The Italian Republican Party (, PRI) is a political party in Italy established in 1895, which makes it the oldest political party still active in the country. The PRI identifies with 19th-century classical radicalism, as well as Mazzinianism, and its modern incarnation is associated with liberalism, social liberalism, and centrism. The PRI has old roots and a long history that began with a left-wing position, being the heir of the Historical Far Left and claiming descent from the political thought of Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi. With the rise of the Italian Communist Party and the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) to its left, it was associated with centre-left politics. The early PRI was also known for its anti-clerical, anti-monarchist, republican, and later anti-fascist stances. While maintaining those traits, during the second half of the 20th century the party moved towards the centre on the left–right political spectrum, becoming increasingly economically liberal.
After 1949, the PRI was a member of the pro-NATO alliance formed by Christian Democracy (DC), the Italian Democratic Socialist Party, and the Italian Liberal Party (PLI), enabling it to participate in most governments of the 1950s, a period later known as Centrism. In 1963, the party helped bring together DC and PSI in Italy's first centre-left government, the Organic centre-left. Although small in terms of voter support, the PRI was influential thanks to leaders like Eugenio Chiesa, Giovanni Conti, Cipriano Facchinetti, Randolfo Pacciardi, Oronzo Reale, Ugo La Malfa, Bruno Visentini, Oddo Biasini and Giovanni Spadolini.Frank J. Coppa, ed., Dictionary of modern Italian history (Greenwood, 1985) pp 210–211. The latter served as Prime Minister of Italy in 1981–1982, the first non Christian Democrat since 1945. From 1976 to 2010, the PRI was a member of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR), along with the PLI, and the two parties usually ran together in European Parliament elections. After joining the centrist Segni Pact in 1994, the PRI was part of the centre-left coalition from 1996 to 2006, and then of the centre-right coalition from 2008 to 2013 (its leader Giorgio La Malfa was Minister for European Affairs from 2005 to 2006). Afterwards, it ran alone until joining the centrist Action – Italia Viva in 2022.
History Background and foundation The PRI traces its origins from the time of Italian unification and more specifically to the democratic-republican wing represented by figures such as Giuseppe Mazzini, Carlo Cattaneo and Carlo Pisacane. They were against the so-called piemontesizzazione of Italy, meaning the conquest by war of the Kingdom of Sardinia (Piedmont) of the rest of Italy.
After the latter was unified under the Savoy kings, following the political lines of moderates such as Camillo Benso di Cavour, the Republicans remained aside from the political life of the new country, proclaiming their abstention from elections. They created several democratic movements, like the Brotherhood Pact of Workers' Societies, founded by Mazzini in 1871. However, Mazzini's death the following year and internationalism put the Republicans in a difficult position.
In the run-up of the 1880 Italian general election, the Republicans chose to abandon abstentionism. At the time, their ranks included both members of the middle class, such as Giovanni Bovio, Arcangelo Ghisleri and Napoleone Colajanni, as well as the working class, such as Valentino Armirotti. The PRI, whose power base was limited to Romagna, Umbria, Marche, the Tuscan littoral and Lazio, all but Tuscany former Papal States territories, was officially founded in 1895. By the end of the century, the party was allied with the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) and the Italian Radical Party in several local governments, including Milan, Florence and Rome.
Early 20th century
In 1904 the Republican Youth Federation was formed in Terni.
At the outbreak of World War I, the PRI sided with interventionists, aiming at supporting France (considered the motherland of human rights) and annexing Trento and Trieste (then part of Austria-Hungary). After the end of the conflict, the party tried to form an alliance with other left-wing parties, but the attempt failed as the PSI was strongly influenced by its "maximalist" (radical) wing. In 1921, Pietro Nenni left the PRI to become one of the leaders of the PSI. In the 1920s, the rise of the National Fascist Party (PNF) caused the collapse of all Italian left-wing parties, including the PRI, which was banned in 1926.
Several Republicans were arrested, confined or exiled and the PRI collaborated to the anti-fascist struggle. In 1927, the party joined Anti-fascist Concentration. In the late 1930s, it also participated in the Spanish Civil War. In 1940, the German occupation of France, where many Republicans had taken refuge, put the party in jeopardy. During the armed resistance against the German occupation of Italy from 1943, PRI members were part of the provincial National Liberation Committees (CLN), but they did not participate to the national CLN as they did not want to collaborate with Italian monarchists, some of whom were active members of the committee.
Post-World War II
In 1946, the PRI gained 4.4% of the popular vote in the election for a Constituent Assembly, confirming its traditional strongholds. However, it was very weak if compared to Christian Democracy (DC) and the Italian Communist Party (PCI). After that, a ballot on the same day abolished monarchy in Italy and the PRI declared itself available to take a role in the government of Italy, entering the second government of Alcide De Gasperi. In late 1946, Ugo La Malfa and Ferruccio Parri, formerly members of the Action Party (PdA), moved to the PRI. La Malfa would be appointed as minister in several of the following governments.
At the 19th congress of the party held in 1947, there were two main inner trends: one, represented by the national secretary Randolfo Pacciardi, supported an alliance with the PCI; the other, led by Giovanni Conti and Cipriano Facchinetti, considered the PCI the cause of the government's lack of efficiency. The latter was to prevail. Carlo Sforza, a Republican, was Minister of Foreign Affairs in the De Gasperi III Cabinet, although only as an independent. Sforza signed the treaty of peace and contributed to the entrance of Italy into the Marshall Plan, NATO and the Council of Europe. The exclusion of left-wing parties from the government in 1947 led the PRI to join the De Gasperi IV Cabinet. Pacciardi refused to take a position as minister. As the PCI became ever closer to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Pacciardi later changed his mind and became Deputy Prime Minister.
The 1948 Italian general election saw the PRI as a solid ally of the DC, but also a reduction of the party's share to 2.5%. In the following years, the strongest party faction was that of La Malfa, who refused to participate to the DC-led governments until 1962.
In 1963, the party voted in favour of the first centre-left government in Italy led by Aldo Moro. Pacciardi, who had voted against, was expelled and founded a separate movement, Democratic Union for the New Republic (UDNR), whose electoral results were disappointing and whose members had largely returned to the PRI by the late 1960s (although Pacciardi, who received much criticism at this time for his association with coup plotters and neo-fascists, did not come back until after the UDNR was disbanded in 1980). La Malfa was elected national secretary in 1965. The alliance with the DC ended in 1974 when the Republicans left over disagreements on budgetary policy.
Pentapartito age
In 1979, La Malfa received by President Sandro Pertini the mandate to form a new government. It was the first time for a non-DC member since the Italian Republic had been created. The attempt failed and a new government led by Giulio Andreotti was formed, with La Malfa as Deputy Prime Minister, but he suddenly died five days later. In September, the PRI chose Giovanni Spadolini as national secretary and Bruno Visentini as president. The following twelve years, first under Spadolini and then under La Malfa's son Giorgio, saw the PRI as a stable member of the so-called Pentapartito, an alliance between the DC, the PSI, the PRI, the Italian Liberal Party (PLI) and the Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI) which governed Italy from 1983 to 1991. The PRI abandoned the coalition in 1991 in disagreement with the Mammì bill (named after Oscar Mammì, a Republican) on telecommunications.
In June 1981, Spadolini became Prime Minister of Italy (the first non-Christian Democrat to do so following 1945) and formed a five-party government, the Spadolini I Cabinet. Under Spadolini, an urgent decree outlawing all secret lodges, such as Propaganda Due (which included numerous members of previous governments and of military forces), was approved. The Spadolini II Cabinet fell in November 1983 due to a strife between Beniamino Andreatta (DC) and Rino Formica, Ministers of the Treasury and Finances respectively.
At the 1983 Italian general election, the PRI gained its best result ever (5.1%) thanks to Spadolini's popularity after his stint as Prime Minister and became the third largest party after the DC and the PCI in several Italian cities, notably including Turin. Spadolini was Minister of Defence from 1983 to 1987 under Bettino Craxi (PSI). Following the 1987 Italian general election, Spadolini was elected president of the Senate (an office he would retain until 1994) and was replaced by Giorgio La Malfa as party leader.
Diaspora and re-organisation
The early-1990s Tangentopoli scandals destroyed the party which fell under 1% of the vote, making it dependent on alliances with other parties to survive under the new electoral system based on plurality. In 1992–1994, the PRI lost most of its voters and members. The party was divided in three groups: one led by Giorgio La Malfa joined the Pact for Italy, a second one led by Luciana Sbarbati joined Democratic Alliance (AD) and a third group left the party and formed Republican Left (SR). At the 1994 Italian general election, some PRI members including Sbarbati were elected to the Italian Parliament from the list of AD while Carla Mazzuca were the sole elected with the Segni Pact. At that time, the party seemed quite finished.
Many Republicans, including Jas Gawronski, Guglielmo Castagnetti, Alberto Zorzoli, Luigi Casero, Denis Verdini, Piergiorgio Massidda and Mario Pescante, left the PRI in order to join Forza Italia. Others, mostly affiliated to SR, including Giorgio Bogi, Stefano Passigli, Giuseppe Ayala, Andrea Manzella and Adolfo Battaglia, approached with the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and finally merged into the Democrats of the Left (DS) in 1998. Others, notably including Enzo Bianco and Antonio Maccanico, joined Democratic Union (UD), The Democrats (Dem) and finally Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy (DL). The party continued to exist under the leadership of La Malfa, who had been elected MEP for the ELDR Group at the 1994 European Parliament election in Italy and who worked hard to re-organise the party, welcoming back people such as Sbarbati who had left it in the wake of the 1994 general election.
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