Il tricolore e la bandiera rossa: patria e interesse nazionale nel discorso pubblico del PCI togliattiano (1944-1947)

The patriotic idea was an underlying theme in PCI policy during the crucial post-fascist transition of Italy. The question has been noted in various monographic works on the major party of Italian Left; however a comprehensive historical study – precisely on the diverse involvements of the ambiguous national spirit of Italian communism – was still missing. To fill this gap, this thesis analyses the communist contribution to the rethinking of national identity in post-fascist Italy and the role of patriotic configuration of PCI in the bitter political struggle of those years. The national rhetoric played a crucial role in the communist communicative machine. Thus, at the focus of attention are the main features of national question in the political discourse of the communist partito nuovo founded by Palmiro Togliatti after the “Salerno turn”: argumentations, languages, symbols, communication choices, electoral strategies. Therefore, from a methodological point of view, the thesis is based on a structural interpretative synergy between historical perspective and theoretical-analytic instruments of political communication research: a procedural choice that underlines the crucial communicative-propagandist dimension of post-war PCI as link between its pro-soviet identity and its national role in the society and in the renew culture of Italy. The research describes the parabolic trajectory drawn by the “nationalistic” language of PCI in the democratic transition of post-fascist Italy: from the patriotic restyling of its public image, during the resistance, to the consolidation of its Moscoworiented identity, in the cold war climate; from the perspective of a positive collaboration with the other components of Italian party system, to the awareness of unavoidability of its role in the radical opposition against centrist governments. With a constant trait: the wish to adorn the party appeal among the middle class, demolishing the cliché of anti-Italian communism.