April 12, 1971

Tex Agr Comr White fears severe drought will destroy state's $4‐billion crop; illus

NY Times survey finds Dem loss of HR seats as result of reapportionment required by '70 census will be less severe than appeared likely few mos ago; Repub gains may be held to 10 seats as result of '70 elections, which wiped out gains in governorships and state legislative seats that Repubs scored in '60s; Prof R Lehne says 1 of main effects of census will be to move dists out of rural areas, and, to lesser degree, out of central cities, into suburbs; says that between '66 and '72, met area suburbs will gain 31 new HR seats and for 1st time more HR members will come from suburbs than from cities and rural areas; 2 kinds of shifts will take place before '72; 11 seats will be moved from state to state; NY will lose 2 seats, Penna 2, Ala, Iowa, ND, Ohio, Tenn, W Va, Wis will lose 1 each; Calif will gain 5, Fla 3, Ariz, Colo, Tex 1 each; also, dists will be realigned within states to make dists equal in size; status repts on 41 states that must act during next yr outlined

S Vietnamese defenders at Fire Base 6 expect heavy battle; base is protected by about 5,000 to 6,000 S Vietnamese; is surrounded by 5,000 enemy; US helicopter shot down while dropping supplies at base; 11 other aircraft forced to turn back; mil situation discussed; map

Communist party found moving for more power within Govt, aided by quarrels among non‐Communist center‐left pol leaders (P Hofmann rept); Communist officials already deal with provincial prefects and police chiefs almost as underlings, state TV network displays anti‐Amer, pro‐Communist opinions and Communist union leaders negotiate proposed legis with Colombo and mins before Govt sends bills to Parliament; party itself split between traditional pragmatists who would reform Italy from within and radical pro‐Chinese ultra‐leftists who scorn orgn as 'bourgeois'; some in far‐left fringe joined recent rightist rioting in Reggio Calabria and L'Aquila as 'Nazi‐Maoists,’ adding guns to hammer‐and‐sickle emblem; illus; party is 2d only to Christian Dems, polling 27.9% in recent adm elections, to 37.9% for Christian Dems, although card‐carrying membership continues to decline; youth criticism of 'flabby’ bureaucracy discussed; powerful deputy leader Berlinguer warns Communists must 'spearhead discontent,’ charges leadership has erroneously concentrated on 'workerism,’ or labor demands, and neglected unemployed and other discontented groups; has quietly reconciled party and Russian Communists, muffling Italian Communist criticism of USSR; party founding in '21 by Turin Univ students, longtime leadership of late P Togliatti, development of 'Ital road to socialism’ recalled; strength in 'Red Belt’ of Emilia‐Romagna, Tuscany and Umbria, sharp differences between pro‐and anti‐Communist cities there traced in part to medieval communal feuds and RC Ch temporal power which fostered anticlericalism

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