Italy

DURING THE 20th century and into the 21s, the parties of the Italian left have been involved in countless dog-bites-man plots that have badly served their cause and marginalized their numerous votes into decades of opposition.

The first organized party of the Italian left was the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), which was founded in 1893 by trade unions and socialists. In the early decades of the 20th century, the radical left wing of the party clashed with the reformist wing. At the Livorno Conference in 1921, the left, which included important future leaders such as Palmiro Togliatti, Antonio Gramsci, Umberto Terracini, and Angelo Tasca, broke away to form the Italian Communist Party (PCI). During the fascist regime, members of the PSI and the PCI were persecuted ...