VIII - The PCI between the Prague Spring, the '68 movement, and the rupture with the Manifesto group (1968–1972)

With the advance of conservative forces, the PCI had the urgent need to emerge from a situation of stagnation, and the first response was given during the XIII Party Congress, in March 1972, by the newly appointed General Secretary Enrico Berlinguer who, in his introductory speech, proposed a "government of democratic change" that would see the collaboration of the three main popular currents: communist, socialist, and Catholic[1]. In that context, the unity of the left was a "necessary, but not sufficient condition."

A new turning point occurred in 1973 in the aftermath of Pinochet's coup d'état in Chile against Allende's left-wing government. Berlinguer, fearing that democracy in Italy might also be in danger, relaunched, with an article in Rinascita, the line of a "historic compromise," an alliance among the three popular parties in defense of democratic Institutions[2]. Berlinguer saw the Christian Democracy (DC) not as a monolithic and conservative party, but as a constantly evolving force, within which, besides reactionary forces, important popular elements were present that could, and should, be convinced to collaborate with the PCI. In the following years, the PCI leader continued to pursue this political line, broadening it and going so far as to propose an alliance with the DC that was no longer just defensive, but also programmatic, setting ambitious and advanced objectives, to the point of hypothesizing a governing majority that, by fusing Catholic solidarity with the struggles of the communists, could aim for the overcoming of the system with the gradual introduction of elements of socialism[3].

The first fruits of the "sixty-eight" season were seen in 1974 with the referendum for the repeal of the Divorce Law, approved in 1970. The Christian Democrat secretary Fanfani pushed his party into extremist positions and wanted a referendum at all costs, which the PCI, even ready for concessions, would have wanted to avoid[4]. But when the referendum was officially called, the PCI immediately committed itself and deployed all its organizational strength for the "No" vote, and the results were surprising. The "No" vote overwhelmingly won, reaching 60% of the votes, demonstrating how much Italian society had actually changed in the years following 1968. The many people, even those not affiliated with parties, who mobilized for the "No" vote also demonstrated a desire for participation that could not be underestimated. The PCI itself constantly increased its membership during these years[5], once again becoming the party with the most members in 1976, after 13 years in which the DC had held the record.

The fact that the Country had shifted "to the left" clearly and unequivocally emerged in the administrative elections of 1975. Before those elections, the PCI only governed the three "red regions" and very few other provinces and capital municipalities outside Emilia, Tuscany, and Umbria[6]. After the big bang of June 15, 1975, the PCI, with the PSI and in some cases also with the PSDI and PRI, found itself in the majority in six regions, adding Piedmont, Liguria, and Lazio to the governments in the three usual red regions[7], in half of the provinces[8], in 40% of the capital municipalities[9], in a third of all Italian municipalities, and in almost all major cities[10]. In percentage terms, the PCI exceeded 30 percent for the first time, reaching 33.4% against 35.2% for the DC, and the hypothesis of overtaking became realistic for the subsequent elections.

The Party's steering bodies, elected in March 1975 at the XIV Congress, "emptied out," and many cadres went to fill institutional positions in local administrations[11]. The Party throughout Italy had to confront at this point the problems of governance and program implementation, in regions, provinces, and cities where, having never been administered by the left, there were expectations of change, both among citizens and members or militants, that had grown during the PCI's many years in opposition[12]. In the Congress, Berlinguer, besides abandoning the idea of Italy leaving NATO, had relaunched the strategy of the "historic compromise"[13] and broadened its horizons from a perspective for a new government to a democratic transformation of society. In that assembly, Berlinguer, considering the widespread corruption within the parties, also strongly raised the so-called "moral question" which was based on the recovery of the "sense of the State" by parties and political actors[14].

The political elections of June 20, 1976[15] were approached with the awareness that the Christian Democratic supremacy was for the first time in question, and the "fear of the communist overtaking" reappeared among the moderate electorate, which resulted in all moderate votes flowing into the DC lists and emptying the minor lists, starting with the PLI, which fell below 2% in that electoral competition. The DC maintained the relative majority, while the PCI, despite reaching its historical maximum with 34.4%, failed to endanger Christian Democratic supremacy. But the polarization of the electorate on the two major parties, which together reached almost three-quarters of the votes, made collaboration between the DC and the PCI in government necessary. A first official act of rapprochement between the DC and the PCI occurred with the election of Ingrao as President of the Chamber[16].

Despite the diffidence of the USA, the DC and the PCI, with the tireless work of their leaders Aldo Moro, who, despite not being the DC secretary, deeply influenced its line[17], and Enrico Berlinguer, reached an agreement for the formation of a single-party Christian Democrat government chaired by Giulio Andreotti which saw the abstention of the PCI. The result achieved, which still did not fully satisfy the PCI[18], meant that Berlinguer's Party, breaking the anti-communist precondition, re-entered the governing area after an almost thirty-year wait.

Obviously, the PCI hoped that this was only the first step towards a broader assumption of responsibility, but on the other hand, the DC's strategy, which aimed to wear down the Communist Party and slow down the PCI's actual entry into government, yielded much better results. The PCI, while achieving some small results from the Government despite the worsening economic situation caused by inflation, found itself in the uncomfortable situation of having responsibility without effective power, while pressure from the grassroots grew ever stronger[19].

The real problems, in fact, the PCI had on its left, where the fracture with the extra-parliamentary area, which had been latent until that moment, had become much deeper. The popular movement of 1977, dominated by the "Worker Autonomy" area[20], took on very radical tones of criticism towards the PCI's political line, which, for its part, seemed increasingly to accept the "two-stage" policy, which subordinated reforms to economic recovery, and which had been contested against the socialists at the time of the centre-left. The protest was also marked by sensational gestures, such as the expulsion of Lama, general secretary of the CGIL, from the University of Rome in February 1977[21], and above all by widespread violence characterized by significant clashes between demonstrators and police forces.

The birth and subsequent growth of "red" terrorist groups further complicated the PCI's situation, which found itself constrained between the difficulty of pushing the DC for "more advanced" responses from the Government and the need to assume a role of responsibility that would isolate the terrorists. When the PCI managed to obtain something more concrete from the DC, namely the agreement that would recognize the Party's entry into the government majority, the most important terrorist group, the Red Brigades (Brigate Rosse), carried out the most serious terrorist attack in the history of the Italian Republic: the kidnapping of Aldo Moro[22].

On March 16, 1978, the Parliament was debating confidence in the new Andreotti Government, called "national solidarity," which sanctioned the new agreement between the DC and the PCI. The BR kidnapped, with a bloody massacre, the Christian Democrat leader, the main proponent of the new political agreement, and, after long negotiations that divided Italy and the political parties, they killed him. The PCI was forced to maintain confidence in a government that did not keep any of its promises of change and which, in any other situation, it would certainly have opposed.

The PCI managed to disengage from the government only in January 1979 and paid dearly for the delay, certainly not intentional, with which this position matured[23]. The XV PCI Congress in April 1979 tried to re-weave the threads of the Party after the traumatic experiences of those years and relaunched, in place of national solidarity, the strategy of "democratic alternative" which would see lay and Catholic forces as protagonists[24]. Berlinguer reaffirmed the link between democracy and socialism and linked the PCI, in a perspective of transformation, to the other European communist parties, especially the French and Spanish ones, in a meeting that was called "Eurocommunism," or a "third way" between Social Democracy and real Socialism[25].

[1] Cf. Agosti, History of the Italian Communist Party 1921–1991, Laterza Publishers.
[2] Cf. Rossanda, The Girl of the Last Century, Einaudi.
[3] Cf. Rossanda, op. cit.
[4] Cf. Rossanda, op. cit.
[5] Cf. Agosti, op. cit.
[6] The close relationship with the student movement led some to speak of the workers’ movement as “an Italian case.” Cf. Grisoni and Portelli, Workers’ Struggles in Italy from 1960 to 1976, Rizzoli Universal Library.
[7] Cf. PCI Almanac ’75, curated by the PCI Central Press and Propaganda Section.
[8] Cf. Agosti, op. cit.
[9] Cf. Zavoli, The Night of the Republic, L’Unità.
[10] Cf. Colarizi, History of Parties in Republican Italy, Laterza Publishers.
[11] Cf. AA.VV., Italy of P2, Arnoldo Mondadori Publisher.
[12] Results of major parties in the elections for the Chamber of Deputies, May 7, 1972: PCI 27.1% - DC 38.7% - PSI 9.6%. PCI obtained 188 seats in the Chamber and 94 in the Senate (with PSIUP).
[13] List formed by MSI and Monarchists.