Founded in July 1942 by former militants of
Giustizia e Libertà (Justice and Freedom),
liberal-socialists and
democrats. Ideologically, they were heirs to the liberal socialism of
Carlo Rosselli and to
Piero Gobetti's liberal revolution, whose writings rejected
Marxist economic determinism and aimed at the overcoming of
class struggle and for a new shape of
socialism, respect for
civil liberty and for
radical change in both the social and the economic structure of Italy. From January 1943, it published a clandestine newspaper, ''
L'Italia Libera (Free Italy''), edited by
Leone Ginzburg. In the same year, members of the party came into contact with
Allied secret services stationed in neutral
Switzerland. In particular, this activity was commissioned to
Filippo Caracciolo, had a special relationship with British
Special Operations Executive. Caracciolo tried to avoid Allied bombing on Italy, but most of all he tried to get British support for an
Anti-Fascist Committee that was supposed to lead the new government after an anti-Mussolini coup. After the armistice of 8 September 1943, as a central member of the
National Liberation Committee the Action Party actively participated in the
Italian resistance movement with units of Giustizia e Libertà commanded by
Ferruccio Parri. It maintained a clear anti-monarchical position and it was opposed to
Palmiro Togliatti and the
Italian Communist Party's Salerno Initiative for postwar governance. The party adopted the symbol of a flaming sword and in the immediate post-war period joined the government securing the post of
Prime Minister for
Ferruccio Parri from June to November 1945. As a result of the internal conflict between the democratic-
reformist line of
Ugo La Malfa and the socialist line of
Emilio Lussu, combined with the electoral defeat of 1946, the party folded. Unwillingness of the party members to work with reviving political parties "tainted by association with Fascism" also resulted in the decline of the Action Party. The main group of former members led by
Riccardo Lombardi joined the
Italian Socialist Party while the La Malfa group (as the
Movement for Republican Democracy) entered the
Italian Republican Party. The last secretary general of the Action Party was
Alberto Cianca.{{cite web|title=Alberto Cianca == Prominent members ==