The Party of Italian Communists ( it, Partito dei Comunisti Italiani, PdCI) was a
communist party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of '' The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...
in
Italy established in October 1998 by splinters from the
Communist Refoundation Party
The Communist Refoundation Party ( it, Partito della Rifondazione Comunista, PRC) is a communist political party in Italy that emerged from a split of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1991. The party's secretary is Maurizio Acerbo, who replac ...
(PRC). The split was led by
Armando Cossutta
Armando Cossutta (2 September 1926 – 14 December 2015) was an Italian communist politician.
Biography
Born in Milan, Cossutta joined the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1943, and took part in the Italian resistance movement as a partisan. Afte ...
, founder and early leader of the PRC,
who opposed
Fausto Bertinotti
Fausto Bertinotti (born 22 March 1940) is an Italian politician who led the Communist Refoundation Party (''Partito della Rifondazione Comunista'') from 1994 to 2006. On 29 April 2006, after the centre-left coalition's victory in the Italian ...
's leaderhip and, especially, his decision to withdraw support from
Romano Prodi
Romano Antonio Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, senior civil servant, and business executive who served as the tenth president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Prime ...
's
first cabinet
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
. In December 2014, the party was transformed into
Communist Party of Italy (PCd'I), which would later evolve into the re-edition of the
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy.
The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). ...
(PCI).
History
Foundation and early years
In October 1998, the PRC was divided between those who wanted to stop supporting
Romano Prodi
Romano Antonio Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, senior civil servant, and business executive who served as the tenth president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Prime ...
's
first government, led by PRC secretary
Fausto Bertinotti
Fausto Bertinotti (born 22 March 1940) is an Italian politician who led the Communist Refoundation Party (''Partito della Rifondazione Comunista'') from 1994 to 2006. On 29 April 2006, after the centre-left coalition's victory in the Italian ...
; and those who wanted to continue the alliance, led by PRC president Cossutta. The central committee endorsed Bertinotti's line, but Cossutta and his followers decided to support Prodi nonetheless. The votes of ''cossuttiani'' were not enough and the government lost a confidence vote in Parliament. The dissidents, who controlled the majority of deputies and senators, split and formed a rival communist outfit, the PdCI, which immediately joined the
first cabinet
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
led by
Massimo D'Alema, leader of the
Democrats of the Left
The Democrats of the Left ( it, Democratici di Sinistra, DS) was a social-democratic political party in Italy.
The DS, successor of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and the Italian Communist Party, was formed in 1998 upon the merger of th ...
and first post-communist to hold the job of
Prime Minister of Italy
The Prime Minister of Italy, officially the President of the Council of Ministers ( it, link=no, Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri), is the head of government of the Italian Republic. The office of president of the Council of Ministers is ...
. Under D'Alema, PdCI's
Oliviero Diliberto
Oliviero Diliberto (born 13 October 1956 in Cagliari) is an Italian politician. He has been leader of the Party of Italian Communists.
Early life
Oliviero Diliberto was born in a family of public servants (his father Marco was employed as att ...
served as
Minister of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in ...
.
Despite the split of most of PRC's parliamentary representation, the PRC remained more popular than the PdCI with voters, both in 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 ...
(4.3% to 2.0%) and the
2001 general election (5.0% to 1.7%).
Leadership of Diliberto
Diliberto, who had been elected secretary in 2000, led the PdCI to continue its participation in the
centre-left coalition
The centre-left coalition ( it, coalizione di centro-sinistra) is an alliance of political parties in Italy active, under several forms and names, since 1995 when The Olive Tree was formed under the leadership of Romano Prodi. The centre-left ...
(known at the time as
The Olive Tree) at the
2001 general election, which registered a victory by
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies f ...
's
centre-right
Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and me ...
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 ...
coalition. The PdCI obtained 1.7% of the vote and a handful of deputies and senators.
In the
2006 general election, the party was a member of the winning
The Union coalition and won 2.4% of the vote and 16 deputies
while the
Together with the Union electoral list consisting of the PdCI, the
Federation of the Greens and
United Consumers won 11 senators.
Subsequently, the PdCI entered Prodi's
second government, which would last until January 2008.
In the meantime, Diliberto had become the undisputed leader of the party and since 2005 clashes between him and Cossutta became frequent. In 2006, the latter resigned from president and was replaced by
Antonino Cuffaro. In 2007, Cossutta left the party altogether.
For the
2008 general election, the PdCI formed a joint list named
Rainbow Left (SA) along with the PRC, the Greens and
Democratic Left under Bertinotti's leadership. SA obtained a mere 3.1% (compared to 10.2% won by the constituent parties individually two years before) and no seats. In 2008, Diliberto was re-elected secretary and proposed to the PRC a re-unification of the two parties through a "communist constituent assembly".
Out of Parliament
In the run-up of the
2009 European Parliament election
The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making th ...
, the PdCI formed along with the PRC and minor groups the
Anticapitalist and Communist List. The list got 3.4% of the vote and no
MEPs. In April 2009, the list was transformed into the
Federation of the Left
The Federation of the Left ( it, Federazione della Sinistra, FdS) was an electoral alliance of communist political parties in Italy. The coalition was the evolution of the Anticapitalist and Communist List.
History
At the start, in May 2009, ...
, which would be disbanded by the end of 2012 and officially dissolved in 2015. In the
2013 general election, the PdCI ran within
Civil Revolution
Civil Revolution ( it, Rivoluzione Civile, RC) was a left-wing coalition of political parties in Italy.
The coalition was headed by Antonio Ingroia, a former anti- mafia prosecutor of Palermo from 1992 to 2012 and then director of a UN inve ...
along with the PRC, the Greens,
Italy of Values
Italy of Values ( it, Italia dei Valori, IdV) is a populist and anti-corruption political party in Italy. The party was founded in 1998 by former ''Mani pulite'' prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro, who entered politics in 1996 and finally left the par ...
and minor groups, gaining 2.2% of the vote and no seats. The PdCI did not contest the
2014 European Parliament election
The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014.
It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...
, withdrawing its early support for
The Other Europe
The Other Europe ( it, L'Altra Europa), whose full name was The Other Europe with Tsipras (''L'Altra Europa con Tsipras'', AET), was a left-wing political organisation in Italy. It took part in the 2014 European Parliament election in support of ...
electoral list.
Before and after the 2009 European election, the PdCI lost its right- and left-wings, respectively. In February,
Unite the Left, led by
Katia Bellillo (a former minister) and
Umberto Guidoni (an incumbent MEP), left the party in order to participate in the election with the Left and Freedom list and would eventually merge into
Left Ecology Freedom
Left Ecology Freedom ( it, Sinistra Ecologia Libertà, SEL) was a democratic socialist political party in Italy whose bulk was formed by former members of the Communist Refoundation Party.
The party's leader was Nichi Vendola, a former President ...
. In June,
Marco Rizzo
Marco Rizzo (born 12 October 1959 in Turin) is an Italian politician, leader of the Communist Party (Italy), Communist Party (PC) and in 2022 with Sovereign and Popular Italy.
Biography
A graduate in political science in 1985, he was a lecturer i ...
(the other incumbent MEP and former Diliberto's number two) was expelled and would later form the hard-line
Communist Party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of '' The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...
.
In July 2013, Diliberto stepped down from secretary after thirteen years and was replaced by
Cesare Procaccini, a 65-year-old former metalworker from
Marche.
Communist Party of Italy
In December 2014, the PdCI was transformed into
Communist Party of Italy, taking the name of the late
Communist Party of Italy.
"Ritorna il Partito comunista d'Italia: il Pdci si riprende la denominazione del 1921"
Election results
Italian Parliament
European Parliament
Symbols
File:COMUNISTI ITALIANI - 1.png, 1998-1999
File:COMUNISTI ITALIANI - 2.png, 1999–2001
File:COMUNISTI ITALIANI - 3.png, 2001–2006
File:COMUNISTI ITALIANI - 4.png, 2006-2014
Leadership
* Secretary: Armando Cossutta
Armando Cossutta (2 September 1926 – 14 December 2015) was an Italian communist politician.
Biography
Born in Milan, Cossutta joined the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1943, and took part in the Italian resistance movement as a partisan. Afte ...
(1998–2000), Oliviero Diliberto
Oliviero Diliberto (born 13 October 1956 in Cagliari) is an Italian politician. He has been leader of the Party of Italian Communists.
Early life
Oliviero Diliberto was born in a family of public servants (his father Marco was employed as att ...
(2000–2013), Cesare Procaccini (2013–2014)
** Coordinator: Marco Rizzo
Marco Rizzo (born 12 October 1959 in Turin) is an Italian politician, leader of the Communist Party (Italy), Communist Party (PC) and in 2022 with Sovereign and Popular Italy.
Biography
A graduate in political science in 1985, he was a lecturer i ...
(1998–2009), Orazio Licandro (2009–2013), Alessandro Pignatiello (2013–2014)
* President: Armando Cossutta
Armando Cossutta (2 September 1926 – 14 December 2015) was an Italian communist politician.
Biography
Born in Milan, Cossutta joined the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1943, and took part in the Italian resistance movement as a partisan. Afte ...
(2000–2006), Antonino Cuffaro (2007–2013), Manuela Palermi (2013–2014)
* Honorary President: Antonino Cuffaro (2013–2014)
* Party Leader in the Chamber of Deputies
The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures.
Description
Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...
: Oliviero Diliberto
Oliviero Diliberto (born 13 October 1956 in Cagliari) is an Italian politician. He has been leader of the Party of Italian Communists.
Early life
Oliviero Diliberto was born in a family of public servants (his father Marco was employed as att ...
(1998), Tullio Grimaldi (1998–2001), Marco Rizzo
Marco Rizzo (born 12 October 1959 in Turin) is an Italian politician, leader of the Communist Party (Italy), Communist Party (PC) and in 2022 with Sovereign and Popular Italy.
Biography
A graduate in political science in 1985, he was a lecturer i ...
(2001–2004), Pino Sgobio (2004–2008)
* Party Leader in the Senate: Luigi Marino (1998–2006), Manuela Palermi (leader of the PdCI- Green's group, 2006–2008)
* Party Leader in the European Parliament: Lucio Manisco (1998–2004), Marco Rizzo
Marco Rizzo (born 12 October 1959 in Turin) is an Italian politician, leader of the Communist Party (Italy), Communist Party (PC) and in 2022 with Sovereign and Popular Italy.
Biography
A graduate in political science in 1985, he was a lecturer i ...
(2004–2009)
References
External links
Official website
{{European communist parties
1998 establishments in Italy
2014 disestablishments in Italy
Defunct communist parties in Italy
Defunct political parties in Italy
Party of the European Left former member parties
Political parties disestablished in 2014
Political parties established in 1998
International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties