The Sammarinese Communist Party (, abbreviated PCS) was a Marxist political party in the small European republic of San Marino.
It was founded in 1921 as a section of the Communist Party of Italy (PCI). The organization existed for its first two decades as an underground political organisation.
Between 1945 and the spring of 1957 the PCS governed the country in coalition with the Sammarinese Socialist Party (PSS). The communist-socialist coalition lost power in the events known as .
The PCS returned to membership in a governing parliamentary coalition in 1978, with its adherents remaining as part of the leadership group until 1992. In 1991, with the fall of the Soviet Union, the PCS formally renounced communism and relaunched itself as the Sammarinese Democratic Progressive Party (PPDS).
History
Establishment
San Marino is a European microstate, the third smallest in Europe, with an area of just 61 square kilometers (24 square miles). Despite its small size and tiny population, the tiny nation — wholly surrounded by Italy — was the home of a communist political party from 1921, the Communist Party of San Marino, , or PCS. The organization was established as a section of the Communist Party of Italy (PCI).
The party's first two decades were spent in the political underground, as San Marino was dominated, like Italy, by the fascist movement in the form of the Sammarinese Fascist Party, which held all 60 of the seats in the country's unicameral parliament from the election of 1923 until the end of the Second World War in 1945. The party was refounded in 1940 under the leadership of Ermenegildo Gasperoni (1906–1994).
Period of coalition government
The PCS was a governing party of San Marino in coalition with the Socialist Party of San Marino (PSSM) from 1945 until March 1957<!-- this doesn't match the timing below... -->.
Crisis of 1957
Following events in the Eastern Bloc in 1956<!-- this should make reference to Hungary, but this reference is not explicit on this -->, some of the socialist deputies abandoned the coalition. On September 18, 1957, the coalition lost its majority when a socialist deputy crossed over to the opposition, reducing the number of pro-coalition deputies to 29. The tenure of the assembly ended on October 1, 1957, placing the government in constitutional limbo. The Christian Democratic deputies refused to attend session; instead, they occupied a factory in Rovereta and set up a provisional government there. The Italian and U.S. government pledged support to the provisional government, whilst the communist-socialist coalition (with support of Italian communists) sought to resist the attempt to establish a provisional government.
Years of opposition
After the failed attempt at a coup in 1957, the PCS remained an opposition party in San Marino, excluded from the government coalition. The new non-communist government won reelection in September 1959, with the PCS's parliamentary delegation falling to 16 members, joined by 8 Socialists.
Return to government
In 1978 the PCS returned to government as part of a coalition with the Socialist Party and a new organization formed three years earlier, the Unitary Socialist Party (PSU). This made San Marino in 1978 the only country in Western Europe with a Communist Party as a participant in a governing coalition. These were joined by 9 Socialists, and 8 members of the SUP — a total of 32 of the 60 seats as part of a new Communist-Socialist unity government. This body selected a 10-member Executive Committee from its ranks to handle daily party governance. Barulli was replaced in turn as General Secretary by Gilberto Ghiotti in 1984, with Ghiotti remaining in power until the end of the party in 1990. The party's former hammer-and-sickle logo was dropped at this time, replaced by a drawing of a dove by Pablo Picasso.