the italian left communists were named left communists at a later stage in their development, but when the communist party of italy (pcd'i) was founded its members actually represented the majority of communists in that country. this was a result of the abstentionist communist faction of the italian socialist party (psi) being in advance of other sections of the psi in their realisation that a separate communist party had to be formed which did not include reformists. this gave them a great advantage over the sections of the psi who looked to figures such as giacinto menotti serrati and antonio gramsci for leadership. it was a consequence of the revolutionary impatience common at a time when revolution, in the narrow sense of an insurrectionary attempt at the seizure of power, was expected to develop in the very near future.