asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will state His Majesty's Government's interpretation of the word "Fascist" which occurs more than once in the five peace treaties that recently came into force.

In the Treaty with Italy, the word "Fascist" is used to designate the authoritarian regime which exercised power in Italy from 1922 to 1943, and its practices. In the other Treaties the terms "Fascist" and "of a Fascist type" were used, by an extension of the original Italian meaning of the word, to describe those regimes or organisations in the countries concerned which had collaborated with the Axis Powers. The use of the term to designate His Majesty's Government and their friends had not at that time come into fashion.

Will the Under-Secretary of State also give a definition of what is the difference between "Fascist" and "Communist" in the opinion of the Government?