Proletarian Democracy (, DP) was a

far-left Far-left politics, also known as extreme left politics or left-wing extremism, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single, coherent definition; some ...

History

1970s

DP was founded in 1975 as a joint electoral front of the Proletarian Unity Party (PdUP), Workers Vanguard (AO) and the "Workers Movement for Socialism" (MLS), for the 1975 Italian regional elections. At the local level, smaller groups joined, such as the "Marxist-Leninist Communist Organization", "Revolutionary Communist Groups - IV International" and the "League of the Communists". DP took part in the 1976 elections, winning 556,022 votes (1.51%) and 6 seats in the election to the Chamber of Deputies. On 13 April 1978, DP was transformed into a political party. The move to make DP into a real political party was pushed through by the minority wing of PdUP, led by

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

Vittorio Foa and Silvano Miniati; the majority of AO, led by Massimo Gorla and Luigi Vinci; and the League of the Communists, led by Romano Luporini. The main figure of DP was the charismatic Mario Capanna, a former student leader associated with the 1968

New Left The New Left was a broad political movement that emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s and continued through the 1970s. It consisted of activists in the Western world who, in reaction to the era's liberal establishment, campaigned for freer ...

movement. The strongholds of DP were the industrial cities of

Northern Italy Northern Italy (, , ) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. The Italian National Institute of Statistics defines the region as encompassing the four Northwest Italy, northwestern Regions of Italy, regions of Piedmo ...

, which had strong leftist traditions. DP was opposed to the so-called ' historic compromise' between 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 Christian Democrats. During the 1978 electoral campaign, Peppino Impastato, a leading DP member from

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, was murdered by the Mafia. In the 1979 elections for the European Parliament, DP won 1 seat in the Technical Group of Independents group.

1980s

In the 1983 Italian general election DP won 542,039 votes (1.47%) and 7 seats in the election to the Chamber of Deputies. In the 1987 general election DP won 642,161 votes (1.66%) and 8 seats in the election to the Chamber of Deputies. In the same year DP won 493,667 votes (1.52%) and one seat in the election to the Senate. In 1987 Capanna stepped down, and Giovanni Russo Spena became the secretary of DP. Two years later, the DP suffered a split, as a section led by Capanna launched their own list on ahead of the elections to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

, in association with leading Radicals, called the Rainbow Greens.

1990s

On 9 June 1991 the congress of DP in Riccione decided to merge the party into the Communist Refoundation Movement, which became the

Communist Refoundation Party The Communist Refoundation Party (, PRC) is a Communism, communist List of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy that emerged from a split of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1991. The party's secretary is Maurizio Acerbo, who r ...

Election results

Italian Parliament

European Parliament

Regional elections

References

{{Authority control Defunct political parties in Italy History of the Communist Refoundation Party Political parties established in 1975 Defunct communist parties in Italy Political parties disestablished in 1991 1975 establishments in Italy 1991 disestablishments in Italy Trotskyist parties