Editing Enrico Berlinguer (section)

=== Historic Compromise ===
[[File:Craxi Berlinguer.jpg|thumb|Berlinguer with the [[Italian Socialist Party]] leader [[Bettino Craxi]]]]
Moving step by step, Berlinguer was building a consensus in the PCI towards a rapprochement with other components of society. After the surprising opening of 1970 toward conservatives and the still discussed proposal of the Historic Compromise, he published a correspondence with Monsignor [[Luigi Bettazzi]], the [[Bishop of Ivrea]]; it was an astonishing event since [[Pope Pius XII]] had [[excommunicated]] the communists soon after [[World War II]] and the possibility of any relationship between communists and Catholics seemed very unlikely. This act also served to counteract the allegation, commonly and popularly expressed, that the PCI was protecting leftist terrorists in the harshest years of terrorism in Italy. In this context, the PCI opened its doors to many Catholics and a debate started about the possibility of contact. Notably, Berlinguer's Catholic family was not brought in out of its strictly respected privacy.<ref name="Expoitalyonline 2015"/> In the [[1975 Italian regional elections]], the left-wing coalition led by the PCI added to [[Emilia-Romagna]], [[Tuscany]], and [[Umbria]] the regions of [[Piedmont]], [[Liguria]], [[Marche]], and [[Lazio]]. As a party, the PCI confirmed itself in the [[1975 Italian local elections]], which were held on the same day on 15–16 June, where it won 33.4% of the votes compared to the 35.3% of the votes of the DC. In June 1976, the PCI obtained what would be its best result in the party's history and gained 34.4% of the vote.<ref name="Treccani 2011"/>

In Italy, while a government of national solidarity was ruling, Berlinguer said that in an emergency government a strong and powerful cabinet to solve a crisis of exceptional gravity was needed. On 16 March 1978, [[Aldo Moro]], president of the DC, was kidnapped by the [[Red Brigades]], a [[Marxist–Leninist]] terrorist group, on the day that the new government was going to be sworn in before the [[Italian Parliament]]. During this crisis, Berlinguer adhered to the ''fronte della fermezza'' (front of firmness), refusing to negotiate with terrorists, who had proposed to liberate Moro in exchange for the release of some imprisoned terrorists. Despite the PCI's firm stand against terrorism, the Moro incident left the party more isolated. In June 1978, the PCI gave its approval and ultimately active support to a campaign against [[Giovanni Leone]], the then president of Italy who was accused of being involved in the [[Lockheed bribery scandal]], which resulted in his resignation. Berlinguer supported the election of the veteran socialist [[Sandro Pertini]] as president of Italy; his presidency did not produce the effects that the PCI had hoped for. In Italy, after a new president is elected, the government resigns. The PCI expected Pertini to use his influence in its favour but was instead influenced by other political leaders like [[Giovanni Spadolini]] of the PRI and [[Bettino Craxi]] of the [[Italian Socialist Party]] (PSI), and thus the PCI remained out of the government.<ref name="Expoitalyonline 2015"/> About Craxi, Berlinguer said: "The thing that worries me about Craxi is that sometimes it seems to me that he thinks only of power for power's sake."<ref name="La Repubblica 2019"/>

The Historic Compromise ended in 1979 when the PCI exited from the [[parliamentary majority]], amid negative electoral trends.<ref name="Treccani 2011"/> The policy was unpopular among its base and was criticised for its contradictions, such as how to start a path towards socialism through a compromise with the DC, which was not economically socialist and from 1947 onwards had always been considered by the PCI as its historical enemy, what would have been the most urgent socialist-leaning measures, and the fact that on those points Berlinguer remained vague.<ref name="Bedeschi 2022"/> Another contradiction was that, in the winter of 1976–1977, severe deflationary economic maneuvers were implemented and mostly hit the working class; before the Historic Compromise, the PCI would have defined those maneuvers as a sting to be fought firmly but now accepted it as part of a two-stage policy (first the recovery measures, then the reforms), which was similar to that adopted by the PSI in the [[Organic centre-left]] governments that the PCI had criticised. At the same time, the policy is praised for its uncompromising support of democracy and civil rights.<ref name="Bedeschi 2022"/>

Berlinguer continued with the policy on the grounds that the process of legitimising communists would be long (the United States were bitterly opposed even under [[Jimmy Carter]]), and that choosing the election route, in the middle of serious economic and terrorist crises, would favour the political right.<ref name="Bedeschi 2022"/> In early  1978, the Historic Compromise led to the contracted, recognised, and explicit" participation of the PCI in the majority government that would support [[Giulio Andreotti]]'s new cabinet that was defined as one of national solidarity.<ref name="Bedeschi 2022"/> The beginnings of this government were negative for the PCI because Moro had introduced personalities deeply disliked by Communists, in order to bring the whole DC to this agreement with the PCI, including the currents that opposed it, and Berlinguer thought of voting negative in a [[motion of confidence]].<ref name="Bedeschi 2022"/> Before this could happen, Moro was kidnapped and killed, and the PCI suffered losses in the [[1979 Italian general election]] held in June.<ref name="Bedeschi 2022"/>