The Historical Far Left ( it, Estrema Sinistra Storica), originally known as Far Left ( it, Estrema Sinistra), Radical Extreme ( it, Estrema Radicale), simply The Extreme ( it, L'Estrema), or Party of Democracy ( it, Partito della Democrazia), was a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary party, or parliamentary caucus is a group consisting of some members of the same political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or a city council. Parliamenta ...

and coalition of Radical,

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

and

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

politicians in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

during the second half of the 19th century. Formerly known as the extreme wing of the

Historical Left The Left group ( it, Sinistra), later called Historical Left ( it, Sinistra storica) by historians to distinguish it from the left-wing groups of the 20th century, was a liberal and reformist parliamentary group in Italy during the second half of ...

before the

unification of Italy The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

, it became a separate group when the more moderate branch of the Left accepted the leadership of the House of Savoy to build the new Italian state.

History

The Historical Far Left was founded in 1877 by Agostino Bertani and Felice Cavallotti as a radical-

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

party. In 1882, the Radicals formed a far-left parliamentary group with

Andrea Costa Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrej and Andrew. Origin of the name The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός (''andrós''), that r ...

, the first

to be elected to the

Italian Parliament The Italian Parliament ( it, Parlamento italiano) is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1943), the transitio ...

. The party supported complete

separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...

, decentralization toward municipal governments, the

United States of Europe The United States of Europe (USE), the European State, the European Federation and Federal Europe, is the hypothetical scenario of the European integration leading to formation of a sovereign superstate (similar to the United States of Ameri ...

according to Carlo Cattaneo's beliefs,

progressive taxation A progressive tax is a tax in which the tax rate increases as the taxable amount increases.Sommerfeld, Ray M., Silvia A. Madeo, Kenneth E. Anderson, Betty R. Jackson (1992), ''Concepts of Taxation'', Dryden Press: Fort Worth, TX The term ''progr ...

, an

independent judiciary Judicial independence is the concept that the judiciary should be independent from the other branches of government. That is, courts should not be subject to improper influence from the other branches of government or from private or partisan inter ...

, free and compulsory

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

for children,

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stan ...

, women's and

workers' rights Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, these rights influen ...

while opposing

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

as well as any kind of

protectionism Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulatio ...

nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

, imperialism and

colonialism Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colony, colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose the ...

.Massimo L. Salvadori (2000). ''Enciclopedia storica''. Zanichelli:

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

.David Busato (1996)
''Il Partito Radicale in Italia da Mario Pannunzio a Marco Pannella''
The Extreme was mainly formed by three groups: * The Radicals, which supported democratic ideas, transitionally accepting the

constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...

if it would allow

. * The Republicans, which insisted upon an Italian Republic and consequently refused any collaboration with the existing monarchist state. * The

Socialists Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the eco ...

, which saw the universal suffrage and the proclamation of the republic as a first step to a social revolution. The Historical Far Left, supporting the republic and consequently the abrogation of the

Albertine Statute The Statuto Albertino (English: ''Albertine Statute'') was the constitution granted by King Charles Albert of Sardinia to the Kingdom of Sardinia on 4 March 1848 and written in Italian and French. The Statute later became the constitution of ...

, was seen as an anticonstitutional movement. Under the

oligarchic Oligarchy (; ) is a conceptual form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, r ...

electoral law of newly unified Italy, there were no possibilities for The Extreme to enter the

, except for some national heroes such as Giuseppe Garibaldi. The electoral reform of 1882 allowed the possibility to form a small opposition parliamentary group, but only after the introduction of the universal suffrage in 1913 did The Extreme become the dominant

party of the

Italian Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies ( it, Camera dei deputati) is the lower house of the bicameral Italian Parliament (the other being the Senate of the Republic). The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform identical funct ...

and the winning coalition in many municipal and provincial elections in Northern Italy. The Historical Far Left emerged as an important parliamentary force when the progressive

overthrew

Marco Minghetti Marco Minghetti (18 November 1818 – 10 December 1886) was an Italian economist and statesman. Biography Minghetti was born at Bologna, then part of the Papal States. He signed the petition to the Papal conclave, 1846, urging the electio ...

's government during the so-called Parliamentary Revolution of 1876, which brought Agostino Depretis to become

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

. However, Depretis immediately began to look for support among the

Right Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical ...

Members of Parliament, who readily changed their positions, in a context of widespread corruption. This phenomenon, known in Italian as ''

trasformismo ''Trasformismo'' is the method of making a flexible centrist coalition of government which isolated the extremes of the political left and the political right in Italian politics after the Italian unification and before the rise of Benito Mussoli ...

'' (roughly translatable in English as "transformism"—in a satirical newspaper, Prime Minister Depretis was depicted as a chameleon), effectively removed political differences in Parliament, which was dominated by an undistinguished liberal bloc with a landslide majority until after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

."Italian Liberal Party"
. ''Britannica Concise''.

Important members

Important leaders and members of the Historical Far Left were Agostino Bertani,

Filippo Turati Filippo Turati (; 26 November 1857 – 29 March 1932) was an Italian sociologist, criminologist, poet and socialist politician. Early life Born in Canzo, province of Como, he graduated in law at the University of Bologna in 1877, and participa ...

Napoleone Colajanni Napoleone Colajanni ( Castrogiovanni, 27 April 1847 – Castrogiovanni, 2 September 1921) was an Italian writer, journalist, criminologist, socialist and politician. In the 1880s he abandoned republicanism for socialism, and became Italy's leadin ...

Francesco Saverio Nitti Francesco Saverio Vincenzo de Paolo Nitti (19 July 1868 – 20 February 1953) was an Italian economist and political figure. A Radical, he served as Prime Minister of Italy between 1919 and 1920. According to the ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' ("T ...

, Giovanni Bovio,

Giovanni Cantoni Giovanni Cantoni (31 December 1818 – 15 July 1897) was an Italian physicist and political figure. Life He taught at the University of Pavia, where Carlo Marangoni was among his students, and headed the Italian metrological service from 1865� ...

, Felice Cavallotti, Enrico Ferri,

Ernesto Nathan Ernesto Nathan (5 October 1848 – 9 April 1921) was an English-Italian politician, and mayor of Rome, Italy from November 1907 to December 1913. Biography Nathan was born in London in 1848 to Sara Levi, an Italian from Pesaro, and Mayer Moses ...

and

Ettore Sacchi Ettore Sacchi (31 May 1851 – 6 April 1924) was an Italian lawyer and politician. He was one of the founders and main leaders of the Italian Radical Party. Biography Ettore Sacchi was born in Cremona in the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia on 31 ...

Electoral results

References

{{19th-century Italian political groups 1867 establishments in Italy 1919 disestablishments in Italy Defunct political parties in Italy Defunct socialist parties in Italy Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946) Political parties disestablished in 1919 Political parties established in 1867 Radical parties in Italy Republican parties