| Italian Communism Party Partito Comunista Italiano | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | PCI |
| General Secretary | Ercole Ercoli |
| Founded | 15 May 1943 |
| Preceded by | Communist Party of Italy |
| Headquarters | Rome (43-48) Trento (48- ) |
| Newspaper | L'Unità |
| Youth wing | Italian Communist Youth Federation |
| Ideology | Communism |
| Political position | Left-wing |
The Italian Communist Party (Italian: Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy.
The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI).Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played a major part in the Italian resistance movement.
In 1943, the party changed its name in order to revitalize the movement. By 1944, the party as became the symbol of resistance against Fascist Italy.
Early Years[]
The PCI participated to its first general election in 1921, obtaining 4.6% of the vote and 15 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. At the time, it was an active but small faction within Italian political left, which was strongly led by the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), while on the international plane it was part of Soviet-led Comintern.
In 1926, the Fascist government of Benito Mussolini outlawed the PCI. Although forced underground, the PCI maintained a clandestine presence within Italy during the years of the Fascist regime. Many of its leaders were also active in exile. During its first year as a banned party, Antonio Gramsci defeated the party's left wing, led by Amadeo Bordiga.
Gramsci replaced Bordiga's leadership at a conference in Lyon, and issued a manifesto expressing the programmatic basis of the party. However, Gramsci soon found himself jailed by Mussolini's regime, and the leadership of the party passed to Palmiro Togliatti, better known as Ercole Ercoli.
Resistance and State of Trento[]
List of General Secretaries of the PCI[]
| No | Portrait |
Name (born-died) |
Term of Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 
|
Amedeo Bordiga (1889- ) |
January 1921 - January 1924 |
| 2 | 
|
Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) |
January 1924 - November 1926 |
| 3 | 
|
Ercole Ercoli/Palmiro Togliatti (1893- ) |
November 1926 - Incumbent |