Abstract
Achille Occhetto's proposal to transform the Italian Communist Party (PCI) into a postcommunist leftist party provides an opportunity to test Hirschman's theory of organizational loyalty. Party members were given the choices of remaining loyal to a reconstituted party, voicing approval or disapproval over this proposal, or exiting the party. The hypotheses that exit and voice varied together and that a particular kind of loyalty inhibited exist were tested using data from two party congressi di sezioni. The results clearly show exit from the party by `hardline' communists and to a Refounded Communist Party (RC). Additional tests of the relationship between the PCI and RC, as well as Italian election data, corroborate these findings and Hirschman's model.
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