The Italian Socialists ( it, Socialisti Italiani, SI) were a minor

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 ...

active from 1994 to 1998. The party was the legal successor of the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parties of the country. Founded in Genoa in 1892, ...

(PSI), following its dissolution by the 47th Party Congress due to the severe financial crisis following the ''

Tangentopoli ''Mani pulite'' (; Italian for "clean hands") was a nationwide judicial investigation into political corruption in Italy held in the early 1990s, resulting in the demise of the so-called " First Republic" and the disappearance of many Italian ...

'' scandal. A minoritarian group of the congress, who proposed an autonomist and centrist solution against the PSI dissolution, instead founded the

Reformist Socialist Party The Reformist Socialist Party (''Partito Socialista Riformista'', PSR) was a tiny Social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy. It was founded after the ''Tangentopoli'' scandal, in opposition t ...

History

Crisis of the Italian Socialist Party

1994 general election

In occasion of the 1994 general election and the introduction of the majoritarian electoral system of "

Mattarellum The Italian electoral law of 1993 (better known as Mattarellum) was a reform of the electoral laws of Italy, passed on 4 August 1993. The nickname, conceived by Giovanni Sartori, derived from its author Sergio Mattarella. The law was also nickname ...

", the

(PSI) of Ottaviano Del Turco joined the

Alliance of Progressives The Alliance of Progressives ( it, Alleanza dei Progressisti) was a left-wing political alliance of parties in Italy formed in 1994, with relevant predecessors at local level in 1993. The leader of the alliance was Achille Occhetto. The allianc ...

coalition; however, the PSI obtained poor results compared to the main parties of the coalition: PSI received 2.2% of votes in the proportional quota for the Chamber of Deputies and the 0.3% for the Senate. However, PSI parliamentarians were elected in single-members districts according to the agreements within the

centre-left coalition The centre-left coalition ( it, coalizione di centro-sinistra) is an political alliance, alliance of list of political parties in Italy, political parties in Italy active, under several forms and names, since 1995 when The Olive Tree (Italy), Th ...

and, thanks to the majoritarian system, obtained 14 seats in the Chamber and 9 in the Senate. Due to their number, PSI deputies were forced to join the unitarian centre-left group "Progressives - Federative" (''Progressisti - Federativo'') while PSI senators managed to create their own autonomous group, thanks also to the adhesion of the

Senator for life A senator for life is a member of the senate or equivalent upper chamber of a legislature who has life tenure. , six Italian senators out of 206, two out of the 41 Burundian senators, one Congolese senator out of 109, and all members of the Bri ...

and former PSI National Secretary

Francesco De Martino Francesco de Martino (31 May 1907 – 18 November 2002) was an Italian jurist, politician, lifetime senator (1991–2002) and former Vice President of the Council of Ministers. He was considered by many to be the conscience of the Italian Social ...

Exit of the Labourist faction from PSI

After the disappointing outcome of the elections, Del Turco resigned as secretary and the PSI Directive Committee appointed

Valdo Spini Valdo Spini (born 20 January 1946 in Florence) is an Italian politician and author. A long-time member of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), in 1994 he founded the Labour Federation (FL), of which he was leader until 1998, when FL merged into ...

as national coordinator on 21 June 1994, giving him the task to organise the Extraordinary Congress of the Party until September of the same year. However, Spini was convinced that PSI had to change its entire identity, which was associated with corruption after the role of the party in the

scandal, and he convened a meeting on 26 July 1994 in order to promote the "Labourist Constituent". On 22 September, Spini resigned as coordinator and formed the Labour Federation on 5 November 1994 in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

and much of parliamentarians, who were elected among Socialist lists, joined this new political formation and left the PSI, deepening its financial crisis.

Last PSI Congress

In a climate of high tension, the 47th Congress of the Italian Socialist Party was held in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in November 1994 and saw the participation of Socialist delegates who decided to not follow Spini into his new Labour Federation party. The majoritarian side of the Congress, which was supported by former PSI Secretary Ottaviano Del Turco and

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-Roma ...

, proposed the liquidation of the Party due to its disastrous financial situation and the creation create a new political formation called "Socialisti Italiani". The minoritarian side, supported by

Fabrizio Cicchitto Fabrizio Cicchitto (born 26 October 1940) is an Italian politician, whose career has followed a trajectory from radical socialism to centre-right reformism. Biography Fabrizio Cicchitto entered politics in the early 1960s, supporting the Ricc ...

and

Enrico Manca Enrico Manca (27 November 1931 – 5 July 2011) was an Italian politician. Biography Having graduated with a degree in law from the University of Rome "La Sapienza", in 1959 Manca joined the Italian state broadcaster RAI and from 1961 to 1972 w ...

, was opposed to the dissolution of the PSI. At the end, the congress decided to liquidate the PSI, considering the debts accumulated during the rule of former Prime Minister

Bettino Craxi Benedetto "Bettino" Craxi ( , , ; 24 February 1934 – 19 January 2000) was an Italian politician, leader of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) from 1976 to 1993, and the 45th prime minister of Italy from 1983 to 1987. He was the first PSI membe ...

and the decline of subscriptions and contributions which led to the foreclosing of various properties belonging to the party.

Foundation of Italian Socialists

Despite the sadness for the closure of the historical Italian Socialist Party after 102 years of activity, all delegates wanted to continue and preserve the history and the identity of PSI: after a few hours, the new "Italian Socialists" (SI) was proclaimed as the official successor party to the PSI and its traditions. Delegates of the new party elected

as Secretary and

Gino Giugni Gino Giugni (1 August 1927 – 5 October 2009) was an Italian academic and politician. He served as the minister of labor and social security in the period 1993–1994. Early life and education Giugni was born in Genoa on 1 August 1927. He g ...

as President, with the indication to keep the party among the democratic left. At the Chamber, 11 deputies, of whom 9 elected for the PSI, joined the Labour Federation; the five remaining PSI deputies ( Giuseppe Albertini,

, Ottaviano Del Turco,

and Alberto La Volpe) decided instead to join the Italian Socialists. They left the "Progressives" parliamentary group and formed a united group called "The Democrats" (''I Democratici'') on 21 February 1995, along with some members of the

Segni Pact The Segni Pact ( it, Patto Segni), officially called Pact of National Rebirth (''Patto di Rinascita Nazionale''), was a Christian-democratic, centrist and liberal political party in Italy. The party was founded and named after Mario Segni, a form ...

and Democratic Alliance. At the Senate, the Socialist group was preserved but most of its members joined the Labour Federations, and only senators

Maria Rosaria Manieri Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial *170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, da ...

and

Cesare Marini Cesare, the Italian version of the given name Caesar, may refer to: Given name * Cesare, Marquis of Beccaria (1738–1794), an Italian philosopher and politician * Cesare Airaghi (1840–1896), Italian colonel * Cesare Arzelà (1847–1912), It ...

adhered to SI.

First elections

At the 1995 regional elections, the Italian Socialists formed a list with the Democratic Alliance and

called the Pact of Democrats. The coalition obtained 4.2% of the vote and 33 regional councillors, mostly Socialists. However, the alliance was dissolved shortly after the election due to the good results achieved only by SI. For the 1996 general election, the Italian Socialists joined the electoral list of

Italian Renewal Italian Renewal ( it, Rinnovamento Italiano, RI) was a centrist and liberal political party in Italy. The party was a member of The Olive Tree and centre-left coalition, while also affiliated to the European People's Party from 1998 to 2004. H ...

(RI), a newly formed liberal-centrist party led by

Lamberto Dini Lamberto Dini CGMG (born 1 March 1931) is an Italian politician and economist. He was the Director General of Bank of Italy from 1979 to 1994, Minister of Treasury from 1994 to 1996, the 51st Prime Minister of Italy from 1995 to 1996, and Forei ...

, within The Olive Tree centre-left coalition. SI participated then to the electoral victory of the centre-left: RI obtained the 4.3% of vote for the Chamber while The Olive Tree list obtained the 39.9% of votes for the Senate. The Italian Socialists had 7 deputies (Giuseppe Albertini, Enrico Boselli,

Enzo Ceremigna Enzo is an Italian given name derivative of the German name Heinz. It can be used also as the short form for Lorenzo, Vincenzo, Innocenzo, or Fiorenzo. It is most common in the Romance-speaking world, particularly in Italy and Latin America but ...

, Giovanni Crema, Leone Delfino, Sergio Fumagalli and Roberto Villetti) and 5 senators (

Livio Besso Cordero Livio Besso Cordero (5 February 1948 – 27 April 2018) was an Italian politician who was a Senator from 1996 to 2001.Giovanni Iuliano,

and

). Del Turco was nominated as the group's senate leader. However, the federation with RI did not last long, disbanding on 21 December 1996, with the exit from the parliamentarian group in the Chamber by Socialist deputies, who joined the component of Italian Socialists in the

Mixed Group The mixed group ( it, Gruppo Misto, GM) is a parliamentary group active in both houses of the Italian Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The groups comprise all the deputies and the senators, respectively, who are not members of ...

. Socialist senators in turn left the parliamentarian group of the Senate on 6 February 1997, determining the dissolution of RI. They instead joined the Mixed Group the Senate, forming the component of Italian Socialists and the one of "

Italian Democratic Socialists The Italian Democratic Socialists ( it, Socialisti Democratici Italiani, SDI) were a social-democratic political party in Italy. The party was the direct continuation of the Italian Socialists, the legal successor of the historical Italian Soci ...

" (SDI) on 9 November 1998.

Merger with the SDI

On 10 May 1998 and under the proposal of Party Secretary Boselli, the Italian Socialists merged with the SDI, along with a segment 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 th ...

(led by Ugo Intini), Labour Federation (led by Alberto Benzoni) and the remains of 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 im ...

(led by Gianfranco Schietroma).

Leadership

* Secretary:

(1994–1998) ** Deputy-Secretary: Roberto Villetti (1994–1998) * President:

(1994–1996), Ottaviano Del Turco (1996–1998)

References

{{Authority control 1994 establishments in Italy 1998 disestablishments in Italy Defunct social democratic parties in Italy Defunct political parties in Italy Former member parties of the Socialist International Political parties disestablished in 1998 Political parties established in 1994