Popolare

Popolare, an Italian political party organized in 1919 and inspired by Christian Socialist principles. The formation of the party marked the entrance of Roman Catholics, alienated since the government’s seizure of papal lands in 1860–70, into Italian political life as an organized force.

Led by the Sicilian priest Don Luigi Sturzo, the Popolari espoused a program of local administrative autonomy, agricultural reform, recognition of the right of workers to organize, election (rather than appointment) of the Senate, and extension of suffrage to women. In the general election of 1919, they scored a major victory, winning more than 100 seats and becoming the second largest party in the Chamber of Deputies. The party, however, was weakened by lack of internal unity and so failed to exert the influence on government that its numbers deserved. During the period of crisis for Italian democracy in the early 1920s, the Popolari were unwilling to cooperate with either the socialists on the left or the liberals on the right to block the rise of fascism. With the fascist suppression of parliamentary government in the mid-1920s, the party was dissolved. Its principles were revived after World War II in the Christian Democratic Party, led by the former Popolare Alcide De Gasperi.