ABSTRACT
Most Italians rejoiced that Fascism had fallen, and thought peace was imminent. Marshal Badoglio's message to the Italian people as he took over power on 25 July 1943; but few believed him. In September 1943 the Italian Communist Party (PCI) was still very small, with perhaps 5,000 members, few of them industrial workers. In as much as the Resistance was organized at all, the Communists were the major organizers and beneficiaries. The Resistance partisans and the Constituent Assembly deputies had not fought and laboured in vain. The new government formed in December 1945 was led by Alcide De Gasperi, the first Catholic politician to become Prime Minister of united Italy. The election of 1948 established a new regime, It was a far cry from the days of the Committee of National Liberation's (CLN), of inter-party agreements and anti-Fascist unity; a far cry too from the liberal pluralism proclaimed by the new Constitution.
