Abstract

This article explores the historical context and the theoretical principles that made liberal socialism the most advanced expression of Twentieth Century socialism. It developed after ww1 and interpreted the crisis of liberal institutions as a consequence of nationalism, against which it resorted to the universalist values of solidarity shared by socialism combined with the culture of rights shared by liberalism. Liberty and justice were the two principles that characterized liberal socialism and that inspired its main leaders, Carlo Rosselli and Altiero Spinelli, to envision a union among European democratized countries.