Unite the Left (''Unire la Sinistra'') was a minority faction within the

Party of Italian Communists The Party of Italian Communists ( it, Partito dei Comunisti Italiani, PdCI) was a communist party in Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located i ...

(PdCI), 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 ...

. Its leaders included former minister

Katia Bellillo Katia Bellillo (born 17 February 1951, Foligno) is an Italian politician and former minister. She served in governments under Massimo D'Alema and Giuliano Amato between 1998 and 2001. Originally a member of the Italian Communist Party (PCI), sh ...

and MEP

Umberto Guidoni Umberto Guidoni (born 18 August 1954 in Rome) is an Italian astrophysicist, science writer and a former ESA astronaut, being the first European to visit the International Space Station. He is a veteran of two NASA Space Shuttle missions. He was ...

. The faction was formed before the July 2008 congress of the PdCI by those who supported the continuation 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 ...

and a common path with the other far-left political forces. Bellillo was a candidate for party secretary, but gained only 17% of the support among party members and was defeated by incumbent Oliviero Diliberto. The minority however harshly criticized the party leadership for a lack of democracy in the party. On 8 February 2009 Unite the Left finally quit the PdCI in order to form a joint-list 2009 European Parliament election with 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 ...

, the

Federation of the Greens The Federation of the Greens ( it, Federazione dei Verdi, FdV), frequently referred to as Greens (''Verdi''), was a green political party in Italy. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the Federation of Green Lists and the Rainbow Greens. T ...

, Democratic Left and

United to the Left United to the Left (''Uniti a Sinistra'') was a network of leftist groups associated with the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC) in Italy from 2005 to 2009. At some point it claimed to have 20,000 members and 300 clubs all around Italy. In April ...

. The list was named

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 Preside ...

and was founded as a party on 22 October 2010.

Leadership

*President:

(2008–2010) *Secretary: Luca Robotti (2008–2010)

References

External links

Official website
Defunct socialist parties in Italy Defunct political parties in Italy Political parties disestablished in 2010 Political parties established in 2008 Political party factions in Italy {{italy-party-stub