Democracy and Socialism
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Democracy and Socialism (Democrazia e Socialismo) is a social-democratic political association in Italy.
Originally named Socialists and Europeans (Socialisti ed Europei), it was formed in 2006 as a faction within the Democrats of the Left (DS) by Gavino Angius and originally Giuseppe Caldarola in opposition to the creation of the Democratic Party (PD), accusing that the new party would have been a rejection of the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism. Angius and his group wanted to remain members of the Party of European Socialists, as they had been since its foundation in 1992.
After that the DS decided to merge in the PD, in April 2007, some members joined it (Mauro Zani, Massimo Brutti, Sergio Gentili, Giuseppe Caldarola and others), while Angius, Alberto Nigra, Franco Grillini and others (comprising two senators and two deputies) formed, alongside other splinter groups of the DS, the Democratic Left (SD).
When Angius and his followers felt that the new party, led by Fabio Mussi, was moving too far to the left toward a close alliance with the Communist Refoundation Party, the Party of Italian Communists and the Federation of the Greens instead of forming an alliance with the much more moderate Italian Democratic Socialists.
In September 2007 the group around Angius finally broke apart from SD and joined the Italian Democratic Socialists, the Socialist Party of Gianni De Michelis, The Italian Socialists, the Association for the Rose in the Fist, Socialism is Freedom, other groups and associations to form a new Socialist Party, based on the tradition of the late Italian Socialist Party.
Since then, it took the current name and was joined by Valdo Spini, another SD dissident. The group has two senators (Gavino Angius and Accursio Montalbano) and three deputies (Valdo Spini, Franco Grillini and Fabio Baratella).
[edit] Leadership
- Coordinator: Alberto Nigra (2006–...)
