The long and winding road. The ideological evolution of the Italian radical left in the Second Republic: the case of Partito della Rifondazione Comunista

ABSTRACTThis article analyses the ideological evolution of the Partito della Rifondazione Comunista (P.R.C.), the main representative of the radical left in Italy in the so-called Second Republic. The focus on the ideological nature of P.R.C. is justified because as a ‘purifying party’ the debates on the ideological nature of the party have played a crucial role in the process of defining party identity. In this sense, this article differentiates three main phases in the ideological evolution of the party. Finally, this analysis reinforces the notion that the ideological changes that the P.R.C. has undergone, in its constant redefinition of a neo-communist identity, are determined by its position vis-à-vis the political, historical, and cultural heritage of the Italian communist tradition embodied in the P.C.I.RIASSUNTOQuesto articolo analizza l’evoluzione ideologica del Partito della Rifondazione Comunista (P.R.C.), il principale rappresentante della sinistra radicale in Italia nella cosiddetta Seconda Repubblica. L’attenzione alla natura ideologica del P.R.C. è giustificata dal fatto che in quanto “partito purificatore” i dibattiti sulla natura ideologica del partito hanno svolto un ruolo cruciale nel processo di definizione dell’identità del partito. In questo senso, questo articolo evidenzia tre diverse fasi nell’evoluzione ideologica del partito. Infine, questa analisi rafforza il principio secondo cui i cambiamenti ideologici che il P.R.C. ha subito, nella sua costante ridefinizione di un’identità neocomunista, sono determinati in grande misura dalla sua posizione rispetto all’eredità politica, storica e culturale della tradizione comunista italiana incarnata dal P.C.I.KEYWORDS: communismpost-communismneo-communismanti-capitalismglobalizationneoliberalismPAROLE CHIAVE: Comunismopost-comunismoneo-comunismoanti-capitalismoglobalizzazioneneoliberalismo Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.Notes1. Although the Italian Constitution of 1948 is still in force, Italy’s republican history is divided into two periods: the First and the Second Republic. The term Second Republic refers, therefore, not to a change of regime, but to the radical mutation of the party system that took place in the period 1992–1994 and inaugurated a new phase of bipolar competition. For some analysts and observers, this phase of Italy’s republican history is considered to have ended with the inauguration of the three-party competition system in the 2013 elections.2. Bertinotti’s aim to turn P.R.C. into a party-movement or ‘movement of movements’, in dialogue and collaboration with other forms of opposition to the capitalist system originating in civil society, also led to important changes in the organizational nature of the party. These included the personalization of the party, stimulated by Bertinotti’s charisma and leadership style; a less rigid and more flexible party organization as a strategy to facilitate the capacity for action with other social movements. Consequently, with Bertinotti’s leadership the P.R.C. opened to the phenomenon of ‘double militancy’ and the emergence of a new, more fluid and unstable, type of party membership (Bertolino Citation2004; Mule Citation2009).3. The minority of the party opposed to the liquidation of the ideological identity and organizational tradition of Italian communism promoted by Bertinotti organized around the magazine Ernesto under the leadership of Claudio Grassi (Bordandini and di Virgilio Citation2007)4. The P.R.C. differs from the P.D.S. in foreign policy not only in its radical opposition to N.A.T.O. and U.S. hegemony in the post-cold war world. While the P.D.S. and its heirs give continuity to the pro-European policy of Berlinguer’s P.C.I. and its “Eurocommunist” project, the P.R.C. has remained throughout its history the greatest exponent of a Eurosceptic position in the Italian left (Mule Citation2009, 65).Additional informationNotes on contributorsJorge del PalacioJorge del Palacio is Professor of History of Political Thought in the Department of Public Law and Political Science at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid. His academic interest focuses on contemporary political ideologies and Italian politics. He has been co-editor of the book Geografía del populismo (Tecnos, 2017) and editor of the special issue ‘Italia 2008–2018: ¿fin de la Segunda República?’ published in Revista de Estudios Políticos in 2020. This article has benefited from a research stay at the History and Civilization Department of the European University Institute during spring 2023.