The Italian Democratic Liberal Party ( it, Partito Liberale Democratico Italiano, PLDI) was a

social-liberal Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

active in Italy in the earlier decades of the 20th century. Initially, the party was an alliance between progressive liberals, called

Liberals, Democrats and Radicals The Agreed Lists of Liberals, Democrats and Radicals ( it, Liste concordate di liberali, democratici e radicali) were a liberal and radical political alliance in Italy in the first decades of the 20th century. History It was formed for the 1919 I ...

History

The

' alliance was formed for the 1919 general election. It came third after the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parties of the country. Founded in Genoa in 1892 ...

and the Italian People's Party, with 15.9% and 96 seats, doing particularly well in

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

and

Southern Italy Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the peop ...

, especially in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, the home-region of party's leader and former Prime Minister

Vittorio Emanuele Orlando Vittorio Emanuele Orlando (19 May 1860 – 1 December 1952) was an Italian statesman, who served as the Prime Minister of Italy from October 1917 to June 1919. Orlando is best known for representing Italy in the 1919 Paris Peace Conference with h ...

. The Democratic Liberal Party was formed for the 1921 general election by the union of the individual politicians, most of whom had taken part to the joint electoral lists between the Radicals and the Liberals in many single-seat constituencies of the country in

1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the ...

, gaining 16.0% of the vote and 96 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 Bourbon ...

. In 1921 the PLD gained 10.5% of the vote and 68 seats, doing particularly well in

and

. The party suffered a strong setback in the 1924 general election, which were held under strong intimidation from fascist Blackshirts, and saw the PLD's share of votes decrease to 2.2%, electing 14 seats. The party was banned on 6 November 1926, when the

National Fascist Party The National Fascist Party ( it, Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian Fascism and as a reorganization of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The p ...

was proclaimed to be the only legal party in Italy. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

former Radicals and Democrats led by

Francesco Saverio Nitti Francesco Saverio Vincenzo de Paolo Nitti (19 July 1868 – 20 February 1953) was an Italian economist and political figure. A Radical, he served as Prime Minister of Italy between 1919 and 1920. According to the ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' ( ...

joined the National Democratic Union alongside Liberals and other elements of the old Liberal elite that governed Italy from the years 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. After Benito Mussolini, he is the List of Italian Prime Ministers by time in office, second-longe ...

until the rise of

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in ...

and the instauration of the

Fascist Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...

regime.

Ideology

The Democratic Liberal Party was the expression of the liberalism and radicalism in Italy, and the

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Co ...

, including cities' bourgeoisie, small business owners and

artisan An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art, ...

s among its supporters. There was also a main group of

Radicals Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and ...

, who supported

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political sta ...

and universal public schooling for all children.

Electoral results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Democratic Liberal Party (Italy) Defunct political parties in Italy Defunct liberal political parties Liberal parties in Italy 1921 establishments in Italy Political parties established in 1921 1926 disestablishments in Italy Political parties disestablished in 1926 Banned political parties in Italy Radical parties in Italy