The Dissident Left (), commonly named The Pentarchy () for its five leaders, was a progressive and

radical Radical (from Latin: ', root) may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Classical radicalism, the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and Latin America in the 19th century *Radical politics ...

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political party, political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller politic ...

active in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

during the last decades of the 19th century.

History

It emerged in 1880 from the

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

of the two dominant parliamentary groups, the

Historical Left The Left group (), later called Historical Left () by historians to distinguish it from the left-wing groups of the 20th century, was a liberal and reformist parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group ...

, in opposition to the ''

trasformismo ''Trasformismo'' was the method of making a flexible centrist coalition of government which isolated the extremes of the political left and the political right in Italian politics after the Italian unification and before the rise of Benito Musso ...

'' of

Agostino Depretis Agostino Depretis (31 January 181329 July 1887) was an Italian statesman and politician. He served as Prime Minister of Italy for several stretches between 1876 and 1887, and was leader of the Historical Left parliamentary group for more than a de ...

. In the 1880 general election, the party won 19.7% of the vote and 119 seats in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An ex ...

; Philip Stöver (2010). ''Elections in Europe: A Data Handbook''. p. 1047. . The Pentarchy was a group formed led by

Francesco Crispi Francesco Crispi (4 October 1818 – 11 August 1901) was an Italian patriot and statesman. He was among the main protagonists of the Risorgimento, a close friend and supporter of Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi, and one of the architect ...

and composed also by

Giuseppe Zanardelli Giuseppe Zanardelli (29 October 1826 26 December 1903) was an Italian jurist and political figure. He served as the Prime Minister of Italy from 15 February 1901 to 3 November 1903. An eloquent orator, he was also a Grand Master freemason. Zan ...

Benedetto Cairoli Benedetto Cairoli (28 January 1825 – 8 August 1889) was an Italian politician, who served as Prime Minister of Italy for 2 years. Biography Cairoli was born at Pavia, Lombardy. From 1848 until the completion of Italian unity in 1870, his whol ...

Giovanni Nicotera Giovanni Nicotera (9 September 1828 – 13 June 1894) was an Italian patriot and politician. His surname is pronounced as , with stress on the second syllable. Biography Nicotera was born at Sambiase, in Calabria, in the Kingdom of the Two Sic ...

, Agostino Magliani, Alfredo Beccarini and Gabriele D'Annunzio. Initially split from the Left in 1880, this group re-merged in to the Left in 1887.

Ideology

The Dissident Left supported

statist In political science, statism or etatism (from French, ''état'' 'state') is the doctrine that the political authority of the state is legitimate to some degree. This may include economic and social policy, especially in regard to taxation an ...

and progressive internal policies,

expansionism Expansionism refers to states obtaining greater territory through military Imperialism, empire-building or colonialism. In the classical age of conquest moral justification for territorial expansion at the direct expense of another established p ...

and

Germanophile A Germanophile, Teutonophile, or Teutophile is a person who is fond of Culture of Germany, German culture, Germans, German people and Germany in general, or who exhibits German patriotism in spite of not being either an ethnic German or a German ...

foreign policies, as well as

protectionist Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

economy policies. Most of these policies were to be implemented by

when he became

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

in the 1890s.Simone Oldani
"La politica di Crispi"
.

Electoral results

References

{{19th century Italian political groups Liberal parties in Italy Social liberal parties Political parties established in 1880 1880 establishments in Italy Political parties disestablished in 1887 1887 disestablishments in Italy