Centrism (Italy)
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Centrism
Centrismo |
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|---|---|
| Leaders |
Alcide De Gasperi, Luigi Einaudi, Mario Scelba, Antonio Segni |
| Founded | 1948 |
| Dissolved | 1958 |
| Succeeded by | Organic Centre-left |
| Headquarters | Rome |
| Ideology |
Centrism Conservatism Atlanticism Anti-communism |
| Political position | Centre |
The Centrism (Italian: Centrismo), is a coalition of four Italian political parties that formed governments throughout the 1940s and the late 1950s. This period is known as "The Years of Centrism" (Gli Anni del Centrismo). The founder of this coalition was Alcide De Gasperi, Christian Democratic leader and Prime Minister of Italy. Another key figures of the Centrist coalition was the Liberal Luigi Einaudi, who was elected President of Italy in 1948 and remained in office until 1955.
The general elections in April 1948 were heavily influenced by the cold-war confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States. After the Soviet-inspired February 1948 communist coup in Czechoslovakia, the US became alarmed about Soviet intentions and feared that, if the leftist coalition were to win the elections, the Soviet-funded Italian Communist Party (PCI) would draw Italy into the Soviet Union's sphere of influence.
The Christian Democrat campaign claimed that, in communist countries, "children send parents to jail", "children are owned by the state", "people eat their own children", and assured voters that disaster would strike Italy if the Left were to take power. Another slogan was, "In the secrecy of the polling booth, God sees you - Stalin doesn't."
The Christian Democrats won a resounding victory with 48.5% of the vote (their best result ever) and large majorities in both the Chamber of Deputies and Senate. The Communists received only half of the votes they had in 1946. Although Alcide De Gasperi could have formed an exclusively Christian Democratic government, he instead formed a "centrist" coalition with Liberals, Republicans and Social Democrats. De Gasperi formed three ministries, the second one in 1950 after the defection of the Liberals, who hoped for more right-wing policies, and the third one in 1951 after the defection of the Social-democrats, who hoped for more leftist policies. He ruled for five more years, helming four additional coalitions. "De Gasperi’s policy is patience," according to the foreign news correspondent for the New York Times, Anne McCormick. "He seems to be feeling his way among the explosive problems he has to deal with, but perhaps this wary mine-detecting method is the stabilizing force that holds the country in balance."
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