after 1926, italian left communism took shape in exile and without the participation of bordiga. contacts between the italians and the germans had been made and were developed in france, but the italian left saw the kapd's stress on factory organisation as being similar to the ideas of gramsci's "l'ordine nuovo" and therefore rejected closer contact. attempts to work with the group around karl korsch also failed. the left faction of the pcd'i was formally established in july 1927 by a number of young militants. this new group had members in france, belgium and the united states and published a review entitled "prometeo". it was estimated in 1928 that it had at most 200 militants, but it would seem that while it never had more than 100 militants active at any one time its influence was actually far greater. however, the control of the pcd'i apparatus by the stalinists meant that attempts to reach other exiles was almost impossible and they were driven back into small circle work.