Italy's major concern today is involving the Communist Party in democratic progress, not defending democracy against the Communist Party, Antonio Giolitti, former Italian finance minister who is a Socialist, said last night.

The Communists must be allowed into the government if it is to receive the broad support it needs to overcome Italy's social and economic problems, Giolitti, a member of the Italian parliament, said in a speech at the Center for European Studies.

The Italian government announced Monday that national elections will be held June 20-21, a year earlier than originally scheduled. The elections may give the Communist Party a plurality over the Christian Democrats, who have held power for the last 30 years.

Giolitti said that economic recovery will require wage restraint, cuts in government spending, and heavier taxation. Italy also needs reforms in the social services and in the economic structures, he said.

But Giolitti said that Italy's most important need is a "credible, representative government."

The working class cannot be asked for sacrifices when its largest representation in parliament, the Communist Party, is "excluded a priori from any say in government," he said.

Giolitti drew a distinction between the Communist Party of today and that of 20 years ago.

In 1956 the Communists viewed the Soviet Union as a model socialist country, but the current party has grown up in the context of democratic Italian institutions, Giolitti said.

"The Communist Party needs NATO more than anybody else," he said, adding that "without NATO, Euro-Communism would be no longer lived than it was in Czechoslovakia."