Italian Socialist Party
Encyclopedia
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist
and later social-democratic
political party in Italy founded in Genoa
in 1892.
Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party
following World War II
. It was disbanded in 1994 as a result of the Tangentopoli
scandals.
and the Italian Revolutionary Socialist Party
. It was part of a wave of new socialist parties at the end of the 19th century and had to endure persecution by the Italian government during its early years.
At the start of the 20th century, however, the PSI chose not to strongly oppose the governments led by five-time Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti
. This conciliation with the existing governments and its improving electoral fortunes helped to establish the PSI as a mainstream Italian political party by the 1910s
.
Despite the party's improving electoral results, however, the PSI remained divided into two major branches, the Reformists and the Maximalists. The Reformists, led by Filippo Turati
, were strong mostly in the unions and the parliamentary group. The Maximalists, led by Costantino Lazzari, were affiliated with the London Bureau
of socialist groups, an international association of left-wing socialist parties.
In 1912 the Maximalists led by Benito Mussolini
prevailed at the party convention and this led to the split of the Italian Reform Socialist Party
. In the 1919 general election
the PSI reached its highest result ever: 32.0% and 156 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
.
World War I
tore the party apart as orthodox socialists were challenged by advocates of national syndicalism
that advocated a revolutionary war to liberate Italian territories from Austria
n control and to force the government by threat of violence to adopt changes that would create a corporatist state. The national syndicalists intended to support Italian republicans in overthrowing the monarchy if such reforms were not made and if Italy did not enter the war.
The dominant internationalist and pacifist wing of the party remained committed to avoiding what it called a "bourgeois war". The PSI's refusal to support the war led to its national syndicalist faction either leaving or being purged from the party, such as Mussolini who had begun to show sympathy to the national syndicalist cause. A number of the national syndicalists expelled from the PSI would have become members of Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party
.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917 the PSI quickly aligned itself in support of the communist Bolshevik
movement in Russia and supported its call for the overthrow of the bourgeoisie. From 1919 to the 1920s
the Socialists and the Fascists engaged in political violence in Italy's urban centres. In 1919, the Socialist Party of Turin formed the Red Army of Turin
, which was accompanied by a proposal to organise a national confederation of Red Scouts and Cyclists.
The left-wing of the party broke away in 1921 to form the Communist Party of Italy
, a division that has never been recovered since then and have had enormous consequences on Italian politics.
In 1924 Giacomo Matteotti
, a Reformist Socialist, was assassinated by Fascists and shortly afterwards a Fascist dictatorship
was established in Italy. The PSI and all other political parties except the Fascist Party were banned. The party's leadership remained in exile during the Fascist years.
The party was a member of the Labour and Socialist International
between 1930 and 1940.
, the first after World War II
, the PSI obtained 20.7% of the vote, narrowly ahead of the Italian Communist Party
(PCI) that gained 18.9%. For the 1948 general election
the Socialists led by Pietro Nenni
chose to take part to the Popular Democratic Front alongside with the PCI. This caused the split of the social-democratic faction within the party led by Giuseppe Saragat
, that launched the Italian Workers' Socialist Party
. The PSI was weakened by the split and was far less organized than the PCI, so that Communist candidates were far more competitive. As a result the Socialist parliamentary delegation was cut by a half. Nonetheless, the PSI continued its alliance with the PCI until 1956, when Soviet repression in Hungary
caused a major split between the two parties.
Starting from 1963 the Socialists participated in the centre-left
governments, in alliance with Christian Democracy
(DC), the Italian Democratic Socialist Party
(PSDI) and the Italian Republican Party
(PRI). These governments acceded to many of the demands of the PSI for social reform, and laid the foundations for Italy’s modern welfare state. During the 1960s
and 1970s
, however, the PSI lost much of its influence, despite actively participating in the government. The PCI gradually outnumbered it as the dominant political force in the Italian left. The PSI tried to enlarge its base by joining forces with the PSDI under the name Unified Socialist Party (PSU). However, after a dismaying loss in the 1968 general election
, in which the PSU gained far fewer seats in total than each of the two parties had obtained separately in 1963. The 1972 general election underlined the PSI's precipitate decline: the party received less than 10% of the vote compared to 14.2% in 1958
.
was elected new secretary of the party. From the beginning Craxi tried to undermine the PCI, which until then had been continuously increasing its votes in elections, and to consolidate the PSI as a modern, strongly pro-European reformist social-democratic party. This strategy called for ending most of the party's historical traditions as a working-class trade union
based party and attempting to gain new support among white-collar and public sector employees. At the same time, the PSI increased its presence in the big state-owned enterprises, and became heavily involved in corruption and illegal party funding which would eventually result in the Mani pulite
investigations.
Even if the PSI never became a serious electoral challenger either to the PCI or the Christian Democrats, its pivotal position in the political arena allowed it to claim the post of Prime Minister for Craxi after the 1983 general election
. The electoral support for the Christian Democrats was significantly weakened, leaving it with 32.9% of the vote, compared to the 38.3% it gained in 1979
. The PSI, that had obtained only 11%, threatened to leave the parliamentary majority unless Craxi was made Prime Minister. The Christian Democrats accepted this compromise to avoid a new election. Craxi became the first Socialist in the history of the Italian Republic to be appointed Prime Minister.
Unlike many of its predecessors, Craxi's government proved to be durable, lasting three-and-a-half years from 1983 to 1987. During those years the PSI gained popularity. Craxi successfully boosted the country's GNP and controlled inflation
. He demonstrated Italy's independence and nationalism during the clash with the United States
during the Sigonella incident
. Moreover Craxi spoke of many reforms, including the transformation of Italian Constitution toward a presidential system
. The PSI looked like the driving force behind the bulk of reforms initiated by the Pentapartito. Craxi, however, lost his post in March 1987 due to a conflict with the other parties of the coalition over the proposed budget for 1987.
In the 1987 general election
the PSI won 14.3% of the vote, a good result but less good than what Craxi hoped, and however this time it was the Christian Democrats' turn to govern. From 1987 to 1992 the PSI participated in four governments, allowing Giulio Andreotti
to take power in 1989 and to govern until 1992. The Socialists held a strong balance of power, which made them more powerful than the Christian Democrats, who had to depend on it to form a majority in Parliament. The PSI kept tight control of this advantage.
The alternative which Craxi had wanted so much was taking shape: the idea of a "Social Unity" with the other left-wing political parties, including the PCI, proposed by Craxi in 1989 after the fall of communism. He believed that the collapse of communism in eastern Europe had undermined the PCI and made Social Unity inevitable. In fact the PSI was in line to become the Italy's second largest party and to become the dominant force of a new left-wing coalition opposed to a Christian Democrat-led one. This did not actually happen because of the rise of Lega Nord and the Tangentopoli
scandals.
, a Socialist hospital administrator in Milan
, was caught taking a bribe. Craxi denounced Chiesa by calling him an isolated thief, who had nothing to do with the party as a whole. However this was technically not true. Many Milanese industrials quickly confessed their crime. Consequently other Socialists as well as Christian Democrats entered the tempest of the judicial investigation named Mani pulite
. The investigation was carried out by three Milanese magistrates among whom Antonio Di Pietro
quickly stood out becoming a national hero thanks to his charismatic character and his ability to extract confessions.
The investigations were suspended for four weeks in order for the 1992 Italian general election
to take place in an uninfluenced atmosphere. The PSI managed to garner 13.6% of the vote in spite of the corruption scandals. Many in the party thought the scandal had been brought under control but failed to realize that investigations would eventually be launched against ministers and party leaders. Furthermore, as early as May 1992, public opinion unconditionally supported the magistrates against a political system that the majority of Italians already distrusted. Craxi himself was under criminal investigation since December 1992. In April 1993 the Parliament denied four times the authorization for magistrates to continue investigation for Craxi. Italian newspapers shouted scandal and Craxi was besieged at his Rome residence by a crowd of young people, who threw coins at him, shouting "Bettino, do you want these as well?". This scene was to become one of the many symbols of that period.
In 1992–1993 many Socialist regional, provincial and municipal deputies, MPs, mayors and even ministers found themselves overwhelmed with accusations and arrests. At this point public opinion turned against the Socialists. Many regional headquarters of the PSI were besieged by people who wanted an honest party with true socialist values. Between January 1993 and February 1993 Claudio Martelli
(former Justice Minister and Deputy-Prime Minister) started to contend for party leadership. Martelli stepped forward as a candidate, emphasizing the need to clean the party of corruption and make it electable. Although he had many supporters, Martelli and Craxi were both caught in a scandal dating back to 1982, when the Banco Ambrosiano
gave to the two of them around 7 million dollars. Martelli subsequently resigned from the party and from the government. Giuliano Amato
, a Socialist, resigned as Prime Minister in April 1993. His government was succeeded by a technocratic government led by Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
. In the December 1993 provincial and municipal elections the PSI was virtually wiped out, receiving around 3% of the vote. In Milan, where the PSI had won 20% in 1990, the PSI received a mere 2%, which was not even enough to elect a councillor. Del Turco tried in vain to regain credibility for the party.
In the 1994 general election
, what was left of PSI allied itself to the Alliance of Progressives
dominated by the post-communist
incarnation of the PCI, the Democratic Party of the Left
(PDS). Del Turco had quickly changed the party symbol to reinforce the idea of innovation. However, this did not stop the PSI gaining only 2.2% of the votes compared to 13.6% in 1992. The PSI got 16 deputies and 14 senators elected, down from 92 deputies and 49 senators of 1992. Most of them came from the left-wing of the party, as Del Turco himself did, while most Socialists had left the party. Some of them joined other political forces, mainly Forza Italia
, the new party led by Silvio Berlusconi
, the Patto Segni
and Democratic Alliance
.
The party was disbanded on 13 November 1994 after two years of agony, in which almost all of its longtime leaders, especially Bettino Craxi, were involved in Tangentopoli or decided to leave politics. The 100-year old party closed down, partially thanks to its leaders for their personalization of the PSI.
The Socialists who did not align with the other parties organized themselves in two groups: the Italian Socialists
(SI) of Enrico Boselli
, Ottaviano Del Turco
, Roberto Villetti
, Riccardo Nencini
, Cesare Marini and Maria Rosaria Manieri, who decided to be autonomous from the PDS, and the Labour Federation
(FL) of Valdo Spini
, Antonio Ruberti
, Giorgio Ruffolo, Giuseppe Pericu
, Carlo Carli
and Rosario Olivo
, who entered in close alliance with it. The SI eventually merged with other Socialist splinter groups to form the Italian Democratic Socialists
(SDI) in 1998, while the FL merged with PDS to form the Democrats of the Left
(DS) later on that year.
Between 1994 and 1996, many former Socialists joined Forza Italia, as did Giulio Tremonti
, Franco Frattini, Massimo Baldini and Luigi Cesaro. Gianni De Michelis
, Ugo Intini
and several politicians close to Bettino Craxi
formed the Socialist Party, while others like Fabrizio Cicchitto
and Enrico Manca launched the Reform Socialist Party
. In the 2000s two outfits claimed to be the party's successor: the Italian Democratic Socialists (SDI), that evolved from the Italian Socialists (SI), and the New Italian Socialist Party (NPSI) founded by Gianni De Michelis
, Claudio Martelli
and Bobo Craxi in 2001.
However, both the SDI and the NPSI were minor political forces. Most Socialist members and voters joined Forza Italia, a centre-right
party (see membership and factions of Forza Italia), while others joined the DS and Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy (DL). Now most former Socialists are affiliated to The People of Freedom
(PdL), while only a minority is with centre-left Democratic Party
(PD) and modern-day Socialist Party (PS). The Socialists who joined Forza Italia include Giulio Tremonti
, Franco Frattini, Fabrizio Cicchitto
, Renato Brunetta
, Amalia Sartori
, Francesco Musotto
, Margherita Boniver
, Francesco Colucci, Raffaele Iannuzzi, Maurizio Sacconi
, Luigi Cesaro and Stefania Craxi
. Valdo Spini
, Giorgio Benvenuto, Gianni Pittella and Guglielmo Epifani joined the DS and Enrico Manca, Tiziano Treu, Laura Fincato and Linda Lanzillotta joined DL. Giuliano Amato
joined The Olive Tree as an independent.
In 2007 many former Socialists, including the SDI, a portion of the NPSI led by Gianni De Michelis, The Italian Socialists of Bobo Craxi, Socialism is Freedom of Rino Formica
and splinters from the DS joined forces and formed the PS. With this party and most Socialists gathered into the PdL, the "Socialist diaspora" can be considered ended.
, they were present only in rural Emilia-Romagna
and southern Lombardy
, where they won their first seats of the Chamber of Deputies
, but they soon enlarged their base in other areas of the country, especially the urban areas around Turin
, Milan
, Genoa
and, to some extent, Naples
, densely populated by industrial workers. In the 1900 general election the party won 5.0% of the vote and 33 seats, its best result so far. Emilia-Romagna was confirmed as the Socialist heartland (20.2% and 13 seats), but the party did very well also in Piedmont
and Lombardy.
By the end of the 1910s
the Socialists had broadened their organization to all the regions of Italy, but they were obviously stronger in the North
, where they emerged earlier and where they had their constituency. In the 1919 general election
, thanks to the electoral reforms of the previous decade and especially the introduction of proportional representation
in place of the old first-past-the-post
system, they had their best result ever: 32.0% and 156 seats. The PSI was at the time the representative of both the rural workers of Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany
and north-western Piedmont and the industrial workers of Turin, Milan, Venice
, Bologna
and Florence
. In 1919 the party won 49.7% in Piedmont (over 60% in Novara
), 45.9% in Lombardy (over 60% in Mantua
and Pavia
), 60.0% in Emilia-Romagna (over 70% around Bologna and Ferrara
), 41.7% in Tuscany
and 46.5% in Umbria
.
In the 1921 general election
, after the split of the Communist Party of Italy
, the PSI was reduced to 24.5% and was particularly damaged in Piedmont and Tuscany, where the Communists got more than 10% of the vote. During the Italian Resistance
, which was fought mostly in Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna and Central Italy
, the Communists were able to take roots and organize people much better than the Socialists so that at the end of World War II
the balance between the two parties was completely changed. In the 1946 general election
the PSI was narrowly ahead of the Communists (20.7% over 18.7%), but was no longer the dominant party in Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany.
In the 1948 general election
the Socialists took part to the Popular Democratic Front
with the Italian Communist Party
(PCI), but they lost almost half of their seats in the Chamber of Deputies, due to the better get-out-the-vote machine of the Communists and the split of the social-democratic faction from the party, the Italian Workers' Socialist Party
(7.1%, with peaks over 10% in the Socialist strongholds of the North). In 1953
the PSI was reduced to 12.7% of the vote and to its heartlands above the Po River
, having gained more votes than the Communists only narrowly in Lombardy and Veneto
. The margin between the two parties would have become larger and larger until its peak in 1976
, when the PCI won 34.4% of the vote and the PSI stopped at 9.6%. At that time the Communists had almost five times the vote of the Socialists in the PSI's ancient heartlands of rural Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany and three times in the Northern regions, where the PSI had some local strongholds left such as in north-eastern Piedmont, north-western and southern Lombardy, north-eastern Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia
, where it gained steadily 12-20% of the vote.
Under the leadership of Bettino Craxi
in the 1980s
, the PSI had a substantial increase in term of votes. The party strengthened its position in Lombardy, north-eastern Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia and broadened its power base to Southern Italy, as all the other parties of Pentapartito coalition (Christian Democrats
, Republicans
, Democratic Socialists
and Liberals
) were experiencing. In the 1987 general election
the PSI gained 14.3% of the vote, a good result but below expectations after four years of government led by Craxi. Alongside the high shares of vote in north-western Lombardy and the North-East (both around 18-20%), the PSI did fairly well in Campania
(14.9%), Apulia
(15.3%), Calabria
(16.9%) and Sicily
(14.9%). In 1992
this trend toward the South was even more evident: while the Socialists, like the Communists and the Christian Democrats, had lost votes to Lega Nord especially in Lombardy, they gained in the South, reaching 19.6% of the vote in Campania, 17.8% in Apulia and 17.2% in Calabria. This is why the PSI's main successors, the Italian Socialists
, the Italian Democratic Socialists
, the New Italian Socialist Party and the modern-day Italian Socialist Party, had always been stronger in those Southern regions.
as its symbol. However, the symbolism of the party was gradually moderated. In 1978 Craxi decided to change the party logo of the party. He chose a red carnation
to represent the new course of the party, in honour of the Carnation Revolution
in Portugal
. The party shrank the size of the old hammer and sickle in the lower part of the symbol. It was eventually eliminated altogether in 1985.
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
and later social-democratic
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
political party in Italy founded in Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
in 1892.
Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played...
following World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. It was disbanded in 1994 as a result of the Tangentopoli
Tangentopoli
Tangentopoli is a term which was coined to describe pervasive corruption in the Italian political system exposed in the 1992-6 Mani Pulite investigations, as well as the resulting scandal, which led to the collapse of the hitherto dominant Christian Democracy party and its allies.-Popular distrust...
scandals.
Early years
The Italian Socialist Party was founded in 1892 by delegates of several workers' associations and parties, notably including the Italian Labour PartyItalian Labour Party
The Italian Labour Party was a socialist political party in Italy.It was founded in 1882 in Milan by Giuseppe Croce and Costantino Lazzari and was supported externally by the Milanese Socialist League of Filippo Turati...
and the Italian Revolutionary Socialist Party
Italian Revolutionary Socialist Party
The Italian Revolutionary Socialist Party was a socialist political party in Italy.It was founded in 1881 as Revolutionary Socialist Party of Romagna by Andrea Costa, a fomer anarchist converted to democratic socialism, after his marriage with Anna Kuliscioff...
. It was part of a wave of new socialist parties at the end of the 19th century and had to endure persecution by the Italian government during its early years.
At the start of the 20th century, however, the PSI chose not to strongly oppose the governments led by five-time Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti
Giovanni Giolitti
Giovanni Giolitti was an Italian statesman. He was the 19th, 25th, 29th, 32nd and 37th Prime Minister of Italy between 1892 and 1921. A left-wing liberal, Giolitti's periods in office were notable for the passage of a wide range of progressive social reforms which improved the living standards of...
. This conciliation with the existing governments and its improving electoral fortunes helped to establish the PSI as a mainstream Italian political party by the 1910s
1910s
File:1910s montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Model T Ford is introduced and becomes widespread; The sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic causes the deaths of nearly 1,500 people and attracts global and historical attention; Title bar: All the events below are part of World War I ; French Army lookout...
.
Despite the party's improving electoral results, however, the PSI remained divided into two major branches, the Reformists and the Maximalists. The Reformists, led by Filippo Turati
Filippo Turati
Filippo Turati was an Italian sociologist, poet and Socialist politician.-Early life:Born in Canzo, province of Como, he graduated in law at the University of Bologna in 1877, and participated in the Scapigliatura movement with the most important artists of the period in Milan, publishing poetry...
, were strong mostly in the unions and the parliamentary group. The Maximalists, led by Costantino Lazzari, were affiliated with the London Bureau
International Revolutionary Marxist Centre
The International Revolutionary Marxist Centre was an international association of left-socialist parties. The member-parties rejected both mainstream social democracy and the Third International.-Organizational history:...
of socialist groups, an international association of left-wing socialist parties.
In 1912 the Maximalists led by Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
prevailed at the party convention and this led to the split of the Italian Reform Socialist Party
Italian Reform Socialist Party
The Italian Reform Socialist Party was a social-democratic political party in Italy.It was formed in 1912 by those leading reformists who had been expelled from the Italian Socialist Party because of their desire of entering in the majority supporting Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti...
. In the 1919 general election
Italian general election, 1919
The Italian general election of 1919, the first after World War I and the electoral reform that introduced proportional representation, took place on 16 November 1919....
the PSI reached its highest result ever: 32.0% and 156 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
Italian Chamber of Deputies
The Italian Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Parliament of Italy. It has 630 seats, a plurality of which is controlled presently by liberal-conservative party People of Freedom. Twelve deputies represent Italian citizens outside of Italy. Deputies meet in the Palazzo Montecitorio. A...
.
Rise of Fascism
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
tore the party apart as orthodox socialists were challenged by advocates of national syndicalism
National syndicalism
National syndicalism is a nationalist variant of syndicalism.- Founding of national syndicalism in France :National syndicalism was founded in France by the fusion of Maurrassian integral nationalism with Sorelian syndicalism. Interest in Sorelian thought arose in the French political right,...
that advocated a revolutionary war to liberate Italian territories from Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n control and to force the government by threat of violence to adopt changes that would create a corporatist state. The national syndicalists intended to support Italian republicans in overthrowing the monarchy if such reforms were not made and if Italy did not enter the war.
The dominant internationalist and pacifist wing of the party remained committed to avoiding what it called a "bourgeois war". The PSI's refusal to support the war led to its national syndicalist faction either leaving or being purged from the party, such as Mussolini who had begun to show sympathy to the national syndicalist cause. A number of the national syndicalists expelled from the PSI would have become members of Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party
National Fascist Party
The National Fascist Party was an Italian political party, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of fascism...
.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917 the PSI quickly aligned itself in support of the communist Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
movement in Russia and supported its call for the overthrow of the bourgeoisie. From 1919 to the 1920s
1920s
File:1920s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: Third Tipperary Brigade Flying Column No. 2 under Sean Hogan during the Irish Civil War; Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol in accordance to the 18th amendment, which made alcoholic beverages illegal throughout the entire decade; In...
the Socialists and the Fascists engaged in political violence in Italy's urban centres. In 1919, the Socialist Party of Turin formed the Red Army of Turin
Red Army of Turin
The Red Army of Turin was a Socialist paramilitary organisation set up in September 1919 Their role was to offer military defence to of socialist organisations and meetings...
, which was accompanied by a proposal to organise a national confederation of Red Scouts and Cyclists.
The left-wing of the party broke away in 1921 to form the Communist Party of Italy
Communist Party of Italy
The Communist Party of Italy was a communist political party in Italy which existed from 1921 to 1926. That year it was outlawed by Benito Mussolini's fascist regime. In 1943, the name was changed to the Italian Communist Party.-Foundation:The forerunner of the party was the Communist Faction...
, a division that has never been recovered since then and have had enormous consequences on Italian politics.
In 1924 Giacomo Matteotti
Giacomo Matteotti
Giacomo Matteotti was an Italian socialist politician. On 30 May 1924, he openly spoke in the Italian Parliament alleging the Fascists committed fraud in the recently held elections, and denounced the violence they used to gain votes...
, a Reformist Socialist, was assassinated by Fascists and shortly afterwards a Fascist dictatorship
Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...
was established in Italy. The PSI and all other political parties except the Fascist Party were banned. The party's leadership remained in exile during the Fascist years.
The party was a member of the Labour and Socialist International
Labour and Socialist International
The Labour and Socialist International was an international organization of socialist and labour parties, active between 1923 and 1940. The LSI was a forerunner of the present-day Socialist International....
between 1930 and 1940.
Post World War II
In the 1946 general electionItalian general election, 1946
The Italian general election of 2 June 1946 was the first Italian election after World War II and elected 556 deputies to a Constituent Assembly...
, the first after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the PSI obtained 20.7% of the vote, narrowly ahead of the Italian Communist Party
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played...
(PCI) that gained 18.9%. For the 1948 general election
Italian general election, 1948
The Italian elections of 1948 were the second democratic elections with universal suffrage ever held in Italy, taking place after the 1946 elections to the Constituent Assembly, responsible for drawing up a new Italian Constitution...
the Socialists led by Pietro Nenni
Pietro Nenni
Pietro Sandro Nenni was an Italian socialist politician, the national secretary of the Italian Socialist Party and lifetime Senator since 1970. He was a recipient of the Stalin Peace Prize in 1951...
chose to take part to the Popular Democratic Front alongside with the PCI. This caused the split of the social-democratic faction within the party led by Giuseppe Saragat
Giuseppe Saragat
Giuseppe Saragat was an Italian politician who was the fifth President of the Italian Republic from 1964 to 1971.Saragat was born in Turin, from Sardinian parents....
, that launched the Italian Workers' Socialist Party
Italian Democratic Socialist Party
The Italian Democratic Socialist Party is a minor social-democratic political party in Italy. Mimmo Magistro is the party leader. The PSDI, before the 1990s decline in votes and members, had been an important force in Italian politics, being the longest serving partner in government for Christian...
. The PSI was weakened by the split and was far less organized than the PCI, so that Communist candidates were far more competitive. As a result the Socialist parliamentary delegation was cut by a half. Nonetheless, the PSI continued its alliance with the PCI until 1956, when Soviet repression in Hungary
1956 Hungarian Revolution
The Hungarian Revolution or Uprising of 1956 was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the government of the People's Republic of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956....
caused a major split between the two parties.
Starting from 1963 the Socialists participated in the centre-left
Centre-left
Centre-left is a political term that describes individuals, political parties or organisations such as think tanks whose ideology lies between the centre and the left on the left-right spectrum...
governments, in alliance with Christian Democracy
Christian Democracy (Italy)
Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....
(DC), the Italian Democratic Socialist Party
Italian Democratic Socialist Party
The Italian Democratic Socialist Party is a minor social-democratic political party in Italy. Mimmo Magistro is the party leader. The PSDI, before the 1990s decline in votes and members, had been an important force in Italian politics, being the longest serving partner in government for Christian...
(PSDI) and the Italian Republican Party
Italian Republican Party
The Italian Republican Party is a liberal political party in Italy.The PRI is party with old roots that originally took a left-wing position, claiming descent from the political position of Giuseppe Mazzini...
(PRI). These governments acceded to many of the demands of the PSI for social reform, and laid the foundations for Italy’s modern welfare state. During the 1960s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
and 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
, however, the PSI lost much of its influence, despite actively participating in the government. The PCI gradually outnumbered it as the dominant political force in the Italian left. The PSI tried to enlarge its base by joining forces with the PSDI under the name Unified Socialist Party (PSU). However, after a dismaying loss in the 1968 general election
Italian general election, 1968
The Italian elections of 1968 were held on May 19. The fifth Parliament of republican Italy was selected, while voters were 35,566,681 for the Chamber of Deputies and 33,003,249 for the Italian Senate, with an increment of some 3,000,000 in both elections from 1963.Democrazia Cristiana remained...
, in which the PSU gained far fewer seats in total than each of the two parties had obtained separately in 1963. The 1972 general election underlined the PSI's precipitate decline: the party received less than 10% of the vote compared to 14.2% in 1958
Italian general election, 1958
The Italian elections of 1958 were held on May 25, and selected the third Parliament of the Italian Republic. The number of MPs to be elected was calculated upon the population's size for the last time.-Electoral system:...
.
Bettino Craxi
In 1976 Bettino CraxiBettino Craxi
Benedetto Craxi was an Italian politician, head of the Italian Socialist Party from 1976 to 1993, the first socialist President of the Council of Ministers of Italy from 1983 to 1987.-Political career:...
was elected new secretary of the party. From the beginning Craxi tried to undermine the PCI, which until then had been continuously increasing its votes in elections, and to consolidate the PSI as a modern, strongly pro-European reformist social-democratic party. This strategy called for ending most of the party's historical traditions as a working-class trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
based party and attempting to gain new support among white-collar and public sector employees. At the same time, the PSI increased its presence in the big state-owned enterprises, and became heavily involved in corruption and illegal party funding which would eventually result in the Mani pulite
Mani pulite
Mani pulite was a nationwide Italian judicial investigation into political corruption held in the 1990s. Mani pulite led to the demise of the so-called First Republic, resulting in the disappearance of many parties. Some politicians and industry leaders committed suicide after their crimes were...
investigations.
Even if the PSI never became a serious electoral challenger either to the PCI or the Christian Democrats, its pivotal position in the political arena allowed it to claim the post of Prime Minister for Craxi after the 1983 general election
Italian general election, 1983
The Italian election of 1983 was held on June 26. The ninth Parliament of republican Italy was selected.The Pentaparty formula, the governative alliance between five centrist parties, caused unexpected problems to the Christian Democracy. The alliance was fixed and universal, extended both to the...
. The electoral support for the Christian Democrats was significantly weakened, leaving it with 32.9% of the vote, compared to the 38.3% it gained in 1979
Italian general election, 1979
The Italian election of 1979 was held on June 3. The eighth Parliament of republican Italy was selected. This election was called just a week before the European vote: the lack of matching between the two elections caused much controversy for wasting public money.Terroristic attacks by the Red...
. The PSI, that had obtained only 11%, threatened to leave the parliamentary majority unless Craxi was made Prime Minister. The Christian Democrats accepted this compromise to avoid a new election. Craxi became the first Socialist in the history of the Italian Republic to be appointed Prime Minister.
Unlike many of its predecessors, Craxi's government proved to be durable, lasting three-and-a-half years from 1983 to 1987. During those years the PSI gained popularity. Craxi successfully boosted the country's GNP and controlled inflation
Inflation
In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
. He demonstrated Italy's independence and nationalism during the clash with the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
during the Sigonella incident
Naval Air Station Sigonella
Naval Air Station Sigonella , "The Hub of the Med", is a U.S. Navy installation at NATO Base Sigonella and an Italian Air Force base in Sicily, Italy. Although a tenant of the Italian Air Force, NAS Sigonella acts as landlord to more than 40 other U.S. commands and activities. It is located west...
. Moreover Craxi spoke of many reforms, including the transformation of Italian Constitution toward a presidential system
Presidential system
A presidential system is a system of government where an executive branch exists and presides separately from the legislature, to which it is not responsible and which cannot, in normal circumstances, dismiss it....
. The PSI looked like the driving force behind the bulk of reforms initiated by the Pentapartito. Craxi, however, lost his post in March 1987 due to a conflict with the other parties of the coalition over the proposed budget for 1987.
In the 1987 general election
Italian general election, 1987
The Italian election of 1987 was held on June 14. Italian citizens chose the tenth Parliament of the Italian Republic.This election marked the final inversion of the trend of the entire republican history of Italy: for the first time, the distance between the Christian Democrats and the Communists...
the PSI won 14.3% of the vote, a good result but less good than what Craxi hoped, and however this time it was the Christian Democrats' turn to govern. From 1987 to 1992 the PSI participated in four governments, allowing Giulio Andreotti
Giulio Andreotti
Giulio Andreotti is an Italian politician of the now dissolved centrist Christian Democracy party. He served as the 42nd Prime Minister of Italy from 1972 to 1973, from 1976 to 1979 and from 1989 to 1992. He also served as Minister of the Interior , Defense Minister and Foreign Minister and he...
to take power in 1989 and to govern until 1992. The Socialists held a strong balance of power, which made them more powerful than the Christian Democrats, who had to depend on it to form a majority in Parliament. The PSI kept tight control of this advantage.
The alternative which Craxi had wanted so much was taking shape: the idea of a "Social Unity" with the other left-wing political parties, including the PCI, proposed by Craxi in 1989 after the fall of communism. He believed that the collapse of communism in eastern Europe had undermined the PCI and made Social Unity inevitable. In fact the PSI was in line to become the Italy's second largest party and to become the dominant force of a new left-wing coalition opposed to a Christian Democrat-led one. This did not actually happen because of the rise of Lega Nord and the Tangentopoli
Tangentopoli
Tangentopoli is a term which was coined to describe pervasive corruption in the Italian political system exposed in the 1992-6 Mani Pulite investigations, as well as the resulting scandal, which led to the collapse of the hitherto dominant Christian Democracy party and its allies.-Popular distrust...
scandals.
Decline
In February 1992 Mario ChiesaMario Chiesa
Mario Chiesa was an Italian politician and member of the Italian Socialist Party. In 1992 Chiesa was arrested on charges of corruption, leading to the mani pulite trials, and eventually to a restructuring of Italian politics. In 2009 he was arrested again, under charges related to waste treatment...
, a Socialist hospital administrator in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, was caught taking a bribe. Craxi denounced Chiesa by calling him an isolated thief, who had nothing to do with the party as a whole. However this was technically not true. Many Milanese industrials quickly confessed their crime. Consequently other Socialists as well as Christian Democrats entered the tempest of the judicial investigation named Mani pulite
Mani pulite
Mani pulite was a nationwide Italian judicial investigation into political corruption held in the 1990s. Mani pulite led to the demise of the so-called First Republic, resulting in the disappearance of many parties. Some politicians and industry leaders committed suicide after their crimes were...
. The investigation was carried out by three Milanese magistrates among whom Antonio Di Pietro
Antonio Di Pietro
Antonio Di Pietro is an Italian politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament, an Italian Senator, and Minister of the Prodi Government...
quickly stood out becoming a national hero thanks to his charismatic character and his ability to extract confessions.
The investigations were suspended for four weeks in order for the 1992 Italian general election
Italian general election, 1992
The Italian general elections of 1992 were held on the 5 April 1992.The 1992 elections were the first without the traditionally second most important political force in Italy, the Italian Communist Party , which had been disbanded in 1991...
to take place in an uninfluenced atmosphere. The PSI managed to garner 13.6% of the vote in spite of the corruption scandals. Many in the party thought the scandal had been brought under control but failed to realize that investigations would eventually be launched against ministers and party leaders. Furthermore, as early as May 1992, public opinion unconditionally supported the magistrates against a political system that the majority of Italians already distrusted. Craxi himself was under criminal investigation since December 1992. In April 1993 the Parliament denied four times the authorization for magistrates to continue investigation for Craxi. Italian newspapers shouted scandal and Craxi was besieged at his Rome residence by a crowd of young people, who threw coins at him, shouting "Bettino, do you want these as well?". This scene was to become one of the many symbols of that period.
In 1992–1993 many Socialist regional, provincial and municipal deputies, MPs, mayors and even ministers found themselves overwhelmed with accusations and arrests. At this point public opinion turned against the Socialists. Many regional headquarters of the PSI were besieged by people who wanted an honest party with true socialist values. Between January 1993 and February 1993 Claudio Martelli
Claudio Martelli
Claudio Martelli is an Italian politician, and the right-hand man of Bettino Craxi, the socialist Prime Minister from 1983–1987.-Biography:Martelli was born at Gessate, in the province of Milan....
(former Justice Minister and Deputy-Prime Minister) started to contend for party leadership. Martelli stepped forward as a candidate, emphasizing the need to clean the party of corruption and make it electable. Although he had many supporters, Martelli and Craxi were both caught in a scandal dating back to 1982, when the Banco Ambrosiano
Banco Ambrosiano
Banco Ambrosiano was an Italian bank which collapsed in 1982. At the centre of the bank's failure was its chairman, Roberto Calvi and his membership in the illegal Masonic Lodge Propaganda Due...
gave to the two of them around 7 million dollars. Martelli subsequently resigned from the party and from the government. Giuliano Amato
Giuliano Amato
Giuliano Amato is an Italian politician. He was Prime Minister of Italy twice, first from 1992 to 1993 and then from 2000 to 2001. He was more recently Vice President of the Convention on the Future of Europe that drafted the new European Constitution and headed the Amato Group. He is commonly...
, a Socialist, resigned as Prime Minister in April 1993. His government was succeeded by a technocratic government led by Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
dr. Carlo Azeglio Ciampi is an Italian politician and banker. He was the 73rd Prime Minister of Italy from 1993 to 1994 and was the tenth President of the Italian Republic from 1999 to 2006...
Dissolution
Craxi resigned as party secretary in February 1993. Between 1992 and 1993, most members of the party left politics and three Socialist deputies committed suicide. Craxi was succeeded by two Socialist trade-unionists, first Giorgio Benvenuto and then by Ottaviano Del TurcoOttaviano Del Turco
Ottaviano Del Turco is an Italian politician. After a career in trade unionism in the Italian General Confederation of Labour Del Turco rose to the top of Bettino Craxi's Italian Socialist Party before it was swept away in the Tangentopoli scandals of 1992-94.Del Turco was the president of the...
. In the December 1993 provincial and municipal elections the PSI was virtually wiped out, receiving around 3% of the vote. In Milan, where the PSI had won 20% in 1990, the PSI received a mere 2%, which was not even enough to elect a councillor. Del Turco tried in vain to regain credibility for the party.
In the 1994 general election
Italian general election, 1994
An early national general election was held in Italy on March 27, 1994 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right alliance won handily the election for the Chamber and only narrowly lost that for the Senate....
, what was left of PSI allied itself to the Alliance of Progressives
Alliance of Progressives
The Alliance of Progressives was a left-wing electoral coalition in Italy in 1994.It was composed of:*the Democratic Party of the Left ;*the Communist Refoundation Party ;...
dominated by the post-communist
Post-Communism
Post-communism is a name sometimes given to the period of political and economic transformation or "transition" in former Communist states located in parts of Europe and Asia, in which new governments aimed to create free market-oriented capitalist economies with some form of parliamentary...
incarnation of the PCI, the Democratic Party of the Left
Democratic Party of the Left
The Democratic Party of the Left was a post-communist, democratic socialist political party in Italy.-History:...
(PDS). Del Turco had quickly changed the party symbol to reinforce the idea of innovation. However, this did not stop the PSI gaining only 2.2% of the votes compared to 13.6% in 1992. The PSI got 16 deputies and 14 senators elected, down from 92 deputies and 49 senators of 1992. Most of them came from the left-wing of the party, as Del Turco himself did, while most Socialists had left the party. Some of them joined other political forces, mainly Forza Italia
Forza Italia
Forza Italia was a liberal-conservative, Christian democratic, and liberal political party in Italy, with a large social democratic minority, that was led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....
, the new party led by Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
, the Patto Segni
Patto Segni
Patto Segni was a Christian-democratic and liberal political party in Italy, named after Mario Segni.-History:The party was founded in 1993 as a split from Democratic Alliance and as the continuation of the Populars for the Reform, a split from Christian Democracy in 1992, whose principal aim was...
and Democratic Alliance
Democratic Alliance (Italy)
The Democratic Alliance was an Italian political party founded in 1993, with the intent of becoming the container of an alliance of centre-left forces. However, the project did not succeed, and it presented itself as a minor party, mainly composed of former Republicans and former Communists...
.
The party was disbanded on 13 November 1994 after two years of agony, in which almost all of its longtime leaders, especially Bettino Craxi, were involved in Tangentopoli or decided to leave politics. The 100-year old party closed down, partially thanks to its leaders for their personalization of the PSI.
Diaspora
Italian Socialists
The Italian Socialists were a minor social-democratic political party in Italy active in Italy from 1994 to 1998....
(SI) of Enrico Boselli
Enrico Boselli
Enrico Boselli is an Italian politician. He is currently Vice President of Alliance for Italy, and is the former leader of the Italian Democratic Socialists and the modern-day Italian Socialist Party....
, Ottaviano Del Turco
Ottaviano Del Turco
Ottaviano Del Turco is an Italian politician. After a career in trade unionism in the Italian General Confederation of Labour Del Turco rose to the top of Bettino Craxi's Italian Socialist Party before it was swept away in the Tangentopoli scandals of 1992-94.Del Turco was the president of the...
, Roberto Villetti
Roberto Villetti
Roberto Villetti is an Italian politician.A long-time member of the Italian Socialist Party , he was vice-secretary of the Italian Socialists from 1994 to 1998...
, Riccardo Nencini
Riccardo Nencini
Riccardo Nencini is an Italian politician.Nencini was born at Barberino di Mugello, in the province of Florence. He is the son of Gastone Nencini, a famous cyclist...
, Cesare Marini and Maria Rosaria Manieri, who decided to be autonomous from the PDS, and the Labour Federation
Labour Federation
The Labour Federation was a social-democratic party in Italy.It was founded in 1994 by former members of the Italian Socialist Party and was in close alliance with the Democratic Party of the Left , with which it merged in 1998 to form the Democrats of the Left...
(FL) of Valdo Spini
Valdo Spini
Valdo Spini is an Italian politician and writer.A long-time member of the Italian Socialist Party , in 1994 he founded the Labour Federation , of which he was leader until FL merged into the Democrats of the Left . Since then, he was a leading member of the Socialist faction within DS. .Elected MP...
, Antonio Ruberti
Antonio Ruberti
Antonio Ruberti was an Italian politician and engineer. He was a member of the Italian Government and a European Commissioner as well as a Professor of engineering at La Sapienza University.-Biography:...
, Giorgio Ruffolo, Giuseppe Pericu
Giuseppe Pericu
Giuseppe Pericu is an Italian politician.A long-time member of the Italian Socialist Party, he joined the Democratic Party of the Left in 1996.He was the mayor of Genova from 1997 to 2007.-References:...
, Carlo Carli
Carlo Carli (Italian politician)
Carlo Carli is an Italian politician.A long-time member of the Italian Socialist Party , in 1994 he founded the Labour Federation and joined the Democrats of the Left in 1998. Since then, he was the leader of the Socialist faction within DS. He was deputy from 1994 to 2006.-References:...
and Rosario Olivo
Rosario Olivo
Rosario Olivo is an Italian politician.A long-time member of the Italian Socialist Party , he joined the Labour Federation in 1994 and the Democrats of the Left in 1998....
, who entered in close alliance with it. The SI eventually merged with other Socialist splinter groups to form the Italian Democratic Socialists
Italian Democratic Socialists
The Italian Democratic Socialists were a small social-democratic political party in Italy. Led by Enrico Boselli, the party was the direct continuation of the Italian Socialists, the legal successor of the historical Italian Socialist Party...
(SDI) in 1998, while the FL merged with PDS to form the Democrats of the Left
Democrats of the Left
The Democrats of the Left was a social-democratic Italian political party and part of the Olive Tree electoral coalition, which merged with a number of centrist and leftist groups to form the Democratic Party on 14 October 2007...
(DS) later on that year.
Between 1994 and 1996, many former Socialists joined Forza Italia, as did Giulio Tremonti
Giulio Tremonti
Giulio Tremonti is an Italian politician. He served in the government of Italy as Minister of Economy and Finance under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from 1994 to 1995, from 2001 to 2004, from 2005 to 2006, and from 2008 to 2011....
, Franco Frattini, Massimo Baldini and Luigi Cesaro. Gianni De Michelis
Gianni De Michelis
Giovanni De Michelis is an Italian politician.-Biography:De Michelis was born in Venice.His political experience started with the Italian Socialist Party, where he was elected to the municipal council of Venice. He got elected for the first time to the Italian Parliament in 1976 and was elected...
, Ugo Intini
Ugo Intini
Ugo Intini is an Italian politician.A long-time member of the Italian Socialist Party and close aide of Bettino Craxi, he founded the Socialist Party in 1996 and joined the Italian Democratic Socialists in 1998....
and several politicians close to Bettino Craxi
Bettino Craxi
Benedetto Craxi was an Italian politician, head of the Italian Socialist Party from 1976 to 1993, the first socialist President of the Council of Ministers of Italy from 1983 to 1987.-Political career:...
formed the Socialist Party, while others like Fabrizio Cicchitto
Fabrizio Cicchitto
Fabrizio Cicchitto is an Italian politician.-Career:Fabrizio Cicchitto entered politics during the earlier 1960s, supporting the Marxist left wing of Riccardo Lombardi in the Italian Socialist Party and then becoming secretary of the party's youth organization...
and Enrico Manca launched the Reform Socialist Party
Reform Socialist Party
The Reform Socialist Party was a tiny social-democratic party in Italy.It was founded after the Tangentopoli scandal, in opposition to the decision of Ottaviano Del Turco, then secretary of the Italian Socialist Party , to place it within the left-wing Alliance of Progressives coalition, dominated...
. In the 2000s two outfits claimed to be the party's successor: the Italian Democratic Socialists (SDI), that evolved from the Italian Socialists (SI), and the New Italian Socialist Party (NPSI) founded by Gianni De Michelis
Gianni De Michelis
Giovanni De Michelis is an Italian politician.-Biography:De Michelis was born in Venice.His political experience started with the Italian Socialist Party, where he was elected to the municipal council of Venice. He got elected for the first time to the Italian Parliament in 1976 and was elected...
, Claudio Martelli
Claudio Martelli
Claudio Martelli is an Italian politician, and the right-hand man of Bettino Craxi, the socialist Prime Minister from 1983–1987.-Biography:Martelli was born at Gessate, in the province of Milan....
and Bobo Craxi in 2001.
However, both the SDI and the NPSI were minor political forces. Most Socialist members and voters joined Forza Italia, a centre-right
Centre-right
The centre-right or center-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political parties, or organizations whose views stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances. Centre-right can also describe a coalition of centrist...
party (see membership and factions of Forza Italia), while others joined the DS and Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy (DL). Now most former Socialists are affiliated to The People of Freedom
The People of Freedom
The People of Freedom is a centre-right political party in Italy. With the Democratic Party, it is one of the two major parties of the current Italian party system....
(PdL), while only a minority is with centre-left Democratic Party
Democratic Party (Italy)
The Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party in Italy, that is the second-largest in the country. The party is led by Pier Luigi Bersani, who was elected in the 2009 leadership election....
(PD) and modern-day Socialist Party (PS). The Socialists who joined Forza Italia include Giulio Tremonti
Giulio Tremonti
Giulio Tremonti is an Italian politician. He served in the government of Italy as Minister of Economy and Finance under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from 1994 to 1995, from 2001 to 2004, from 2005 to 2006, and from 2008 to 2011....
, Franco Frattini, Fabrizio Cicchitto
Fabrizio Cicchitto
Fabrizio Cicchitto is an Italian politician.-Career:Fabrizio Cicchitto entered politics during the earlier 1960s, supporting the Marxist left wing of Riccardo Lombardi in the Italian Socialist Party and then becoming secretary of the party's youth organization...
, Renato Brunetta
Renato Brunetta
Renato Brunetta is an Italian economist and politician and, as of May 2008, a minister in the Berlusconi government.He is a former member of the Italian Socialist Party, Member of the European Parliament for the North-East from 2004 to 2009 with the Forza Italia, part of the European People's...
, Amalia Sartori
Amalia Sartori
Amalia Sartori is an Italian politician.-Career:* 1971-1985: Teacher* 1985-1990: Member of the Regional Executive of the Veneto with responsibility for roads and transport...
, Francesco Musotto
Francesco Musotto
Francesco Musotto is an Italian politician and Member of the European Parliament for the Islands...
, Margherita Boniver
Margherita Boniver
Margherita Boniver is an Italian politician.Until 1962 she lived abroad, in places such as Washington, D.C., Bucharest and London. In Italy she founded the Italian section of Amnesty International which she led from 1973 to 1980....
, Francesco Colucci, Raffaele Iannuzzi, Maurizio Sacconi
Maurizio Sacconi
Maurizio Sacconi is an Italian politician from Veneto.A long-time member of the Italian Socialist Party, from 1979 to 1994 he was a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and from 1987 to 1994 he served also as Under-Secretary of the Treasury...
, Luigi Cesaro and Stefania Craxi
Stefania Craxi
Stefania Gabriella Anastasia Craxi is an Italian politician, who is a member of the PdL and before that a member of the Italian_Socialist_Party. She became Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of Silvio Berlusconi on May 12, 2008...
. Valdo Spini
Valdo Spini
Valdo Spini is an Italian politician and writer.A long-time member of the Italian Socialist Party , in 1994 he founded the Labour Federation , of which he was leader until FL merged into the Democrats of the Left . Since then, he was a leading member of the Socialist faction within DS. .Elected MP...
, Giorgio Benvenuto, Gianni Pittella and Guglielmo Epifani joined the DS and Enrico Manca, Tiziano Treu, Laura Fincato and Linda Lanzillotta joined DL. Giuliano Amato
Giuliano Amato
Giuliano Amato is an Italian politician. He was Prime Minister of Italy twice, first from 1992 to 1993 and then from 2000 to 2001. He was more recently Vice President of the Convention on the Future of Europe that drafted the new European Constitution and headed the Amato Group. He is commonly...
joined The Olive Tree as an independent.
In 2007 many former Socialists, including the SDI, a portion of the NPSI led by Gianni De Michelis, The Italian Socialists of Bobo Craxi, Socialism is Freedom of Rino Formica
Rino Formica
Salvatore Formica , best known as Rino Formica, is an Italian former politician.-Biography:Formica was born in Bari....
and splinters from the DS joined forces and formed the PS. With this party and most Socialists gathered into the PdL, the "Socialist diaspora" can be considered ended.
Popular support
When the Socialists came out in the late 1890s1890s
The 1890s were sometimes referred to as the "Mauve Decade" - because William Henry Perkin's aniline dye allowed the widespread use of that colour in fashion - and also as the "Gay Nineties", under the then-current usage of the word "gay" which referred simply to merriment and frivolity, with no...
, they were present only in rural Emilia-Romagna
Emilia-Romagna
Emilia–Romagna is an administrative region of Northern Italy comprising the two historic regions of Emilia and Romagna. The capital is Bologna; it has an area of and about 4.4 million inhabitants....
and southern Lombardy
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
, where they won their first seats of the Chamber of Deputies
Italian Chamber of Deputies
The Italian Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Parliament of Italy. It has 630 seats, a plurality of which is controlled presently by liberal-conservative party People of Freedom. Twelve deputies represent Italian citizens outside of Italy. Deputies meet in the Palazzo Montecitorio. A...
, but they soon enlarged their base in other areas of the country, especially the urban areas around Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
, Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
and, to some extent, Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, densely populated by industrial workers. In the 1900 general election the party won 5.0% of the vote and 33 seats, its best result so far. Emilia-Romagna was confirmed as the Socialist heartland (20.2% and 13 seats), but the party did very well also in Piedmont
Piedmont
Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...
and Lombardy.
By the end of the 1910s
1910s
File:1910s montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Model T Ford is introduced and becomes widespread; The sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic causes the deaths of nearly 1,500 people and attracts global and historical attention; Title bar: All the events below are part of World War I ; French Army lookout...
the Socialists had broadened their organization to all the regions of Italy, but they were obviously stronger in the North
Northern Italy
Northern Italy is a wide cultural, historical and geographical definition, without any administrative usage, used to indicate the northern part of the Italian state, also referred as Settentrione or Alta Italia...
, where they emerged earlier and where they had their constituency. In the 1919 general election
Italian general election, 1919
The Italian general election of 1919, the first after World War I and the electoral reform that introduced proportional representation, took place on 16 November 1919....
, thanks to the electoral reforms of the previous decade and especially the introduction of proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
in place of the old first-past-the-post
First-past-the-post
First-past-the-post voting refers to an election won by the candidate with the most votes. The winning potato candidate does not necessarily receive an absolute majority of all votes cast.-Overview:...
system, they had their best result ever: 32.0% and 156 seats. The PSI was at the time the representative of both the rural workers of Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
and north-western Piedmont and the industrial workers of Turin, Milan, Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
and Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
. In 1919 the party won 49.7% in Piedmont (over 60% in Novara
Novara
Novara is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With c. 105,000 inhabitants, it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It is an important crossroads for commercial traffic along the routes from Milan to Turin...
), 45.9% in Lombardy (over 60% in Mantua
Mantua
Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...
and Pavia
Pavia
Pavia , the ancient Ticinum, is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It is the capital of the province of Pavia. It has a population of c. 71,000...
), 60.0% in Emilia-Romagna (over 70% around Bologna and Ferrara
Ferrara
Ferrara is a city and comune in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara. It is situated 50 km north-northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km north...
), 41.7% in Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
and 46.5% in Umbria
Umbria
Umbria is a region of modern central Italy. It is one of the smallest Italian regions and the only peninsular region that is landlocked.Its capital is Perugia.Assisi and Norcia are historical towns associated with St. Francis of Assisi, and St...
.
In the 1921 general election
Italian general election, 1921
The Italian general election of 1921 took place on 15 May 1921.The Liberal governing coalition, strengthened by the joining of Fascist candidates in the "National Blocs" , came short of a majority...
, after the split of the Communist Party of Italy
Communist Party of Italy
The Communist Party of Italy was a communist political party in Italy which existed from 1921 to 1926. That year it was outlawed by Benito Mussolini's fascist regime. In 1943, the name was changed to the Italian Communist Party.-Foundation:The forerunner of the party was the Communist Faction...
, the PSI was reduced to 24.5% and was particularly damaged in Piedmont and Tuscany, where the Communists got more than 10% of the vote. During the Italian Resistance
Italian resistance movement
The Italian resistance is the umbrella term for the various partisan forces formed by pro-Allied Italians during World War II...
, which was fought mostly in Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna and Central Italy
Central Italy
Central Italy is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics , a first level NUTS region and a European Parliament constituency...
, the Communists were able to take roots and organize people much better than the Socialists so that at the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the balance between the two parties was completely changed. In the 1946 general election
Italian general election, 1946
The Italian general election of 2 June 1946 was the first Italian election after World War II and elected 556 deputies to a Constituent Assembly...
the PSI was narrowly ahead of the Communists (20.7% over 18.7%), but was no longer the dominant party in Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany.
In the 1948 general election
Italian general election, 1948
The Italian elections of 1948 were the second democratic elections with universal suffrage ever held in Italy, taking place after the 1946 elections to the Constituent Assembly, responsible for drawing up a new Italian Constitution...
the Socialists took part to the Popular Democratic Front
Popular Democratic Front
The Popular Democratic Front was a coalition of Italian political parties for the Parliamentary election of 1948. It consisted of:* Italian Communist Party - communist...
with the Italian Communist Party
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played...
(PCI), but they lost almost half of their seats in the Chamber of Deputies, due to the better get-out-the-vote machine of the Communists and the split of the social-democratic faction from the party, the Italian Workers' Socialist Party
Italian Democratic Socialist Party
The Italian Democratic Socialist Party is a minor social-democratic political party in Italy. Mimmo Magistro is the party leader. The PSDI, before the 1990s decline in votes and members, had been an important force in Italian politics, being the longest serving partner in government for Christian...
(7.1%, with peaks over 10% in the Socialist strongholds of the North). In 1953
Italian general election, 1953
The Italian elections of 1953 were held on June 7. They were a test for leading centrist coalition ruled by Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi. Italian electors chose the second Parliament of the Italian Republic.-The Scam Law:...
the PSI was reduced to 12.7% of the vote and to its heartlands above the Po River
Po River
The Po |Ligurian]]: Bodincus or Bodencus) is a river that flows either or – considering the length of the Maira, a right bank tributary – eastward across northern Italy, from a spring seeping from a stony hillside at Pian del Re, a flat place at the head of the Val Po under the northwest face...
, having gained more votes than the Communists only narrowly in Lombardy and Veneto
Veneto
Veneto is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 5 million, ranking 5th in Italy.Veneto had been for more than a millennium an independent state, the Republic of Venice, until it was eventually annexed by Italy in 1866 after brief Austrian and French rule...
. The margin between the two parties would have become larger and larger until its peak in 1976
Italian general election, 1976
The Italian elections of 1976 were held on June 20. The seventh Parliament of republican Italy was selected. These were the first elections where 18-year-old boys and girls were allowed to vote....
, when the PCI won 34.4% of the vote and the PSI stopped at 9.6%. At that time the Communists had almost five times the vote of the Socialists in the PSI's ancient heartlands of rural Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany and three times in the Northern regions, where the PSI had some local strongholds left such as in north-eastern Piedmont, north-western and southern Lombardy, north-eastern Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Friuli–Venezia Giulia is one of the twenty regions of Italy, and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. The capital is Trieste. It has an area of 7,858 km² and about 1.2 million inhabitants. A natural opening to the sea for many Central European countries, the region is...
, where it gained steadily 12-20% of the vote.
Under the leadership of Bettino Craxi
Bettino Craxi
Benedetto Craxi was an Italian politician, head of the Italian Socialist Party from 1976 to 1993, the first socialist President of the Council of Ministers of Italy from 1983 to 1987.-Political career:...
in the 1980s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
, the PSI had a substantial increase in term of votes. The party strengthened its position in Lombardy, north-eastern Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia and broadened its power base to Southern Italy, as all the other parties of Pentapartito coalition (Christian Democrats
Christian Democracy (Italy)
Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....
, Republicans
Italian Republican Party
The Italian Republican Party is a liberal political party in Italy.The PRI is party with old roots that originally took a left-wing position, claiming descent from the political position of Giuseppe Mazzini...
, Democratic Socialists
Italian Democratic Socialist Party
The Italian Democratic Socialist Party is a minor social-democratic political party in Italy. Mimmo Magistro is the party leader. The PSDI, before the 1990s decline in votes and members, had been an important force in Italian politics, being the longest serving partner in government for Christian...
and Liberals
Italian Liberal Party
The Italian Liberal Party was a liberal political party in Italy.-Origins:The origins of liberalism in Italy came from the so-called "Historical Right", a parliamentary group formed by Camillo Benso di Cavour in the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia following the 1848 revolution...
) were experiencing. In the 1987 general election
Italian general election, 1987
The Italian election of 1987 was held on June 14. Italian citizens chose the tenth Parliament of the Italian Republic.This election marked the final inversion of the trend of the entire republican history of Italy: for the first time, the distance between the Christian Democrats and the Communists...
the PSI gained 14.3% of the vote, a good result but below expectations after four years of government led by Craxi. Alongside the high shares of vote in north-western Lombardy and the North-East (both around 18-20%), the PSI did fairly well in Campania
Campania
Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
(14.9%), Apulia
Apulia
Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...
(15.3%), Calabria
Calabria
Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....
(16.9%) and Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
(14.9%). In 1992
Italian general election, 1992
The Italian general elections of 1992 were held on the 5 April 1992.The 1992 elections were the first without the traditionally second most important political force in Italy, the Italian Communist Party , which had been disbanded in 1991...
this trend toward the South was even more evident: while the Socialists, like the Communists and the Christian Democrats, had lost votes to Lega Nord especially in Lombardy, they gained in the South, reaching 19.6% of the vote in Campania, 17.8% in Apulia and 17.2% in Calabria. This is why the PSI's main successors, the Italian Socialists
Italian Socialists
The Italian Socialists were a minor social-democratic political party in Italy active in Italy from 1994 to 1998....
, the Italian Democratic Socialists
Italian Democratic Socialists
The Italian Democratic Socialists were a small social-democratic political party in Italy. Led by Enrico Boselli, the party was the direct continuation of the Italian Socialists, the legal successor of the historical Italian Socialist Party...
, the New Italian Socialist Party and the modern-day Italian Socialist Party, had always been stronger in those Southern regions.
Leadership
- Secretary: Pietro NenniPietro NenniPietro Sandro Nenni was an Italian socialist politician, the national secretary of the Italian Socialist Party and lifetime Senator since 1970. He was a recipient of the Stalin Peace Prize in 1951...
(1931–1945), Sandro Pertini (1945–1946), Ivan Matteo Lombardo (1946–1947), Lelio BassoLelio BassoLelio Basso was an Italian democratic socialist politician and journalist.-Early life:Lelio Basso was born in Varazze into a Liberal bourgeois family. In 1916, he and his family moved to Milan where he attended the Berchet grammar school...
(1947–1948), Alberto Jacometti (1948–1949), Pietro NenniPietro NenniPietro Sandro Nenni was an Italian socialist politician, the national secretary of the Italian Socialist Party and lifetime Senator since 1970. He was a recipient of the Stalin Peace Prize in 1951...
(1949–1963), Francesco De MartinoFrancesco De MartinoFrancesco de Martino was an Italian jurist, politician, lifetime senator and former interim Vice President of the Italian Republic...
(1963–1968), Mauro Ferri (1968–1969), Francesco De MartinoFrancesco De MartinoFrancesco de Martino was an Italian jurist, politician, lifetime senator and former interim Vice President of the Italian Republic...
(1969–1970), Giacomo Mancini (1970–1972), Francesco De MartinoFrancesco De MartinoFrancesco de Martino was an Italian jurist, politician, lifetime senator and former interim Vice President of the Italian Republic...
(1972–1976), Bettino CraxiBettino CraxiBenedetto Craxi was an Italian politician, head of the Italian Socialist Party from 1976 to 1993, the first socialist President of the Council of Ministers of Italy from 1983 to 1987.-Political career:...
(1976–1993), Giorgio Benvenuto (1993), Ottaviano Del TurcoOttaviano Del TurcoOttaviano Del Turco is an Italian politician. After a career in trade unionism in the Italian General Confederation of Labour Del Turco rose to the top of Bettino Craxi's Italian Socialist Party before it was swept away in the Tangentopoli scandals of 1992-94.Del Turco was the president of the...
(1993–1994)
- Party Leader in the Chamber of DeputiesItalian Chamber of DeputiesThe Italian Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Parliament of Italy. It has 630 seats, a plurality of which is controlled presently by liberal-conservative party People of Freedom. Twelve deputies represent Italian citizens outside of Italy. Deputies meet in the Palazzo Montecitorio. A...
: Paolo De Michelis (1946–1947), Pietro NenniPietro NenniPietro Sandro Nenni was an Italian socialist politician, the national secretary of the Italian Socialist Party and lifetime Senator since 1970. He was a recipient of the Stalin Peace Prize in 1951...
(1947–1964), Mauro Ferri (1964–1968), Flavio Orlandi (1968–1969), Antonio GiolittiAntonio GiolittiAntonio Giolitti was an Italian politician and cabinet member. He is the grandson of Giovanni Giolitti, well-known liberal statesman of the prefascist period.-Biography:Giolitti was born in Rome....
(1969–1970), Luigi Bertoldi (1970–1973), Luigi Mariotti (1973–1976), Bettino CraxiBettino CraxiBenedetto Craxi was an Italian politician, head of the Italian Socialist Party from 1976 to 1993, the first socialist President of the Council of Ministers of Italy from 1983 to 1987.-Political career:...
(1976), Vincenzo Balzamo (1976–1980), Silvano Labriola (1980–1983), Rino FormicaRino FormicaSalvatore Formica , best known as Rino Formica, is an Italian former politician.-Biography:Formica was born in Bari....
(1983–1986), Lelio LagorioLelio Lagorio-Biography:Lagorio was born in Trieste and was a member of the Italian Socialist Party . He was mayor of Florence in 1964-1965, succeeding Giorgio La Pira, and, later, the first president of Tuscany region ....
(1986–1987), Gianni De MichelisGianni De MichelisGiovanni De Michelis is an Italian politician.-Biography:De Michelis was born in Venice.His political experience started with the Italian Socialist Party, where he was elected to the municipal council of Venice. He got elected for the first time to the Italian Parliament in 1976 and was elected...
(1987–1988), Nicola Capria (1988–1991), Salvatore Andò (1991–1992), Giuseppe La Ganga (1992–1993), Nicola Capria (1993–1994)
Symbols
The PSI was rather unique among mainstream socialist/social-democratic parties in Europe in using the hammer and sickleHammer and sickle
The hammer and sickle is a part of communist symbolism and its usage indicates an association with Communism, a Communist party, or a Communist state. It features a hammer and a sickle overlapping each other. The two tools are symbols of the industrial proletariat and the peasantry; placing them...
as its symbol. However, the symbolism of the party was gradually moderated. In 1978 Craxi decided to change the party logo of the party. He chose a red carnation
Carnation
Dianthus caryophyllus is a species of Dianthus. It is probably native to the Mediterranean region but its exact range is unknown due to extensive cultivation for the last 2,000 years. It is the wild ancestor of the garden carnation.It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 80 cm tall...
to represent the new course of the party, in honour of the Carnation Revolution
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution , also referred to as the 25 de Abril , was a military coup started on 25 April 1974, in Lisbon, Portugal, coupled with an unanticipated and extensive campaign of civil resistance...
in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. The party shrank the size of the old hammer and sickle in the lower part of the symbol. It was eventually eliminated altogether in 1985.