Bandiera Rossa Association (Italy)

The Bandiera Rossa Association (Associazione Bandiera Rossa) is an association of members of the Critical Left party in Italy. Politically it is Trotskyist and is the Italian affiliate of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International (USFI). Bandiera Rossa is a left wing current, Critical Left current of the Communist Refoundation Party. "Bandiera Rossa" is Italian for "Red flag".

It originated in the late 1940s as the Revolutionary Communist Group (GCR) and was led by Livio Maitan who remained a leading fixture in both the GCR and its successor organisations and the USFI until his death in 2004.

In 1968 despite having lost many of the membership gains accrued through entrist work in the Communist Youth the GCR renamed itself the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR) and began open work. It grew moderately, despite elements growing dissatisfied and leaving to form rival Trotskyist groups, through the recruitment of students and work in the factories. It took part in various electoral blocs in the late 1970s.

When much of the Italian far left formed the organisation Democrazia Proletaria (Proletarian Democracy) the LCR joined it as a recognised faction. Later still when the PRC was founded the former LCR argued for Democrazia Proletaria to dissolve into the larger formation.

External links

* http://www.ecn.org/bandierarossa/
* http://www.erre.info/
* http://www.sinistracritica.org/