Being Communists
Being Communists (Essere Comunisti) is a faction within the Communist Refoundation Party in Italy, formed basically of former followers of Armando Cossutta, who left the party in 1998 to form the Party of Italian Communists. The leader of the group is Claudio Grassi.
The faction can be considered the "traditionalist" wing of the party, in the sense that it does not agree with what it considers an excessive criticism of real socialism, the Soviet Union and the Italian Communist Party. As proud communists, the group members are not generally keen on the party's participation to the European Left. In 2005 the group obtained the 26.5% of the delegates to the VI national congress of the party, while two years later it suffered the split of some hard-liners led by Fosco Giannini, who set up The Ernesto.
In April 2008, following the severe defeat of the party in the 2008 general election, a group of former Bertinottiani, composed basically of former members of Proletarian Democracy and led by Paolo Ferrero and Giovanni Russo Spena, criticized the recent experiment of The Left – The Rainbow alliance and the political line of Fausto Bertinotti. Soon after this group, named Refoundation in Movement, formed an alliance with Being Communists in order to overthrow the leadership of the party. In the 24-27 July 2008 congress the motion supported by the two groups obtained 40.1% of the delegates and Paolo Ferrero was elected party secretary with the support of other minority factions.
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