Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Map of Italy showing regional borders and capitals
- 1 The political context
- 2 The Christian Democrats: The indispensable center?
- 3 The Communists' struggle for legitimacy and acceptance
- 4 The ambiguous role of the Socialists
- 5 The small parties: The lay forces and the extremes
- 6 Parliament, prime minister, and president
- 7 Public administration and sottogoverno
- 8 The administration of justice
- 9 Dangers to the state: Plots, terrorism, and the mafia
- 10 Economic and social transformation
- 11 Regional devolution and the problem of the South
- 12 The changing relations between church and state
- 13 Foreign and security policy
- 14 “But it does move” – a summing up
- Appendixes
- Bibliography
- Index
4 - The ambiguous role of the Socialists
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Map of Italy showing regional borders and capitals
- 1 The political context
- 2 The Christian Democrats: The indispensable center?
- 3 The Communists' struggle for legitimacy and acceptance
- 4 The ambiguous role of the Socialists
- 5 The small parties: The lay forces and the extremes
- 6 Parliament, prime minister, and president
- 7 Public administration and sottogoverno
- 8 The administration of justice
- 9 Dangers to the state: Plots, terrorism, and the mafia
- 10 Economic and social transformation
- 11 Regional devolution and the problem of the South
- 12 The changing relations between church and state
- 13 Foreign and security policy
- 14 “But it does move” – a summing up
- Appendixes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Of all the Italian parties, none has changed more dramatically in the course of the postwar period than the Socialists. It is indeed no exaggeration to speak of a genuine mutation. From being a vacillating, faction-ridden, Marxist-Leninist party subordinate to the Communists at the outset of the postwar period, the party had transformed itself by the early 1980s into a unified, self-confident, moderate-left party in the mainstream of European social democracy. By then it was not only in the hands of the youngest group of political leaders in the country, its organization had been completely revamped and its ideological program thoroughly revised. This veritable transfiguration culminated with Bettino Craxi's inauguration in 1983 as the first Socialist prime minister in Italian history.
The resurrection and glory of the party was celebrated at the forty-third Socialist congress in Verona in May 1984. Shortly before the event Luciano Pellicani, editor of the party monthly, Mondoperaio, commented that the occasion marked the first time in history when the party would hold a congress with a unified leadership, a clear program of reforms, and a plainly liberal-socialist platform. This novel development, combined with Craxi's qualities as a great “political impresario,” according to Pellicani, were what had made the Socialist party the axis around which the country's politics turned.
This flattering self-portrait was symptomatic of the Socialist party of the early 1980s: aggressive, pragmatic, highly self-conscious, and to a great extent a one-man show.
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- ItalyA Difficult Democracy: A Survey of Italian Politics, pp. 68 - 85Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1986