Labour Democratic Party

Labour Democratic Party
Partito Democratico del Lavoro
Secretary Ivanoe Bonomi
President Meuccio Ruini
Founded September 8, 1943
Dissolved January 31, 1948
Preceded by Reform Socialist Party
(not legal predecessor)
Merged into Italian Socialist Party (majority)
Headquarters Rome, Italy
Newspaper Ricostruzione
Ideology Social democracy
Social liberalism
Anti-fascism
Political position Centre-left
National affiliation National Democratic Union (1946-1948)
International affiliation None
Colors      Pink
Politics of Italy
Political parties
Elections

The Labour Democratic Party (Italian: Partito Democratico del Lavoro, PDL) was a social-liberal political party in Italy, founded in 1943 as the heir of defunct Italian Social Democratic Party, formed by those Socialists who wanted to cooperate with the Liberal political guard which governed Italy from the days of Giovanni Giolitti. Leading members of the party were Ivanoe Bonomi, Meuccio Ruini and Enrico Molè. The party inheredited the symbol of its ancestor, a torch with a tricolour flame.

History

The party became one of the six members of the National Liberation Committee which governed Italy during the war against Fascism from 1944 to 1946. After having fought the 1946 general election within the National Democratic Union, composed basically by Benedetto Croce's Italian Liberal Party and by pre-Fascist leading Liberal politicians, such as Vittorio Emanuele Orlando and Francesco Saverio Nitti, some members joined the Italian Democratic Socialist Party, of which Bonomi was honorary chairman from 1947 until his death in 1951, but also the Italian Socialist Party and, as independents, the Italian Communist Party and the Italian Liberal Party.

Electoral results

Italian Parliament

Chamber of Deputies
Election year # of
overall votes		 % of
overall vote		 # of
overall seats won		 +/– Leader
1946* 40,633 (#15) 0.18
4 / 556
-
Ivanoe Bonomi
Notes