History
The Radical Party was founded in 1955 by the progressive left-wing of the Italian Liberal Party as the ideal continuation of the historical Radical Party, active from 1877 to 1925, emphasising liberal and secular issues, such as the effective separation of church and state and the full implementation of the Constitution. Leading members of the new party included Bruno Villabruna, Mario Pannunzio, Ernesto Rossi, Leo Valiani, Guido Calogero, Giovanni Ferrara, Paolo Ungari, Eugenio Scalfari and Marco Pannella.
After a temporary disbandment, the party was re-founded by Marco Pannella and Gianfranco Spadaccia in 1963 and came to political success in the 1976, when the Radicals entered Parliament with 4 deputies: Marco Pannella, Emma Bonino, Adele Faccio and Mauro Mellini. In 1979 general election the party won 3.5% of the vote and elected 18 deputies and 2 senators, its best result ever. The relative success of the party (Pannella was very disappointed of the 1979 result) was a consequence of the new line impressed by Pannella who moved the party's focus to issues like divorce and abortion, also by winning three referenda on those issues in 1974 and 1981.
In the 1980s the party focused more on international and European issues. Pannella was member of the European Parliament since 1979, and led the party into new battles against hunger and in favour of European integration. In 1989 the party was transformed into the Transnational Radical Party, a NGO working at the UN level and coordinating the efforts of several national parties and groupings mainly in support of human rights. Radicals continued to participate in Italian political life through the Rainbow Greens, the Pannella List and the Bonino List (see disambiguation). In 2001, the Radicals re-organised themselves into the Italian Radicals.
Read more about this topic: Radical Party (Italy)
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