evolution of the electoral relationship of forces in Italy over the past thirty years. Several points, however, should be stressed:
a) The sharpest polarizations occurred in 1948 -during the effort at bourgeois restoration in the context of the opening of the "cold war" - and in 1976. In the First cose the PCI, together with the workers front, suffered a defeat; in the second, it registered a very clear advance.
b) At the most critical moments the conservative forces have concentrated maximum efforts around the DC, since the far right lacks sufficient credibility for a decisive confrontation. It is significant that the right obtained the most favorable results in relatively calm years (1953, 1958), which indicates that the strengthening of the right was conceived not as a possible alternative solution, but as an instrument of pressure.
c) The PCI stagnated during the 1950 and between 1963 and 1972, while it experienced a first leap in 1963 — probably thanks to the response to the reactionary attempts of the Tambroni government in 1960 and to the outbreak of "new" workers struggles in 1961-62. The second leap came in 1975-76, as the PCI capitalized on the 1969 wave, although with a certain delay.
d) The PSI, which in 1946 had benefitted from the traditions of the prefascist era, won its largest vote during the period of gestation of the center-left, which also saw a consolidation of the PSDI.
e) A comparison between the Senate results and the Chamber of Deputy results permits a relatively accurate check on the orientations of young voters, since the voting age is 25 for the Senate and 18 for the Chamber of Deputies. According to some calculations published in the press, the votes of the 5,300,000 people between the ages of 18 and 25, who voted only for the Chamber of Deputies on June 20, were divided as follows: DC 37.5%; PC| 37.4%; PSI 6.1%; PRI+PSD|+PLI 5.8%; MSI 2.8%; PR+DP 10.4% (of which, most likely, 7% for DP and 3% for PR).
9
ELECTIONS TO THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY (1946) & THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES*
*The voting age was lowered to 18 beginning in 1975; previously it had been 21. The voting age for the Senate is 25. The results for the Senate elections this year (voting age 25) were: DC 38.9%;
PC| 33.8%; PS| 10.2%; PSDI: 3.1%; PRI 2.7%; PLI 1.4%; MSI 6.6%. In some districh the
PSDI, PRI, and PLI presented common candidates, obtaining 1.1%. DP ran only in Lombardy.
1. VL refers to various far left lists (Bordigists in 1948, Posadists in 1968, PC(m-I) in 1972).
3. The PDIUM includes the total vote of the monarchists, even when they were divided among different slates. Since 1972, the monarchists have made a bloc with the MSI.
4. UQ (Ubmo Qualcuno - Everyman) was a reactionary rightist formation.
5. In 1948 the PCI and the PSi, along with other much less important formations, constituted
7. DP did not exist in 1972; the indicated vote refers to the candidates of the Manifesto
Partito Socialista Italiano di Unità Proletaria — Italian Socialist party of Proletarian
Partito Socialista Democratico Italiano — Italian Democratic Socialist party (a right-
GOCIALISTA
TALIANO
LIBERTAS
P.C.I.
PSI
PCI PSI
VL(T)
PR(2)
PRI
DC
PLI
PDIUM(3)
PSDI
PSIUP DP
35.18
1946
18.97 20.72
0.11
6.81
3.09
4.37
7.09
2.79
1948
31.03(5)
0.08
2.49
48.48
3.83
6.92
22.64 12.73
40.0B
4.52
1.62
3.02
1953
4.56
1958
22.72 14.26
1.37
42.35
3.55
4,87
1963
25.31
13.87
6.11
1.37
38.27
6.99
1.77
26.96
14.51(6)
0.01
1.97
39.09
5.83
1.36
1968
4.46
38.74
3.89
1.95
5.15
2.86
1972
27.21
9.62
0.67(7)
0.30
2.5
1975(8)
32.0
12.0
1.2
5.6
3.3
35.5
34.4
1.5
1.1
3.4
1.3
1976
9.6
3.1
33.7
2. The PR had voted Socialist during previous elections.
the Democratic Popular Front.
6. In 1968 the PSI and the PSI were unified.
group,
8. References to 1975 concern the regional elections.
KEY TO INITIALS
Partito Comunista Italiano - Italian Communist Party
PCI:
Partito Socialista Italiano — Italian Socialist party
PSI:
PSIUP:
Unity (left split from PSI in 1964)
Democrazia Proletaria - Proletarian Democracy (Far leff)
DP:
Partito Radicale - Radical party
PR:
PSDI:
wing split from the PS)
Partito Repubblicano Italiano — Italian Republican party
PRI:
Democrazia Cristiana — Christian Democracy
DC:
Partito Liberale Italiano — Italian Liberal party
PLI:
Partito di Unità Monarchica - Monarchist Unity party
PDIUM:
Movimento Sociale Italiano - Italian Social Movement (fascist)
MSI:
10
PER LA LIBERTA
M.S.I
DESTRA NAZIONALE
UQ(4) MSI
5.28
2.01
5.84
4.77
5.11
4.46
8.68
6.8
6.1