The paper analyzes the two current Italian Far Left parties – the Federation of the Left (FDS) and Left Ecology and Freedom (SEL) – to understand how they are similar, how they differ and why. The analysis is based on data from more than 600 interviews of party delegates conducted in 2010 at the first national conventions of the two parties. The paper i) reconstructs the complex origin of the two parties – both inheritors, on the one hand, of the end of the Italian Communist Party in 1991, and, on the other, of the devastating defeat of the Rainbow Left in 2008; ii) compares the organizational structures of the two parties; iii) compares their prevailing internal systems of beliefs; iv) analyzes the relationships between the two parties and organizations of civil society, in particular labor unions and social movements. With respect to the system of beliefs, the delegates of the two parties have many elements in common – especially regarding the emphasis given to issues such as soft drugs, new civil rights, pacifism and environmentalism – , although we have identified differences relating to the ties with their shared communist ideological roots. The characteristics of their leaderships and organizational models evidence, instead, major differences between the two parties. FDS appears as a niche party, tied to the model of a mass and movementist party. SEL, on the other hand, is the party of a charismatic leader, makes extensive use of the tools of the Web 2.0 and presents electoral-professional tendencies.
