Partito Liberale Italiano

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Partito Liberale Italiano
Party logo
founding 1943
resolution 1994
coalition "CLN" (1943-46); "Centrismo" (1947-50 and 1954-57); "Centro-Sinistra" (1972); "Pentapartito" (with interruptions 1979–93)
ideology Liberalism
Economic Liberalism
Conservatism
International connections Liberal International (1947-93)
European party ELDR
MPs u. a. Gaetano Martino , Giovanni Malagodi , Aldo Bozzi , Valerio Zanone , Alfredo Biondi
Senators u. a. Benedetto Croce , Luigi Einaudi , Giovanni Malagodi
Headquarters ItalyItalyVia Frattina, Rome
Party newspaper Risorgimento Liberale (1943-48); from 1949 L'Opinione

Partito Liberale Italiano (PLI) was a liberal , conservative and secular party in Italy . It was involved in several governments during the Cold War , but lost influence with the upheaval in the Italian party system due to widespread corruption in 1992/93 and finally disbanded on February 6, 1994.

history

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Prehistory and foundation

The liberal senators Benedetto Croce and Alessandro Casati in the election of Luigi Einaudi as president in 1948

The party was founded by Benedetto Croce shortly after Mussolini was overthrown and became a member of the CLN . However, it refers to the tradition of the Italian liberals from the 19th century, such as B. the Italian state founder Camillo Benso von Cavour .

A party of the same name had already been founded in October 1922 at a congress in Bologna and held a second congress in Livorno in 1924 before largely joining the regime under pressure from the fascists . The fact that the first party congress after the Second World War in April / May 1946 was referred to as the "III PLI congress" and this count was retained thereafter, symbolized the identification with the liberalism of the pre-fascist period and thus the thesis of the Continuity of the Liberal State and Fascism as "brackets" in the history of the united Italy. Despite the involvement of some liberals with the dictatorship, liberalism itself was not to blame for the rise of fascism. This contradicted the thesis, mainly represented in the left spectrum, that fascism was a product of liberal Italy and that with the resistance struggle between 1943 and 1945 a "second Risorgimento" and a completely new beginning of the state on a republican basis had to take place, in which liberalism traditional style no longer have a place. This was u. a. from the Partito d'Azione , which in 1942 arose from a liberal-socialist theory of renewal.

Indeed, the PLI of the post-fascist era was initially the result of a split among anti-fascist liberals underground. Supporters of the continuity thesis and openness on the institutional question, led by Leone Cattani and Nicolò Carandini and under the weighty influence of Croce, refused to join the Partito d'Azione at the end of 1942 and embarked on a separate collection of moderately liberal elements. Even before the fall of Mussolini, they mainly distributed leaflets underground in Rome, thereby gaining a dubious reputation for participating in the resistance. When the CLN was founded, they formed an independent grouping within it, which, however, was far less organized than the dominant mass parties. Local groups of liberals across the country often acted without any communication with one another, which led to the formation of different orientations of these groups. Especially in liberated southern Italy between 1943 and the beginning of 1944 local notables were able to mobilize their old clientele again, such as Raffaele De Caro from Benevento , who represented the liberals in the first government of Marshal Badoglio and founded his own party, the Partito della Democrazia Liberale .

During the German occupation of Rome between September 1943 and June 1944, however, the Roman group around Cattani and Carandini was again underground and, above all, gained a recognized anti-fascist reputation on the part of the other political groups in the CLN. From the first organizational structures in Naples, after the liberation of the city, the Roman liberals were formed as PLI. However, it soon merged with the De Caros party, which had been a member of the PNF until the early 1940s , which made it lose some of its credibility. A sign of this was the decision of the CLN to exclude the PLI from joint leadership of the new CGIL union . Representatives like Carandini, who wanted to give the party a decidedly socially progressive program, were increasingly ousted by the party's leadership.

Further development

In addition to the PLI, there was a second liberal party: the Partito Repubblicano Italiano (PRI). This saw itself in the tradition of the Risorgimento and Giuseppe Mazzini , was uncompromisingly anti-monarchist, anti-clerical and anti-fascist. The PLI, on the other hand, focused on economic liberalism and was closely linked to the old elites who still ruled in quasi-feudal structures in southern Italy. In the referendum on the form of government in 1946, she spoke out in favor of the monarchy. Both liberal parties, however, were united by their advocacy of secularism (separation of church and state), the market economy and - as the Cold War broke out - for a Western alliance with the USA. The PLI provided the first two Italian presidents (1948–1955) with the former President of the Chamber of Deputies Enrico De Nicola and the Governor of the Banca d'Italia Luigi Einaudi . The left-wing liberal wing that was initially still in existence split off in 1955 and formed the Partito Radicale . The PLI then gave up its interest in social reform. She was considered conservative and the mouthpiece of the employers ' association Confindustria .

The Liberals participated in the Italian government in six periods (1947–1950, 1954–1957, 1972–1973, 1979–1980, 1981–1987, 1987–1992). Important government members from the ranks of the PLI were Gaetano Martino (Foreign Minister 1954-57), Renato Altissimo (Health Minister 1979-80 and 1981-83, Industry Minister 1983-86), Valerio Zanone (Environment Minister 1984-86, Defense Minister 1987-89) and Francesco De Lorenzo (Environment Minister 1986-87, Health Minister 1989-93).

In the 1970s and 80s, the PLI lost significant voters. This was partly due to their uninspiring leadership staff, especially when Valerio Zanone withdrew from the party leadership and Renato Altissimo, who appeared colorless, took over. Their competitor for the liberal electorate, the PRI, however, enjoyed increasing popularity under Giovanni Spadolini . It replaced the PLI as the strongest liberal force and also received increasing support from business circles and Confindustria. The long-time head of the PLI and the Liberal International Giovanni Malagodi was President of the Senate for a short time in 1987 . In the 1980s, the PLI was part of the Pentapartito (Five Party), a cartel with DC , PSI , PSDI , PRI .

resolution

PLI chairman Renato Altissimo resigned in May 1993 due to his involvement in the Tangentopoli corruption scandal . Shortly thereafter, his successor Raffaele Costa founded the Unione di Centro , which was supposed to collect the center-right spectrum. However, it achieved no significant success and developed into a mere appendage of the Forza Italia Silvio Berlusconi party, founded in 1994 , with which it finally merged in 1998. Some PLI politicians, including Antonio Martino and Giancarlo Galan , moved directly to Forza Italia in 1994. Valerio Zanone left the PLI in June 1993 and founded the Unione Liberaldemocratica , which took part in the 1994 parliamentary elections as part of the central alliance Patto per l'Italia . The remnants of the PLI were renamed the Federazione dei Liberali in February 1994 , which Raffaello Morelli took over. The FdL “inherited” the party headquarters of the PLI and its representation in the Liberal International. In 1995 she joined the center-left alliance L'Ulivo .

Election results in parliamentary elections

1946 : 6.9% - 41 seats (in the electoral alliance Unione Democratica Nazionale )
1948: 3.8% - 19 seats (in the blocco Nazionale alliance with Fronte dell'Uomo Qualunque )
1953: 3.0% - 13 mandates
1958: 3.5% - 17 mandates
1963: 7.0% - 39 seats
1968: 5.3% - 31 mandates
1972: 3.9% - 20 mandates
1976: 1.3% - 5 mandates
1979: 1.9% - 9 mandates
1983: 2.9% - 16 mandates
1987: 2.1% - 11 mandates
1992: 2.8% - 17 mandates

Regions

In the 1950s, the PLI performed best in southern Italy. It had its best results in 1953 in Molise (14.7%) and in the eastern part of Sicily (6.2%). It was considerably weaker in central and northern Italy, particularly in western Tuscany (1.3%), eastern Lombardy, Emilia and Friuli-Venezia Giulia (1.5% each). A liberal island in the north, however, was the province of Cuneo in Piedmont (9.25%). Many historical leaders of Italian liberalism and the early PLI came from Piedmont; B. Giovanni Giolitti , Luigi Facta , Luigi Einaudi , Manlio Brosio . In the autonomous region of Trentino-South Tyrol the PLI played almost no role at 0.8%.

Over time, the PLI lost its roots in the south. When they last voted in 1992, the region with the best results was Piedmont, especially in the province of Cuneo (13.5%). The municipality of Magliano Alpi (44%) was a special stronghold . In Turin, the capital of Piedmont, the PLI appointed the mayor from 1990 to 1991: Valerio Zanone . It was followed by the province of Messina in Sicily (8.9%) and Lucca in Tuscany (7.8%). In the poorer Basilicata in southern Italy, on the other hand, the party was very weak (1.24%), but also in what was once the strongest region of Molise (1.35%) and the Marches (1.45%).

guide

As with other Italian parties, the segretario generale (general secretary) was in charge of day-to-day politics, while the office of presidente (chairman) was more of a ceremonial task.

General Secretaries

Giovanni Malagodi, Secretary General 1954–1972

Chairperson

Gaetano Martino, party chairman 1961–1967

literature

  • Antonio Jannazzi: Il Partito Liberale Italiano. In: Gerardo Nicolosi: I partiti politici nell'Italia repubblicana. Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli (Catanzaro) 2006, pp. 275-312
  • Giovanni Orsina (ed.): Il Partito liberale nell'Italia repubblicana. Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli (Catanzaro) 2004.
  • Massimo L. Salvadori: Liberalismo italiano. I dilemmi della libertà. Donzelli editore, Rome 2011.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Helmut Drüke: Italy. Politics - society - economy. Leske + Budrich, Leverkusen 1986, p. 154.
  2. ^ Mark Donovan: The fate of the secular center. The Liberals, Republicans and Social Democrats. In: Stephen Gundle, Simon Parker: The New Italian Republic. From the Fall of the Berlin Wall to Berlusconi. Routledge, London / New York 1996, pp. 99-109, at pp. 100-101.
  3. ↑ Antonio Jannazzi: Il Italian Liberal Party. In: Gerardo Nicolosi: I partiti politici nell'Italia repubblicana. Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli (Catanzaro) 2006, pp. 275-312, at pp. 299, 310.
  4. ^ Mark Donovan: The fate of the secular center. The Liberals, Republicans and Social Democrats. In: Stephen Gundle, Simon Parker: The New Italian Republic. From the Fall of the Berlin Wall to Berlusconi. Routledge, London / New York 1996, pp. 99-109, at p. 101.
  5. ^ Mark Donovan: The fate of the secular center. The Liberals, Republicans and Social Democrats. In: Stephen Gundle, Simon Parker: The New Italian Republic. From the Fall of the Berlin Wall to Berlusconi. Routledge, London / New York 1996, pp. 99-109, at p. 102.
  6. ^ Mark Donovan: The fate of the secular center. The Liberals, Republicans and Social Democrats. In: Stephen Gundle, Simon Parker: The New Italian Republic. From the Fall of the Berlin Wall to Berlusconi. Routledge, London / New York 1996, pp. 99-109, at pp. 106-107.
  7. ↑ a b Archivio storico delle elezioni. Dipartimento per gli Affari Interni e Territoriali.