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Abstract

Achille Occhetto's proposal to transform the Italian Communist Party (PCI) into a postcommunist leftist party provides an opportunity to test Hirschman's theory of organizational loyalty. Party members were given the choices of remaining loyal to a reconstituted party, voicing approval or disapproval over this proposal, or exiting the party. The hypotheses that exit and voice varied together and that a particular kind of loyalty inhibited exist were tested using data from two party congressi di sezioni. The results clearly show exit from the party by `hardline' communists and to a Refounded Communist Party (RC). Additional tests of the relationship between the PCI and RC, as well as Italian election data, corroborate these findings and Hirschman's model.

Keywords

communist party exit,voice and loyalty Italy

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Italian Communism in Crisis

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