Movement of Unitarian Communists

Movement of Unitarian Communists Movimento dei Comunisti Unitari
Leader	Famiano Crucianelli
Founded	14 June 1995
Dissolved	14 February 1998
Split from	Communist Refoundation Party [1]
Merged into	Democrats of the Left
Ideology	Communism
Political position	Left-wing
National affiliation	The Olive Tree
Politics of Italy Political parties Elections

The Movement of Unitarian Communists (Movimento dei Comunisti Unitari, MCU), or simply Unitarian Communists (Italian : Comunisti Unitari), was a communist political party in Italy.

History

The party was founded in June 1995 as a split from the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC) by Communist MPs who had endorsed the vote of confidence in the government of Lamberto Dini (which was also supported by the Democratic Party of the Left, the Italian People's Party and Lega Nord) in March 1995. ^[2]

Most members of the MCU were formerly of the Proletarian Unity Party (PdUP); the PdUP had merged with the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1984, only to leave it when the PCI abandoned communism and reformed as the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) in 1991. At that time most ex-PdUP members joined the PRC.

The leading politicians who formed the MCU included Sergio Garavini, Lucio Magri, Luciana Castellina, Famiano Crucianelli, Luciano Pettinari, Ersilia Salvato, Rino Serri, Marida Bolognesi and Walter Bielli. 16 out of 57 PRC parliamentarians and 2 MEPs joined the MCU. ^[3] In the 1996 general election, the MCU was part of The Olive Tree, and presented some candidates in the electoral lists of the PDS as "PDS – European Left". ^{[3] [4]}

In February 1998, the MCU and other small parties merged with the PDS to form the Democrats of the Left (DS). ^{[5] [6]}

References

1. Krouwel, André (2012). Party Transformations in European Democracies. SUNY Press. p. 336. ISBN   978-1-4384-4483-3 – via Google Books.
2. Mulhern, Francis (2011). Lives on the Left: A Group Portrait. Verso Books. p. 150. ISBN   978-1-84467-699-6 – via Google Books.
3. Kate Hudson (2012). The New European Left: A Socialism for the Twenty-First Century?. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 104. ISBN   978-0-230-24876-2.
4. Newell, James (2002). The Italian General Election of 2001: Berlusconi's Victory. Manchester University Press. pp. 73–74. ISBN   978-0-7190-6100-4 – via Google Books.
5. Gilbert, Mark; Nilsson, Robert K. (2007). Historical Dictionary of Modern Italy. Scarecrow Press. p. 134. ISBN   978-0-8108-6428-3 – via Google Books.
6. Giannetti, Daniela; Laver, Michael (2008). "Party cohesion, party discipline, and party factions in Europe". In Giannetti, Daniela; Benoit, Kenneth (eds.). Intra-Party Politics and Coalition Governments. Routledge. p. 152. ISBN   978-1-134-04288-3 – via Google Books.