Democratic Party of the Left

Democratic Party of the Left
Democratic Party of the Left
Partito Democratico della Sinistra
Secretary (1991–1994) Achille Occhetto
Secretary (1994–1998) Massimo D'Alema
Founded 3 February 1991
Dissolved 13 February 1998
Preceded by Italian Communist Party
Succeeded by Democrats of the Left
Newspaper L'Unità
Membership max: 989,708 (1991)
min: 613,412 (1998)[1]
Ideology Democratic socialism
National affiliation Alliance of Progressives (1994),
The Olive Tree (1995-1998)
International affiliation Socialist International
European affiliation Party of European Socialists
European Parliament Group Party of European Socialists
Politics of Italy
Political parties
Elections

The Democratic Party of the Left (Partito Democratico della Sinistra, PDS) was a post-communist, democratic socialist political party in Italy.

History

It was founded in 1991 as the evolution of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in a democratic-socialist direction. Its first leader was Achille Occhetto, the final secretary of the PCI.

The logo of the PDS consisted mainly of an oak tree that retained, in a roundel at the tree's roots, the previous symbol of the PCI: this was done both to indicate the party's roots, but did not prevent hardliners leaving the party and launching the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC). Thus the logo was also adopted in order to prevent the PRC from making usage of the symbol immediately after the split between the two parties.

In the 1994 general election Occhetto was the leader of the Alliance of Progressives but he lost to Silvio Berlusconi. In the election's aftermath, Massimo D'Alema was elected new party secretary. In the 1996 general election, after the collapse of Berlusconi's coalition, the PDS was part of the winning coalition, The Olive Tree, led by Romano Prodi. In the Prodi I Cabinet, a leading member of the PDS, Giorgio Napolitano, became Minister of the Interior.

In 1997 D'Alema called for the party to become more of a European social-democratic party, and in 1998 was transformed in Democrats of the Left, after the merger with Labour Federation, Social Christians, Republican Left, Unitarian Communists, Reformists for Europe and Democratic Federation. On this occasion, the party decided to replace the hammer and sickle of its emblem with the carnation of European social democracy.

Leadership

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Democratic Party of the Left — (PDS)    See Partito Democratico della Sinistra …   Historical Dictionary of modern Italy

  • Democratic Party of the Atlantic — Partido Democrático do Atlântico Founded November 5, 1979 (1979 11 05) Headquarters …   Wikipedia

  • Democratic Party of the City of Buenos Aires — The Democratic Party of the City of Buenos Aires (Spanish: Partido Demócrata de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires) is a provincial political party in Buenos Aires City, Argentina. It is a member of the national Recreate for Growth electoral alliance led… …   Wikipedia

  • Democratic Party of the Republika Srpska — The Democratic Party of the Republika Srpska (Демократска Странка Републике Српске, Demokratska Stranka Republike Srpske) is a Serbian political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was founded in 2009 by Dragan Čavić, who left the Serbian… …   Wikipedia

  • Radical Party of the Left — Parti radical de gauche Leader Jean Michel Baylet Founded 1971 (GEARS) 1972 (MGRS) 197 …   Wikipedia

  • Democratic Party (Italy) — Democratic Party Partito Democratico Secretary Pier Luigi Bersani Deputy Secretary …   Wikipedia

  • The Left (Germany) — The Left Die Linke Leader Gesine Lötzsch Klaus Ernst Founded 16 J …   Wikipedia

  • Democratic Party (Italy) leadership election, 2009 — The 2009 Democratic Party leadership election was held in July–November 2009 following the resignation of Walter Veltroni in February 2009, after 16 months as secretary of the Democratic Party (PD), the second largest political party in Italy.… …   Wikipedia

  • Democratic Union for the Republic — Union for the Republic President Francesco Cossiga Secretary …   Wikipedia

  • Democratic Party of Hawaii — Chairman Dante Carpenter Senate leader Shan S. Tsutsui (President) Brickwood Galuteria (Majority Leader) …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”