ABSTRACT
THE LEGACY OF THE PCI-PDS TRANSFORMATION (1989-91) Space does not permit a detailed treatment of the PCI-PDS transformation (see Ignazi 1992 and Italian Politics. A Review 1992-93 volumes). But two points should be made here. First, the PCI was an important contributor to the sea-change in Italian politics which occurred in the early 1990s. In transforming itself into a non-communist party of the left, it removed the primary cause of a ‘blocked’ party system. True, it was not solely this which accounted for the subsequent changes, and furthermore, the transformation can of course be seen simply as a product of the end of Communism in Eastern Europe. Yet the rapidity with which Occhetto responded to the
collapse of the Berlin Wall (his proposal to dissolve the party was made only five days later) certainly made a crucial difference to the speed with which the changes occurred. More importantly, the subsequent crisis of the PCIPDS during and immediately after its formal transition prompted a good degree of complacency on the part of the Christian Democrats (DC) and Socialists (PSI), who seemed content to sit back and observe their rival’s problems, unaware of the wave about to engulf them (see Bull and Newell 1993:206-15). Occhetto’s decision, then, was a true watershed in the development of the Italian political system.
