Being Communists (''Essere Comunisti'') 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 ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. It was formed in 1998 by former followers of

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. A ...

, who left the party in 1998 to form the

Party of Italian Communists The Party of Italian Communists ( it, Partito dei Comunisti Italiani, PdCI) was a communist party in Italy established in October 1998 by splinters from the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC). The split was led by Armando Cossutta, founder and e ...

. The leader of the group was Claudio Grassi. The faction was the "traditionalist" wing of the party: it did not agree with what it considered an excessive criticism of

real socialism Real socialism, better known as actually existing socialism or developed socialism (), was an ideological catchphrase popularized during the Brezhnev era in the Eastern Bloc countries and the Soviet Union.

, the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

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). ...

. As proud communists, the group members were not generally keen on the party's participation to the

European Left The Party of the European Left (PEL), commonly abbreviated European Left, is a European political party that operates as an association of democratic socialist and communist political parties in the European Union and other European countries. ...

. In 2005 the group obtained the 26.5% of the delegates to the VI national congress of the party, while two years later it suffered the split of some hard-liners led by

Fosco Giannini Fosco may refer to: * Fosco Becattini, an Italian football player and coach *Fosco Maraini, an Italian photographer *Fosco Giachetti Fosco Giachetti (28 March 1900, in Sesto Fiorentino – 22 December 1974, in Rome) was an Italian actor. Fos ...

, who set up

The Ernesto The Ernesto (''L'Ernesto'') was a faction within the Communist Refoundation Party in Italy. The group emerged in February 2007 as a split from Being Communists, the faction led by Claudio Grassi, and took the name from ''L'Ernesto'', a communist ...

. In April 2008, following the severe defeat of the party in the 2008 general election, a group of former ''

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 ...

'', mainly former members of

Proletarian Democracy Proletarian Democracy ( it, Democrazia Proletaria, DP) was a far-left political party in Italy. History 1970s DP was founded in 1975 as a joint electoral front of the Proletarian Unity Party (Italy), Proletarian Unity Party (PdUP), Workers Vangua ...

led by

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 ...

and

Giovanni Russo Spena Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...

, criticized

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 ...

joint list and

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 political line. Soon after this group, named

Refoundation in Movement Refoundation in Movement ( it, Rifondazione in Movimento) was a faction within the Communist Refoundation Party in Italy. In April 2008, following the severe defeat of the party in the 2008 general election, a group of former , composed basically ...

, formed an alliance with Being Communists in order to overthrow the leadership of the party, which was then led by

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 ...

, a ''bertinottiano''. In the July 2008 congress the motion supported by the two groups obtained 40.1% of the delegates and Ferrero was elected secretary with the support of other minority factions. Between 2014 and 2016 all the faction quit the PRC and joined

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 ...

(SEL), later renamed

Italian Left Italian Left ( it, Sinistra Italiana, SI) is a left-wing political party in Italy. SI was launched in November 2015 as a parliamentary group in the Chamber of Deputies (full name: Italian Left – Left Ecology Freedom), including Left Ecology Fr ...

(SI).

References

External links

Official website
{{Communist Refoundation Party factions Communist Refoundation Party factions