THE reds are no longer under the bed. It is now official. President Clinton and the Catholic Church both said so this week. Italy's forthcoming general election, two weeks from now, will not see a rerun of 1948 when the victorious Allies and the Catholic Church combined to support the Christian Democrats and keep the Italian Communist Party (PCI) out of office.
These days, of course, the "reds" have gone a soft shade of pink and call themselves the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS), the party which in the wake of the downfall of East Bloc communism renounced communism in favour of an ill defined form of "social democracy".
Ill defined or not, however, the PDS this week received a twinfold benediction from two historic enemies. First, President Clinton said that the US was not worried as to who, left or right, won the Italian election. Ironically, on the same day a spokesman for the Italian Bishops' Conference explained that Catholics were free to vote as they wished, adding that Italy was no longer "in 1948 when the freedom of mankind was at stake".
In a sense those authoritative "green lights" say a lot about the inoffensive nature not only of the PDS but of this entire, jaded election campaign. By the terms of even two years ago, not to mention 1948, this has been a low key campaign which has left Italy's electorate confused and uncertain.
That confusion has been reflected in many opinion polls showing little to choose between the centre right and centre left coalitions contesting an election where only one voter in 10 can name the candidates in his/her constituency. Given that this election will be fought out according to the unsatisfactory system (75 per cent majority, 25 per cent proportional representation) first used two years ago, a close finish seems guaranteed while a hung parliament and further confusion are not to be ruled out.
Both coalitions claim to represent the "new", clean post Tangentopoli face of Italian politics yet neither can deny that it contain's recycled elements of the recent discredited past, in particular the Christian Democrats.
Although both coalitions make much play of issues such as constitutional reform aimed at (finally) guaranteeing Italy stable government, and although both also argue over the role of the judiciary, economic strategies, television monopolies and Italy's European future, the electorate has inevitably taken a more prosaic view. If a single dominant issue has emerged, it has been that of tax reform or how to pay less, less often.
Two years ago, media tycoon, Mr Silvio Berlusconi, provided a new element of apparent certainty, convincing millions of Italians that he could transfer his entrepreneurial skills to the business of government. Seven stormy months of spectacularly ineffective government, not to mention his current involvement in four different corruption investigation have shaken those certainties and undermined Mr Berlusconi's position within his own camp, where ex facist Alleanze Nazionale leader, Mr Gianfranco Fini, more and more calls the shots.
Two years ago, a complacent PDS lost votes because of its alliance to the ultra left Rifondazione Communista. This time the PDS has picked a conservative economist, Prof Romanob Prodi, as its candidate for prime minister, while it has spent much time wooing the "Italian Renewal" movement of the current Prime Minister, Mr Lamberto Dini.