Italian Communist Party

The Partito Comunista Italiano (PCI) or Italian Communist Party emerged as Partito Comunista d'Italia or Communist Party of Italy from a secession by the Leninist comunisti puri tendency from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) during that body's congress on 21 January 1921 at Livorno. Amedeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. In 1926 the party was outlawed by the Fascist government of Benito Mussolini.

Related Topics:
Communist Party - Italy - Leninist - Italian Socialist Party - 21 January - 1921 - Livorno - Amedeo Bordiga - Antonio Gramsci - 1926 - Fascist - Benito Mussolini

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Although forced underground, the PCI continued underground and in exile. In 1926 its left wing led by Bordiga was finally defeated and replaced by a new leadership around Gramsci at a conference in Lyon which issued a set of theses expressing the programmatic basis of the party at that point. However Gramsci soon found himself jailed by Mussolini's repression and the leadership passed to Palmiro Togliatti. Togliatti would lead the party until it emerged from illegality in 1944 and relaunched itself as the Italian Communist Party.

Related Topics:
Palmiro Togliatti - 1944

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The party took part in every government during the national liberation and constitutional periods, from June 1944 to May 1947. In the first general elections of 1948 it joined the PSI in the Democratic Popular Front but was defeated by the Christian Democracy party.

Related Topics:
Liberation - 1944 - 1947 - 1948 - Christian Democracy

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The party gained considerable electoral success during the following years and occasionally supplied external support to center-left governments, never joining directly. One of its successes was the lobbying of Fiat to set up the AvtoVAZ (Lada) car factory in the Soviet Union.

Related Topics:
Fiat - AvtoVAZ - Soviet Union

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After the Athens Athens Colonel Coup in April of 1967, Longo and other PCI leaders became alarmed at the possibility of a repeat in Italy. Giorgio Amendola formally requested Soviet assistance to prepare the party in case of such an event. The KGB drew up and implemented a plan to provide the PCI with its own intelligence and clandestine radio communication units. From 1967 through 1973, PCI members were sent to East Germany and Moscow to receive training in clandestine warfare and information gathering techniques by both the Stasi and the KGB. Shortly before the May 1972 elections, Longo personally wrote to Leonid Brezhnev asking for, and receiving and additional $5.7 million in funding. This was on top of the 3.5 million that the PCI was given in 1971. The Soviets also provided additional funding through the use of front companies providing generous contracts to PCI members. Relationships between the PCI and the Soviet Union gradually fell apart as Czechoslovakian State Security (StB) support for the Italian Red Brigade increased. The PCI was uncomfortable with the Red Brigade?s tactics, and asked the Soviets to pressure the Czech StB to withdraw support, which Moscow was unable or unwilling to do. This as well as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan led to a complete break with Moscow in 1979.

Related Topics:
Athens Colonel Coup - April - 1967 - Giorgio Amendola - Soviet - KGB - 1973 - East Germany - Moscow - Stasi - Leonid Brezhnev - Czechoslovakian State Security (StB) - Red Brigade - Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

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After the break with the Moscow the party moved away from Soviet obedience and Marxist-Leninist orthodoxy definitely embracing western democracy (eurocommunism) and sought a collaboration with Socialist and Christian Democracy parties (the historical compromise). At the time the PCI was the biggest Communist Party in a democratic state, obtaining a score of 34,4% in the 1976 general elections.

Related Topics:
Democracy - Eurocommunism - 1976

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In the 1980s the party started approaching social democracy and the Socialist International.

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In 1991 the PCI disbanded to form the Partito Democratico della Sinistra (PDS), with membership in the Socialist International. The communist tendency, led by Armando Cossutta, left the party to form the Partito della Rifondazione Comunista (PRC) or Communist Refoundation Party.

Related Topics:
1991 - Socialist International - Armando Cossutta - Partito della Rifondazione Comunista

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In 1998 the PDS, with several smaller parties, the Laburisti (liberal socialists), the Cristiano Sociali (christian socialists), the Comunisti Unitari (right-wing split of the PRC), the Sinistra Repubblicana (left republicans) and the Riformatori per l'Europa (social democratic trade unionists), co-founded the "Democratici di Sinistra" (DS) or Democrats of the Left party. Later in the same year the Armando Cossutta tendency left the PRC to form the Partito dei Comunisti Italiani (PdCI) or Party of Italian Communists.

Related Topics:
1998 - Cristiano Sociali - Democrats of the Left - Armando Cossutta - Party of Italian Communists

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Party Secretaries (in chronological order):

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• Amadeo Bordiga (1921-1924)
• Antonio Gramsci (1924-1926)
• Palmiro Togliatti (1927-1964)
• Luigi Longo (1964-1972)
• Enrico Berlinguer (1972-1984)
• Alessandro Natta (1984-1988)
• Achille Occhetto (1988-1991)
 
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