The Question of European Integration in Italian Press: 1945-1954

di Piero S. Graglia
in Memoria e Ricerca n.s. 6 (2000), p. 59

Owing the new international scenery, the question of integration of European countries became a prevalent topic during the years 1945-54, both on the Press and in the general cultural debates of the time. The us was bound to invent a new European policy in order to make up for the role of Great Britain, by now strongly worndown. On the periodicals of that time a question urgently stood out: Europe: what to do? The "big" Press, headed by "Il Corriere della Sera", gave a strong support to the issue of European integration and American initiative, while the socialist and communist Press regarded such politics as a way to reinforce American imperialism. As a consequence, the aim to inform "the average Italian reader" was on the agenda in the first ten years after world war II.