Editing Mario Scelba (section)

==Minister of the Interior==
On 2 February 1947 Scelba became [[Italian Minister of the Interior|Minister of the Interior]] in the [[De Gasperi III Cabinet|third government]] of Alcide de Gasperi,<ref>[http://www.governo.it/it/i-governi-dal-1943-ad-oggi/ordinamento-provvisorio-25-luglio-1943-23-maggio-1948-assemblea-1 Governo De Gasperi III], governo.it]</ref> and remained in office until July 1953.<ref>[http://www.governo.it/it/i-governi-dal-1943-ad-oggi/ii-legislatura-25-giugno-1953-14-marzo-1958/governo-de-gasperi-viii/3224 Governo De Gasperi VIII], governo.it</ref> During these years, Scelba was probably the most powerful man in the country, after De Gasperi.<ref name=white>{{citation | url = http://www.unitn.it/files/download/9722/wpwhite.pdf | title = De Gasperi through American Eyes | first = Steven F | last = White | publisher = School of International Studies, University of Trento | year = 2005 | place = Trento (Italy) | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110927003452/http://www.unitn.it/files/download/9722/wpwhite.pdf | archive-date = 27 September 2011 | df = dmy-all }}  Working Paper.</ref> Having witnessed the [[Biennio rosso|Red Biennium]] and the violent fascist reaction, which caused the crisis of the liberal state and the subsequent formation of the dictatorship, Scelba was deeply convinced that the control of public order was necessary for the defense of the newly founded democratic and republican institutions;<ref>[https://www.ildubbio.news/2018/06/13/cera-scelba-kossiga-storia-sceriffi/ "Quando c’era lui." Da Scelba a Cossiga: storia di sceriffi]</ref> in fact, during all his tenure he was a strong advocate of [[Law and order (politics)|law and order]] policies.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=YvTIDQAAQBAJ&dq=scelba+8+mila+comunisti&pg=PT68 La via italiana alla democrazia]</ref> His hard-fisted record earned him the nickname "Iron Sicilian" for his ruthless suppression of left-wing workers' protests and strikes, as well as [[neo-fascist]] rallies.<ref>[https://www.francoangeli.it/Ricerca/scheda_libro.aspx?Id=5905 La repubblica della forza: Mario Scelba e le passioni del suo tempo]</ref>

===Portella della Ginestra massacre===
After just three months in office as Minister of the Interior, Scelba was confronted with the [[Portella della Ginestra massacre]]. Twelve days after the left-wing election victory in the Sicilian regional elections of 1947, the 1 May labour parade in Portella della Ginestra was attacked, culminating in the killing of 11 people and the wounding of over thirty. The attack was attributed to the bandit and separatist leader [[Salvatore Giuliano]],<ref name=tim120547>{{cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C855656%2C00.html |title=Battle of the Inkpots |access-date=2017-06-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110203075549/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C855656%2C00.html |archive-date=3 February 2011 }}, ''Time Magazine'', 12 May 1947</ref> the aim being to punish local leftists for the recent election results.<ref name=dickie265>Dickie, ''Cosa Nostra'', pp. 265–6</ref>

[[File:Mario Scelba 1947.jpg|thumb|right|230px|Mario Scelba in 1947]]
Scelba reported to Parliament the next day that so far as the police could determine, the Portella della Ginestra shooting was non-political.  He claimed that bandits notoriously infested the valley in which it occurred;<ref name=tim120547/> however, that version was challenged by the left. The [[Italian Communist Party]] (PCI) deputy [[Girolamo Li Causi]] stressed the political nature of the massacre, claiming that [[Sicilian Mafia|the Mafia]] had perpetrated the attack, in cahoots with the large landowners, monarchists and the rightist [[Common Man's Front]].<ref name=tim120547/> He also claimed that police inspector Ettore Messana – supposed to coordinate the prosecution of the bandits – had been in league with Giuliano and denounced Scelba for allowing Messana to remain in office. Later documents would substantiate the accusation.<ref name=servadio128>Servadio, ''Mafioso'', pp. 128–9</ref>

Li Causi and Scelba would be the main opponents in the aftermath of the massacre – the subsequent killing of the alleged perpetrator, Salvatore Giuliano, and the trial against Giuliano's lieutenant [[Gaspare Pisciotta]] and other remaining members of Giuliano's gang. The trial of those responsible was held in the city of [[Viterbo]], starting in the summer of 1950. During the trial, Scelba was again accused of involvement in the plot to carry out the massacre, but the accusations were often contradictory or vague. In the end, the judge concluded that no higher authority had ordered the massacre and that the Giuliano band had acted autonomously.<ref name=dickie265/> At the trial Pisciotta said: "Again and again Scelba has gone back on his word: [[Bernardo Mattarella|Mattarella]] and Cusumano returned to Rome to plead for total amnesty for us, but Scelba denied all his promises." Pisciotta also claimed that he had killed Salvatore Giuliano in his sleep by arrangement with Scelba; however, there was no evidence that Scelba had had any relationship with Pisciotta.<ref name=ser135>Servadio, ''Mafioso'', pp. 135–7</ref><!-- Image with inadequate rationale removed: [[Image:Time DeGasperi.jpg|thumb|right|The cover of Time Magazine of April 19, 1948, featuring Italian Prime Minister [[Alcide De Gasperi]] threatened by the Red (Communist) Octopus]] -->

===1948 election===
{{main|1948 Italian general election}}
The [[1948 Italian general election|general election in April 1948]] was heavily influenced by the [[Cold War]] confrontation between the [[Soviet Union]] and the United States. After the Soviet-inspired February 1948 Communist coup in [[Czechoslovakia]], the US became alarmed about Soviet intentions and feared that, if the leftist coalition were to win the elections, the Soviet-funded PCI would draw Italy into the Soviet Union's sphere of influence.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Corke|first=Sarah-Jane|date=1 May 2006|title=George Kennan and the Inauguration of Political Warfare|url=https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/JCS/article/view/2171|journal=Journal of Conflict Studies|language=en-US|volume=26|issue=1|issn=1715-5673}}</ref>

The election campaign remained unmatched in verbal aggression and fanaticism in Italy's republican history. The DC propaganda became famous in claiming that in [[Communist countries]] "children sent parents to jail", "children were owned by the state", "people ate their own children", and claiming disaster would strike Italy if the left-wing would take power.<ref name=tim120448>[http://jcgi.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,779791,00.html Show of Force]{{Dead link|date=March 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''Time Magazine'', 12 April 1948</ref><ref>[http://jcgi.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,798374,00.html How to Hang On]{{Dead link|date=March 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''Time Magazine'', 19 April 1948</ref>

As interior minister, Scelba announced that the government had 330,000 men under arms, including a special shock force of 150,000 ready to take on [[communists]] if they would try to make troubles on election day.<ref name=tim120448/> The election was eventually won with a comfortable margin by the DC; the DC defeated the left-wing coalition of the [[Popular Democratic Front (Italy)|Popular Democratic Front]] (FDP) that comprised the PCI and the [[Italian Socialist Party]] (PSI).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mistry|first=Kaeten|date=May 2011|title=Re-thinking American intervention in the 1948 Italian election: beyond a success–failure dichotomy|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/modern-italy/article/div-classtitlere-thinking-american-intervention-in-the-1948-italian-election-beyond-a-successfailure-dichotomydiv/1BF2C98295B5449978091FA2EBF77383|journal=Modern Italy|language=en|volume=16|issue=2|pages=179–194|doi=10.1080/13532944.2011.557224|s2cid=143941092 |issn=1353-2944|url-access=subscription}}</ref> After the election, De Gasperi continued ruling without the PCI, which had been in government from June 1944, when the first post-war government was formed, until May 1947, while Scelba kept his role as Minister of the Interior.<ref>[http://www.governo.it/i-governi-dal-1943-ad-oggi/i-legislatura-8-maggio-1948-4-aprile-1953/governo-de-gasperi-v/3228 Governo De Gasperi V], governo.it</ref>

===Reorganization of the police===
[[File:Reparto Celere.jpg|thumb|right|230px|The ''Reparto Celere'', a special jeep-riding riot squad of the [[Italian police]]]]
During his ministry Scelba deeply reorganized the Italian police, starting with the expulsion of more than 8,000 former [[Italian partisan|partisans]], with the accusation of being communist insurgents.<ref>[https://www.corriere.it/giampaolo-pansa-ritorno-in-solferino/19_novembre_23/i-misteri-scelba-ministro-piu-odiato-che-tolse-comunisti-polizia-fa3d7454-0dce-11ea-8033-a2d631aa9706_preview.shtml?reason=unauthenticated&cat=1&cid=-gq-UEKB&pids=FR&credits=1&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.corriere.it%2Fgiampaolo-pansa-ritorno-in-solferino%2F19_novembre_23%2Fi-misteri-scelba-ministro-piu-odiato-che-tolse-comunisti-polizia-fa3d7454-0dce-11ea-8033-a2d631aa9706.shtml I misteri di Scelba, il ministro più odiato che tolse i comunisti dalla polizia], Corriere della Sera</ref> When he took office, the police's organization was so shoddy that Scelba exclaimed: "If I were communist, I would start a revolution tomorrow."<ref name = tim040455 /> During his rule, he transformed country's dishevelled police into a force of some 100,000 agents and established a riot squad, heavily armed and equipped with armoured cars and special [[jeep]], called the ''Reparto Celere'' ("Fast Department").<ref name=tim220254/> Scelba made himself known as a man of action against what he considered communist disorder. In doing so, Scelba was also criticised by many DC members who disapproved of his harsh methods. In 1952, he wrote the Scelba Law, which introduced the crime of apology for fascism.<ref>[http://www.iht.com/articles/2000/11/22/edold.t_42.php 1950: Italian Activism], International Herald Tribune</ref>

Scelba had a conservative attitude toward certain issues such as scant bathing suits, public kissing and nude statues. Despite this and his single-minded concern for law and order, on [[Socioeconomics|socio-economic]] issues Scelba leaned left of centre in the DC. He favoured more social reforms and public works, attacking speculators for pushing up prices. He once said: "It is virtually impossible to be Minister of Interior for a government that does not care if the people work or not."<ref name="tim040455" /> Scelba emphasized the possibility of undermining communist strength "by determined measures of social and economic improvement, like a land reform of the great estates in [[Southern Italy]], for example."<ref name="white" /> While in office, he was also involved in setting up the [[Gladio in Italy|Gladio]] network, the clandestine [[NATO]] "[[stay-behind]]" operation in Italy after World War II, intended to organise resistance after a [[Warsaw Pact]] invasion of Western Europe.<ref>Ganser, ''[http://www.indymedia.org.uk/media/2006/12/358945.pdf NATO's secret Armies]'', p. 107</ref>

===1953 election===
[[File:Scelba De Gasperi.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Mario Scelba with Prime Minister [[Alcide De Gasperi]] during the 1950s]]
{{main|1953 Italian general election}}
The [[1953 Italian general election|1953 general election]] was characterised by changes in the electoral law. Even if the general structure remained uncorrupted, the government introduced a [[Majority bonus system|superbonus]] of two-thirds of seats in the [[Italian Chamber of Deputies|House]] for the coalition which would obtain [[at-large]] the absolute majority of votes. The change was strongly opposed by the opposition parties as well as DC's smaller coalition partners, who had no realistic chance of success under this system. The new law was called the [[Scam Law]] by its detractors,<ref>Also its parliamentarian exam had a disruptive effect: "Among the iron pots of political forces that faced in the Cold War, Senate cracked as earthenware pot": {{cite journal|last1=Buonomo|first1=Giampiero|title=Come il Senato si scoprì vaso di coccio|journal=L'Ago e Il Filo|date=2014|url=https://www.questia.com/projects#!/project/89210209|access-date=1 April 2020|archive-date=24 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324160801/https://www.questia.com/projects#!/project/89210209|url-status=dead}}</ref> including some dissidents of minor government parties who founded special opposition groups to deny the artificial [[landslide]] to the DC. The campaign of the opposition to the Scam Law achieved its goal. The government coalition won 49.9% of national vote, just a few thousand votes of the threshold for a supermajority, resulting in an ordinary proportional distribution of the seats. Technically, the government won the election, winning a clear working [[majority]] of seats in both houses. But frustration with the failure to win a supermajority caused significant tensions in the leading coalition. De Gasperi was forced to resign by the [[Italian Parliament]] on 2 August.<ref>{{in lang|it}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20120801002834/http://www.questia.com/projects#!/project/89210209 {{lang|it|Come il Senato si scoprì vaso di coccio}}, in L’Ago e il filo, 2014]</ref> On 17 August, President Einaudi appointed Pella as new [[Prime Minister of Italy]].<ref>[http://www.repubblica.it/politica/2018/05/12/news/matterella_cita_einaudi_e_l_incarico_a_pella_fu_il_primo_governo_del_presidente-196214438/?ref=RHPPLF-BL-I0-C8-P1-S1.8-T2 Mattarella cita Einaudi e l'incarico a Pella: fu il primo governo del presidente]</ref>