The Italian Democratic Socialists ( it, Socialisti Democratici Italiani, SDI) were a social-democratic

political party in Italy This article contains a list of political parties in Italy since Italian unification in 1861. Throughout history, numerous political parties have been operating in Italy, and since World War II no party has ever gained enough support to govern ...

. The party was the direct continuation of the Italian Socialists, the legal successor of the historical

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a Socialism, socialist and later Social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the l ...

. Also, the

Italian Democratic Socialist Party The Italian Democratic Socialist Party (, PSDI), also known as Italian Social Democratic Party, was a minor social-democratic political party in Italy. The longest serving partner in government for Christian Democracy, the PSDI had been an ...

, the other long-time Italian social-democratic party, was merged into it. The party's long-time leader was

Enrico Boselli Enrico Boselli (born 7 January 1957) is an Italian politician. He has been Vice President of Alliance for Italy, and is the former leader of the Italian Democratic Socialists and the modern-day Socialist Party, and former President of Emilia-Rom ...

, a former

President of Emilia-Romagna The President of Emilia-Romagna is the supreme authority of Emilia-Romagna. Election Originally appointed by the Regional Council of Emilia-Romagna, since 1995 ''de facto'' and 2000 ''de jure'', he is elected by popular vote every five years und ...

(1990–1993). In 2007, the SDI were merged with other descendants of the PSI to form the modern-day

History

Early years

The SDI were founded in 1998 by the merger of the Italian Socialists (

, Roberto Villetti and Ottaviano Del Turco), the

( Gian Franco Schietroma and Giorgio Carta), a portion of the Labour Federation, a portion of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

( Ugo Intini) and the Socialist League (

Claudio Martelli Claudio Martelli (born 24 September 1943) is an Italian politician. He was 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. He graduated in Phi ...

and

Bobo Craxi Vittorio Michele Craxi, commonly known as Bobo Craxi (born 6 August 1964), is an Italian politician, son of the former Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi and brother of Stefania Craxi. Biography Formerly a prominent member of the Italian Soc ...

). In their first appearance on the national stage, the

1999 European Parliament election The 1999 European Parliament election was a European election for all 626 members of the European Parliament held across the 15 European Union member states on 10, 11 and 13 June 1999. The voter turn-out was generally low, except in Belgium and L ...

, the SDI won 2.2% of the votes and two MEPs. In December 1999, the SDI formed a short-lived centrist alliance ( The Clover) with the Union for the Republic and

Italian Republican Party The Italian Republican Party ( it, Partito Repubblicano Italiano, PRI) is a liberal and social-liberal political party in Italy. Founded in 1895, the PRI is the oldest political party still active in Italy. The PRI has old roots and a long hist ...

, which was responsible for the fall of the

D'Alema I Cabinet The first D'Alema government was the government of Italy from 21 October 1998 to 22 December 1999. The first Prodi government fell in 1998 when the Communist Refoundation Party withdrew its support to Prodi. This led to the formation of a new go ...

in December 1999. The SDI re-entered The Olive Tree coalition and in 2000 they were originally touted for inclusion in the

Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy ( it, Democrazia è Libertà – La Margherita, DL), commonly known simply as The Daisy (''La Margherita''), was a centrist political party in Italy. The party was formed from the merger of three parties within ...

joint list, before being rejected by the Christian-inspired parties of the alliance, notably including the Italian People's Party. For the 2001 general election the SDI thus formed an unusual alliance ( The Sunflower) with the

Federation of the Greens The Federation of the Greens ( it, Federazione dei Verdi, FdV), frequently referred to as Greens (''Verdi''), was a green political party in Italy. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the Federation of Green Lists and the Rainbow Greens. T ...

, which was disbanded soon after the election, due to political divergences and ultimately to the disappointing electoral result: 2.2% of the vote, while the two parties' combined result in 1999 had been 4.0%. In the

2004 European Parliament election The 2004 European Parliament election was held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but electe ...

two SDI MEPs were elected on the United in the Olive Tree ticket.

The Rose in the Fist

In 2001

and

left the party in order to form, along with

Gianni De Michelis Gianni De Michelis (26 November 1940 – 11 May 2019) was an Italian politician, prominent member of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), who served as minister in many Italian governments in the 1980s and early 1990s. Biography De Michelis was bo ...

, the

New Italian Socialist Party The New Italian Socialist Party or New PSI ( it, Nuovo Partito Socialista Italiano or ''Nuovo PSI'', NPSI), more recently styled as Liberal Socialists – NPSI, is a political party in Italy which professes a social-democratic ideology and claims t ...

(NPSI), which joined the House of Freedoms centre-right coalition, while in 2004 Giorgio Carta left to re-establish the

. In 2005 the SDI entered in alliance with the Italian Radicals, a

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 ...

– libertarian party, forming the Rose in the Fist (RnP) electoral list. In 2006 Socialist Unity of

Claudio Signorile Claudio Signorile (born 9 September 1937) is an Italian politician. Biography Claudio Signorile graduated with a degree in literature and taught Modern History at the Universities of Rome and Sassari, and Contemporary History at the University ...

joined the SDI, while some members of NPSI, as Donato Robilotta, founded the Reformist Socialists and directly joined the Rose in the Fist. In the 2006 general election the RnP list won only 2.6% of the vote, much less than the combination of the two parties before the alliance, as the Radicals lost voters in their strongholds in the North to Forza Italia, while the Socialists lost ground in the South to The Olive Tree parties (see electoral results of the Rose in the Fist).

The Socialist Party

In April 2007, during a party convention, Boselli launched the proposal of a "Socialist Constituent Assembly", open to all the Italian social democrats and especially to the remnants of the old

, while Ottaviano Del Turco supported the entry of the SDI in the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

(PD). Boselli was re-elected secretary of the party with 784 votes out of 787 and only 3 abstentions. In May Del Turco and his faction left the SDI and formed the Reformist Alliance ( it, Alleanza Riformista), which would merge into the PD. However, several groups, including a large portion of the

The Italian Socialists The Italian Socialists (''I Socialisti Italiani'') was a minor social-democratic political party in Italy. History The party was founded on 7 February 2006 as the result of a split from the New Italian Socialist Party (NPSI) by the wing favoura ...

, Democracy and Socialism and the Association for the Rose in the Fist, decided to join forces with the SDI. This happened on 5 October 2007, when they were merged into a unified Socialist Party, later renamed

on 7 October 2009 to recall the historical party of the same name. The new party obtained 1.0% of the vote and no seats in Parliament in the 2008 general election.

Leadership

*Secretary:

(1998–2008) **Deputy Secretary: Roberto Villetti (1998–2008),

(1999–2001), Gian Franco Schietroma (2001–2002)

Symbols

File:SOCIALISTI DEMOCRATICIITALIANI - 1.gif, 1998–2004 File:SOCIALISTI DEMOCRATICI ITALIANI - 2.gif, 2004–2007

References

{{Authority control 1998 establishments in Italy 2007 disestablishments in Italy Defunct social democratic parties in Italy Defunct political parties in Italy Former member parties of the Socialist International Party of European Socialists member parties Political parties disestablished in 2007 Political parties established in 1998