The Transformation of Italian Communism

The Transformation of Italian Communism

Author: Leonard Weinberg

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-04-24

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 1351293826

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The end of the cold war and the fall of the Soviet empire have had major consequences for Italian politics. Leonard Weinberg explores some of those consequences, focusing on the transformation of the Italian Communist party from a Leninist to a democratic party. He also discusses the relationship between the end of communism and the unfolding of the entire Italian system.The Transformation of Italian Communism has two objectives. First, it calls the reader's attention to the role of international developments, an important but largely overlooked area involved in the study of European party politics. Traditional texts in this area emphasize domestic factors, but Weinberg focuses on the influence of international developments on domestic party politics in Italy. The implications for other nations are transparent.The second objective of this work is to examine how Italy's Communist party, the largest such party of its kind in the Western world, reacted to the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. Weinberg analyzes the meaning of these events for long-tune party members in Italy'as well as for Italian political and cultural life. The Transformation of Italian Communism offers an original, intimate, and unique assessment of how the end of the cold war has affected Italian political culture. It will be a valuable addition to those interested in the convulsions taking place in modem Italy, as well as to political scientists and theorists of political culture.


Italy, Europe, The Left

Italy, Europe, The Left

Author: Vassilis Fouskas

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-12-20

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 0429836686

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Published in 1998. Was the Italian Communist Party (PCI) a typical Social Democratic party in tune with the programmatic principles of the Second International? What is the appropriate context within which the strategies of 'historic compromise' and Eurocommunism in the 1970s can be analyzed and understood? In what form and to what extent has the process of European integration and the crisis of Keynesianism contributed to the transformation of the party in 1989-91? What caused the collapse of the ruling political class of the First Italian Republic? Why did the transformed PCI, the PDS (Democratic Party of the Left), fail to lead the transition to the Second Italian Republic between 1992 and 1996? Is there any link between the party’s historical factions and the current divisions in the Italian Left? Is it possible to theorize and speculate upon these divisions? Italy, Europe, the Left seeks to answer these questions, debating conventional views and examining the extent to which the end of the Cold War has contributed to a redefinition of the Left’s identity in Italy and Europe. The exemplary methodological framework and the wider European perspective adopted throughout, make the book an indispensable reading in the field of Italian and European politics.


Italy, Europe, the Left

Italy, Europe, the Left

Author: Vassilis Fouskas

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-04-02

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 9781138323414

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Published in 1998. Was the Italian Communist Party (PCI) a typical Social Democratic party in tune with the programmatic principles of the Second International? What is the appropriate context within which the strategies of 'historic compromise' and Eurocommunism in the 1970s can be analyzed and understood? In what form and to what extent has the process of European integration and the crisis of Keynesianism contributed to the transformation of the party in 1989-91? What caused the collapse of the ruling political class of the First Italian Republic? Why did the transformed PCI, the PDS (Democratic Party of the Left), fail to lead the transition to the Second Italian Republic between 1992 and 1996? Is there any link between the party's historical factions and the current divisions in the Italian Left? Is it possible to theorize and speculate upon these divisions? Italy, Europe, the Left seeks to answer these questions, debating conventional views and examining the extent to which the end of the Cold War has contributed to a redefinition of the Left's identity in Italy and Europe. The exemplary methodological framework and the wider European perspective adopted throughout, make the book an indispensable reading in the field of Italian and European politics.


Politics and Symbols

Politics and Symbols

Author: David I. Kertzer

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 1996-01-01

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 9780300077247

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In the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union and its Communist satellites, the Italian Communist Party began a heated two-year struggle over an identity and future. David I. Kertzer tells the riveting story of how Italy's second largest political party transformed itself into the new Democratic Party of the Left.


The Tailor of Ulm

The Tailor of Ulm

Author: Lucio Magri

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2019-08-13

Total Pages: 449

ISBN-13: 1786635542

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Twenty years have passed since the Italian Communists’ last Congress in 1991, in which the death of their party was decreed. It was a deliberate death, accelerated by the desire for a “new beginning.” That new beginning never came, and the world lost an invaluable, complex political, organizational and theoretical heritage. In this detailed and probing work, Lucio Magri, one of the towering intellectual figures of the Italian Left, assesses the causes for the demise of what was once one of the most powerful and vibrant communist parties of the West. The PCI marked almost a century of Italian history, from its founding in 1921 to the partisan resistance, the turning point of Salerno in 1944 to the de-Stalinization of 1956, the long ’68 to the “historic compromise,” and to the opportunity—missed forever—of democratic transformation. With rigor and passion, The Tailor of Ulm merges an original and enlightening interpretation of Italian communism with the experience of a militant “heretic” into a riveting read—capable of broadening our insights into contemporary Italy, and the twentieth-century communist experience.


The Tailor of Ulm

The Tailor of Ulm

Author: Lucio Magri

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2019-08-13

Total Pages: 449

ISBN-13: 1786635569

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Twenty years have passed since the Italian Communists’ last Congress in 1991, in which the death of their party was decreed. It was a deliberate death, accelerated by the desire for a “new beginning.” That new beginning never came, and the world lost an invaluable, complex political, organizational and theoretical heritage. In this detailed and probing work, Lucio Magri, one of the towering intellectual figures of the Italian Left, assesses the causes for the demise of what was once one of the most powerful and vibrant communist parties of the West. The PCI marked almost a century of Italian history, from its founding in 1921 to the partisan resistance, the turning point of Salerno in 1944 to the de-Stalinization of 1956, the long ’68 to the “historic compromise,” and to the opportunity—missed forever—of democratic transformation. With rigor and passion, The Tailor of Ulm merges an original and enlightening interpretation of Italian communism with the experience of a militant “heretic” into a riveting read—capable of broadening our insights into contemporary Italy, and the twentieth-century communist experience.


The Italian Communist Party

The Italian Communist Party

Author: Grant Amyot

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-07-14

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 1000964167

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First published in 1981 The Italian Communist Party looks at the debate within the party and how its strategy was forged. It considers the development of Eurocommunism, the rise and fall of the Ingrao Left and many other topics related to the formulation of the PCI. Based on original research by the author, it explores how key issues were debated and resolved in various representative provincial organisations of the party. It shows how changing ideals affected policy and the party’s organisation and how different attitudes emerged from the diverse social and economic conditions in the different parts of Italy. This book is an important historical document for scholars and researchers of Italian communism, European communism and political studies.


Italian Communism in Transition

Italian Communism in Transition

Author: Stephen Hellman

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 1988-09-08

Total Pages: 287

ISBN-13: 0195363876

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In the mid-1970s, the Italian Communist Party (PCI) almost succeeded in entering the national government; however, by the end of the decade its popularity had dramatically declined. Providing a first-hand view of the turbulent period from 1975 to 1980, this book explains the roots of the party's crisis. First looking at local conditions, the author studies a number of major developments in the city of Turin, from Red Brigade terrorism to the historic defeat of the unions at Fiat in 1980, and then sets these local events within the broader national strategy. Hellman, who has been studying the PCI since the late 1960s, systematically interviewed the entire full-time leadership of the Turinese Federation of the party, and attended regular meetings and activities from the grass roots to the summit of local organization. An unprecedented eyewitness account, Italian Communism in Transition is a complete history of the PCI's response to the crises and challenges of the 1970s.