The Workers' Communist Party (
Italian: ''Partito Comunista dei Lavoratori'', PCL) is a
communist party 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 ...
. It was created in 2006 by the
Trotskyist
Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...
breakaway wing of 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 ...
led by
Marco Ferrando. The PCL is the Italian section of International Trotskyist Opposition.
History
The foundation of the Italian Communist Workers' Party (PCL) as a new political entity was the result of a split within 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 ...
(PRC) when the PRC joined the
second government headed by
Romano Prodi
Romano Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician who served as President of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004 and twice as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1996 to 1998, and again from 2006 to 2008. Prodi is considered the fo ...
. The movement, known as Common Project since its inception, had taken a stance further to the left within the party as it opposed the political alliance with
The Olive Tree, an association of center-left parties, being extremely critical of past centre-left governments, in particular the
first Prodi government with
Massimo D'Alema
Massimo D'Alema (; born 20 April 1949) is an Italian politician and journalist who was the 53rd prime minister of Italy from 1998 to 2000. He was Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2008. D'Alema ...
and
Giuliano Amato
Giuliano Amato (; born 13 May 1938) is an Italian politician who twice served as Prime Minister of Italy, first from 1992 to 1993 and again from 2000 to 2001. Upon Arnaldo Forlani's death in July 2023, Amato became the country's earliest-servin ...
. The "Common Project" movement was also opposed to the politics of the then Secretary of the PRC Fausto Bertinotti. The group refused to be part of the new government, maintaining that such participation would be disastrous. Moreover, following the exclusion of their leader
Marco Ferrando from the electoral list of the PRC for the elections to the Senate in the 2006, his followers pushed for a split in the party to maintain a communist opposition to the new government.
The birth of the movement was seen as a response to the emergence of two new left-wing political parties: the
Democratic Party (PD), the fusion of the
Democrats of the Left
The Democrats of the Left (, DS) was a social-democratic political party in Italy. Positioned on the centre-left, the DS, successor of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and the Italian Communist Party, was formed in 1998 upon the merger ...
and
Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy
Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy (, DL), commonly known simply as The Daisy (''La Margherita''), was a Centrism, centrist List of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy. The party was formed from the merger of three parties with ...
; and
The Left – The Rainbow, an organization that grouped together the
Party of Italian Communists
The Party of Italian Communists (, PdCI) was a communist party in Italy established in October 1998 by splinters from the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC). The split was led by Armando Cossutta, founder and early leader of the PRC, who oppos ...
, the
Democrats of the Left
The Democrats of the Left (, DS) was a social-democratic political party in Italy. Positioned on the centre-left, the DS, successor of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and the Italian Communist Party, was formed in 1998 upon the merger ...
and the
Greens, along with the PRC. The backers of the PCL believed that the future PD would be
centrist and
liberal and close to the interests of banks and corporations. Regarding the Rainbow Left, they considered this coalition fundamentally
social democratic
Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...
and too close to the administration with only a pretension of revolutionary idealism and radicalism. The constitution of the PCL was implemented on 18 June 2006 at the Barberini movie theatre in Rome. Agreement was reached regarding a new symbol and a coordination at the national level. From this date onward, member were free to join the new party and promote political activism.
Adherence to the new party comes from activists and communist leaders, members of the PRC, from the leftist trade unions, the
Italian General Confederation of Labour (from the group of 28 April Network) and other trade organizations (RdB, CUB, COBAS, Sin COBAS and SLAI COBAS). Further support come from the
anti-globalization movement
The anti-globalization movement, or counter-globalization movement, is a social movement critical of economic globalization. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist m ...
s, groups
opposing imperialism and those in favor of overthrowing the government in Israel (in particular the Palestine Forum) or protesting against the war. Representatives of the civil rights and sexual liberation (especially in Rome) movements also manifest their interest.
In autumn 2006, the PCL together with other peace organizations and anti-imperialist participants in the protest against the military missions in Afghanistan and Lebanon (30 September) and in the national demonstration of anti-Israeli activity with Palestinian people, sponsored by the Palestine Forum. On 17 November, the PCL participates in the general strike called by trade unions against the government.
On 14 April 2007, the first meeting of the movement was held, which according to its managers had about 1,300 members (530 participants in meetings) in the congress.
In late 2007, members were elected to the National Coordination and the new National Executive bodies to organize the PCL constitutive congress in January 2008.
At the
2008 elections, the Workers' Communist Party got 208,000 votes, or 0.6%.
In 2009, it was joined by the Alternative Proletarian Communist Organization, born from a split in the
Communist Alternative Party.
There was some possibility that it would be the only party using the label Communist standing in the
2013 Italian general election. However, the PCL decided to run under their official name in which they gained slightly less than 90,000 votes.
For the
2018 elections, the PCL and Left, Class and Revolution presented a list named
For a Revolutionary Left.
Party relations
The PCL was affiliated to the
Coordinating Committee for the Refoundation of the Fourth International, a Trotskyist political international. The party has a very conflicting relationship with the
Communist Alternative Party (PdAC), another Trotskyist political organization in Italy.
The PCL was involved in the re-launch of the International Trotskyist Opposition at a conference in late 2022.
In 2025 the ITO decided to join the
International Socialist League (2019), so the PCL became its Italian section.
Electoral results
Italian Parliament
European Parliament
Regional Councils
References
External links
Official website
{{Italian political parties
Communist parties in Italy
Political parties established in 2006
Trotskyist organisations in Italy
Far-left politics in Italy
Coordinating Committee for the Refoundation of the Fourth International
Trotskyist parties