From the sickle with a hammer to the oak. The role of the ideological currents within the Italian Communist Party in the process of its transformation

The thesis From the sickle and hammer to the oak. The role of the opinion currents in the Italian Communist Party during the transformation process deals with the transformation of the Italian Communist Party (Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) into the post-communist Democratic Party of the Left (Partito Democratico della Sinistra, PDS) and with the role which the intraparty opinion currents played in this process. It will be evaluated their influence on the very own process of the party transformation and their key role in influencing the membership base. The thesis will also focus on analysing of political behavior of the actors on the middle level of decision-making in the party (secretaries of local sections, bosses of trade unions, local and regional politicians) in the light of precipitous events of the examined period. It will be also mentioned the external factors which influenced actions of single groups and how these groups responded to the new challenges in front of which were put almost ad hoc. Subject of this work is defined by the open outbreak of the intraparty crisis during the succession of Achille Occhetto to the post of the secretary general in 1988 and by the parliamentary elections in 1994 in which the party entered fully prepared after the complete conversion and nevertheless..