Truman's bombs and De Gasperi's hooked-nose: images of the enemy in the Communist press for young people after 18 April 1948

Abstract

With the elections of 18 April 1948, for Italian Communists the prospect of coming to power in the short term vanished. In the aftermath of the elections, the sustained confrontation of the Cold War at the international level and the unfavourable political context in Italy deeply shaped the tone and content of the Communist press, including the educational magazines for young militants. This article deals with the representations of the political enemies in the press for young Communists between 18 April 1948 and the electoral campaign against thelegge truffain 1953. Attention is paid to how the Communist press portrayed, in particular by visual means, the different subjects that made up the ruling anti-Communist bloc: the US government; Christian Democrats; the Catholic Church; and, finally, the Italian business world. In particular, the analysis underlines the relevance that a ‘nation-’ and ‘gender-’ related discourse had in the construction of political enemies.