The Sammarinese People's Party (PPS) was a

Christian democratic Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...

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

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

, forerunner of the current

Sammarinese Christian Democratic Party The Sammarinese Christian Democratic Party (, PDCS) is a Christian-democratic political party in San Marino. The PDCS is an observer member of the European People's Party (EPP), having joined the EPP in 1993. Its Italian counterpart was the no ...

, and counterpart of the Italian People's Party.

History

The PPS was founded in December 1919 by Egisto Morri, Carlo Balsimelli and some socially engaged priests.{{Cite web , url=http://www.psd.sm/area/altri/enti/democratici/doc/doc100/nuovo_titano%20B%20.pdf , title=www.psd.sm (it.) , access-date=2013-03-11 , archive-date=2014-02-22 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222231706/http://www.psd.sm/area/altri/enti/democratici/doc/doc100/nuovo_titano%20B%20.pdf , url-status=dead The party was backed by

Pope Benedict XV Pope Benedict XV (; ; born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, ; 21 November 1854 – 22 January 1922) was head of the Catholic Church from 1914 until his death in January 1922. His pontificate was largely overshadowed by World War I a ...

to oppose the

Sammarinese Socialist Party The Sammarinese Socialist Party (, PSS) was a socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of ...

, after the abrogation of the '' non expedit'' act. During midsummer 1920, the PPS organized some farmers' strikes and called for general elections, which took place on November 14, 1920. Elections were held under party-list proportional

electoral system An electoral or voting system is a set of rules used to determine the results of an election. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections may take place in business, nonprofit organizations and inf ...

; it was a narrow victory, the party obtaining 29 of the 60 seats, just two seats short of an

absolute majority A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the " Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a set consisting of more than half of the set's elements. For example, if a gr ...

. However, the revolutionary, and finally self-disruptive, political line of the Socialists, which abandoned the

Grand and General Council The Grand and General Council (; ) is the unicameral parliament of San Marino. The council has 60 members elected for a five-year term. History From the fifth century San Marino was ruled by an assembly composed by all the family heads known ...

to organize continuous strikes, left the Populars alone against their other opponents, the

rightist Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property, r ...

Sammarinese Democratic Union which was led by the new-born

Sammarinese Fascist Party The Sammarinese Fascist Party () or PFS was a fascist political party that ruled San Marino from 1923 to 1943. History The party was founded on 10 August 1922 and led by Giuliano Gozi, a Sammarinese World War I veteran who volunteered in the R ...

. During the general election of 1923, the PPS was part of the

Fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

-led'' Patriotic Bloc''.

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

's agents worked to lead the small republic toward a dictatorship. The PPS was finally disbanded by the Fascists in 1925, a few days after the closure of the PPI 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 ...

References

Political parties established in 1919 Political parties disestablished in 1925 Defunct political parties in San Marino Christian democratic parties in Europe Catholic political parties 1919 establishments in San Marino 1925 disestablishments in San Marino