The Action Party ( it, Partito d'Azione, PdA) was a
liberal-socialist 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
anti-fascist
Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...
and
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 ...
.
Its prominent leaders were
Carlo Rosselli
Carlo Alberto Rosselli (Rome, 16 November 1899Bagnoles-de-l'Orne, 9 June 1937) was an Italian political leader, journalist, historian, philosopher and anti-fascist activist, first in Italy and then abroad. He developed a theory of reformist, ...
,
Ferruccio Parri
Ferruccio Parri (; Pinerolo, 19 January 1890 – Rome, 8 December 1981) was an Italian partisan and anti-fascist politician who served as the 29th Prime Minister of Italy, and the first to be appointed after the end of World War II. During the wa ...
,
Emilio Lussu
Emilio Lussu (4 December 1890 – 5 March 1975) was an Italian soldier, politician, anti-fascist and writer.
Biography The soldier
Lussu was born in Armungia, province of Cagliari (Sardinia) and graduated with a degree in law in 1914. Lussu ma ...
and
Ugo La Malfa
Ugo La Malfa (16 May 1903 – 26 March 1979) was an Italian politician and an important leader of the Italian Republican Party (''Partito Repubblicano Italiano''; PRI).
Early years and anti-fascist resistance
La Malfa was born in Palermo, Sic ...
. Other prominent members included
Leone Ginzburg
Leone Ginzburg (, , ; 4 April 1909 – 5 February 1944) was an Italian editor, writer, journalist and teacher, as well as an important anti-fascist political activist and a hero of the resistance movement. He was the husband of the renowned auth ...
,
Ernesto de Martino
Ernesto de Martino (1 December 1908 – 9 May 1965) was an Italian anthropologist, philosopher and historian of religions. He studied with Benedetto Croce and Adolfo Omodeo, and did field research with Diego Carpitella into the funeral rituals o ...
,
Norberto Bobbio
Norberto Bobbio (; 18 October 1909 – 9 January 2004) was an Italian philosopher of law and political sciences and a historian of political thought. He also wrote regularly for the Turin-based daily ''La Stampa''.
Bobbio was a social libera ...
,
Riccardo Lombardi
Riccardo Lombardi (16 August 1901 – 18 September 1984) was an Italian politician.
Early life
Lombardi was born in Regalbuto, in the province of Enna (now in the province of Catania), in 1901. He studied at the Pennisi College of Acireale, a ...
,
Vittorio Foa
Vittorio Foa (18 September 1910 – 20 October 2008) was an Italian politician, trade unionist, journalist and writer.
Biography
Foa was born in Turin in 1910 into a middle-class Jewish family.
He attended Liceo Classico Massimo d'Azeglio in ...
and the Nobel-winning poet
Eugenio Montale
Eugenio Montale (; 12 October 1896 – 12 September 1981) was an Italian poet, prose writer, editor and translator, and recipient of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Life and works
Early years
Montale was born in Genoa. His family were che ...
.
History
Founded in July 1942 by former militants of ''
Giustizia e Libertà
Giustizia e Libertà (; en, Justice and Freedom) was an Italian anti-fascist resistance movement, active from 1929 to 1945.James D. Wilkinson (1981). ''The Intellectual Resistance Movement in Europe''. Harvard University Press. p. 224. The mov ...
'' (Justice and Freedom),
liberal-socialists and
democrats. Ideologically, they were heirs to the liberal socialism of
Carlo Rosselli
Carlo Alberto Rosselli (Rome, 16 November 1899Bagnoles-de-l'Orne, 9 June 1937) was an Italian political leader, journalist, historian, philosopher and anti-fascist activist, first in Italy and then abroad. He developed a theory of reformist, ...
and to
Piero Gobetti
Piero Gobetti (; 19 June 1901, Turin – 15 February 1926, Neuilly-sur-Seine) was an Italian journalist, intellectual and radical liberal and anti-fascist. He was an exceptionally active campaigner and critic in the crisis years in Italy after ...
's liberal revolution, whose writings rejected
Marxist
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
economic determinism
Economic determinism is a socioeconomic theory that economic relationships (such as being an owner or capitalist, or being a worker or proletarian) are the foundation upon which all other societal and political arrangements in society are based. ...
and aimed at the overcoming of
class struggle
Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor.
The forms ...
and for a new shape of
socialism
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 e ...
, respect for
civil liberty
Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...
and for
radical change
Radical Change ( es, Cambio Radical; stylized with a backwards "R") is a conservative liberal political party in Colombia.
After the elections on 12 March 2006, the party became one of the most important in the new Congress, receiving 20 seat ...
in both the social and the economic structure of Italy. From January 1943, it published a clandestine newspaper, ''
L'Italia Libera'' (''Free Italy''), edited by
Leone Ginzburg
Leone Ginzburg (, , ; 4 April 1909 – 5 February 1944) was an Italian editor, writer, journalist and teacher, as well as an important anti-fascist political activist and a hero of the resistance movement. He was the husband of the renowned auth ...
. In the same year, members of the party came into contact with
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
secret services stationed in neutral
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
. In particular, this activity was commissioned to which had a special relationship with British
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...
. Caracciolo tried to avoid Allied bombing on Italy, but most of all he tried to get British support for an
Anti-Fascist Committee that was supposed to lead the new government after an anti-Mussolini coup.
After the armistice of 8 September 1943, as a central member of the
National Liberation Committee
The National Liberation Committee ( it, Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale, CLN) was a political umbrella organization and the main representative of the Italian resistance movement fighting against Nazi Germany’s forces during the German occup ...
the Action Party actively participated in the
Italian resistance movement
The Italian resistance movement (the ''Resistenza italiana'' and ''la Resistenza'') is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Social ...
with units of ''Giustizia e Libertà'' commanded by
Ferruccio Parri
Ferruccio Parri (; Pinerolo, 19 January 1890 – Rome, 8 December 1981) was an Italian partisan and anti-fascist politician who served as the 29th Prime Minister of Italy, and the first to be appointed after the end of World War II. During the wa ...
. It maintained a clear anti-monarchical position and it was opposed to
Palmiro Togliatti
Palmiro Michele Nicola Togliatti (; 26 March 1893 – 21 August 1964) was an Italian politician and leader of the Italian Communist Party from 1927 until his death. He was nicknamed ("The Best") by his supporters. In 1930 he became a citizen of ...
and the
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) 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 (PSI). ...
's Salerno Initiative for postwar governance. The party adopted the symbol of a flaming sword and in the immediate post-war period joined the government securing the post of
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 is not ...
for
Ferruccio Parri
Ferruccio Parri (; Pinerolo, 19 January 1890 – Rome, 8 December 1981) was an Italian partisan and anti-fascist politician who served as the 29th Prime Minister of Italy, and the first to be appointed after the end of World War II. During the wa ...
from June to November 1945.
However, as a result of the internal conflict between the democratic-
reformist
Reformism is a political doctrine advocating the reform of an existing system or institution instead of its abolition and replacement.
Within the socialist movement, reformism is the view that gradual changes through existing institutions can eve ...
line of
Ugo La Malfa
Ugo La Malfa (16 May 1903 – 26 March 1979) was an Italian politician and an important leader of the Italian Republican Party (''Partito Repubblicano Italiano''; PRI).
Early years and anti-fascist resistance
La Malfa was born in Palermo, Sic ...
and the socialist line of
Emilio Lussu
Emilio Lussu (4 December 1890 – 5 March 1975) was an Italian soldier, politician, anti-fascist and writer.
Biography The soldier
Lussu was born in Armungia, province of Cagliari (Sardinia) and graduated with a degree in law in 1914. Lussu ma ...
, combined with the electoral defeat of 1946, the party folded. Unwillingness of the party members to work with reviving political parties "tainted by association with Fascism" also resulted in the decline of the Action Party. The main group of former members led by
Riccardo Lombardi
Riccardo Lombardi (16 August 1901 – 18 September 1984) was an Italian politician.
Early life
Lombardi was born in Regalbuto, in the province of Enna (now in the province of Catania), in 1901. He studied at the Pennisi College of Acireale, a ...
joined 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, ...
while the La Malfa group (as the Movement for Republican Democracy) entered the
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 histo ...
.
The last secretary general of the Action Party was
Alberto Cianca
Alberto Cianca (1884–1966) was an Italian journalist and anti-fascist politician. He edited several significant publications, including '' Il Mondo'', and served in the Parliament and Senate.
Early life and education
Cianca was born in Rome on ...
.
Prominent members
Election results
Italian Parliament
See also
*
Italian resistance movement
The Italian resistance movement (the ''Resistenza italiana'' and ''la Resistenza'') is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Social ...
*
Liberalism and radicalism in Italy
Liberalism and radicalism have played a role in the political history of Italy since the country's unification, started in 1861 and largely completed in 1871, and currently influence several leading political parties.
During the first decade ...
References
Sources
* Website of the Italian Resistance Historical Society
"Il Partito d'Azione", including in-depth bios, recent remembrances and selections from party documents.
* Historical dictionary entry from Paravia Mondadori Editori, an Italian educational publishing house
.
{{Authority control
1942 establishments in Italy
1947 disestablishments in Italy
Defunct political parties in Italy
Defunct socialist parties in Italy
Liberal parties in Italy
Political parties disestablished in 1947
Political parties established in 1942
Republican parties
Social liberal parties
Liberal socialism
Radical parties in Italy
Anti-fascist organisations in Italy