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

social-democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

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 Italian Socialists ( it, Socialisti Italiani, SI) were a minor social-democratic political party in Italy active from 1994 to 1998. The party was the legal successor of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), following its dissolution by the 47th ...

, the legal successor of the historical Italian Socialist Party. Also, the Italian Democratic Socialist Party, the other long-time Italian social-democratic party, was merged into it. The party's long-time leader was Enrico Boselli, a former President of Emilia-Romagna (1990–1993). In 2007, the SDI were merged with other descendants of the PSI to form the modern-day Italian Socialist Party.

History

Early years

The SDI were founded in 1998 by the merger of the

( Enrico Boselli,

Roberto Villetti Roberto Villetti (24 August 1944 – 14 September 2019) was an Italian politician. A long-time member of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), he was vice-secretary of the Italian Socialists (SI) from 1994 to 1998. Since 1998 he is vice-secretary of ...

and

Ottaviano Del Turco Ottaviano Del Turco (born 7 November 1944) is an Italian politician. Early life Del Turco was born in Collelongo on 7 November 1944. Career After a career in trade unionism in the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), Del Turco rose ...

), the Italian Democratic Socialist Party (

Gian Franco Schietroma Gian Franco Schietroma (born 19 October 1950 in Rome) is an Italian politician and lawyer. He is the son of the former Senator and Minister of Public Function Dante Schietroma. Biography Gian Franco Schietroma graduated in law, with 110/110 cu ...

and Giorgio Carta), a portion of the Labour Federation, a portion of the Socialist Party (

Ugo Intini Ugo Intini (born 30 June 1941) is an Italian journalist and politician. Biography A long-time member of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) and close aide of Bettino Craxi, he was spokesman of the PSI and representative of the party in the Socia ...

) and the Socialist League ( Claudio Martelli and Bobo Craxi). 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 ...

, the SDI won 2.2% of the votes and two MEPs. In December 1999, the SDI formed a short-lived centrist alliance (

The Clover The Clover ( it, Il Trifoglio) was a centrist coalition of Italian political parties. It was launched on 27 October 1999 and led by Francesco Cossiga, who supported the D'Alema I Cabinet since its formation via his Democratic Union for the Rep ...

) with the Union for the Republic and Italian Republican Party, which was responsible for the fall of the D'Alema I Cabinet 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 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, 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 Claudio Martelli and Bobo Craxi left the party in order to form, along with Gianni De Michelis, the New Italian Socialist Party (NPSI), which joined the

House of Freedoms The House of Freedoms ( it, Casa delle Libertà, CdL) was a major centre-right political and electoral alliance in Italy, led by Silvio Berlusconi. History The CdL was the successor of the Pole of Freedoms/Pole of Good Government and the Pole fo ...

centre-right coalition, while in 2004 Giorgio Carta left to re-establish the Italian Democratic Socialist Party. In 2005 the SDI entered in alliance with the

Italian Radicals The Italian Radicals ( it, Radicali Italiani, RI) is a liberal and libertarian political party in Italy. Founded on 14 July 2001 with Daniele Capezzone as their first secretary, the party describes itself as "''liberale'', ''liberista'' nd''lib ...

, a liberal–

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

party, forming the Rose in the Fist (RnP) electoral list. In 2006 Socialist Unity of Claudio Signorile joined the SDI, while some members of NPSI, as

Donato Robilotta Donato may refer to: People * Donato (surname) As a given name * Donato Bilancia (1951–2020), Italian serial killer * Donato Bramante (1444–1514), Italian architect * Donato da Cascia (fl. c. 1350 – 1370), Italian composer of trecent ...

, 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 Forza ItaliaThe name is not usually translated into English: ''forza'' is the second-person singular imperative of ''forzare'', in this case translating to "to compel" or "to press", and so means something like "Forward, Italy", "Come on, Ital ...

, 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 Italian Socialist Party, while

supported the entry of the SDI in the Democratic Party (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 New Italian Socialist Party, The Italian Socialists,

Democracy and Socialism Democracy and Socialism (''Democrazia e Socialismo'') was a social-democratic political association in Italy. During the years it was a faction within the Democrats of the Left, the Socialist Party and finally the Democratic Party. Its leader was Ga ...

and the

Association for the Rose in the Fist The Association for the Rose in the Fist ( it, Associazione per la Rosa bel Pugno) was a social-democratic political association in Italy. It was the so-called "third component" of the Rose in the Fist (RnP), a political alliance composed mainly o ...

, decided to join forces with the SDI. This happened on 5 October 2007, when they were merged into a unified Socialist Party, later renamed Italian Socialist Party 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: Enrico Boselli (1998–2008) **Deputy Secretary:

(1998–2008), Claudio Martelli (1999–2001),

(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