Socialism Worked In Bologna, Italy, For Decades

Socialists and communists have been elected in many places, for significant periods of time. Often they introduced policies that improved the lives of most citizens and increased their freedoms. If I were a member of some of those polities, I would almost certainly have disagreements with details of some policy or other. This post is about a place that I do not know much about.

After the end of World War II, Europeans who had resisted fascism in the underground had a certain prestige. That included the Italian Communist Party (PCI). The PCI became the governing party in Bologna and Florence in much of the time after WW II. You can also look to the government of Emilia-Romagna, a region of Italy that includes Bologna.

The PCI did not enter the national government partly as a consequence of Italian foreign policy. They needed to be in alliance with the USA. Perhaps the CIA was involved in interventions to Italian domestic politics.

The PCI introduced a host of reforms including free busing, better health care, better education, housing cooperatives, and generally good government. I have never been to Bologna. Did the PCI have something to do with the maintenance of the Renaissance character of downtown Florence? The Reggio Emilia Approach approach to childcare is still used elsewhere.

I gather that the PCI never was officially part of a national governing coalition, even after Enrico Berlinguer's historic compromise and championing of Eurocommunism. During the years of lead, the PCI found themselves to the right of those, many young, inspired by Operaismo (workerism). This part of my fragments of a story is uninspiring for those who want to pursue an electoral path.