Communist Party of Italy

The **Communist Party of Italy** (Italian: *Partito Comunista d'Italia*, **PCd'I**) is a communist political party in Italy. It is the successor to the Italian Socialist Party. From 1921 until 1925 it was officially referred to as the **Socialist Communist Party of Italy** (Italian: *Partito Socialista Comunista d'Italia,* **PSCd'I**).

## History

The party was formed on 21 January 1921 through the transformation of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) into the Socialist Communist Party of Italy (PSCd'I) during the Livorno Congress. As part of the Twenty-One Conditions for joining the Communist International, the PSI was renamed and the reformist faction expelled, which would go on to form the Unitary Socialist Party. The PSCd'I retained the majority of the assets and members of the PSI, but nonetheless was damaged by the split.

The party was a chief participant in the second phase of the Decennio Rosso, from 1921 to 1929. By this point the revolutionary fervor that had spread throughout Italy after the Great War had receded. This, combined with suppression by the fascist Blackshirts and government authorities, as well as internal disputes, prevented the party from waging a revolution like in Germany and Russia, in spite of emerging as the largest party in both the 1921 and 1924 elections. With the communist bloc recovering from their own revolutions and seeking limited reconciliation with the capitalist powers, thus leaving them unable to support any Italian revolution, the party focused on spreading their influence through trade unionism, electoral politics and protests. At the 1925 party congress it was chosen to shorten the party name to the Communist Party of Italy, despite opposition from some sections of the party.

On 28 April 1928 Prime Minister Luigi Sturzo was assassinated. Though likely perpetrated by dissident Blackshirts, who were operating illegally since the failed March on Rome in 1922, the act was widely blamed on the communists despite their public condemnation. On 5 May General Pietro Badoglio was instated as Prime Minister. He ordered the indefinite suspension of elections, which ignited demonstrations supported by the communists and other opposition parties. Though he resigned on 5 October, he returned again on 15 January 1929 after the resignation of the government, and he quickly and unexpectedly moved to declare martial law and violently crush the ongoing general strike. The PCd'I was caught off guard by the sudden establishment of a dictatorship and was unable to organize resistance. The Badoglio government, now known as the Governo Militare, quickly moved to arrest communists and officially banned the party on 1 February. The party leadership was spared from capture only by the fact that they had been in Berlin at the time. Party assets were largely seized by the government authorities and what remained of the party organization was forced to operate underground and in exile.

After this sudden change of events the PCd'I was devastated, only able to influence the situation in Italy through clandestine actions. An emergency party congress was held on 25 February, where the previous policy against revolutionary action was repudiated in favor of a return towards violent resistance. On 1 May 1929 the Revolutionary Liberation Committee (CRL) was formed to organize resistance to the regime and bring together anti-militarist forces. The so-called "May Manifesto", drafted during the formation of the CRL, reiterated the call for armed resistance to the dictatorship and the monarchy, and denounced legalistic approaches towards ending the regime. Ever since the establishment of the Governo Militare, the PCd'I has been headquartered in exile in Berlin. The official newspaper, *Avanti!*, continues to be printed illegally in Italy, as well as in other socialist countries. Prior to the Governo Militare, the party had 150,000 members and received nearly 2,000,000 votes in 1924. Due to suppression by military authorities, it is likely that the number of active communists in Italy number within the low thousands, augmented by a much larger number of sympathizers.

## Factions

Since the formation of the PCd'I it has been divided among numerous factions, the largest being the Abstentionists of Amadeo Bordiga, the Ordinovists of Antonio Gramsci, the Maximalist Autonomists of Giacinto Menotti Serrati, and the Socialist Defencists of Pietro Nenni.

### Abstentionists

The Abstentionist faction emerged within the Italian Socialist Party in 1919 as the "Communist Abstentionist Faction". Led chiefly by Amadeo Bordiga, a member of the PSI since 1910, the Abstentionists are considered the left-wing of the party. One of their most notable positions was their opposition to the factory councils established during the early years of the Decennio Rosso, believing them to not hold the necessary revolutionary potential. In addition, they were opposed to any trade union not organized firmly on the communist line, leading to a conflict with the reformist-led General Confederation of Labor. During the Livorno Congress the Abstentionists were most forceful in their uncompromising opposition to the reformists. Following the expulsion of the reformists, the Abstentionists have been distinct for their opposition to a political united front against the reaction, opposing attempts at allying with other opposition movements such as Giustizia e Libertà. Instead they have called for a proletarian front led chiefly by the Communist Party. In line with this, they were opposed to anti-fascist militia formations such as the Arditi del Popolo, due to them being composed of multiple political tendencies. They instead favored the formation of military-esque formations centralized under the Communist Party, which never came to fruition.

### Ordinovists

The Ordinovists emerged in 1919 as a faction of the Italian Socialist Party based around the newspaper L'Ordine Nuovo, or The New Order, which was first published on 1 May 1919. Antonio Gramsci and Palmiro Togliatti stand as the chief exponents of this faction. During the factory unrest in 1919 and 1920, the Ordinovists strongly advocated for the formation of factory councils along the lines of the soviet councils of Russia, to serve as a basis for a proletarian revolution. Though this movement failed due to the opposition of the reformists, it nonetheless brought Gramsci much notoriety. Though opposed to the Abstentionists of Amadeo Bordiga on many tactical issues, the two factions united in the push for the formation of a Communist Party in 1920. The favored faction of both Lenin and Luxemburg, the Ordinovists broke with the Abstentionists in 1921 in order to seek unity with the Maximalists. The Ordinovists have been known for their broad support for movements opposed to fascism and militarism, including non-communist groups such as Guido Miglioli's Catholic syndicalists, as well as broadly left-wing militia formations such as the Arditi del Popolo. Since the exile of the party in 1929 the Ordinovists have served as the dominant faction.

### Maximalist Autonomists

The Maximalist Autonomists emerged in 1921 as a continuation of the Maximalist faction of the PSI. Its main exponent is Giacinto Menotti Serrati, who had been the leader of the so-called "unitary communists" at the Livorno Congress. Uniting with the Ordinovists of Antonio Gramsci, he led the expulsion of the reformists and the transformation of the PSI into the PSCd'I. The Maximalist Autonomists stand as a less centralized faction than the Abstentionists and Ordinovists, with multiple internal currents. Aside from Serrati, Tito Oro Nobili, Pietro Mancini, Francesco Buffoni and Nicola Bombacci stand as important leaders of the Maximalist Autonomists, as did Costantino Lazzari until his death in 1927. During the 1920's the Maximalist Autonomists stood as the dominant faction of the party, though its members tended to unite with the Ordinovists. They were known for leading the line of seeking more "practical" goals by working within the parliamentary system, rather than aggressively pushing for revolution, though the end goal of a proletarian dictatorship was nonetheless never in question.

### Socialist Defencists

The Socialist Defencists are a small faction that emerged after the transformation of the party at the Livorno Congress. Sometimes considered an extension of the Maximalists, Pietro Nenni and Guido Mazzali stand as the primary exponents following the death of Giovanni Bacci in 1928. The faction is composed of figures who had opposed the communist transformation of the party in 1921, but who had not stood on the reformist side and chose to remain within the party. They are most well known for fervently supporting a united front with the republicans and the expelled reformists, organized around the Giustizia e Libertà movement.