The International Communist Party (ICP) is the name assumed by a number of left communist international political parties today. The ICP has often been described as Bordigist due to the contributions made by longtime member Amadeo Bordiga, although the adherents of the party do not explicitly identify as Bordigists.Lalbat, Benjamin. Les Bordiguistes Sans Bordiga. Contribution à une Histoire des Héritiers de la Gauche Communiste Italienne en France (PDF), p. 17
Each party has its own website, newspaper publication and variation of the following statement to distinguish itself from other parties:
"The line running from Marx to Lenin to the foundation of the Third International and the birth of the Communist Party of Italy in Leghorn (Livorno) 1921, and from there to the struggle of the Italian Communist Left against the degeneration in Moscow and to the rejection of popular fronts and coalition of resistance groups – The tough work of restoring the revolutionary doctrine and the party organ, in contact with the working class, outside the realm of personal politics and electoralist manoevrings."
Origins Early development within the Italian Socialist Party The roots of the International Communist Party can be traced to the left wing of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), founded in 1892. The first two decades of the PSI were marked by an internal struggle led by the left faction to establish Marxism as the party's official ideology.Chiaradia, John E (1972). The Spectral Figure of Amadeo Bordiga: A Case Study in the Decline of Marxism in the West (PDF), pp. 65–66 Initially a minority, the left gained prominence at the 1910 congress, where they organized themselves as the Intransigent Revolutionary faction. By 1912, this faction had become dominant within the PSI, with key figures including Benito Mussolini, Angelica Balabanoff, and Amadeo Bordiga.Chiaradia, ibid., pp. 69–70
World War I and political divergences The outbreak of World War I led to significant ideological divisions within the PSI. Mussolini broke with the left by adopting a pro-Allied stance, while Bordiga developed an anti-war position similar to Lenin's revolutionary defeatism. This position, though rejected by most socialist leaders, established Bordiga as a prominent voice within the party base.Chiaradia, ibid., p. 98 After Mussolini's expulsion for his increasingly militarist position, leadership passed to Giacinto Menotti Serrati's centrist faction, which maintained an ambiguous position between the right wing led by Filippo Turati and the left.Bourrinet, Philippe (2013). The Bordigist Current (1912–1952): Italy, France, Belgium, USA (PDF), p. 46
Like Lenin, faced with the Second International's support of various sides in the war, Bordiga called for the formation of a new international.Chiaradia, ibid., p. 110 When the left encountered Lenin's views after the October Revolution, they considered them not a new adaptation of Marxism but a restatement of it.Chiaradia, ibid., p. 126
Formation of the Communist Party of Italy Under the influence of the Russian Revolution, the 1918 congress of the PSI officially adopted the policy of the dictatorship of the proletariat. In 1919, the left organized as the Abstentionist Communist Faction, seeking to exclude reformists and align with the Communist International (Comintern). The implicit support given by the Comintern at the 2nd World Congress enabled the Abstentionist Communist Faction to break out of its isolation as a minority in the party.Bourrinet, ibid., p. 47 Simultaneously, the Ordine Nuovo group emerged in Turin under Antonio Gramsci and Palmiro Togliatti. Initially close to Serrati's maximalists and in favor of participating in elections, they first entered into polemics with the Abstentionist Communist Faction, only to move closer to it in 1920 as it gained majority support in cities such as Naples, Milan, Florence, and Turin.Bourrinet, ibid., pp. 48–49
In January 1921, these revolutionary elements split from the PSI to form the Communist Party of Italy (PCd'I) under Bordiga's leadership, taking with them approximately one-third of the PSI's membership and most of its youth wing.Bourrinet, ibid., p. 50 The new party maintained a critical stance toward several Comintern policies, including the strategic position of anti-fascism, the tactical position of the united front, the policy of "Bolshevization" and the formation of workers' governments.
Despite representing the majority faction, the PCd'I's left leadership was replaced in 1924 by Gramsci under pressure from the Comintern, then effectively controlled by Joseph Stalin.Bourrinet, ibid., pp. 53–55 This didn't prevent Bordiga from challenging Stalin directly at the 6th Enlarged Executive of the Communist International in 1926, arguing that Russian affairs had to be decided by the International.Basso, Pietro (2020). "Amadeo Bordiga Was the Last Communist to Challenge Stalin to His Face". Jacobin
Left Opposition and the formation of the Left Faction The Left Faction of the Communist Party of Italy formed in 1928, primarily composed of Italian émigré communities in Belgium, France, and the United States.Bourrinet, ibid., p. 109 The formation was prompted by Leon Trotsky's expulsion from the Soviet Union, the adoption of the theory of socialism in one country, as well as a growing number of other disagreements with Comintern policies.
Though initially sympathetic to Trotsky's Left Opposition, the faction maintained its independence. Trotsky eventually turned towards the New Italian Opposition, formed by former Stalinists, as his Italian contacts due to the faction's hesitation about hastily forming heterogeneous opposition groups into an organized whole.Bourrinet, ibid., pp. 124–126
Wartime activity and the formation of the Internationalist Communist Party The Left Faction opposed the Spanish Civil War, viewing it as a prelude to the coming imperialist war.Bourrinet, ibid., pp. 191–192 In 1938, the International Bureau of Left Factions was founded as the only organ from which the future party would emerge.Bourrinet, ibid., p. 213 During World War II, the scattered militants maintained a revolutionary defeatist position.Anonymous (1944). "Manifesto of the Communist Left to the Proletarians of Europe". Bulletin international de discussion de la gauche communiste italienne, no. 6
In 1943, a nucleus led by militants including Onorato Damen, Fausto Atti, Mario Acquaviva, and Bruno Maffi established the Internationalist Communist Party (Partito Comunista Internazionalista) in Northern Italy.Bourrinet, ibid., p. 311 The party conducted significant anti-war agitation among factory workers and partisans.Bourrinet, ibid., p. 314 Eventually, Atti and Acquaviva were killed by Italian Communist Party members in 1945 for their intervention among partisan groups.Bourrinet, ibid., p. 324 Following the Allied invasion of Italy, the Left Faction of Communists and Socialists around Bordiga formed in Naples and was absorbed into the new party in 1945,Bourrinet, ibid., p. 317 although Bordiga himself did not formally join until 1949.Bourrinet, ibid., p. 323
Immediately, serious divergences emerged between two main currents of the Internationalist Communist Party, eventually leading to a split in 1952. The faction centered around Damen favored electoral participation and rejected both union work and national liberation struggles, whereas the faction centered around Bordiga opposed the policy of revolutionary parliamentarianism, supported union work, and maintained the Communist International's position on national and colonial questions.Bourrinet, ibid., p. 329 Following the 1952 split, Damen's group continued to publish the magazine Battaglia Comunista, while Bordiga's faction published Il Programma Comunista.Bourrinet, ibid., p. 332
History Formation of the International Communist Party The faction around Bordiga, now organized as a new party, did not officially adopt the name International Communist Party until 1965.Lalbat, ibid., p. 46Bourrinet, Philippe (2019). "A Century of 'Italian' Communist Left (1915–2015): Biographical Dictionary of an Internationalist Movement" (PDF), p. 1 Afterwards, its internal organization underwent significant changes. The policy of democratic centralism was replaced with organic centralism, which eliminated internal mechanisms of democracy. Party congresses were substituted with general meetings featuring detailed presentations, and a single commissioner (Bruno Maffi) was appointed with the task of linking different sections of the party.Anonymous (2006). "Materials for a Review of the Party's Crises – Part 1". Programme Communiste, No. 99
1960s In 1964, the Milan section split off to form Rivoluzione Comunista, which was opposed to the concept of organic centralism.Lalbat, ibid., pp. 47–48 In 1966, the Paris section under Jacques Camatte and Roger Dangeville split off as well. Camatte's group formed around the magazine Invariance, and Dangeville's followers gathered around Le Fil du Temps.
The party experienced significant growth in France following May 1968, despite taking a critical stance toward the student protests.Lalbat, ibid., pp. 81, 90–91 However, it recognized the workers' strikes as superior to those during the 1937 May Days in Spain.
Opposition to the union strategy of reconquering the CGT and CGIL mounted in the aftermath of May 1968 in response to autonomous student-worker assemblies and disciplinary measures from trade union officials.Lalbat, ibid., pp. 127–129
1970s onward Between December 1971 and January 1972, several sections of the International Communist Party in France seceded, opposing working within, rather than against, trade unions.Bourrinet, Philippe (2013). The Italian Communist Left (1915-2015) (PDF), p. 122
In 1973, the Scandinavian sections, which had come into conflict with the International Communist Party center for their drift towards the positions of the KAPD, split over opposition to the union policy of the International Communist Party and briefly published the newspaper Kommunismen.Lalbat, ibid., pp. 132, 137–138
The party proceeded towards a policy of neither conquering nor destroying the unions after differing views emerged in response to the perceived failures of May 1968 and the Hot Autumn, causing tension with those most active in the unions.Lalbat, ibid., pp. 139
In 1974, the Florentine section grouped around Giuliano Bianchini, who had led the ICP's Central Trade Union Bureau since the 1960s, were expelled by the ICP over positions on trade union strategy.Lalbat, ibid., pp. 139 Those highly active within the CGIL promoted the slogan of the "reconquest of the class union" and the "Red Union", aiming to conquer it and return to the traditional methods of class struggle.Bourrinet, Philippe (2013). The Italian Communist Left (1915-2015) (PDF), p. 113Mantovani, Alessandro (2016). INSEGNA QUALCOSA LA DISGREGAZIONE DEL BORDIGHISMO? (PDF), p. 8 Due to the failure of these initiatives, the party leadership began to view this work as activist.Lalbat, ibid., pp. 130
Bianchini's group later adopted the slogan of "outside and against" regime unions where agitation is deemed impossibleAnonymous (1979). Outside and Against the Existing Trade Unions Il Partito Comunista no. 64Lalbat, ibid., pp. 139. Il Programma Comunista and its descendents would adopt the slogan "inside and outside" as well as "against" the regime unions.Anonymous (2026). Partito e intervento sindacale il programma comunista n. 01, gennaio/febbraio 2026