Palmiro Togliatti - 1950s and 1960s

1950s and 1960s

Under his leadership, the PCI became the second largest party in Italy, and the largest non-ruling communist party in Europe. Although permanently in the opposition at the national level during Togliatti's lifetime, the party ran many municipalities and held great power at the local and regional level in certain areas.

In 1953, he fought against the so-called "cheat or swindle law", an electoral one voted by the Christian Democracy-led majority of the time, which aimed at using first past the post to augment the center-right's power. Ultimately, the law was to prove of no use for the government in the elections of that year, which won Togliatti's PCI 22.6% of the vote; it was repealed in November 1953.

Despite his allegedly tight relationship with Soviet Union, Togliatti's leadership remained unscathed after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution (which was everywhere else a cause for major conflicts within the left). He coined the development of the polycentrism theory (unity in diversity within the communist parties in all countries). In the 1958 elections, the number of Communist votes was still on the rise. In the 1963 elections, the PCI gained 25.2% of the votes, but again failed to reach a relative majority.