Abstract
Autore:
Frétigné Jean-Yves
Titolo:
"L´impossible réformisme démocratique italien 1901-1922"
Our objective in this article is to demonstrate why between 1901 and 1922 reformism in Italy remained a minority position among the members of the left-wing parties without which it failed to gain influence among the ruling classes. After explaining why we chose to study this particular period, we first show how the republican and socialist reformists were both criticized in their respective parties and bitterly fought by the liberals in power. In addition to these external diffìculties, there were internal ones: the progressive positivist culture which characterized the ideology of Italian reformists was also shared by a part of the middle-classes. Especially after 1900 it became unable to appeal to the masses and to young people who were more and more fascinated by a dramatic and violent conception of history which was in contradiction with the reformist intellectuals´vision of the world. Finally, Italian reformism did not manage to fit in with the revisionist trend that was led in Europe by E. Bernstein. The third reason for the failure of this movement lies in the organizational weakness of the political reformist groups, which is to be understood through the study of the conflictual relationships between the P.S.I. and P.R.I. and their respective parliamentary groups. Revolutionary or reactionary logics prevaiied over the strategies of emancipation of the people through democratic means. The failure of democratic reformism in Italy between the liberal watershed and fascism also constitutes the failure to implant a democratic political culture in this country
