Disputed heritage
The pathetically weak remnants have been marking the centenary of the Partito Comunista. Toby Abse reports from Livorno
January 21 2021 marked the centenary of the foundation of the Italian Communist Party, or, to be more exact, of the
Partito Comunista d’Italia (PCd’I: Communist Party of Italy) - it only became known as the
Partito Comunista Italiano (PCI) in 1943, the year in which Stalin wound up the Comintern.
The centenary was given relatively wide coverage in the Italian media, with television documentaries and radio dramatisations, as well as many newspaper and magazine articles. Moreover, a fair number of books were either published or reprinted to mark the occasion. However, the continuing Covid-19 pandemic obviously imposed very severe limits on attempts to celebrate it in physical locations, as opposed to websites, Facebook pages or Zoom meetings.