National Liberation Committee

The National Liberation Committee (Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale, CLN) was a political umbrella organization and the main representative of the Italian resistance movement fighting against Nazi Germany's forces during the German occupation of Italy in the aftermath of the armistice of Cassibile, while simultaneously fighting against Italian fascists during the Italian Civil War. It coordinated and directed the Italian resistance and was subdivided into the Central Committee for National Liberation (CCLN), which was based in Rome, and the later National Liberation Committee for Northern Italy (CLNAI), which was based in Milan. The CNL was a multi-party entity, whose members were united by their anti-fascism.

History
The CLN was formed on 8 September 1943, following Italy's armistice and Germany's invasion of the country. The member parties were the Italian Communist Party, the Italian Socialist Party, the Action Party, the Christian Democracy, the Labour Democratic Party, and the Italian Liberal Party. With the backing of the Kingdom of Italy and the Allies of World War II, the CLN gained official recognition as the representative of the Italian resistance movement, and had several leaders operating underground in German-occupied Italy.

The partisan formations controlled by the CLN were primarily divided between three main groups, Communist Garibaldi Brigades, the Action Party's Giustizia e Libertà Brigades, and Socialist Matteotti Brigades. Smaller groups included Catholic and monarchist partisans. There were partisan units not represented in the CLN, including the Maiella Brigades and anarchist, republican, and Trotskyist formations.

The CLN led the governments of Italy from the liberation of Rome in June 1944 until the 1946 Italian general election, which was the first post-war general election. After being deprived of all its functions ahead of the 1946 elections, they were disbanded in 1947.