The Italian Socialists (''I Socialisti Italiani'') was 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 ...

History

The party was founded on 7 February 2006 as the result of a split from the

New Italian Socialist Party The New Italian Socialist Party or New PSI ( it, Nuovo Partito Socialista Italiano or ''Nuovo PSI'', NPSI), more recently styled as Liberal Socialists – NPSI, is a political party in Italy which professes a social-democratic ideology and claims t ...

(NPSI) by the wing favourable to a political alliance with

The Union The Union may refer to: Politics * The Union (Germany) or CDU/CSU, the partnership of the German political parties the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union * The Union (Italy), a former coalition of political parties in Ital ...

on the centre-left, and an immediate discontinuance of ties with the centre-right

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 fo ...

. The party was originally led by

Bobo Craxi Vittorio Michele Craxi, commonly known as Bobo Craxi (born 6 August 1964), is an Italian politician, son of the former Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi and brother of Stefania Craxi. Biography Formerly a prominent member of the Italian Soc ...

, son of the late

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 ...

, former leader 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, ...

and former

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 ...

. In the 2006 general election the party was part of The Union coalition, being present only in few constituencies and thus gaining only 0.3% of the vote for the Chamber of Deputies and 0.4% for the Senate. The party saw none of its members elected and even Craxi, who had a place on The Olive Tree electoral list, was not elected, leaving the party without representation in Parliament. However, the centre-left coalition won the election and Craxi was appointed Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs in the

Prodi II Cabinet The second Prodi government was the cabinet of the government of Italy from 17 May 2006 to 8 May 2008, a total of 722 days, or 1 year, 11 months and 21 days. The 59th cabinet of the Italian Republic, it was the only cabinet of the XV Legislatur ...

. The first party convention, held on 10–11 March 2007, elected unanimously

Saverio Zavettieri Saverio Zavettieri (born 21 June 1942) was an Italian politician and trade unionist. Biography Trade unionist of the CGIL since 1960, Zavattieri entered politics in 1980. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1983, among the ranks of ...

as party secretary and deliberated the change in name from ''The Socialists'' (''I Socialisti'') to ''The Italian Socialists''. The party also discussed and rejected the opportunity to join 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 ...

. In July 2007, the party decided to merge into the modern-day

(PSI), which was launched on 5 October 2007, but, in July 2008, Zavettieri left that party and re-organised The Italian Socialists. In October 2009 also Craxi left the PSI, paving the way for a new party with Zavettieri into which The Italian Socialists were finally merged, the United Socialists.I socialisti di Bobo Craxi: «Autonomi da tutti»
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References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Italian Socialists 2006 establishments in Italy 2009 disestablishments in Italy Defunct social democratic parties in Italy Political parties disestablished in 2009 Political parties established in 2006 Defunct political parties in Italy