“Al di là del guado”. Europeanism, social democracy, and political culture between Pci and Pds

Abstract

The article reconstructs the transition of the Italian Communist Party (Pci) towards a proEuropean political culture and adherence to democratic socialism between 1986 and 1992. Through the analysis of documents from various archival collections, together with international relations material and political elaborations, it examines the stages that led the Pci – and subsequently the Democratic Party of the Left (Pds) – to redefine its position within the European context, against the background of the end of the Cold War, the crisis of actually existing socialism, and the transformation of Western social democracies.