Italy’s political malaise and the spirit of the Partito d’Azione

The crux of this paper is that behind the ideal motivations and trends converged in the formation of the Partito d’Azione there lay in the first place a process of reappraisal of the history of modern Italy. To begin with, there was recognition of the deficiencies of the Risorgimento and subsequent political and institutional developments. Looming particularly large in this context are the manifold shortcomings in the evolution of the socialist movement, which contributed to aggravating Italy’s political malaise, until the resistible victory of fascism. Also at the origins of the Partito d’Azione, however, we find the legacy of political and cultural movements of democratic inspiration: Gramsci’s Ordine Nuovo, Gobetti’s Rivoluzione Liberale and the “Giustizia e Libertà” movement of the Rosselli brothers. It was in fact the heritage of these various currents of thought which endowed the ideal motivation inspiring the Partito d’Azione with that particular uniform and autonomous spirit that contributed so decisively to the attainment of a full and sound democracy.