The Labour Democratic Party (), previously known as Labour Democracy (), was an

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...

, social-democratic, and social-liberal political party in Italy. Founded in 1943 as the heir of the defunct Italian Reformist Socialist Party, it was formed by members of the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a Social democracy, social democratic and Democratic socialism, democratic socialist political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parti ...

who wanted to cooperate with the Italian Liberal Party, the heir of the Liberals, which governed Italy from the days of

Giovanni Giolitti Giovanni Giolitti (; 27 October 1842 – 17 July 1928) was an Italian statesman. He was the prime minister of Italy five times between 1892 and 1921. He is the longest-serving democratically elected prime minister in Italian history, and the sec ...

. Leading members of the party were

Ivanoe Bonomi Ivanoe Bonomi (; 18 October 1873 – 20 April 1951) was an Italian politician and journalist who served as Prime Minister of Italy from 1921 to 1922 and again from 1944 to 1945. Background and earlier career Ivanoe Bonomi was born in Mant ...

, Meuccio Ruini, and Enrico Molè.

History

The party became one of the six members of the

National Liberation Committee The National Liberation Committee (, CLN) was a political umbrella organization and the main representative of the Italian resistance movement fighting against the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationist forces of the ...

, which governed Italy during the war against

Italian fascism Italian fascism (), also called classical fascism and Fascism, is the original fascist ideology, which Giovanni Gentile and Benito Mussolini developed in Italy. The ideology of Italian fascism is associated with a series of political parties le ...

from 1944 to 1946. After having taken part at the 1946 Italian general election within the National Democratic Union, composed of

Benedetto Croce Benedetto Croce, ( , ; 25 February 1866 – 20 November 1952) was an Italian idealist philosopher, historian, and politician who wrote on numerous topics, including philosophy, history, historiography, and aesthetics. A Cultural liberalism, poli ...

's Italian Liberal Party and pre-Fascist leading Liberal politicians, such as Vittorio Emanuele Orlando and Francesco Saverio Nitti, some members joined the Italian Democratic Socialist Party, of which Bonomi was honorary chairman from 1947 until his death in 1951. Others joined the

, and the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party (, PCI) was a communist and democratic socialist political party in Italy. It was established in Livorno as the Communist Party of Italy (, PCd'I) on 21 January 1921, when it seceded from the Italian Socialist Part ...

and the Italian Liberal Party as independents.

Electoral results

Italian Parliament

Notes * In 1946 elections, the DL ran alone in some provinces and under the National Democratic Union in some others, and elected one and eight deputies.

Sources

*Lucio D'Angelo, ''Ceti medi e ricostruzione. Il Partito democratico del lavoro. 1943-1948'', Milano, Giuffrè, 1981. *Simona Colarizi, ''Storia dei partiti nell'Italia repubblicana'', Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1994, pp. 74–75. {{Authority control Labour parties Anti-fascist organisations in Italy Liberal parties in Italy Political parties established in 1943 Political parties disestablished in 1948 Defunct political parties in Italy 1943 establishments in Italy 1948 disestablishments in Italy