Author: Milan Spindler

Following the liberation of key northern cities, occasionally by the Resistenza even before the arrival of Allied forces, the Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale (CLN) managed to establish local administrations, though these were typically short‑lived. The Allies swiftly enforced the disarmament and dissolution of partisan groups. The handing over of weapons was often orchestrated as a public ritual, complete with victory parades, symbolic presentation of insignias, and the awarding of the so‑called ‘Alexander Certificate’, named for Allied Supreme Commander Harold Alexander.

By June 1945, a government comprising former resistance factions, PCI, PSI, DC (Democrazia Cristiana), PLI, and PdA, had been formed. Yet even before the 1946 elections, the Allied military administration stripped the CLN of its functions, and the body was definitively dissolved in 1947.

Despite the symbolic recognition accorded to the resistance, disappointment grew among many communists and radical democrats. The hoped‑for sweeping social reforms, such as the democratisation of the police and armed forces, failed to materialise. Instead, postwar reality was defined by pragmatic political and legal compromise. Nonetheless, the Resistenza produced numerous political and cultural leaders. Especially within the PCI, many former partisans, often from modest backgrounds, rose to prominent local, regional, and national roles.

Italy’s international standing also shifted. By late 1945, the country was no longer viewed as an occupied enemy state but increasingly granted autonomy in both domestic and foreign policy. On 2 June 1946, a referendum on the form of government resulted in approximately 12.7 million votes for a republic and 10.7 million for retaining the monarchy. The decision to become a republic, accompanied by the drafting of a modern constitution emphasising social justice and democratic principles, is widely described in post-war historiography as the ‘final victory of the Resistenza’.

The so‑called Togliatti Amnesty, promulgated by Justice Minister and PCI General Secretary Palmiro Togliatti in June 1946, granted immunity to numerous former fascists, formally in the name of national reconciliation. Many former partisans felt deeply aggrieved by this concession.

Finally, the fragile postwar unity unraveled in 1947 when Communist and Socialist parties were excluded from the government. This marked the end of the Resistenza’s direct political dominance on the national stage and heralded the onset of political polarisation in early Cold War Italy.