Democratic Party of the Left
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Democratic Party of the Left
Partito Democratico della Sinistra |
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|---|---|
 |
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| Secretary |
Achille Occhetto (1991–94) Massimo D'Alema (1994–98) |
| Founded | 3 February 1991 |
| Dissolved | 14 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) |
| Ideology |
Democratic socialism Social democracy |
| Political position | Left-wing |
| National affiliation |
Alliance of Progressives (1994) The Olive Tree (1995–98) |
| European affiliation | Party of European Socialists (1993–98) |
| International affiliation | Socialist International (1993–98) |
| European Parliament group |
European United Left(1991–93) Party of European Socialists (1993–98) |
The Democratic Party of the Left (Italian: Partito Democratico della Sinistra, PDS) was a democratic-socialist and social-democraticpolitical party in Italy. Founded in February 1991 as the post-communist evolution of the Italian Communist Party, the party was the largest in the Alliance of Progressives and The Olive Tree coalitions. In February 1998, the party merged with minor parties to form Democrats of the Left.
The PDS evolved from the Italian Communist Party (PCI), the largest communist party in the Western Bloc for most of the Cold War and the second-largest party in Parliament. The PCI moved away from communist orthodoxy since the late 1960s, when it opposed the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia and was one of the first parties to embrace Eurocommunism. By the late 1980s, the PCI had ties with social-democratic and democratic-socialist parties, and it was increasingly apparent that it was no longer a Marxist–Leninist party. With this in mind, in 1991 the PCI dissolved itself and refounded itself as the PDS. Its first leader was Achille Occhetto, the last secretary of the PCI.
Although Ochetto had proclaimed the end of Communism, he traded on the PDS' roots. The new party's logo consisted of an oak tree sprouting from the previous symbol of the PCI in a roundel at the tree's roots. This did not prevent hard-liners leaving the party and launching the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC). The logo was also adopted in order to prevent the PRC from using the PCI's symbol immediately after the split between the two parties. In 1993 the PDS was admitted into the Socialist International and Party of European Socialists. In the same year the party's MEPs moved from the European United Left (GUE) to the Socialist Group in the European Parliament.
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