THEIR EARLY POSTWAR DAYS . THE SOLUTION ADVANCED BY LEFT-WING CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS, WITH THE ZEALOUS BACKING OF WASHINGTON, WAS A SERIES OF REFORMS IN EDUCATION, AGRICULTURE AND TAXATION, ALL INVOLVING LARGE MEASURES OF GOVERNMENT PLANNING . SINCE THIS PROGRAM WAS OPPOSED BY THE RIGHTIST PARTIES IN PARLIAMENT, INCLUDING THE FREE-ENTERPRISING LIBERALS, THE CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS NEEDED SUPPORT ELSEWHERE TO BE ABLE TO FORM A MAJORITY . THEY SOUGHT IT FROM PIETRO NENNI'S LEFT-WING SOCIALISTS . ACCORDING TO THE APERTURA AGREEMENT, THE NENNI SOCIALISTS DID NOT ENTER THE GOVERNMENT BUT SUPPORTED IT IN PARLIAMENT . IN THE PROCESS, SOME CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS HOPED, THE NENNI SOCIALISTS WOULD BE WOOED INTO BREAKING THEIR LONGSTANDING ALLIANCE WITH THE COMMUNISTS . AS IT TURNED OUT, THE APERTURA FAILED TO ACCOMPLISH THAT OR ANYTHING ELSE EXCEPT THE UNNECESSARY NATIONALIZATION OF ITALY'S ELECTRICAL INDUSTRY . IT ALSO PAVED THE WAY, AT LAST SPRING'S ELECTIONS, FOR HEAVY GAINS BY BOTH THE COMMUNISTS AND THE LIBERALS . SINCE THEN ITALY HAS BEEN RULED BY THE CARETAKER GOVERNMENT OF PREMIER GIOVANNI LEONE . BUT BOTH PIETRO NENNI AND THE MAJORITY OF THE CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS UNDER ALDO MORO WANTED TO REVIVE THE APERTURA, THIS TIME WITH THE LEFT-WING SOCIALISTS ACTUALLY IN THE GOVERNMENT . LAST WEEK, PIETRO NENNI TURNED TO HIS DEEPLY DIVIDED PARTY TO GET ITS PERMISSION TO NEGOTIATE SUCH A DEAL . OUTSIDE ROME'S MASSIVE MARBLE PALACE OF THE CONGRESSES, 600 SOCIALIST DELEGATES PARKED THEIR FIATS, LOOKING FOR ALL THE WORLD LIKE BOURGEOIS CONVENTIONEERS . BUT INSIDE, SUGGESTING THAT YOU CAN'T TEACH OLD DOGMATISTS NEW TRICKS, THE STAGE WAS BEDECKED WITH RED FLAGS AND THE SOCIALIST EMBLEM : A HAMMER, SICKLE AND A RISING SUN . EYES GREW MISTY WITH TEARS AS THE AFFLUENT CROWD BROKE OUT IN EMOTIONAL RENDITIONS OF THE INTERNATIONALE AND BANDIERA ROSSA (RED FLAG) . SPOUTING JARGON . TODAY, SAID PIETRO NENNI FRANKLY, " SOCIALIST PARTICIPATION IN A COALITION GOVERNMENT IS NOT A QUESTION OF PRINCIPLE BUT OF POLITICAL OPPORTUNITY . " THEN HE LAUNCHED INTO A PRECARIOUS BALANCING ACT . HE DENOUNCED THE COMMUNISTS' " ARID THEORIES OF POWER, " AND URGED THE PARTY TO DROP ITS RULE DEMANDING COOPERATION WITH THE REDS IN LOCAL ELECTIONS . BUT HE DID NOT AS THE CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS HAD WANTED HIM TO ASK THAT SUCH ELECTORAL ALLIANCES BE SPECIFICALLY RULED OUT . IN FOREIGN AFFAIRS, NENNI ADVOCATED A VAGUE POLICY OF " POSITIVE NEUTRALISM, " WHICH MEANS UNENTHUSIASTIC ADHERENCE TO NATO AND OPPOSITION TO THE U.S . PLAN FOR A MULTINATIONAL SURFACE FLEET EQUIPPED WITH POLARIS MISSILES . THE POWERFUL PRO-COMMUNIST WING OF NENNI'S SOCIALISTS DENOUNCED THE PROPOSED COALITION GOVERNMENT AS " UNACCEPTABLE TO A WORKING-CLASS PARTY . " THE BALANCE OF POWER RESTED WITH THE SOCIALISTS' NO . 2 LEADER, RICCARDO LOMBARDI, WHO ONLY JOINED THE PARTY IN 1947 (BEFORE THEN HE WAS A LEADER OF THE LEFTIST ACTION PARTY, WHICH DIED IN 1946) AND FEVERISHLY TRIES TO MAKE UP FOR LOST TIME BY SPOUTING ARCHAIC MARXIST JARGON . HE ALSO MADE NEUTRALIST NOISES, AND UNLIKE NENNI, HE HINTED AT FURTHER NATIONALIZATION SCHEMES . STILL, WHILE HE DENOUNCED THE " MENACE OF CAPITALISM, " LOMBARDI ADMITTED THAT WITHIN A DECADE THE CAPITALISTS MIGHT SOLVE ITALY'S SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS SO THE SOCIALISTS HAD BETTER GET INTO THE GOVERNMENT NOW TO SHARE THE CREDIT AND INFLUENCE EVENTS . THUS, IN THE END, LOMBARDI THREW HIS SUPPORT TO NENNI, BUT WITH SO MANY QUALIFICATIONS THAT NENNI MIGHT YET FIND IT IMPOSSIBLE TO WORK OUT A COALITION WITH THE CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS . OF 101 SEATS IN THE PARTY'S CENTRAL COMMITTEE, TWO WENT TO INDEPENDENTS, 49 TO PROCOMMUNISTS AND 59 TO DELEGATES FAVORING THE COALITION . OF THESE 59, HOWEVER, 16 ARE HELD BY LOMBARDI SUPPORTERS . VIEWING HIS SHAKY VICTORY, THE AGING (72), AILING NENNI DECLARED : " THIS SHIP IS LEAKING ON ALL SIDES . " MORE MODERATE ? RIGHT-WING CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS, WHO HAD OPPOSED THE APERTURA IN THE FIRST PLACE, WARNED DIRELY AGAINST TAKING THE SOCIALISTS ON BOARD AT ALL . SAID LIBERAL LEADER GIOVANNI MALAGODI : " COLLABORATION WITH THE SOCIALISTS SIGNIFIES THE ABANDONMENT OF THE STRUGGLE AGAINST COMMUNISM, ABANDONMENT OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE WEST, ABANDONMENT OF A FREE ECONOMY AND AN OPEN DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY . " U.S . POLICYMAKERS, ALTHOUGH THEY NO LONGER SUPPORT THE APERTURA WITH THE SAME OLD ENTHUSIASM, PERCEIVE NO SUCH PERILS ; THEY ARGUE THAT NENNI & CO . WOULD BECOME MORE MODERATE AS MEMBERS OF THE GOVERNMENT THAN IF THEY REMAINED ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN . BESIDES, INSIST DEFENDERS OF THE APERTURA, THE ALTERNATIVE TO A CENTER-LEFT ALLIANCE IS A CENTER-RIGHT COALITION WHICH COULD NOT COMMAND A MAJORITY IN THE PRESENT PARLIAMENT WITHOUT THE VOTES OF MONARCHISTS AND NEO-FASCISTS . MANY ITALIAN RIGHT-WINGERS ACTUALLY WANT THE APERTURA GOVERNMENT FORMED, HOPING THAT IT WILL FAIL, THEREBY FORCING NEW ELECTIONS IN WHICH THE RIGHT-WING PARTIES EXPECT TO MAKE FURTHER GAINS FOR COMRADE PALMIRO TOGLIATTI, HE CHIDED NENNI FOR HIS ANTI-COMMUNIST TALK AND SWEETLY URGED BOTH THE SOCIALISTS AND THE LEFT-WING CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS TO ACCEPT COOPERATION WITH THE COMMUNIST PARTY .