View source for Italian Communist Party

{{Short description|Political party in Italy (1921–1991)}}
{{for|the minor party established in 2016|Italian Communist Party (2016)}}
{{redirects|Communist Party of Italy|the party founded in 2014|Communist Party of Italy (2014)}}
{{use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{EngvarB|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox political party
| name             = Italian Communist Party
| native_name      = Partito Comunista Italiano
| abbreviation     = PCI
| colorcode        = {{party color|Italian Communist Party}}
| logo             = Logo Partito Comunista Italiano.svg
| leader1_title    = [[List of secretaries of the Italian Communist Party|Secretary]]
| leader1_name     = {{ublist
 | [[Amadeo Bordiga]] (first)
 | [[Achille Occhetto]] (last)
}}
| leader2_title    = President
| leader2_name     = {{ublist
 | [[Luigi Longo]]  (first)
 | [[Aldo Tortorella]] (last)
}}
| foundation       = {{start date and age|df=y|21 January 1921}}{{efn|The official change of the party's name to the Italian Communist Party was {{start date and age|df=y|15 May 1943}}.}}
| dissolution      = {{end date and age|df=y|1991|2|3}}
| split            = [[Italian Socialist Party]]
| successor        = {{ubl|[[Democratic Party of the Left]] (official successor)|[[Communist Refoundation Party]] (split)}}
| headquarters     = [[:it:Via delle Botteghe Oscure|Via delle Botteghe Oscure 4]], Rome
| newspaper        = ''[[l'Unità]]''
| youth_wing       = [[Italian Communist Youth Federation]]
| membership_year  = 1947
| membership       = <!--Highest membership-->2,252,446<!--Compared to the previou year({{increase}}184,174)-->
| ideology         = {{ublist
 | [[Communism]] ([[Italian road to socialism|Italian]])
 | [[Democratic socialism]]}}
| position         = [[Left-wing politics|Left-wing]]
| national         = {{ublist
 | [[National Liberation Committee]] (1943–1947)
 | [[Popular Democratic Front (Italy)|Popular Democratic Front]] (1947–1948)
 | PCI–[[PSIUP]] (1966–1973)
}}
| international    = {{ublist 
 | [[Communist International]] (1921–1943)
 | [[Cominform]] (1947–1956)
}}
| europarl         = {{ublist
 | [[Communist and Allies Group]] (1973–1989)
 | [[European United Left (1989–1993)|European United Left]] (1989–1991)
}}
| colours          = {{color box|{{party color|Italian Communist Party}}|border=darkgray}} [[Red (politics)|Red]]
| anthem           = ''[[Bandiera Rossa]]'' ("Red Flag")
| flag             = Flag of the Italian Communist Party.svg
| country          = Italy
}}

The '''Italian Communist Party''' ({{langx|it|Partito Comunista Italiano}}, '''PCI''') was a [[communist]] and [[democratic socialist]] political party in Italy. It was established in [[Livorno]] as the '''Communist Party of Italy''' ({{langx|it|Partito Comunista d'Italia}}, '''PCd'I''') on 21 January 1921, when it seceded from the [[Italian Socialist Party]] (PSI),<ref>{{cite book|last=Cortesi|first=Luigi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vUf-ozFKkw8C|title=Le origini del PCI: studi e interventi sulla storia del comunismo in Italia|publisher=FrancoAngeli|date=1999|page=9|isbn=978-8-8464-1300-0}}</ref> under the leadership of [[Amadeo Bordiga]], [[Antonio Gramsci]], and [[Nicola Bombacci]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Mussolini|last=Mack Smith|first=Denis|authorlink=Denis Mack Smith|year=1994|publisher=Phoenix|location=London|isbn=978-1-8579-9240-3<!--1-85799-240-7--->|page=312}}</ref> Outlawed during the [[Italian fascist]] regime, the party continued to operate underground and played a major role in the [[Italian resistance movement]].<ref name="Treccani">{{cite web|title=Partito comunista italiano|url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/partito-comunista-italiano/|access-date=1 February 2023|website=Treccani|language=it}}</ref> The party's peaceful and national road to socialism, or the [[Italian road to socialism]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Amendola|first=Giorgio|date=November–December 1977|url=https://newleftreview.org/issues/i106/articles/giorgio-amendola-the-italian-road-to-socialism|title=The Italian Road to Socialism|journal=New Left Review|issue=106|pages=39–50 |access-date=5 July 2023}}</ref> the realisation of the communist project through democracy,<ref>{{cite book|last=Bracke|first=Maud|date=2007|chapter-url=https://books.openedition.org/ceup/1356?lang=en|chapter=West European Communism and the Changes of 1956|title=Which Socialism, Whose Détente? West European Communism and the Czechoslovak Crisis of 1968|location=Budapest|publisher=Central European University Press|isbn=978-6-1552-1126-3}}</ref> repudiating the use of violence and applying the [[Constitution of Italy]] in all its parts,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.welfarenetwork.it/accaddeoggi-21-agosto-1964-togliatti-muore-a-yalta-20190821/|title=Accaddeoggi 21 agosto 1964: Togliatti muore a Yalta|website=WelfareNetwork|language=it|date=21 August 2022|access-date=5 July 2023}}</ref> a strategy inaugurated under [[Palmiro Togliatti]] but that some date back to Gramsci,<ref>{{cite book|last=Femia|first=Joseph P.|date=April 1987|chapter=A Peaceful Road to Socialism?|title=Gramsci's Political Thought: Hegemony, Consciousness, and the Revolutionary Process|edition=paperback|publisher=University of Oxford Press|pages=190–216|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198275435.003.0006|isbn=978-9-0045-0334-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Steven|date=2006|title=Antonio Gramsci|edition=paperback|series=Routledge Critical Thinkers|location=London|publisher=Routledge|page=25|isbn=978-0-4153-1947-8|postscript=. Togliatti himself stated that the PCI's practices during this period, which also foresaw the later Eurocommunist trend, were congruent with Gramscian thought. It is speculated that Gramsci would likely have been expelled from his party if his true views had been known, particularly his growing hostility towards Stalin.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Liguori|first=Guido|date=21 December 2021|chapter=Gramsci and the Italian Road to Socialism (1956–59)|title=Gramsci Contested: Interpretations, Debates, and Polemics, 1922–2012|series=Historical Materialism|translator=Braude, Richard|edition=E-book|publisher=Brill|pages=94–123|doi=10.1163/9789004503342_005|isbn=978-0-1982-7543-5|s2cid=245586587 }}</ref> would become the leitmotif of the party's history.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bosworth|first=R. J. B.|date=13 January 2023|chapter=Giorgio Amendola and a National Road to Socialism and the End of History|title=Politics, Murder and Love in an Italian Family: The Amendolas in the Age of Totalitarianisms|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=152–186|doi=10.1017/9781009280167.008|isbn=978-1-0092-8016-7}}</ref>

Having changed its name in 1943, the PCI became the second largest political party of Italy after [[World War II]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Sassoon|first=Donald|date=2014|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gn8iBQAAQBAJ|title=Togliatti e il partito di massa|language=it|translator=Salvatorelli, Franco|translator2=Zippel, Nicola|edition=E-book|publisher=Castelvecchi|isbn=978-8-8682-6482-6}}</ref> attracting the support of about a third of the vote share during the 1970s. At the time, it was the largest [[Communist party]] in the [[Western world]], with peak support reaching 2.3&nbsp;million members in 1947,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cattaneo.org/archivi/adele/iscritti.xls|title=Gli iscritti ai principali partiti politici italiani della Prima Repubblica dal 1945 al 1991|publisher=Cattaneo Institute|language=it|access-date=10 November 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110124209/http://www.cattaneo.org/archivi/adele/iscritti.xls|archive-date=10 November 2013}}</ref> and peak share being 34.4% of the vote (12.6&nbsp;million votes) in the [[1976 Italian general election]].<ref name="Treccani"/> The PCI was part of the [[Constituent Assembly of Italy]] and the Italian government from 1944 to 1947, when the United States ordered a removal from government of the PCI and PSI.<ref>{{cite book|last=Robbe|first=Federico|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RLGMYDwRyHAC|title=L'impossibile incontro: gli Stati Uniti e la destra italiana negli anni Cinquanta|editor=FrancoAngeli|date=2012|page=203|publisher=FrancoAngeli |isbn=978-8-8568-4830-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Tobagi|first=Walter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j_ID1RbNjR0C|title=La rivoluzione impossibile: l'attentato a Togliatti, violenza politica e reazione popolare|publisher=Il Saggiatore|date=2009|page=35|isbn=978-8-8565-0112-4}}</ref> The PCI–PSI alliance lasted until 1956;<ref>{{cite web|last=Bernocchi|first=Piero|date=8 January 2021|url=https://www.pierobernocchi.it/scritti-teorici/la-rivoluzione-ungherese-del-1956-e-il-ruolo-del-pci/|title=La rivoluzione ungherese del 1956 e il ruolo del PCI|website=PieroBernocchi.it|access-date=17 July 2023|quote=La rottura che ne seguì fu completa. Il Psi si staccò definitivamente da ogni legame e sudditanza con l'Urss ma contemporaneamente si ruppero anche la forte intesa e l’attività unitaria con il Pci, avviata a partire al Patto di unità d'azione stipulato a Parigi nel 1934 e poi rinnovato nel settembre 1943 e nell’ottobre 1946, e con il frontismo negli anni del dopoguerra. Saltò anche il Patto di consultazione, che in un primo momento sembrò poter sostituire il Patto d'unità d'azione, e prevalse il rifiuto di un'alleanza organica con il Pci per conquistare il governo in Italia: obiettivo che invece il Psi raggiunse con i governi di centro-sinistra negli anni Ottanta.|trans-quote=The ensuing break was complete. The PSI definitively detached itself from all ties and subjection to the USSR but at the same time the strong understanding and unitary activity with the PCI was also broken, initiated starting from the Pact of unity of Action stipulated in Paris in 1934 and then renewed in September 1943 and in October 1946, and with frontism in the post-war years. The Consultation pact, which at first seemed to be able to replace the Unity action pact, was also broken, and the refusal of an organic alliance with the PCI to conquer the government in Italy prevailed: an objective that the PSI instead achieved with centre-left governments in the 1980s.}}</ref> the two parties continued to govern at the local and regional level until the 1990s. Apart from the 1944–1947 years and occasional external support to the [[organic centre-left]] (1960s–1970s), which included the PSI, the PCI always remained at the opposition in the [[Italian Parliament]], with more accommodation as part of the [[Historic Compromise]] of the 1970s, which ended in 1980, until its dissolution in 1991, not without controversy and much debate among its members.<ref name="Treccani"/>

The PCI included [[Marxist–Leninists]] and [[Marxist revisionists]],<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0AIZAQAAIAAJ|title=La Civiltà Cattolica|volume=117|date=1966|pages=41–43|access-date=28 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180628153212/https://books.google.it/books?id=0AIZAQAAIAAJ|archive-date=28 June 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> with a notable [[social-democratic]] faction being the ''[[miglioristi]]''.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Amyot|first=G. Grant|date=1990|title=The PCI and Occhetto's New Course: The Italian Road to Reform|journal=Italian Politics|volume=4|pages=146–161|jstor=43039625}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://basileus88.wordpress.com/2011/07/12/correnti-interne-al-pci/|title=Correnti interne al PCI|website=Res Pvblica delle Poleis|date=12 July 2011|access-date=1 February 2023}}</ref> Under the leadership of [[Enrico Berlinguer]] and the influence of the ''miglioristi'' in the 1970s and 1980s,<ref>{{cite book|last=Morando|first=Enrico|title=Riformisti e comunisti?: dal Pci al Pd: i "miglioristi" nella politica italiana nella politica italiana|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E-KE0laJoIUC&pg=PA42|year=2010|publisher=Donzelli Editore|isbn=978-8-8603-6482-1|page=42}}</ref> Marxism–Leninism was removed from the party statute<ref>{{cite book|last1=De Rosa|first1=Gabriele|last2=Monina|first2=Giancarlo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6vfy1jCEj64C|title=L'Italia repubblicana nella crisi degli anni Settanta: Sistema politico e istitutzioni|editor=Rubbettino|date=2003|page=79|publisher=Rubbettino Editore |isbn=978-8-8498-0753-0}}</ref> and the PCI adhered to the [[Eurocommunism|Eurocommunist]]<ref name="Hobday1986">{{cite book|last=Hobday|first=Charles|title=Communist and Marxist Parties of the World|year=1986|publisher=Longman|location=Essex|isbn=0-582-90264-9|pages=104}}</ref> trend, seeking independence from the [[Soviet Union]]<ref>{{cite news|title=European Socialists Question Communist Party Independence|newspaper=The Herald-Journal|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1876&dat=19760527&id=RkEsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=x8wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6743,4753051&hl=en|date=27 May 1976|page=12|access-date=1 February 2023 |via=Google News}}</ref> and moving into a democratic socialist direction.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.libraries.psu.edu/findingaids/1613.htm|url-status=dead|title=Guide to the Italian Communist Party Collection, 1969–1971 1613|website=Penn State University Libraries|access-date=1 February 2023|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304194354/https://www.libraries.psu.edu/findingaids/1613.htm}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Urban|first=Joan Barth|title=Moscow and the Italian Communist Party: From Togliatti to Berlinguer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8HDEhJQON1AC&pg=PA27|year=1986|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-8504-3027-8|page=27}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title='Il socialismo democratico abita a Botteghe Oscure'|url=https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1989/06/11/il-socialismo-democratico-abita-botteghe-oscure.html|access-date=1 February 2023|newspaper=La Repubblica|language=it}}</ref> In 1991, it was dissolved and re-launched as the [[Democratic Party of the Left]] (PDS), which joined the [[Socialist International]] and the [[Party of European Socialists]]. The more radical members of the organisation formally seceded to establish the [[Communist Refoundation Party]] (PRC).<ref name="Treccani"/>

==History==

===Early years===
[[File:Tesserapcd21.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Detail of the first membership card of PCd'I in 1921]]
{{Communism in Italy}}

The roots of the PCI date back to 1921, when the [[I Congress of the Communist Party of Italy]] was held in Livorno on 21 January, following a split in the [[XVII Congress of the Italian Socialist Party]]. The split occurred after the Congress of Livorno refused to expel the [[reformist]] group as required by the [[Communist International]] (Comintern). The main factions of the new party were L'Ordine Nuovo, based in Turin and led by [[Antonio Gramsci]], and the Maximalist faction led by [[Nicola Bombacci]]. [[Amadeo Bordiga]] was elected secretary of the new party.<ref>{{cite book|last=Spriano|first=Paolo|date=1967|title=Storia del Partito comunista italiano. Da Bordiga a Gramsci|language=it|volume=I|location=Turin|publisher=Einaudi|isbn=978-8-8060-8029-7}}</ref>

The party was officially founded as the '''Communist Party of Italy – Section of the Communist International''' (''Partito Comunista d'Italia – Sezione dell'Internazionale Comunista''), since the Comintern was structured as a single world party according to [[Vladimir Lenin]]'s vision. In the [[1921 Italian general election]], the party obtained 4.6% of the vote and 15 seats in the country's [[Chamber of Deputies (Kingdom of Italy)|Chamber of Deputies]]. At the time, it was an active yet small faction within the Italian political left, which was strongly led by the PSI, while on the international level it was [[Soviet]]-led.

During its 2nd Congress in 1922, the new party registered 43,000 members. This was in part due to the entrance of almost the whole Socialist Youth Federation (''Federazione Giovanile Socialista''). The party adopted a slim structure headed by a Central Committee of 15 members, five of whom were also in the Executive Committee (EC), namely Ambrogio Belloni, Nicola Bombacci, Amadeo Bordiga (EC), [[Bruno Fortichiari]] (EC), [[Egidio Gennari]], Antonio Gramsci, [[Ruggero Grieco]] (EC), Anselmo Marabini, [[Francesco Misiano]], Giovanni Parodi, Luigi Polano, Luigi Repossi (EC), Cesare Sessa, Ludovico Tarsia, and Umberto Terracini (EC).

Since its formation, the party strived to organise itself on some bases that were not a mere reproduction of the traditional parties' bases. It then took again some arguments that distinguished the battle within the PSI, namely the idea that it is necessary to form an environment fiercely hostile to bourgeois society and that is an anticipation of the future socialist society. The purpose of this was not considered utopian because already in this society, especially in production, some structures are born on future results. In the first years of the PCd'I, there was no official leader; the accepted leader, first of the faction/tendency and then of the party, was Bordiga (Left) of the [[communist left]] current. Leaders of the minority currents were Angelo Tasca (Right) and Gramsci (Centre).

===Conflict between factions===
As a territorial section of Comintern, the PCd'I adopted the same program, the same conception of the party and the same tactics adopted by the II Congress in [[Moscow]] of 1920. The official program, drawn up in ten points, began with the intrinsically catastrophic nature of the capitalist system and terminated with the extinction of the state. It follows in a synthetic way the model outlined by Lenin for the [[Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]]. For a while, this identity resisted, but the fast progress of the reaction in Europe produced a change of tactics in a democratic direction within the Bolshevik party and consequently within the Comintern. This happened in particular regarding the possibility, previously opposed, of an alliance with the social democratic and bourgeois parties. This provoked a tension in the party between the majority (Left) and the minority factions (the Right and the Centre) supported by the Comintern. The proposals of the Left were no longer accepted and the conflict between the factions became irremediable.

===Bolshevisation===
[[File:Gramsci.png|thumb|150px|[[Antonio Gramsci]]]]

In 1923, some members of the party were arrested and put on trial for "conspiracy against the State". This allowed the intense activity of the Communist International to deprive the party's left-wing of authority and give control to the minority centre which had aligned with Moscow. In 1924–1925, the Comintern began a campaign of [[Bolshevisation]], which forced each party to conform to the discipline and orders of Moscow. During the clandestine conference held in Como to ratify the party leadership in May 1924, 35 of the 45 federation secretaries, plus the secretary of the youth federation, voted for Bordiga's Left, four for Gramsci's Centre, and five for Tasca's Right.

Before the Lyon Congress in 1926, the Centre won almost all the votes in the absence of much of the Left, who were unable to attend as a result of fascist controls and lack of Comintern support. Recourse to the Comintern against this evident manoeuvre had little effect. The PCd'I as conceived by the Left terminated. The organisation continued with the support of the Comintern and a new structure and leadership. In 1922, the newspaper ''[[L'Ordine Nuovo]]'' was closed and in 1924 a new Centre newspaper, ''[[l'Unità]]'', edited by Gramsci, was founded. The Left continued as a faction, principally functioning in exile. It published the newspaper ''Bilan'', a monthly theoretical bulletin.

In 1926, Bordiga and Gramsci were arrested and imprisoned on the island of [[Ustica]]. In 1927, [[Palmiro Togliatti]] was elected secretary in place of Gramsci. In 1930, Bordiga was expelled from the Comintern and accused of [[Trotskyism]]. After [[Joseph Stalin]] dissolved the Communist International in 1943, the exiled members of the PCd'I in Moscow changed the party's name to the PCI on 15 May. Under this name, it reorganised in Italy and became a parliamentary party after the fall of Fascism.

===Resistance to fascism===
The party and its militants were actively involved in the resistance to [[Benito Mussolini]]'s regime through clandestine action. They were well prepared for clandestine activity because of the structure of their organisation, and the fact that they had been victims of systematic repression by the authorities; more than three quarters of the political prisoners between 1926 and 1943 were communists. Throughout the dictatorship, the party was able to maintain and feed a clandestine network, distribute propaganda leaflets and newspapers, and infiltrate fascist unions and youth organisations. In 1935, the party led a campaign against the [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sabbatucci|first1=Giovanni|last2=Vidotto|first2=Vittorio|date=2008|title=Storia contemporanea. Il Novecento|publisher=Editori Laterza|isbn=978-8-8420-8742-7}}</ref> The party and communist partisans, among others, then went on to play a major role in the resistance movement that led to the [[fall of the Fascist regime in Italy]].<ref name="Treccani"/>

On 15 May 1943, the party changed its official name to the Italian Communist Party (''Partito Comunista Italiano''), often shortened to PCI. This change was not surprising as PCI started being used as the party's acronym around 1924–1925. This name change also reflected a change in the Comintern's role—it increasingly became a federation of national communist parties. This trend accelerated after Lenin's death and its new name emphasised the party's shift from an international focus to an Italian one. At the time, it was a hotly contested issue for the two major factions of the party. On one side, the Leninist preferred the single world party as it was internationalist and strongly centralised, while on the other side the Italians wanted a party more tailored to their nation's peculiarities and more autonomy.

After the fall of [[Fascist Italy (1922–1943)|Fascist Italy]] on 25 July 1943, the PCI returned to a formally legal status, playing a major role during the national liberation, known in Italy as ''[[Resistenza]]'' (Resistance) and forming many partisan groups. In April 1944, after the ''Svolta di Salerno'' ([[Salerno]]'s turning point), Togliatti, who had returned to Italy the month prior after 18 years of exile,<ref>{{cite book|last=Agosti|first=Aldo|date=2012|chapter=Les baleines du corset. Togliatti, le PCI et les intellectuels (1944–1947)|editor-last1=Bechelloni|editor-first1=Antonio|editor-last2=Del Vento|editor-first2=Christian|editor-last3=Tabet|editor-first3=Xavier|title=La vie intellectuelle entre fascisme et République 1940–1948|language=fr|issue=12|publisher=ENS éditions|pages=17–32|doi=10.4000/laboratoireitalien.633|isbn=978-2-8478-8382-4}}</ref> agreed to cooperate with [[King Victor Emmanuel III]] and his [[prime minister of Italy]], the Marshal [[Pietro Badoglio]]. After the turn, the PCI took part in every government during the national liberation and constitutional period from June 1944 to May 1947.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cervi|first1=Mario|last2=Montanelli|first2=Indro|date=2003|title=Storia d'Italia|language=it|publisher=Rcs Quotidiani}}</ref> Their contribution to the new Italian democratic constitution was decisive. The Gullo decrees of 1944, named after [[Fausto Gullo]], sought to improve social and economic conditions in the countryside.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ginsborg|first=Paul|date=2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cnGQBAAAQBAJ&dq=Communist+Gullo+decrees+july+1944+land+reform&pg=PA60|title=A History of Contemporary Italy: Society and Politics, 1943–1988|edition=illustrated|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|page=60|isbn=978-1-4039-6153-2}}</ref> During Badoglio and [[Ferruccio Parri]]'s cabinets, Togliatti served as the [[Deputy Prime Minister of Italy]]. During the Resistance, the PCI became increasingly popular, as the majority of partisans were communists. The [[Garibaldi Brigades]], promoted by the PCI, were among the more numerous partisan forces.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bianchi|first=Giovanni|date=|chapter=La Resistenza|editor-last=Montanelli|editor-first=Indro|title=Storia d'Italia|language=it|volume=8|page=368}}</ref>

===Post-war years===
The PCI took part in the [[1946 Italian general election]] and the [[1946 Italian institutional referendum]], campaigning for a republic. In the election, the PCI was third, behind [[Christian Democracy (Italy)|Christian Democracy]] (DC) and the PSI, gaining almost 19% of votes and electing 104 members of the [[Constituent Assembly of Italy]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/index.php?tpel=A&dtel=02/06/1946&tpa=I&tpe=A&lev0=0&levsut0=0&es0=S&ms=S|title=Assemblea costituente 02/06/1946|language=it|publisher=Italian Ministry of the Interior|access-date=3 July 2023}}</ref> The popular referendum resulted in the replacement of the monarchy with a republic,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/index.php?tpel=F&dtel=02/06/1946&tpa=I&tpe=A&lev0=0&levsut0=0&es0=S&ms=S|title=Referendum 02/06/1946|language=it|publisher=Italian Ministry of the Interior|access-date=3 July 2023}}</ref> after 54% of the votes were in favour and 46% against.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sturzo.it/edu/l-italia-repubblicana-e-gli-anni-dello-sviluppo/445-1-la-fondazione-dell-italia-repubblicana/612-il-referendum-istituzionale-e-la-scelta-repubblicana |title=Il referendum istituzionale e la scelta repubblicana |publisher=Luigi Sturzo Institute |language=it| access-date=8 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180305171243/http://www.sturzo.it/edu/l-italia-repubblicana-e-gli-anni-dello-sviluppo/445-1-la-fondazione-dell-italia-repubblicana/612-il-referendum-istituzionale-e-la-scelta-repubblicana |archive-date=5 March 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.simone.it/newdiz/newdiz.php?action=view&id=1011&index=H&dizionario=2|url-status=dead|title=Savoia|website=Dizionari Simone Online|access-date=12 November 2019|archive-date=7 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180707230422/https://www.simone.it/newdiz/newdiz.php?action=view&id=1011&index=H&dizionario=2}}</ref> [[Luciano Canfora]] saw the Salerno Turn and 1944 as a rebirth of the PCI, and said "the PCI had gradually followed a path which required it, as a historical task, to occupy the space of social democracy in the Italian political panorama."<ref>{{cite news|last=Fai|first=Paolo|date=1 February 2021|url=https://www.laterza.it/wp-content/uploads/recensioni/CANFORA-9.pdf|title=Il Pci rifondato da Togliatti si perde nel berlinguerismo|work=La Terza|page=12|access-date=5 July 2023}}</ref>

As part of the [[May 1947 crises]], the PCI was excluded from government. [[Alcide De Gasperi]], the DC leader and prime minister of Italy, was losing popularity, and feared that the [[leftist]] coalition would take power. While the PCI was growing particularly fast due to its organising efforts supporting sharecroppers in [[Sicily]], [[Tuscany]], and [[Umbria]], movements that were also bolstered by the reforms of [[Fausto Gullo]], the [[Italian Minister of Agriculture]].<ref name="Ginsborg 2003, pp. 106–113">{{cite book|last=Ginsborg|first=Paul|date=2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cnGQBAAAQBAJ&q=may+1947|title=A History of Contemporary Italy: Society and Politics, 1943–1988|edition=illustrated|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|pages=106–113|isbn=978-1-4039-6153-2}}</ref> On 1 May, the nation was thrown into crisis by the [[Portella della Ginestra massacre]], in which eleven leftist peasants (including four children) were murdered at an [[International Workers' Day]] parade in [[Palermo]] by [[Salvatore Giuliano]] and his gang. In the political chaos that ensued, the United States government engineered the expulsion of all left-wing ministers from the cabinet on 31 May. The PCI would not have a national position in government again. De Gasperi did this under pressure from the United States Secretary of State, [[George Marshall]], who had informed him that [[anti-communism]] was a pre-condition for receiving American aid,<ref name="Ginsborg 2003, pp. 106–113"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Ciment|first=James|date=2015|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cpCXBwAAQBAJ|title=Encyclopedia of Conflicts Since World War II|publisher=Routledge|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=cpCXBwAAQBAJ&q=forced+de+Gasperi+to+remove+the+Socialists+and+Communists+from+the+government+as+a+condition+of+receiving+U.S.+aid&pg=PT2073 2073]|isbn=978-1-3174-7185-1}}</ref> and Ambassador [[James Clement Dunn]], who had directly asked de Gasperi to dissolve the parliament and remove the PCI.<ref>{{cite book|last=Corke|first=Sarah-Jane|date=<!--12 September-->2007|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FKN8AgAAQBAJ&q=James+C.+Dunn+asked.+1947&pg=PA232|title=US Covert Operations and Cold War Strategy: Truman, Secret Warfare and the CIA, 1945–53|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-1341-0413-0|pages=47–48}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Stazi|first=Guido|date=30 October 2021|url=https://www.milanofinanza.it/news/sessanta-anni-senza-einaudi-il-governatore-che-da-chigi-sali-al-colle-202110301157412373|title=Sessanta anni senza Einaudi, il governatore che da Chigi salì al Colle|work=MF Milano Finanza|language=it|access-date=8 July 2023|quote=Einaudi annotava nel suo Diario di una cena a casa dell'Ambasciatore d'Italia in Unione Sovietica Quaroni, in cui si conveniva che gli Stati Uniti gli aiuti veri non li avrebbero concessi con i comunisti ancora al governo.|trans-quote=Einaudi noted in his Diary of a dinner at the home of the Italian Ambassador to the Soviet Union Quaroni, in which it was agreed that the United States would not grant real aid with the Communists still in government.}}</ref>

In the [[1948 Italian general election]], the party joined the PSI in the [[Popular Democratic Front (Italy)|Popular Democratic Front]] (FDP) but was defeated by the DC. The United States government provided support to anti-PCI groups in the election,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ejrgDj-SYiUC&pg=PA140|title=Confronting America: The Cold War between the United States and the Communists in France and Italy|last=Brogi|first=Alessandro|date=<!--15 July-->2011|publisher=UNC Press Books|isbn=978-0-8078-7774-6|pages=140–149}}</ref> and argued that should the PCI win, the [[Marshall Plan]] and other aids could be terminated.<!--Corke 2007, p. 50--> It spent $10–20&nbsp;million on anti-communist propaganda and other covert operations, much of it through the [[Economic Cooperation Administration]] of the Marshall Plan, and then laundered through individual banks.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FKN8AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA54|title=US Covert Operations and Cold War Strategy: Truman, Secret Warfare and the CIA, 1945–53|last=Corke|first=Sarah-Jane|date=2007|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-1341-0413-0|pages=49–58}}</ref> Fearful of the possible FDP's electoral victory, the British and American governments also undermined their campaign for legal justice by tolerating the efforts made by Italy's top authorities to prevent any of the alleged [[Italian war criminals]] from being extradited and taken to court.<ref name="Carroll 2001">{{cite news|last=Carroll|first=Rory|date=25 June 2001|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2001/jun/25/artsandhumanities.highereducation|title=Italy's bloody secret|work=The Guardian|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130716012326/http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2001/jun/25/artsandhumanities.highereducation|archive-date=16 July 2013|access-date=3 July 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Pedaliu|first=Effie|author-link=Effie Pedaliu|date=2004|title=Britain and the 'Hand-over' of Italian War Criminals to Yugoslavia, 1945–48|journal=Journal of Contemporary History|volume=39|issue=4, Special Issue: Collective Memory|pages=503–529|doi=10.1177/0022009404046752 |jstor=4141408|s2cid=159985182 }}</ref> The denial of Italian war crimes was backed up by the Italian state, academe, and media, re-inventing Italy as only a victim of [[Nazism]] and the post-war [[Foibe massacres]].<ref name="Carroll 2001"/>

The party gained considerable electoral success during the following years and occasionally supplied external support to the [[Organic centre-left]] governments, although it never directly joined a government. It successfully lobbied [[Fiat]] to set up the [[AvtoVAZ]] (Lada) car factory in the [[Soviet Union]] (1966). The party did best in [[Emilia-Romagna]], Tuscany, and Umbria, where it regularly won the local administrative elections, and in some of the industrialised cities of [[Northern Italy]]. At the city government level during the course of the post-war period, the PCI demonstrated in cities like [[Bologna]] and [[Florence]] their capacity for uncorrupt, efficient and clean government.<ref>{{cite book|last=Robertson|first=David|date=1993|title=The Penguin Dictionary of Politics|edition=2nd|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0-1405-1276-2}}</ref> After the [[1975 Italian local elections]], the PCI was the strongest force in nearly all of the municipal councils of the great cities.<ref name="Ginsborg 2003, p. 372">{{cite book|last=Ginsborg|first=Paul|date=2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cnGQBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA372|title=A History of Contemporary Italy: Society and Politics, 1943–1988|edition=illustrated|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|page=372|isbn=978-1-4039-6153-2}}</ref>

===From the 1950s to the 1960s===
[[File:Palmiro Togliatti Official.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Palmiro Togliatti]]]]

The Soviet Union's brutal suppression of the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956]] created a split within the PCI.<ref>{{cite web|last=Romeo|first=Ilaria|date=30 October 2022|url=https://www.collettiva.it/copertine/internazionale/2022/10/30/news/ungheria-2454619/|title=1956: dopo la repressione sovietica in Ungheria, i contrasti e le rotture all'interno del Pci|website=Collettiva|language=it|access-date=17 July 2023}}</ref> The party leadership, including [[Palmiro Togliatti]] and [[Giorgio Napolitano]] (who in 2006 became [[President of Italy]]), regarded the Hungarian insurgents as counter-revolutionaries as reported at the time in ''[[l'Unità]]'', the official PCI newspaper. [[Giuseppe Di Vittorio]], chief of the communist trade union [[Italian General Confederation of Labour]] (CGIL), repudiated the leadership position, as did prominent party member [[Antonio Giolitti]] and [[Italian Socialist Party]] national secretary [[Pietro Nenni]], a close ally of the PCI. Napolitano later hinted at doubts over the propriety of his decision.<ref>{{citation|date=October–December 1980|title=The Italian Communists: Foreign Bulletin of the P.C.I.|issue=4|location=Rome|page=103}}.</ref> He would eventually write in ''From the Communist Party to European Socialism. A Political Autobiography'' (''Dal Pci al socialismo europeo. Un'autobiografia politica'') that he regretted his justification of the Soviet intervention but quieted his concerns at the time for the sake of party unity and the international leadership of [[Soviet Communism]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Napolitano|first=Giorgio|year=2005|title=Dal Pci al socialismo europeo. Un'autobiografia politica|publisher=Laterza|language=it|isbn=978-8-8420-7715-2}}</ref> Giolitti and Nenni went on to split with the PCI over this issue. Napolitano became a leading member of the ''[[miglioristi]]'' faction within the PCI that promoted a [[social-democratic]] direction in party policy.<ref>{{cite web|last=Cacace|first=Paolo|date=15 May 2006|title=Napolitano e l'{{'}}utopia mite' dell'Europa|url=http://www.toscanaeuropa.it/att_politica/documenti/dettaglio.asp?id_doc=4451|access-date=14 July 2007|language=it|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929010907/http://www.toscanaeuropa.it/att_politica/documenti/dettaglio.asp?id_doc=4451|archive-date=29 September 2007}}</ref>

In the mid-1960s, the [[United States Department of State]] estimated the party membership to be approximately 1,350,000, or 4.2% of the working age population, making it the largest Communist party in per capita terms in the capitalist world at the time and the largest party at all in the whole of Western Europe with the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kautsky|first1=John H.|last2=Benjamin|first2=Roger W.|date=March 1968|title=Communism and Economic Development|journal=American Political Science Review|volume=62|issue=1|page=122|jstor=1953329}}</ref> United States government sources said that the party was receiving $40–50&nbsp;million per year from the Soviets when their investment in Italy was $5–6&nbsp;million.<ref name="TMNK">{{cite video|people=Carl Colby (director)|date=September 2011|title=The Man Nobody Knew: In Search of My Father, CIA Spymaster Ashley Colby|url=http://firstrunfeatures.com/themannobodyknew/|medium=Motion picture|publisher=Act 4 Entertainment|location=New York City|access-date=15 September 2011|quote=Edward Luttwak, interview: "[W]e estimated at the time they were getting $40–50 million a year at a time when we were putting $5–6 million into Italian politics.|ref=15 September 2011}}</ref> Although the PCI relied on Soviet financial assistance more than any other Communist party supported by Moscow, declassified information shows this to be exaggerated.<ref name="Drake 2004">{{cite journal|last=Drake|first=Richard|date=Summer 2004|title=The Soviet Dimension of Italian Communism|journal=Journal of Cold War Studies|volume=6|issue=3|pages=115–119|doi=10.1162/1520397041447355 |jstor=26925390|s2cid=57564743 }}</ref>

According to the former [[KGB]] archivist [[Vasili Mitrokhin]], Longo and other PCI leaders became alarmed at the possibility of a coup in Italy after the Athens Colonel coup in April 1967 that led to the [[Greek junta]]. These fears were not completely unfounded as there had been two attempted coups in Italy, [[Piano Solo]] in 1964 and [[Golpe Borghese]] in 1970, by military and [[neo-fascist]] groups. The PCI's [[Giorgio Amendola]] formally requested Soviet assistance to prepare the party in case of such an event. The KGB drew up and implemented a plan to provide the PCI with its own intelligence and clandestine signal corps. From 1967 through 1973, PCI members were sent to [[East Germany]] and Moscow to receive training in clandestine warfare and information gathering techniques by both the [[Stasi]] and the KGB. Shortly before the [[1972 Italian general election]], Longo personally wrote to [[Leonid Brezhnev]] asking for and receiving an additional $5.7 million in funding. This was on top of the $3.5&nbsp;million that the Soviet Union gave the PCI in 1971. The Soviets also provided additional funding through the use of [[front organisations]] providing generous contracts to PCI members.<ref name="Andrew & Mitrokhin 2001">{{cite book|last1=Andrew|first1=Christopher|last2=Mitrokhin|first2=Vasili|date=2001|title=The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB|publisher=Basic Books}}</ref>

===Leadership of Enrico Berlinguer===
[[File:Enrico Berlinguer.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Enrico Berlinguer]]]]

In 1969, [[Enrico Berlinguer]], the PCI deputy national secretary and later secretary general, took part in the international conference of the communist parties in Moscow, where his delegation disagreed with the official political line and refused to support the final report. Unexpectedly to his hosts, his speech challenged the communist leadership in Moscow. He refused to excommunicate the [[Chinese Communist Party]] and directly told Brezhnev that the [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia]], which he called "the tragedy in Prague", had made clear the considerable differences within the communist movement on fundamental questions, such as national sovereignty, socialist democracy, and the freedom of culture. At the time, the PCI, which had absorbed the PSI's left-wing, the [[Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity]], so strengthening its leadership over the Italian left, was the largest communist party in a [[capitalist state]], garnering 34.4% of the vote in the [[1976 Italian general election]].

Relationships between the PCI and the Soviet Union gradually fell apart as the party moved away from Soviet obedience and [[Marxist–Leninist]] orthodoxy in the 1970s and 1980s and toward [[Eurocommunism]] and the [[Socialist International]]. The PCI sought a collaboration with the socialist and Christian democracy parties, a policy known the [[Historic Compromise]]. The [[kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro]], the DC leader, by the [[Red Brigades]] in May 1978 put an end to any hopes of such a compromise. The compromise was largely abandoned as a PCI policy in 1981. The [[Proletarian Unity Party (Italy)|Proletarian Unity Party]] merged into the PCI in 1984.

During the [[Years of Lead (Italy)|Years of Lead]], the PCI strongly opposed the terrorism and the Red Brigades, who in turn murdered or wounded many PCI members or trade unionists close to the PCI. According to Mitrokhin, the party asked the Soviets to pressure the [[StB]], Czechoslovakia's State Security, to withdraw their support to the group, which Moscow was unable or unwilling to do.<ref name="Andrew & Mitrokhin 2001"/> This, along with the [[Soviet invasion of Afghanistan]], led to a complete break with Moscow in 1979. In 1980, the PCI refused to participate in the international conference of Communist parties in Paris; cash payments to the PCI continued until 1984.<ref name="Drake 2004"/>

===Dissolution===
[[Achille Occhetto]] became general secretary of the PCI in 1988. At a 1989 conference in a working-class section of Bologna, Occhetto stunned the party faithful with a speech heralding the [[Revolutions of 1989]], a move now referred to in Italian politics as the ''svolta della Bolognina'' (Bolognina turning point). The collapse of the Communist governments in the Eastern Europe led Occhetto to conclude that the era of Eurocommunism was over. Under his leadership, the PCI dissolved and refounded itself as the [[Democratic Party of the Left]], which branded itself as a progressive left-wing and [[democratic socialist]] party.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ignazi|first=Pietro|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=--6NAAAAMAAJ|title=Dal PCI al PDS|editor=Il mulino|date=1992|publisher=Il mulino |isbn=978-8-8150-3413-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Bellucci|first1=Paolo|last2=Maraffi|first2=Marco|last3=Segatti|first3=Paolo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ghGg_mV_iY8C|title=PCI, PDS, DS: la trasformazione dell'identità politica della sinistra di governo|editor=Donzelli|date=2000|publisher=Donzelli Editore |isbn=978-8-8798-9547-7}}</ref> A third of the PCI membership, led by [[Armando Cossutta]], refused to join the PDS, and instead seceded to form the [[Communist Refoundation Party]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Kertzer|first=David I.|title=Politics and Symbols: The Italian Communist Party and the Fall of Communism|publisher=Yale University Press|year=1998|isbn=978-0-3000-7724-7}}</ref>

==Popular support==
In all its history, the PCI was particularly strong in [[Central Italy]], in the Red Regions of [[Emilia-Romagna]], [[Marche]], [[Tuscany]], and [[Umbria]], as well as in the industrialised cities of [[Northern Italy]]. The party's municipal showcase was [[Bologna]], which was held continuously by the PCI from 1945 onwards. Amongst other measures, the local PCI administration tackled urban problems with successful programmes of health for the elderly, nursery education and traffic reform,<ref>{{cite book|title=Library of Nations: Italy, Time Life Books|edition=paperback|publisher=Time Life UK|date=1985|isbn=978-0-7054-0850-9}}</ref> while also undertaking initiatives in housing and school meal provisions.<ref>{{cite book|last=Guiat|first=Cyrille|date=2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9mB5N9JH6BMC&dq=italian+communist+party+bologna+housing&pg=PA51|title=The French and Italian Communist Parties: Comrades and Culture|edition=illustrated, commented|publisher=Psychology Press|page=51|isbn=978-0-7146-5332-7}}</ref>

Communist administrations at a local level helped to aid new businesses while also introducing innovative social reforms. From 1946 to 1956, the Communist city council built 31 nursery schools, 896 flats, and 9 schools. Health care improved substantially, street lighting was installed, new drains and municipal launderettes were built and 8,000 children received subsidised school meals. In 1972, the then-mayor of Bologna, [[Renato Zangheri]], introduced a new and innovative traffic plan with strict limitations for private vehicles and a renewed concentration on cheap public transport. Bologna's social services continued to expand throughout the early and mid-1970s. The city centre was restored, centres for the mentally sick were instituted to help those who had been released from recently closed [[psychiatric hospital]]s, handicapped persons were offered training and found suitable jobs, afternoon activities for schoolchildren were made less mindless than the traditional ''doposcuola'' (after-school activities), and school programming for the whole day helped working parents.<ref name="Ginsborg 2003, p. 372"/>

{{Graph:Chart
|width=850
|type=rect
|colors=#E1151f
|xAxisTitle= Elections
|xAxisAngle=-45
|x=1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958 , 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990
|yAxisMin=0
|yAxisFormat=%
|yAxisTitle=% of popular vote
|y1=0.18, .0, .310, .0, .0, .0, .0, .226, .0, .0, .0, .0, .227, .0, .0, .0, .0, .253, .0, .0, .0, .0, .269, .0, .0, .0, .271, .0, .0, .0, .344, .0, .0, .304, .0, .0, .0, .299, .333, .0, .0, .266, .0, .276, .0
}}
The electoral results of the PCI in general ([[Chamber of Deputies (Italy)|Chamber of Deputies]]) and [[European Parliament]] elections since 1946 are shown in the chart above.

==Election results==

===Italian Parliament===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! rowspan="2" | Election
! rowspan="2" | Leader
! colspan="5" | [[Chamber of Deputies (Italy)|Chamber of Deputies]]
! colspan="5" | [[Senate of the Republic (Italy)|Senate of the Republic]]
|-
! Votes !! % !! Seats !! +/– !! Position !! Votes !! % !! Seats !! +/– !! Position
|-
! [[1921 Italian general election|1921]]
| style="text-align:center;" |[[Amedeo Bordiga]]
| 304,719 
| 4.6
| {{Composition bar|15|535|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{increase}} 15}}
| {{increase}} 7th
| colspan=5 | ''No election''
|-
! [[1924 Italian general election|1924]]
| rowspan=2 style="text-align:center;" |[[Antonio Gramsci]]
| 268,191
| 3.6
| {{Composition bar|19|535|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{increase}} 4}}
| {{increase}} 6th
| colspan=5 | ''No election''
|-
! [[1929 Italian general election|1929]]
| colspan=2|''Banned''
| {{Composition bar|0|400|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{decrease}} 19}}
| –
| colspan=5 | ''No election''
|-
! [[1934 Italian general election|1934]]
| rowspan=6 style="text-align:center;" |[[Palmiro Togliatti]]
| colspan=2|''Banned''
| {{Composition bar|0|400|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| –
| colspan=5 | ''No election''
|-
! [[1946 Italian general election|1946]]
| 4,356,686
| 18.9
| {{Composition bar|104|556|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{increase}} 104}}
| {{increase}} 3th
| colspan=5 | ''No election''
|-
! [[1948 Italian general election|1948]]
| 8,136,637{{efn|name=fn1|Into the [[Popular Democratic Front (Italy)|Popular Democratic Front]]}}
| 31.0
| {{Composition bar|130|574|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{increase}} 26}}
| {{increase}} 2nd
| 6,969,122{{efn|name=fn1}}
| 30.8
| {{Composition bar|50|237|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{increase}} 19
| {{increase}} 2nd
|-
! [[1953 Italian general election|1953]]
| 6,120,809
| 22.6
| {{Composition bar|143|590|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{increase}} 13}}
| {{steady}} 2nd
| 6,120,809
| 22.6
| {{Composition bar|56|237|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{increase}} 6}}
| {{steady}} 2nd
|-
! [[1958 Italian general election|1958]]
| 6,704,454
| 22.7
| {{Composition bar|140|596|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{decrease}} 3}}
| {{steady}} 2nd
| 6,704,454 
| 22.2
| {{Composition bar|60|246|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{increase}} 4}}
| {{steady}} 2nd
|-
! [[1963 Italian general election|1963]]
| 7,767,601 
| 25.3
| {{Composition bar|166|630|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{increase}} 26}}
| {{steady}} 2nd
| 6,933,842 
| 25.2
| {{Composition bar|84|315|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{increase}} 24}}
| {{steady}} 2nd
|-
! [[1968 Italian general election|1968]]
| style="text-align:center;" |[[Luigi Longo]]
| 8,557,404 
| 26.9
| {{Composition bar|177|630|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{increase}} 11}}
| {{steady}} 2nd
| 8,583,285 
| 30.0
| {{Composition bar|101|315|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{increase}} 17}}
| {{steady}} 2nd
|-
! [[1972 Italian general election|1972]]
| rowspan=4 style="text-align:center;" |[[Enrico Berlinguer]]
| 9,072,454 
| 27.1
| {{Composition bar|179|630|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{increase}} 2}}
| {{steady}} 2nd
| 8,475,141 
| 28.1
| {{Composition bar|94|315|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{decrease}} 7}}
| {{steady}} 2nd
|-
! [[1976 Italian general election|1976]]
| 12,622,728 
| 34.4
| {{Composition bar|228|630|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{increase}} 49}}
| {{steady}} 2nd
| 10,640,471 
| 33.8
| {{Composition bar|116|315|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{increase}} 22}}
| {{steady}} 2nd
|-
! [[1979 Italian general election|1979]]
| 11,139,231 
| 30.4
| {{Composition bar|201|630|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{decrease}} 27}}
| {{steady}} 2nd
| 9,859,004 
| 31.5
| {{Composition bar|109|315|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{decrease}} 7}}
| {{steady}} 2nd
|-
! [[1983 Italian general election|1983]]
| 11,032,318
| 29.9
| {{Composition bar|198|630|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{decrease}} 3}}
| {{steady}} 2nd
| 9,579,699 
| 30.8
| {{Composition bar|107|315|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{decrease}} 2}}
| {{steady}} 2nd
|-
! [[1987 Italian general election|1987]]
| style="text-align:center;" |[[Alessandro Natta]]
| 10,254,591 
| 26.6
| {{Composition bar|177|630|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{decrease}} 24}}
| {{steady}} 2nd
| 9,181,579 
| 28.3
| {{Composition bar|101|315|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{decrease}} 6}}
| {{steady}} 2nd
|}

===European Parliament===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! Election 
! Leader 
! Votes 
! % 
! Seats 
! +/– 
! Position
! EP Group
|-
! [[1979 European Parliament election in Italy|1979]]
| style="text-align:center;" |[[Enrico Berlinguer]]
| 10,361,344 
| 29.6
| {{Composition bar|24|81|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{increase}} 24
| {{increase}} 2nd
| rowspan=3|[[Communist and Allies Group|COM]]
|-
! [[1984 European Parliament election in Italy|1984]]
| style="text-align:center;" |[[Alessandro Natta]]
| 11,714,428 
| 33.3
| {{Composition bar|27|81|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{increase}} 3}}
| {{increase}} 1st
|-
! [[1989 European Parliament election in Italy|1989]]
| style="text-align:center;" |[[Achille Occhetto]]
| 9,598,369 
| 27.6
| {{Composition bar|22|81|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{decrease}} 5}}
| {{decrease}} 2nd
|}

===Regional elections===
{| class=wikitable style="width:50%; border:1px #AAAAFF solid"
|-
| colspan=6|[[Regions of Italy]]
|-
! width=13%|Election year
! width=16%|Votes
! width=6%|%
! width=1%|Seats
! width=8%|+/−
! width=19%|Leader
|-
! [[1970 Italian regional elections|1970]]
| 7,586,983 (2nd)
| 27.9
| {{Composition bar|200|720|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|–}}
| {{center|[[Luigi Longo]]}}
|-
! [[1975 Italian regional elections|1975]]
| 10.148,723 (2nd)
| 33.4
| {{Composition bar|247|720|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{increase}} 47}}
| {{center|[[Enrico Berlinguer]]}}
|-
! [[1980 Italian regional elections|1980]]
| 9,555,767 (2nd)
| 31.5
| {{Composition bar|233|720|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{Decrease}} 14}}
| {{center|[[Enrico Berlinguer]]}}
|-
! [[1985 Italian regional elections|1985]]
| 9,686,140 (2nd)
| 30.2
| {{Composition bar|225|720|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{decrease}} 8}}
| {{center|[[Alessandro Natta]]}}
|-
! [[1990 Italian regional elections|1990]]
| 7,660,553 (2nd)
| 24.0
| {{Composition bar|182|720|hex={{party color|Italian Communist Party}}}}
| {{center|{{Decrease}} 43}}
| {{center|[[Achille Occhetto]]}}
|}

==Leadership==
* Secretary: [[Antonio Gramsci]] (1926), [[Camilla Ravera]] (1927–1930), [[Palmiro Togliatti]] (1930–1934), [[Ruggero Grieco]] (1934–1938), [[Palmiro Togliatti]] (1938–1964), [[Luigi Longo]] (1964–1972), [[Enrico Berlinguer]] (1972–1984), [[Alessandro Natta]] (1984–1988), [[Achille Occhetto]] (1988–1991)
* President: [[Luigi Longo]] (1972–1980), [[Alessandro Natta]] (1989–1990), [[Aldo Tortorella]] (1990–1991)
* Leader in the [[Chamber of Deputies (Italy)|Chamber of Deputies]]: [[Luigi Longo]] (1946–1947), [[Palmiro Togliatti]] (1947–1964), [[Pietro Ingrao]] (1964–1972), [[Alessandro Natta]] (1972–1979), [[Fernando Di Giulio]] (1979–1981), [[Giorgio Napolitano]] (1981–1986), [[Renato Zangheri]] (1986–1990), [[Giulio Quercini]] (1990–1991)
* Leader in the [[Senate of the Republic (Italy)|Senate]]: [[Mauro Scoccimarro]] (1948–1958), [[Umberto Terracini]] (1958–1973), Edoardo Perna (1973–1986), [[Gerardo Chiaromonte]] (1983–1986), Ugo Pecchioli (1986–1991)
* Leader in the [[European Parliament]]: [[Giorgio Amendola]] (1979–1980), [[Guido Fanti]] (1980–1984), Giovanni Cervetti (1984–1989), Luigi Alberto Colajanni (1989–1991)

==Symbols==
<gallery>
File:Liste 1924 - 19.svg|1921–1945
File:Logo Partito Comunista Italiano 1946.svg|1945–1951
File:Logo Partito Comunista Italiano.svg|1951–1991
</gallery>

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Aldo Agosti, "The Comintern and the Italian Communist Party in Light of New Documents," in Tim Rees and Andrew Thorpe (eds.), ''International Communism and the Communist International, 1919–43.'' Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998.
* Luigi Cortesi, ''Le origini del PCI.'' Laterza, 1972.
* Franco Livorsi, ''Amadeo Bordiga.'' [[Editori Riuniti]], 1976.
* [[Paolo Spriano]], ''Storia del Partito Comunista Italiano'', vol. I ''Da Bordiga a Gramsci'', [[Giulio Einaudi Editore|Einaudi]], 1967.
* ''La nascita del Partito Comunista d'Italia (Livorno 1921)'', ed. L'Internazionale, Milano 1981.
* ''La liquidazione della sinistra del P.C.d'It. (1925)'', L'Internazionale, Milano 1991.
* ''La lotta del Partito Comunista d'Italia (Strategia e tattica della rivoluzione, 1921–1922)'', ed. L'Internazionale, Milano 1984.
* ''Il partito decapitato (La sostituzione del gruppo dirigente del P.C.d'It., 1923–24)'', L'Internazionale, Milano 1988.
* ''Partito Comunista d'Italia'', ''Secondo Congresso Nazionale – Relazione del CC'', Reprint [[Feltrinelli (publisher)|Feltrinelli]], 1922.

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Partito Comunista Italiano}}
* [http://www.quinterna.org/lingue/english/historical_en/0_historical_archives.htm Historical Archive of the Communist Left with hundreds of documents of PCd'I]
* [https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/sections/italy/index.htm Communist Party of Italy Archive] at [[marxists.org]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121019062221/http://www.sinistra.net/ sinistra.net Online Archive of the Communist Left]
* [http://www.partitocomunistaitaliano.blogspot.com Website on the history of the Italian Communist Party]
* [http://www.lapatriagrande.net/01_venezuela/debate/arrigo_cervetto.htm Biography of Arrigo Cervetto]
* [https://search.library.uq.edu.au/primo-explore/fulldisplay?vid=61UQ&docid=61UQ_ALMA2193390180003131&lang=en_US&context=L  The Italian Road to Socialism, an interview by Eric Hobsbawm with Giorgio Napolitano; translated by John Cammett and Victoria DeGrazia]

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