ABSTRACT
Contrary to the prevailing view, the early history of the Italian Communist Party must be read in domestic terms. This may seem a peculiar assertion given that most of the Partito Comunista Italiano was effectively excluded from Italy for at least seventeen of its first twenty-two years of existence. Formed at the peak of revolutionary expectations in Italy, the PCI collapsed only four years later, defeated by an enemy which, according to Marxist analysis, represented only a transitory phenomenon associated with the ‘last stage’ of capitalism. The Communist Party’s early history can thus only be read as one of theoretical shortcomings and strategic misjudgement, and this bitter lesson would be remembered. Official Allied policy in Italy was strongly influenced by the English desire for the restitution of the monarchy and strong suspicions of Communism. However, the British and Americans in the field appear to have paid very little attention to the politics of the resistance forces.
