The Peasants' Party of Italy () was a small

political party in Italy This is a list of political parties in Italy since Italian unification in 1861. Throughout history, numerous political parties have been operating in Italy. Since World War II no party has ever gained enough support to govern alone; thus, partie ...

founded in 1920 by Urbano Prunotto and Giacomo Scotti.

History

Starting from left-wing agrarian and

Christian left The Christian left, otherwise referred to as the religious left, is a range of Christian political and social movements that largely embrace social justice principles and uphold a social doctrine or social gospel based on their interpreta ...

ist ideas, the party moved onto an independent ideological position, with the sole goal to defend the small farmers against major landowners. Its symbol was several ears of corn between two bunches of grapes, and its newspaper was called ''La Voce del Contadino'' ('The Peasant's Voice'). The party, founded in

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

, was never able to rise on a national plan, being limited to the

Po Valley The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain (, , or ) is a major geographical feature of northern Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of including its Venetian Plain, Venetic extension not actu ...

. The party participated in the 1924 general election, where it elected 4 deputies, before being forcibly disbanded by the

National Fascist Party The National Fascist Party (, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian fascism and as a reorganisation of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The party ruled the Kingdom of It ...

government. After the war, the party was re-built by Alessandro Scotti, who was elected the party's sole deputy in 1946 general election, and 1948 general elections. However, the

Christian Democracy Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...

had strongly taken the representation of the agrarian interests,PRUNOTTO Urbano Benigno
/ref> and the party was consequently marginalised. It survived on the local level, but eventually disbanded and in 1963 merged with the

Italian Republican Party The Italian Republican Party (, PRI) is a political party in Italy established in 1895, which makes it the oldest political party still active in the country. The PRI identifies with 19th-century classical radicalism, as well as Mazzinianism, a ...

Election results

Chamber of Deputies

Senate

References

{{Authority control 1920 establishments in Italy Defunct agrarian political parties in Europe Defunct political parties in Italy Formerly banned political parties Political parties disestablished in 1963 Political parties established in 1920 Political parties in Piedmont