Radical Party (Italy)
The Radical Party (Partito Radicale, PR) was a political party in Italy. For decades it was a bastion of liberalism and radicalism in Italy and proposed itself as the strongest opposition to the Italian political establishment, which was seen as corrupt and conservative. Although the party never reached high shares of vote and it never took part in government, it had close relations with the other parties of the Italian left, from the Republicans and the Socialists to the Communists and Proletarian Democracy, and opened its ranks also to members of other parties, through "double membership".
In 1989, the party was transformed into the Transnational Radical Party. The current incarnation of the party is called Italian Radicals, which was founded after a period in the 1990s, when the Radicals presented electoral lists (including the Pannella List and Bonino List) for Italian general elections, without having a structured party and sometimes dividing themselves in competing lists.
Read more about Radical Party (Italy): History, Ideology, Popular Support, Leadership
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“A radical is one of whom people say “He goes too far.” A conservative, on the other hand, is one who “doesn’t go far enough.” Then there is the reactionary, “one who doesn’t go at all.” All these terms are more or less objectionable, wherefore we have coined the term “progressive.” I should say that a progressive is one who insists upon recognizing new facts as they present themselves—one who adjusts legislation to these new facts.”
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