La gauche et le défi des changements dans les années 70–80. Les cas français et italien

Abstract

The French and Italian Left and the Challenge of Change in the 1970s and 1980s

All over Europe, the crisis of the seventies and eighties fundamentally reshaped the basic conditions of the political Left. Especially the French and Italian left-wing parties experienced identity crises. While they were particularly accustomed to achieving concrete objectives through collective actions, the communist parties in France and in Italy found themselves confronted with a severe economic downturn profound socio-cultural changes. This paper examines the left-wing parties’ plans for responding to this. In Italy, the adaptation to new circumstances did not succeed: The Partito Comunista Italiano PCI and the Partito Socialista Italiano PSI were both brought down, disorganizing the whole Italian party system. In France, the Parti Communiste Français PCF was also condemned to a shadowy existence and only the Parti socialiste survived the crisis. On the one hand, it benefitted from the trend toward presidentialization of the French political system – in the person of François Mitterrand. On the other hand, it benefitted from the party's strong local roots in towns and regions.