Memoria comunista e memoria del comunismo in Italia dopo il 1989. Il caso dei militanti bolognesi

The main issue addressed by this research is the relationship between collective memory, identity and political culture. In particular, it focuses on the importance of the activity of interpretation and reconstruction of the past which is constitutive of processes of social and political change where specific collective actors are involved. The research is based on a case study: the theoretical issues are discussed through the empirical investigation of the memory of the historical and cultural experience of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) as it is kept by those who remained party members until the moment of its transformation, between 1989 and 1991, into a new political actor, identified by a new symbol and a new name. A group of 40 former militants were selected and interviewed in the city of Bologna, capital of one of the Italian regions – Emilia Romagna – whose history has always been closely tied to the history of the PCI. The analysis of the militants’ memories will thus tell us something about the transformation of what is still remembered as the most important left-wing subculture of western Europe.