Popular Democratic Front (Italy)
The Popular Democratic Front (Italian: Fronte Democratico Popolare), shortened name of the Popular Democratic Front for Freedom, Peace, Labour (Fronte Democratico Popolare per la libertà, la pace, il lavoro) was a left-wing political coalition in Italy.[1][2] Formed by the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) and the Italian Communist Party (PCI),[3][4][5] it contested the 1948 Italian general election.[6]
Popular Democratic Front Fronte Democratico Popolare | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leaders | Palmiro Togliatti Pietro Nenni |
| Founded | 28 December 1947 |
| Dissolved | 18 April 1948 |
| Ideology | Socialism Factions: Communism Marxism–Leninism Democratic socialism |
| Political position | Left-wing Factions: Far-left |
| Colors | Red |
History
The coalition was formed for the 1948 general election and consisted of the PSI and PCI. Its symbol was a green star surmounted by an image of Italian Unification hero Giuseppe Garibaldi.[7] The Social Christian Party (PCS) and Sardinian Action Party (PSd'Az) were not allied with the coalition, and formed their own electoral lists. The right-wing of the PSI opposed the Front, left the party, and organised a separate list as Socialist Unity; this group later became the Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI).
The election of 1948 was perhaps the most important in Italian republican history: the choice of future alliance with United States or with the Soviet Union was at issue. The Popular Front got 31.0% of the vote for the Chamber of Deputies (30.8% of the Senate of the Republic vote).[8] Following the victory of Christian Democracy with 48.5%, Italy became a founding member of NATO in 1949.
According to historians Elena Aga-Rossi and Victor Zaslavsky, it was the largest communist party in Western Europe.[9]
Composition
| Party | Ideology | Leader | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Italian Communist Party (PCI) | Communism Marxism–Leninism |
Palmiro Togliatti | |
| Italian Socialist Party (PSI) | Democratic socialism Social democracy |
Pietro Nenni | |
Election results
| Chamber of Deputies | |||||
| Election year | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | 8,136,637 (2nd) | 31.0 | 183 / 574 |
– |
|
| Senate of the Republic | |||||
| Election year | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | 6,969,122 (2nd) | 30.8 | 72 / 237 |
– |
|
References
- Gori, Francesca; Gons, Silvio (1963). Aggiornamenti sociali. Vol. 14. p. 217.
- Fedele, Santi (1978). Fronte popolare: la sinistra e le elezioni del 18 aprile 1948. Bompiani.
- Cacciatore, Giuseppe (1979). La sinistra socialista nel dopoguerra. Meridionalismo e politica unitaria in Luigi Cacciatore. Dedalo. pp. 2014–218. ISBN 9788822003478.
- Gundle, Stephen (1995). I comunisti italiani tra Hollywood e Mosca: la sfida della cultura di massa : 1943-1991. Giunti. p. 86. ISBN 9788809206427.
- Gori, Francesca; Gons, Silvio (1998). Dagli archivi di Mosca: l'URSS, il Cominform e il PCI : 1943-1951. Carocci. p. 83. ISBN 9788843010929.
- Tobagi, Walter (2009). La rivoluzione impossibile: l'attentato a Togliatti, violenza politica e reazione popolare. Il Saggiatore. p. 16. ISBN 9788856501124.
- Victoria Belco (2010). War, Massacre, and Recovery in Central Italy, 1943–1948. University of Toronto Press. p. 498. ISBN 978-0-8020-9314-1.
- Ram Mudambi; Pietro Navarra; Giuseppe Sobbrio (2001). "A History of the Italian Political System – 1913 to the Present". Rules, Choice and Strategy: The Political Economy of Italian Electoral Reform. Edward Elgar Publishing. pp. 32–33. ISBN 978-1-78195-082-1.
- "That Popular Democratic Front" (in Italian).
