From the ‘New Party’ to the Party of Nuovismo: The Decline of the Political and Institutional Culture of Italian Communists

Abstract

This article uses a comparative framework to study the two party models that characterised the early years of the Italian Communist Party and its dissolution: the ‘New Party’ outlined by Palmiro Togliatti and the ‘nuovismo’ introduced in the 1980s by the post-’68 leadership. The analysis focuses on the aspects of political culture, the idea of party organisation, the role of the party within the democratic system, the concept of democracy in the Italian political system, and the role of the party leadership. This analysis brings to light the great foresight of Togliatti, in addition to the constructive role entrusted to the party within the democratic system and the destructive role of later leaders of the party, which resulted in a broader collapse of the Italian political system and the total marginalisation of the heirs of Gramsci.