Christian Democracy Democrazia Cristiana | |
|---|---|
.svg){kind=logo} | |
| Abbreviation | DC |
| Leader |
|
| Founded | 15 December 1943 |
| Dissolved | 16 January 1994 |
| Preceded by | Italian People's Party (pre-Fascist-era precursor) |
| Succeeded by |
|
| Headquarters | Piazza del Gesù,Rome, Italy |
| Newspaper | Il Popolo La Discussione |
| Youth wing | Christian Democracy Youth Movement |
| Women's wing | Christian Democracy Women Movement[1] |
| Membership(1990) | 2,109,670[2] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre[9] |
| National affiliation |
|
| European affiliation | European People's Party |
| European Parliament group | European People's Party |
| International affiliation | Christian Democrat International |
| Colors | |
| Anthem | O bianco fiore ("O White Flower") |
Christian Democracy (Italian:Democrazia Cristiana[demokratˈtsiːa kriˈstjaːna],DC) was aChristian democratic[4][10]political party in Italy. The DC was founded on 15 December 1943 in theItalian Social Republic (Nazi-occupied Italy) as the nominal successor of theItalian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crusader shield (scudo crociato). As aCatholic-inspired,centrist,[11]catch-all party[3][12] comprising bothcentre-right andcentre-left political factions, the DC played a dominant role in thepolitics of Italy for fifty years, and had been part of the government from soon after its inception until its final demise on 16 January 1994 amid theTangentopoli scandals. Christian Democrats led the Italian government continuously from 1946 until 1981. The party was nicknamed the "White Whale" (Italian:Balena bianca) due to its huge organisation and official colour.[13] During its time in government, theItalian Communist Party was the largest opposition party.
From 1946 until 1994, the DC was the largest party in theItalian Parliament, governing in successive coalitions, including thePentapartito system. It originally supportedliberal-conservative governments, along with the moderateItalian Democratic Socialist Party, theItalian Liberal Party, and theItalian Republican Party, before moving towards theOrganic Centre-left involving theItalian Socialist Party. The party was succeeded by a string of smaller parties, including theItalian People's Party, theChristian Democratic Centre, theUnited Christian Democrats, and the still activeUnion of the Centre. Former DC members are also spread among other parties, including the centre-rightForza Italia and the centre-leftDemocratic Party. It was a founding member of theEuropean People's Party in 1976.
The party was founded as the revival of theItalian People's Party (PPI), a political party created in 1919 byLuigi Sturzo, aCatholic priest.[14] The PPI won over 20% of the votes in the1919 and1921 general elections, but was declared illegal by theFascist dictatorship in 1926 despite the presence of somePopolari inBenito Mussolini's first government.
AsWorld War II was ending, the Christian Democrats started organising post-Fascist Italy in coalition with all the other mainstream parties, including theItalian Communist Party (PCI), theItalian Socialist Party (PSI), theItalian Liberal Party (PLI), theItalian Republican Party (PRI), theAction Party (Pd'A) and theLabour Democratic Party (PDL). In December 1945 Christian DemocratAlcide De Gasperi was appointedPrime Minister of Italy.
The Christian Democracy party was opposed to both Fascism and Communism. In elections Italians were voting based on a way of life, not just a political party.[15] Christian ideals were usually paired with the idea of freedom.[16][17]
In the1946 general election the DC won 35.2% of the vote.
In May 1947 De Gasperi broke decisively with his Communist and Socialist coalition partners under pressure from U.S. PresidentHarry Truman. This opened the way for acentrist coalition that included theItalian Workers' Socialist Party (PSLI), a centrist break-away from the PSI, as well as its usual allies, the PLI and the PRI.
In the1948 general election the DC went on to win a decisive victory, with the support of theCatholic Church and theUnited States, and obtained 48.5% of the vote, its best result ever. Despite his party's absolute majority in theItalian Parliament, De Gasperi continued to govern at the head of the centrist coalition, which was successively abandoned by the Liberals, who hoped for more right-wing policies, in 1950 and the Democratic Socialists, who hoped for more leftist policies, in 1951.
Under De Gasperi, major land reforms were carried out in the poorer rural regions in the early postwar years, with farms appropriated from the large landowners and parcelled out to the peasants. In addition, during its years in office, Christian Democrats passed a number of laws safeguarding employees from exploitation, established a national health service, and initiated low-cost housing in Italy's major cities.[18]
De Gasperi served as prime minister until 1953 and died a year later. No Christian Democrat would match his longevity in office and, despite the fact that DC's share of the vote was always between 38 and 43% from1953 to1979, the party was more and more fractured. As a result, Prime Ministers changed more frequently.
From 1954 the DC was led by progressive Christian Democrats, such asAmintore Fanfani,Aldo Moro andBenigno Zaccagnini, supported by the influential left-wing factions. In the 1950s the party formed centrist or moderately centre-left coalitions, and even a short-lived government led byFernando Tambroni relying on parliamentary support from theItalian Social Movement (MSI), the post-fascist party.
In 1963 the party, under Prime MinisterAldo Moro, formed a coalition with the PSI, which returned to ministerial roles after 16 years, the PSDI and the PRI. Similar "Organic Centre-left" governments became usual through the 1960s and the 1970s.[19]
From 1976 to 1979 the DC governed with the external support of the PCI, through theHistoric Compromise. Moro, who was the party main leader and who had inspired the Compromise, wasabducted and murdered by theRed Brigades.
The event was a shock for the party. When Moro was abducted, the government, at the time led byGiulio Andreotti, immediately took a hardline position stating that the "State must not bend" on terrorist demands. This was a very different position from the one taken in similar cases before and after (such as thekidnapping of Ciro Cirillo, aCampanian DC member for whom a ransom was paid thanks to the local ties of the party with theCamorra). It was however supported by all the mainstream parties, including the PCI, with the two notable exceptions of the PSI and theRadicals. In the trial forMafia allegations against Andreotti, it was said that he took the chance of getting rid of a dangerous political competitor by sabotaging all of the rescue options and ultimately leaving the captors with no option but killing him.[20] During his captivity Moro wrote a series of letters, at times very critical of Andreotti.[citation needed]. Later the memorial written by Moro during his imprisonment was subject[clarification needed] to several plots, including the assassination of journalistMino Pecorelli and generalCarlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa.[21]
At the beginning of the 1980s, the DC had lost part of its support among Italian voters. In 1981,Giovanni Spadolini of the PRI was the first non-Christian Democrat to lead a government since 1944, at the head of a coalition comprising the DC, the PSI, the PSDI, the PRI and the PLI, the so-calledPentapartito. In the successive1983 general election, the DC suffered one of its largest declines in votes up to that point, receiving only 32.5% of the vote cast (a decline of -5.8% relative to 1981). Subsequently,Bettino Craxi (leader of the rising PSI) reclaimed for himself the post of prime minister, again at the head of aPentapartito government.
DC re-gained the post of prime minister in 1987, after a modest recovery in the1987 general election (34.2%), and thePentapartito coalition governed Italy almost continuously until 1993. While Italy experienced steady economic progress in the 1980s, the Italian economy was being undermined by a constant devaluation of theItalian lira and the issuing of large amounts of high-interest treasury bonds, so that, between 1982 and 1992, the excessivebudget deficit built a significant proportion of the debt that would plague the country well into the 21st century.
In 1992 theMani pulite investigation was started inMilan, uncovering the so-calledTangentopoli scandals (endemic corruption practices at the highest levels), and causing numerous, often controversial, arrests and resignations. After the dismal result in the1992 general election (29.7%), also due to the rise ofLega Nord innorthern Italy and two years of mounting scandals (which included several Mafia investigations which notably touched Andreotti), the party was disbanded in 1994. In the 1990s most of the politicians prosecuted during those investigations were acquitted, sometimes however on the basis of legal formalities or on the basis of theStatute of limitations.
In 1992,Mario Segni led a breakaway faction calledPopulars for Reform (PR). The DC suffered heavy defeats in the 1993 provincial and municipal elections. Subsequently, Segni's PR would be reformed as theSegni Pact, and contemporary polling suggested heavy losses for the DC in the upcoming1994 general election. In hopes of changing the party's image, the DC's last secretary,Mino Martinazzoli decided to change the name of the party into theItalian People's Party (PPI).
Pier Ferdinando Casini, representing the right-wing faction of the party (previously led by Forlani) decided to launch a new party calledChristian Democratic Centre and form an alliance withSilvio Berlusconi's new party,Forza Italia (FI). The left-wing factions stayed within the new PPI, though a minority would form theSocial Christians in 1993 and would join forces with the post-communistDemocratic Party of the Left (DPS). Some right-wingers, feeling Casini was still too moderate, joined theNational Alliance.
In 1995, the centre-rightUnited Christian Democrats, which were led byRocco Buttiglione, split off from the PPI and also entered in alliance with FI. In the following years, most Christian Democrats joined FI, which became the party with the most ex-DC members in absolute terms. In December 1999, Forza Italia gained full membership in theEuropean People's Party.
The PPI would continue in a rump fashion, usually finding itself in left of centre political coalitions. In1996, underFranco Marini, the PPI would ally with the DPS and several smaller centre-left parties to formThe Olive Tree. The alliance, whose primary components were two legal successors to the two major political forces of pre-1990s Italy, won the election.Romano Prodi, an independent former PPI member, led the list and became prime minister.
Faced with flagging poll numbers, the PPI formedDemocracy is Freedom – The Daisy (DL) after allying three other smaller, social liberal parties to contest the2001 election. DL would be formed as an official political party in 2002, succeeding the PPI and its three allies. In 2007, DL would merge with theDemocrats of the Left, the successor of the DPS, to form theDemocratic Party, which is today[a] the largest centre-left political party in Italy.
The party's ideology drew on theChristian democratic doctrines developed from the 19th century referred to asCatholic social teaching, the political thought ofRomolo Murri andLuigi Sturzo, and ultimately the tradition of the defunctItalian People's Party. TwoPapalencyclicals,Rerum novarum (1891) ofPope Leo XIII, andQuadragesimo anno (1931) ofPope Pius XI, offered a further basis for the DC's social and political doctrine.
Ineconomics, the DC preferredcompetition tocooperation, supported the model ofsocial market economy, and rejected theMarxist idea ofclass struggle. The party thus advocated collaboration betweensocial classes and was basically acatch-all party which aimed to represent both right-wing and left-wing Italian Catholics under the principle of the "political unity of Catholics" againstsocialism,communism andanarchism. It ultimately represented the majority of Italians who were opposed to theItalian Communist Party. The party was, however, originally equidistant between the Communists and the hard right represented by theItalian Social Movement.
As a catch-all party, the DC differed from other European Christian Democratic parties, such as theChristian Democratic Union of Germany, that were mainlyconservative political groupings. The DC, which included conservative as well associal-democratic andliberal elements was characterised byfactionalism and by the double adherence of members to the party and to factions which were often identified with individual leaders.
The DC's factions spanned thepolitical spectrum fromleft to right and continually evolved over time.[22]
In the early years,centrists andliberal-conservatives such asAlcide De Gasperi,Giuseppe Pella,Ezio Vanoni andMario Scelba led the party. After them, progressives led byAmintore Fanfani were in charge, though opposed by right wing led byAntonio Segni. The party's left wing, with its roots in the left of the lateItalian People's Party (Giovanni Gronchi,Achille Grandi and controversialFernando Tambroni), was reinforced by new leaders such asGiuseppe Dossetti,Giorgio La Pira,Giuseppe Lazzati and Fanfani himself. Most of them were social democrats by European standards.
The party was often led by centrist figures unaffiliated to any faction such asAldo Moro,Mariano Rumor (both closer to the centre-left) andGiulio Andreotti (closer to the centre-right). Moreover, it was often the case that if the government was led by a centre-right Christian Democrat, the party was led by a left-winger and vice versa. This was what happened in the 1950s when Fanfani was party secretary and the government was led by centre-right figures such as Scelba and Segni, as well as in the late 1970s whenBenigno Zaccagnini, a progressive, led the party and Andreotti the government. This custom, in clear contrast with the principles of aWestminster system, deeply weakened DC-led governments, so that even with broad majorities they were unable to resolve differences between the several factions of the party, and ultimately turning the Italian political system into a de factoparticracy (partitocrazia).
From the 1980s the party was divided between the centre-right led byArnaldo Forlani (supported also by the party's right wing) and the centre-left led byCiriaco De Mita (whose supporters includedtrade unionists and the internal left), with Andreotti holding the balance. De Mita, who led the party from 1982 to 1989, tried to transform the party into a mainstream "conservative party" in line with theEuropean People's Party to preserve party unity. He became prime minister in 1988 but was replaced by Forlani in 1989. Disagreements between de Mita and Forlani brought Andreotti back to the prime-ministership from 1989 to 1992.
With the fall of theBerlin Wall and the end of the greatCold War ideological conflict, and ultimately theTangentopoli scandals, the heterogeneous nature of the party led it to its collapse. The bulk of the DC's membership joined the newItalian People's Party (PPI), but immediately several centre-right elements led byPier Ferdinando Casini joined theChristian Democratic Centre (CCD), while others directly joinedForza Italia. A split from the PPI, theUnited Christian Democrats (CDU), joined Forza Italia and the CCD in the centre-rightPole of Freedoms coalition (later becoming thePole for Freedoms), while the PPI was a founding member ofThe Olive Tree centre-left coalition in 1996.
In its early years, the party was stronger inNorthern Italy (especially in easternLombardy andVeneto), due to the strongCatholic roots of those areas, than it was in theSouth. There, theLiberal establishment that had governed Italy for decades before the rise ofBenito Mussolini still had grip on voters, as well as theMonarchist National Party and theCommon Man's Front. The DC was very weak inEmilia-Romagna andCentral Italy, where theItalian Communist Party was the dominant political force.
In the1948 general election the party had its best result ever (48.5%) and anabsolute majority in theItalian Parliament. The party won 66.8% in eastern Lombardy (73.6% in theProvince of Bergamo), 60.5% in Veneto (71.9% in theProvince of Vicenza), 69.6% inTrentino and 57.8% inFriuli-Venezia Giulia, that is to say where the lateItalian People's Party had its strongholds. In the Centre-South the DC gained more than 50% of the vote inLazio (51.9%),Abruzzo (53.7%) andCampania (50.5%).
From the late 1950s, the DC's support started to move South and by the 1980s it was stronger in the South than in the North, with the exception of Veneto, which remained one of the party's strongholds. In the1983 general election the party suffered a dramatic decrease in term of votes and its electoral geography was very different from 30 or even 10 years before, as the region where it obtained the best result wasApulia (46.0%).
In the1992 general election the shift was even more evident as the party was over the 40% mark only in some Southern regions (41.1% inCampania, 44.5 inBasilicata and 41.2% inSicily), while it barely reached 20-25% of the vote in the North. As a result of the rise ofLega Nord, which was stronger precisely in the traditional Christian Democratic heartlands, the DC was reduced to 21.0% inPiedmont (with the League at 16.3%), 32.1% in western Lombardy (League at 25.2%), 31.7% in Veneto (League at 17.3%) and 28.0% in Friuli-Venezia Giulia (League at 17.0%).
As the DC's role was reduced, the 1919 PPI strongholds and the DC's traditional heartlands would become the Lega Nord's power base. Meanwhile, the successor parties of the DC continued to be key political actors only in the South, where the clientelistic way of government practised by the Christian Democrats and their allies had left a mark. In the1996 general election the League gained 7 out of 8 single-seat constituencies in the Province of Bergamo and 5 out of 6 in the Province of Vicenza, winning well over 40%, while the combined score of the three main post-DC parties (the newPPI, theCCD and theCDU) was highest inCampania (22.3%). In the1996 Sicilian regional election the combined score of those parties was 26.4%.[23][24]
The electoral results of the DC in general (Chamber of Deputies) and European Parliament elections since 1946 are shown in the chart below.
 | This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(June 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Having ruled Italy for over 40 years with no alternative other than theItalian Communist Party, DC members had ample opportunity to abuse their power, and some did. In the 1960s, scandals involved frauds such as huge illegal profits in the administration of banana import quotas and preferential allocation of purposely misprinted and therefore rare postage stamps.Giovanni Leone was forced to resign asPresident of the Italian Republic in 1978 after theLockheed bribery scandals. He was later acquitted.
Like the other parties of thePentapartito coalition, the DC was invested in theTangentopoli scandals and in the subsequentMani pulite. Moreover, asSouthern Italy had become the party's stronghold in the 1970s and the 1980s, it was likely that theSicilian Mafia and dishonest politicians tried to collaborate. The DC was the party most associated with Mafia among the public. Leaders such asAntonio Gava,Calogero Mannino,Vito Ciancimino,Salvo Lima and especiallyGiulio Andreotti were perceived by many to belong to a grey zone between simple corruption and Mafia business, even if most of them were later acquitted.
| Election | Leader | Chamber of Deputies | Senate of the Republic | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Position | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Position | ||
| 1946 | 8,101,004 | 35.2 | 207 / 556 |  207 | 1st | No election | |||||
| 1948 | 12,740,042 | 48.5 | 305 / 574 | 98 |  1st | 10,899,640 | 48.1 | 131 / 237 | 131 | 1st | |
| 1953 | 10,862,073 | 40.1 | 263 / 590 |  42 | 1st | 10,862,073 | 40.7 | 116 / 237 | 15 | 1st | |
| 1958 | 12,520,207 | 42.4 | 273 / 596 | 10 | 1st | 12,520,207 | 41.2 | 123 / 246 | 7 | 1st | |
| 1963 | 11,773,182 | 38.3 | 260 / 630 | 13 | 1st | 10,032,458 | 36.6 | 132 / 315 | 9 | 1st | |
| 1968 | 12,441,553 | 39.1 | 266 / 630 | 6 | 1st | 10,965,790 | 38.3 | 135 / 315 | 3 | 1st | |
| 1972 | 12,919,270 | 38.7 | 266 / 630 | 0 | 1st | 11,466,701 | 38.1 | 135 / 315 | 0 | 1st | |
| 1976 | 14,218,298 | 38.7 | 263 / 630 | 3 | 1st | 12,226,768 | 38.9 | 135 / 315 | 0 | 1st | |
| 1979 | 14,046,290 | 38.3 | 262 / 630 | 1 | 1st | 12,018,077 | 38.3 | 138 / 315 | 3 | 1st | |
| 1983 | 12,153,081 | 32.9 | 225 / 630 | 37 | 1st | 10,081,819 | 32.4 | 120 / 315 | 18 | 1st | |
| 1987 | 13,241,188 | 34.3 | 234 / 630 | 9 | 1st | 10,897,036 | 33.6 | 125 / 315 | 5 | 1st | |
| 1992 | 11,637,569 | 29.7 | 206 / 630 | 28 | 1st | 9,088,494 | 27.3 | 107 / 315 | 18 | 1st | |
| Election | Leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Position | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 12,774,320 | 36.5 | 29 / 81 | 29 | 1st | EPP | |
| 1984 | 11,583,767 | 33.0 | 26 / 81 | 3 | 2nd | ||
| 1989 | 11,451,053 | 32.9 | 26 / 81 | 0 | 1st |
| Regions of Italy | |||||
| Election year | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 10,303,236 (1st) | 37.8 | 287 / 720 | – | |
| 1975 | 10,699,576 (1st) | 35.3 | 277 / 720 | 10 | |
| 1980 | 11,153,439 (1st) | 36.8 | 290 / 720 | 13 | |
| 1985 | 11,223,284 (1st) | 35.0 | 276 / 720 | 14 | |
| 1990 | 10,651,675 (1st) | 33.4 | 272 / 720 | 4 | |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)| Parties | |
|---|---|
| Armed forces | |
| Prime Ministers | |
 1946–1994 main political parties in Italy | |
|---|---|
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
