Italian Communist Party - 100 years
01/21/2021
A history of ups and downs
The Italian Communist Party (ICP), once the largest and most influential Communist Party in the capitalist world , will celebrate its centenary on January 21, 2021 . And the next day, the Italian communists will celebrate the 130th anniversary of the birth of one of the founders of this party, comrade Antonio Gramsci (1891 - 1937). Continuous holidays!
But the anniversary is not only an occasion for a feast. This is also a convenient moment to critically assess the path traveled and discuss plans for the future.
In January 1921 , the congress of the Italian Socialist Party took place in the city of Livorno . This congress showed that the reformist and revolutionary wings of the ISP are unlikely to find a common language with each other. And the best way out of the situation is the withdrawal of the revolutionary wing from the ISP and the formation of the Communist Party. This was announced by some of the delegates to the congress on January 21.
In order to understand the prerequisites and consequences of such a decision, one should probably make a short historical excursion.
In the early stages of its history, the nascent Italian labor movement was closely associated with the struggle to liberate Italy from the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1872 (after the independence of Italy) the Italian section of the First International was created. Its leader was Andrea Costa (1851 - 1910), elected in 1882 as a member of the Italian Parliament, where he made very oppositional speeches.

Andrea Costa (1851-1910)

Filipo Turati (1857 - 1932)
The Italian Workers' Party (later renamed the Italian Socialist Party) was created in 1892 as a result of the amalgamation of several leftist organizations. Among its founders were the liberal politician Filipo Turati (1857-1932), who stood on centrist positions, the right wing of the party, for which national values were an important priority, were represented by Leonid Bissolati (1857-1920) and Ivanoe Bonomi (1873-1951). To the moderately left wing belonged the professor-criminologist, one of the closest followers of Cesare Lombroso (1835 - 1909) Enrico Ferri (1856 - 1929). Later, Giacinto Serrati became the leader of the center-left wing.(1872 - 1926), at the end of his life joined the Communist Party. And finally, on the left flank of the party was the syndicalist Arturo Labriola (1873-1959) (who should not be confused with his famous namesake, the outstanding Italian Marxist philosopher comrade Antonio Labriola (1843-1904)). Unfortunately, in the future, the political positions of E. Ferry and A. Labriola shifted strongly to the right (up to cooperation with the fascist regime).
In 1898 , after the violently suppressed workers' protests in Milan , the Socialist Party was persecuted. But, fortunately, not too long.

On the streets of Milan, 1898
At the beginning of the 20th century, a new bright star appears in the Italian Socialist Party. This is Benito Mussolini (1883 - 1945), a talented writer, publicist, orator and organizer. Heading the newspaper ISP "Avanti" , Mussolini managed to increase its circulation by 4 times.
With all this, Mussolini was not liked in the party for the ambition and ambition. And, as subsequent history has shown, not in vain!
For the time being, Mussolini adhered to anti-war positions. But in 1914 he published his article in Avanti supporting the imperialist war. For which he was removed from the post of editor-in-chief, and then expelled from the party.
At the beginning of World War I, the socialist movement almost throughout the world was swept by a wave of chauvinism and a desire to fight to the victorious end for the interests of the capitalists of their country. In almost all countries, the socialists voted unanimously for military budgets.
Learning about this, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870 - 1924) told his comrade-in-arms: "From this day on, I cease to be a social democrat and become a communist."
We must pay tribute to the Italian socialists: they turned out to be hardly susceptible to chauvinistic infection and opposed the imperialist war. This is the undoubted merit of Giacinto Serrati , who became one of the most influential leaders of the party in the pre-war years. And supporters of the war for the interests of the capitalists were expelled from the party. Back in 1911 , L. Bissolatii , I. Bonomi were expelled from the party , and in 1914 - and Mussolini.

Giacinto Menotti Serrati (1872 (or 1876) - 1926
Italy fought on the side of the Entente and became one of the victor countries. But this did not bring her prosperity. The country's economic situation deteriorated. And, at the same time, the labor movement grew. In August 1917, a powerful anti-war protest by workers took place in Turin . And in 1919 , a mass seizure of factories and factories by workers began and the establishment of workers' self-government (something similar to the Russian soviets). The bourgeoisie also organizes itself. In January 1919 , the Christian Democratic Party was created (originally it had a different name), and in March of the same year, Benito Mussolini created the Union of Struggle - the embryo of the future fascist party.
The confrontation between reformists and revolutionaries in the Italian Socialist Party was not as sharp as in other countries. The leader of the socialists, J. Serrati, seriously considered the idea of ISP joining the Comintern . However, the "21 conditions" formulated by the Comintern for joining the Comintern, in particular, the requirement to remove reformists from leading party posts, forced the IS leadership to refrain from this step. This eventually led to a split in the IP and the formation of the Communist Party. Later, shortly before his death, J. Serrati left ISP and joined the Italian Communist Party .
Among the leaders of the newly formed ICP were four very bright personalities.

Amadeo Bordiga (1889 - 1970)
The main organizational engine of the Communist Party was Amadeo Bordiga (1889 - 1970), who held the post of General Secretary of the IKP Central Committee. Like many communists of his time, he suffered from a "childish disease of leftism in communism", denied parliamentary activity, but he was very good at organizing trade union, as well as not entirely legal activities. Unfortunately, later Bordiga moved to positions close to Trotskyism, for which he was expelled from the party in 1930 . After World War II, Bordiga led a small left-wing party that did not enjoy any significant influence.
Comrade Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) became the chief theoretician of the IKP . He was the son of a petty civil servant who had spent several years in prison for some kind of violation. From childhood, he was distinguished by exceptional curiosity. On a charitable scholarship, he managed to graduate from the University of Turin, then worked as a journalist in leftist newspapers and became the informal leader of one of the most militant ISP organizations in Turin. Apparently, it was A. Gramsci who proposed the idea of the seizure of factories and factories by workers and the establishment of workers' self-government, which became the main form of the class struggle in 1919-1920. On May 1, 1919 , the first issue created by Antonio Gramsci, Palmiro Togliatti (1893 - 1964), and Umberto Terracini was released (1895 - 1983) the weekly magazine El Ordine Nuovo, which became the de facto organ of the communist wing of the ISP.

Antonio Gramsci (1891 - 1937)
Antonio Gramsci was not only an outstanding writer, but also an outstanding theoretician of the communist movement and a sociological thinker who formulated a number of important ideas. Among them is the idea of hegemony. Its essence lies in the fact that the power of the ruling class or the ruling social group is determined not only by violence, but also by the predominance of the views of this group in the culture and worldview of the broad masses. The people obey when they are psychologically ready and to a certain extent even wants to obey.
The hegemony of the views of the ruling social group in society is historically formed. At the same time, it can collapse. And one of the most important tasks of the communists is to destroy the hegemony of the bourgeoisie and help the working class see the face of an alternative world.
In 1926 , Antonio Gramsci was arrested by the fascist regime and spent 10 years in prison . Behind bars, he worked hard on his theoretical works, later called "Prison Notebooks". The total volume of "Prison Notebooks" is about 3 thousand pages. Comrade Gramsci's health was severely undermined by the prison, and soon after his release he died.
The third major leader of the Italian Communist Party was Comrade Palmiro Togliatti (1893 - 1964), who took the post of General Secretary of the IKP Central Committee in 1926 and remained in this post until the end of his life.

Palmiro Togliatti (1893 - 1964)
Hitler's rise to power forced the Soviet leadership to abandon conflicts with the Social Democrats and begin to create anti-fascist Popular Fronts. This decision was made at the VII Congress of the Comintern, which took place in the summer of 1935 in Moscow. It formed the new leadership of the Communist International, headed by Comrade Georgy Dimitrov (1882 - 1949). Palmiro Togliatti became the right hand of Georgy Dimitrov on the Comintern.
In the late 1950s , Palmiro Togliatti tried to normalize relations between the Communist Parties of the Soviet Union and China .
In the summer of 1964 , while vacationing in the USSR, Palmiro Togliatti visited the Artek pioneer camp on the Black Sea coast. Here he suffered a stroke, and on August 21, 1964, comrade Togliatti died.
In memory of Palmiro Togliatti, his name was given to the city of Stavropol on the Volga , where the Kuibyshev hydroelectric station is located . Later, the Italian firm Fiat built the AvtoVAZ plant in this city .
Palmiro Togliatti was characterized by an extremely democratic style of behavior. Party comrades addressed him exclusively on "you". It is said that when a Soviet journalist addressed Palmiro Togliatti to "you", the leader of the Italian Communist Party tactfully replied that the Italian communists refer to "you" only to class enemies and waiters.
The fourth prominent leader of the Italian communists was the lawyer Umberto Teracini (1895 - 1983). During the fascist dictatorship, he spent over 10 years in prison. After World War II, he became President of the Constituent Assembly, which adopted the new Italian Constitution.

Umberto Teracini (1895 - 1983)
Comrade Terracini's position did not always coincide with the line of the ICP leadership. Thus, he condemned the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (1939), at the end of his life he criticized the General Secretary of the Party, Enrico Berlinguer (1922 - 1984) for cooperation with Christian Democrats. This did not prevent him from actively working in the leading party structures.
On October 27-29, 1922 , Benito Mussolini organizes a campaign of his "Black Shirts" against Rome. The state had enough strength to suppress the putsch, but the authorities decided not to. B. Mussolini was offered the post of prime minister, which he accepted. A fascist dictatorship was established in the country.
Having come to power, the fascists began repressions against the communists. In 1922 , Amadeo Bordiga was arrested ; after a while he was released, but in 1926 he was arrested again. In 1926, Antonio Gramsci was arrested. He was released only in 1937 , already seriously ill. And after his release he did not live long. After 1926, the Communist Party was headed by Palmiro Togliatti.
The activities of the Communist Party under Mussolini's regime were naturally prohibited. However, the Party did not lay down its arms and continued to work underground and abroad. In 1934 (even before the VII Congress of the Comintern) the ICP concluded a pact of Unity of Action with the Italian Socialist Party, which was headed by Pietro Nenni (1891 - 1980).
Many Italian Communists in the composition of the International Brigades participated in the Civil War in Spain . One of the leaders of the Interbrigades was the Italian communist Luigi Longo (1900 - 1980) (after the death of Palmiro Togliatti, he would head the Italian Communist Party).
Luigi Longo (left) and Pietro Nenni (right)
Unfortunately, among the influential figures of the fascist regime there were also individual defectors from the Italian Communist Party. For example, Nicolo Bombacci (1879 - 1945), shot by partisans together with Mussolini on April 28, 1945.
Embroiled in World War II, the fascist regime in Italy rolled uncontrollably towards its inglorious end. On July 10, 1943 , Anglo-American troops landed in Sicily , and on September 3, on the Apennine Peninsula. In this situation, the ruling circles of Italy decided to get rid of Mussolini and the most odious figures of the fascist regime. On July 25, 1943 , a coup d'état took place in the country, Mussolini was removed from all posts and arrested, the new government was headed by an elderly retired Marshal Pietro Badoglio (1871 - 1956). The Badoglio government began peace talks with the United States and Great Britain . On October 13, 1943, Italy declared war on Germany.
In September 1943, German troops occupied Northern Italy. On its territory, the so-called. Republic of Salo . The German special forces managed to free Mussolini, who led the Republic.
On the territory of the Republic of Salo, anti-fascists began a partisan struggle. Various political forces took part in it, the most active of which were the communists. As a result of the April Uprising in 1945, the fascist regime in Italy finally collapsed.

Italian partisans
After the defeat of fascism, the situation in Italy was somewhat similar to the situation in neighboring Greece . And there, and there the communists faced an alternative: either to fight for coming to power by force of arms, or to temporarily reconcile with the bourgeois-democratic regime. Comrade Togliatti understood that after World War II Italy found itself in the zone of influence of the United States and Great Britain, whose forces were many times superior to the forces of the communist partisans. Therefore, the prospect of conquering power through the Civil War was more than ephemeral. It was wiser to temporarily come to terms with bourgeois democracy and act within its framework. This formed the basis of the strategy of the Italian Communist Party.
( Editor’s note . At present, discussions are continuing among the communists of the planet regarding the correctness of the reformist and armed methods of struggle in such specific conditions as Italy and Greece found themselves in after World War II. The revolutionary wing of the modern communist movement as a whole has a negative attitude towards the post-war tactics of the CPI.)
At the same time, there were supporters of the Greek scenario in the leadership of the Italian Communist Party; for example, Pietro Secchia (1903 - 1973).

Palmiro Togliatti and Pietro Secchia
One way or another, but in the post-war years, the Italian Communist Party, with over 2 million members, has become a very powerful political force.
Italian communists took an active part in the preparation of the new Italian Constitution. This constitution was, of course, bourgeois, but, nevertheless, included some very advanced articles for their time. Thus, the Italian Constitution recorded the right to work (which, of course, was not always observed), limitation of the working day and the right to annual paid leave, the right to health care with free medical care for poor citizens, the right to eight-year schooling for all citizens. and the right to government aid for talented but disadvantaged students. The Italian Constitution also allowed the expropriation of private property, however, not free of charge, but for a ransom.
The constitution was reviewed several times and was finally adopted on December 22, 1947 .
In 1945 , a government was formed in Italy, headed by the Christian Democrat Alcido De Gasperi (1881 - 1954), which also included the Communists. Palmiro Togliatti received the post of Deputy Prime Minister. In the 1946 parliamentary elections , the communists received 19% of the vote and 104 seats in parliament.
However, then the offensive of the right forces began. It was facilitated by the active economic assistance provided to Italy by the United States of America. At the same time, it was unobtrusively explained that if the Communists came to power, this assistance would stop. In 1947 , the communist ministers headed by Togliatti were removed from the government. Later (until the liquidation of the IKP in 1991 , the Italian communists were not included in the government).
( From the editorial board. And this offensive by the right-wing forces was quite natural. Anyone who follows the bourgeoisie's lead will end up being its victim.)
In the 1948 parliamentary elections , two political forces competed: the Christian Democratic Party (CDP), supported by the United States and the Vatican, and the People's Democratic Front, jointly created by the ICP and ISP. The CDA won a convincing victory ( 13 million votes against 8 million ). The single bloc of anti-fascist parties that previously ruled Italy has come to an end.
On July 14, 1948, a mentally inadequate young man (who apparently did not have any political forces behind him) fired several shots at Palmiro Togliatti. Comrade Togliatti was seriously injured. The response to the assassination attempt was a General Strike that lasted several days.
In 1956 , the VIII Congress of the ICP took place, which formulated the course of the struggle for socialism on the basis of creating a broad bloc of working people.
The Italian Communist Party supported the criticism of J.V. Stalin at the 20th Congress of the CPSU , but considered the analysis carried out at the Congress to be insufficiently deep.
In October-November 1956 , the Soviet Union suppressed the anti-communist uprising in Hungary by force .
( From the editorial board. The author gives a not entirely correct assessment of the fascist rebellion of 1956 , which was suppressed by the joint efforts of the vanguard of the Hungarian workers and Soviet troops.)
Most of the leaders of the ICP, led by Palmiro Togliatti, supported the actions of the USSR, but some of the party leaders, including the head of the General Italian Confederation of Labor and the World Federation of Trade Unions, Giuseppe di Vittorio (1892 - 1957), condemned the introduction of Soviet troops into Hungary. After the Hungarian events, some of the party members left its ranks; relations with the Italian Socialist Party were also spoiled.

Giuseppe di Vittorio (1892 - 1957)
In the mid -1950s , the Italian Communist Party reached 2 million people, making it the largest and most influential Communist Party in the capitalist world. Many prominent figures in science and culture were members of the Italian Communist Party. Such as the outstanding theoretical physicist Tullio Reggi (1931 - 2014), the great aircraft designer Roberto Bartini (1897 - 1974), the historian and philosopher Paolo Alatri (1918 - 1995), the writers Salvatore Quasimodo (1901 - 1968), Carlo Levi (1902 - 1975), Gianni Rodari (1920 - 1980), Dario Fo (1926 - 2016), artist Renato Guttuso(1911 - 1987), theater director Luchino Visconti (1906 - 1976), film director Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922 - 1975), film actor Gian Maria Volonte (1933 - 1994), author of numerous songs Gino Paole (born 1934). The ideology of the ICP had a significant impact on the brilliant rise of Italian realistic cinema in the 1950s, which was called "neorealism."

Roberto Bartini (1897 - 1974)

Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922 - 1975)
The influence of the IKP grew continuously: in the parliamentary elections of 1963 it collected over 25% of the vote, in the elections in 1968 - 26.9% , and in the elections in 1972 - 27.2% .
At the end of the 1960s , a new trend began to take shape in the world communist movement - Eurocommunism. Its leader and main ideologist was Santiago Carrillo (1915 - 2012), who in 1960 became the leader of the Spanish Communist Party. The parties that followed the path of Eurocommunism, on a number of issues opposed themselves to the policy of the CPSU and became closer to the Social Democratic parties. Eurocommunism, as an independent political trend, was finally formed at the meeting of representatives of the Communist Parties of Spain, Italy and France in Madrid in 1977 .
The most important thing in Eurocommunism was the implicit rejection of the project of withdrawing society beyond capitalism.
The Communists, unlike the Social Democrats, are not fighting to improve capitalism and turn it into a system acceptable to the working people. They fight against capitalism as such and set as their strategic goal its replacement by a new socio-economic formation.
However, the rapid scientific and technological progress in the post-war years led to the fact that the position of the working people has noticeably improved within the framework of capitalist society (to a large extent due to the exploitation of the population of the Third World). At the same time, the USSR was unable to provide the same high standard of living as in the West.
( Editor’s note. The author forgets to mention that high Western European living standards were not available to everyone: both in Western Europe and in the United States there were and remain millions of beggars, homeless people, unemployed people. This phenomenon did not exist in the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. Now there is .)
All this led to disappointment in the project and the growing popularity of the idea of turning communists into respectable social democrats.
Later, the rejection of the communist project was interpreted by Western social thought in the form of the concept of the “end of history” by Francis Fukuyama (born 1952).
The Eurocommunists ceased to unconditionally support the foreign policy of the USSR, which, naturally, caused discontent among the Soviet leadership and, apparently, was the main reason for criticism of Eurocommunism by the CPSU.
In the Italian Communist Party, which already enjoyed great political influence under capitalism, the Euro-communist wing was quite strong. In 1972 , its leader Enrico Berlinguer (1922 - 1984) was elected General Secretary of the IKP Central Committee.

Enrico Berlinguer (1922 - 1984)
Already in 1969 , at a meeting of the Communist and Workers' Parties in Moscow, E. Berliguer, who headed the delegation of the Italian Communist Party, harshly criticized the introduction of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia . In 1973 , Berlinguer published a series of articles in which he outlined his vision of the political landscape in Italy and the tasks of the communists. In his opinion, the communists and the Christian Democratic Party should form a single bloc, preventing the ultra-right forces from coming to power. In the wake of political terrorism that unfolded in the 1970s, Berlinguer considered the possibility of ultra-right forces coming to power quite real. Although this scenario looked very doubtful.
The CDP appreciated this step by the Communist leader and began to discuss the possibility of ICP representatives joining the government (for the first time since 1947). In the end, however, the CDP dispensed with the communist ministers.
E. Berlinguer's position drew criticism from many communists, especially the older generation. In particular, the veteran of the Party, the closest ally of Palmiro Togliatti, comrade Umberto Terracini (1895 - 1983), decisively opposed it.
In 1980 , the IKP opposed the introduction of Soviet troops into Afghanistan .
In the late 1980s, the ICP had about one and a half million members. Nevertheless, after the fall of the Soviet system in the USSR, it was not possible to save the party.
By the end of the 1980s, several political forces emerged in the party, representing its future in different ways. The leader of the right wing was George Napolitano (born 1925). Representatives of this wing believed that the word "communism" was outdated and should be removed from the name of the party. The party, in the opinion of these forces, should become generally left-wing and advocate for all that is good.
The pro-Soviet wing of the party was headed by its chief financier Armando Kossutta (1926 - 2015). He was critical of Eurocommunism.

George Napolitano (born 1925)

Armando Cossutta (1926 - 2015)
The third group was headed by Pietro Ingrao (1915 - 2015). He was also critical of Eurocommunism, but at the same time did not see the Soviet Union as an ideal to follow. And sometimes he sharply criticized the USSR. Pietro Ingrao was an active supporter of close cooperation with the "new left" and their involvement in the ranks of the Communist Party.

Pietro Ingrao (1915 - 2015)
In 1988 , Achille Ochetto (born 1936) was elected General Secretary of the IKP , who quickly found a common language with the right wing of the party.
In early 1991 , the 20th Congress of the Italian Communist Party took place. On February 4, the congress decided to dissolve the party and transform it into the Democratic Party of the Left (DPLS). The main idea of the new party was, naturally, the rejection of the communist project. After a series of subsequent transformations, the DPLS turned into the Democratic Party, which has several hundred thousand members and is quite influential. The leader of the Democratic Party was at one time head of the Italian government.
Armando Cossuta's supporters did not join the DPLS and formed the Communist Renaissance Party. Later in Italy, numerous small communist and near-communist organizations were created, united and disintegrated, but they failed to create anything even remotely comparable to the IKP of the 1950s-1980s.
The Italian bourgeoisie generously rewarded the right-wing leaders of the ICP for destroying the party. The way to the highest posts in the state was opened for them. In 2006 , George Napolitano was elected President of Italy and remained in this post until 2015. In 1998 , former communist Massimo d'Alema (born 1949) became Prime Minister of Italy (1998 - 2000). He became famous for his support for the bombing of Yugoslavia by NATO aircraft . And was it worth it for the sake of this, the politician declaring his leftist views to become the head of the government !? A right-wing politician looks much more natural in this capacity.
The left political flank of modern Italy, formed from the fragments of the ICP, is represented today by a large number of one-day parties that do not have a long-term strategy and serious prospects for a long existence.
The experience of the Italian and other Communist parties that have adopted the position of Eurocommunism allows us to draw an important conclusion: the rejection of communist ideas inevitably leads to the suicide of the Communist Party. In the presence of real Social Democrats, social democrats of the second grade from yesterday's communists are not needed by anyone. The strength of the communists lies in principled anti-capitalism and in reliance on the communist project, the details of which, however, may vary depending on the conditions of a particular country. After 1991, the powerful Communist Parties of Italy and France turned into small marginal organizations, while the Communists, who remained communists and are proud of it (Greece, Chile), only strengthened.

Rally at the Piraeus stadium organized by the Communist Party of Greece, 2016
Despite the decline of the communist movement, everyday life in Italy and other capitalist countries generates a natural interest among workers in the left, including in communist ideas. There can hardly be any doubt that these ideas and the communist movement inspired by these ideas have a great future. And in Italy, and not only in Italy.
S.V. Bagotsky
Reprinted in abbreviation
https://www.rotfront.su/italyanskoj-kom ... oj-partii/
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