Refoundation for the Left (''Rifondazione per la Sinistra'', RpS) was a faction within 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 ...

, a

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 ...

. Most of its members launched the

Movement for the Left Movement for the Left ( it, Movimento per la Sinistra, MpS) was a socialist political party in Italy. It emerged as a split from the Communist Refoundation Party and later merged into Left Ecology Freedom. Its leader was Nichi Vendola. History ...

(MpS) in late January 2009. Another part of its members decided not to leave the Party, "going on with the Refoudation process".

History

RpS emerged as a faction within the

(PRC) gathering the ''

Bertinottiani The Bertinottiani were an Italian political faction around Fausto Bertinotti, the leader of the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC) from 1994 to 2006. In 1998, in the wake of the crisis of Romano Prodi's first government, Bertinotti convinced the m ...

'', the group around

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 ...

, who controlled the majority of the party from 1998 to 2008. They supported the candidacy of

Nichi Vendola Nicola "Nichi" Vendola (; born 26 August 1958) is an Italian left-wing politician and LGBT activist who was a Member of the Chamber of Deputies from Apulia from 1992 to 2005 and President of Apulia from 2005 to 2015. He is one of the first o ...

for party secretary in the 24–27 July 2008 congress of the party. Vendola was defeated and

Paolo Ferrero Paolo Ferrero (born 17 November 1960) is an Italian politician. He is a leading member of the Communist Refoundation Party (''Partito della Rifondazione Comunista''; PRC), and served as Minister of Social Solidarity from 2006 to 2008 as part of ...

, a former ''bertinottiano'' who gained the support of the party's left-wing, became secretary. The faction was officially launched during a "national assembly" on 27 September 2008. Refoundation for the Left represented the modernisers within the party and supports the creation of a united left with greens, socialists and other radicals (in fact they were among the keenest supporters of

The Left – The Rainbow The Left – The Rainbow ( it, La Sinistra – L'Arcobaleno, SA), frequently referred as Rainbow Left ( it, Sinistra Arcobaleno), was a left-wing federation of parties in Italy that participated in the 2008 general election. History The federat ...

), both in Italy and in Europe. As Vendola explained in an interview, he will seek an alliance with 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 ...

, excluding

Antonio Di Pietro Antonio Di Pietro (; born 2 October 1950) is an Italian politician, lawyer and magistrate. He was a minister in government of Romano Prodi, a Senator, and a Member of the European Parliament. He was a prosecutor in the ''Mani Pulite'' corrupti ...

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 ...

, whose "justicialism" is an "illness". In January 2009 the new leadership of the party replaced the editor of '' Liberazione'', the party's newspaper, removing Piero Sansonetti, close to Vendola. The decision was strongly opposed by ''Vendoliani''. At the same time Ferrero ruled out any alliance for the European Parliament election, in which the party will run alone, provoking another rift with ''Vendoliani'', who were keen supporters joint-list with other left-wing forces, and that was considered another step toward the break-up of the party. On 24 January the group around Vendola, including

Franco Giordano Francesco "Franco" Giordano (born 26 August 1957) is an Italian politician. Born in Bari, he became a member of the Italian Communist Party in 1974. From 1985 to 1987 he was member of the national leadership of Federation of Young Italian Comm ...

Gennaro Migliore Gennaro Migliore (born 21 June 1968 in Naples) is an Italian politician of the Italia Viva party who has served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 2006 until 2008 and again since 2013. Early life and career Migliore was born on 21 June 1 ...

and

Alfonso Gianni Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. ...

, finally decided to leave the party and to transform their faction into a party, the

(MpS). However some members of the faction, including

Giusto Catania Giusto Catania (born 10 June 1971, in Palermo) is an Politics of Italy, Italian politician and former Member of the European Parliament for European Parliament Election, 2004 (Italy)#Seats, North-West with the Partito della Rifondazione Comunist ...

, Milziade Caprili and

Tommaso Sodano Tommaso is an Italian given name. It has also been used as a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name A * Tommaso Acquaviva d'Aragona (1600–1672), Roman Catholic prelate * Tommaso Aldrovandini (1653–1736), Italian painter of ...

, decided not to leave the PRC and re-organized themselves into

To the Left with Refoundation To the Left with Refoundation (''A Sinistra con Rifondazione'') was a faction within the Communist Refoundation Party, a communism, communist list of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy. Its leader was Austo Rocchi and represented t ...

, while Bertinotti decided not to take any decision for now. The group that decided not to leave the Prc chose Rosa Rinaldi and Augusto Rocchi as national leaders. Soon after Rocchi, Rinaldi and their group took back the "Refoundation for the Left" title. In October 2010 Augusto Rocchi and Rosa Rinaldi (the two leaders of Rps) decided to resign and to leave the leadership of the faction to a third person, because of their full-time activity in the National Secretariate of Communist Refoundation Party. The assembly of Rps elected Stefano Zuccherini new leader.

References

External links

Official websiteFormer official website''Manifesto for the Refoundation''
{{Communist Refoundation Party factions Communist Refoundation Party factions