ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the growth of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) at the mass level and interpret the phenomenon in light of the broad sociocultural changes that have affected Italian society. It discusses the strategy that the PCI has elaborated and pursued, and examines the consequences of this strategy in regard to the party's role in the political system. The PCI appears to have been one of the main beneficiaries of the turnover, with a net gain of about 1.5 million votes—a figure of some consequence. However, the PCI's total gain was 3.5 million, so one must still account for 2 million votes. For most of the post-World War II period, the PCI suffered from a negative image among the non-Communist segment of the electorate. Whatever the reasons for its success at the polls in 1976, the PCI interpreted that success as confirmation of the correctness of the strategy that it had adopted in the early 1970s.
