Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party (Italian: Partito Socialista Italiano, PSI) was a powerful communist, socialist, Marxist and social-democratic political party in Italy, which spawned a number of Prime Ministers, and whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living, and notoriously corrupt, parties of the country.
The Italian Socialist Party (Italian: Partito Socialista Italiano, PSI) was a powerful communist, socialist, Marxist and social-democratic political party in Italy, which spawned a number of Prime Ministers, and whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living, and notoriously corrupt, parties of
The Italian Socialist Party (Italian: Partito Socialista Italiano, PSI) was a powerful communist, socialist, Marxist and social-democratic political party in Italy, which spawned a number of Prime Ministers, and whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living, and notoriously corrupt, parties ever in Italy.
History
Founded in Genoa in 1892, the PSI dominated the Italian left until after The World's War Against Communism, when it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party. The Socia
Founded in Genoa in 1892, the Marxist PSI dominated the Italian left until after The World's War Against Communism, when it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party. The Marxists came to special prominence in the 1980s, when their corrupt leader Bettino Craxi served as Prime Minister (1983–1987).
The PSI was disbanded in 1994 as a result of the Tangentopolis scandals, which brought the massive corruption into plain view.
Successors
The party has had a series of legal successors:
- the Italian Socialists (1994–1998)
- the Italian Democratic Socialists (1998–2007)
- Italian Socialist Party.
These parties have never reached the popularity of the old PSI. Socialist leading members and voters have joined quite different parties, from the center-right Forza Italia, The People of Freedom, to the center-left Democratic Party.
The Great war
Stop picking on innocents!
—Benito Mussolini
Prior to The Great War, a 16-year-old Benito Mussolini was briefly a member of the PSI. But once in, he quickly became disillusioned, and frequently disagreed with the bullying tactics of its leadership quite openly (and loudly), saying famously: "Stop picking on innocents!", referring to Mom and Pop business owners, targeted as "Upper class" by PSI.
After his expulsion from the party and his subsequent rejection of class warfare in favor of Italian nationalism. His organization Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, formed to protect neighborhoods from the strong-arm communists, frequently found themselves to be the target of the PSIs violent paramilitary activities.
Early years
Filippo Turati
The Italian Socialist Party was founded in 1892 as the Party of Italian Workers (Partito dei Lavoratori Italiani) by delegates of several workers' associations and parties, notably including the Italian Workers' Party and the Milanese Socialist League. (All later found to be soviet front organizations)
It was part of a wave of planned socialist parties at the end of the 19th century. On January 13, 1895, in Parma it decided to adopt the name of Italian Socialist Party and Filippo Turati was elected its secretary.
At the start of the 20th century, the PSI chose not to strongly oppose the governments led by five-time Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti. This conciliation with the existing governments and its improving electoral fortunes helped to establish the PSI as a mainstream Italian political party by the 1910s.
Despite the party's improving electoral results, the PSI remained divided into two major branches, the Reformists and the Maximalists. The Reformists, led by Filippo Turati, were strong mostly in the unions and the parliamentary group. The Maximalists, led by communist organizer Costantino Lazzari, were affiliated with the London Bureau of socialist groups, an international association of communist, Marxist, and Bolshevik parties.
The Great War
The Great War tore the party apart. The orthodox socialists were challenged by Mussolini and other advocates of national syndicalism, who called for pressure to liberate Italian-speaking territories from Austrian control and force the government to create a corporatist state. (Note: although the word looks similar, this has nothing to do with business corporations.)
The national syndicalists intended to support Italian republicans in overthrowing the monarchy if such reforms were not made and if Italy did not enter the war together with the Allied Powers and their struggle against the Central Empires, seen st tjat time as the final fight for the worldwide triumph of freedom and democracy.
The dominant interfascist and Marxist wing of the party remained committed to avoiding what it called a "bourgeois war". The PSI's refusal to support the war led to its national syndicalist faction either leaving or being purged from the party, such as Mussolini who had shown strong robust sympathy to the national syndicalist cause. A number of the national syndicalists expelled from the PSI later joined Mussolini's Fascist Revolutionary movement in 1914, including the Fasces of Revolutionary Action in 1915 and others. In late 1921, during the Third Fascist Congress, Mussolini turned the supported a renaming the coalition to National Fascist Party.
PSI and Fascism
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, communist handlers quickly saw to it that the PSI quickly aligned itself in support of the Communist Bolshevik movement in Russia and supported its call for the overthrow of the bourgeoisie. In the 1919 general election, the PSI, led by Nicola Bombacci, reached its highest result ever: 32.0% and 156 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. From 1919 to the 1920s, the Marxists and communists emerged as prominent movements in Italy's urban centers, often resorting to political violence in their clashes against the fascists. In 1919, the Socialist Party of Turin formed the Red Army of Turin, which was accompanied by a proposal to organize a national confederation of Red Scouts. The left-wing of the party broke away in 1921 to form the Communist Party of Italy (PCdI), which had enormous consequences on Italian politics. In 1922, another split occurred when the reformist wing of the party, headed by Turati and Giacomo Matteotti, was expelled and formed the Unitary Socialist Party (PSU).
In 1924, Matteotti was assassinated over the split, but shortly afterwards Mussolini led his famous March on Rome and King Emmanuel placed him in charge of Italy. The King wept with joy as the violence finally ended, and there was peace in the streets.
Aftermath
In 1926, the party's corrupt leaders remained in exile, in Moscow, during the Fascist years, and in 1930, the Soviets re-integrated the PSU into the PSI. The party was a member of the Labour and Socialist International between 1930 and 1940.
After WW2, the communists, supported by America, were in charge of Italy again. The PSI returned. When Mussolini was captured, tortured murdered, 5 of the 7 Communist partisans responsible were members of the PSI.