National Liberation Committee

For the French government under De Gaulle in exile during World War II, see French Committee of National Liberation.

Flag of the CLN.

The National Liberation Committee (Italian: Comitato di Liberazione Nazionalecode: it is deprecated - CLN) was a political umbrella organization and the main representative of the Italian partisans fighting against the German occupation of Italy in the aftermath of the armistice of Cassibile. It was a multi-party entity, whose members were united by their anti-fascism.

It was formed on 9 September 1943, following Italy's surrender to the Allies and Germany's invasion of the country.
The member parties were the Italian Communist Party, the Italian Socialist Party, the Partito d'Azione, the Christian Democracy , the Labour Democratic Party, and the Italian Liberal Party. With the backing of the Royal government and the Allied powers, 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, Giustizia e Libertà Brigades (related to Partito d'Azione), and Socialist "Matteotti" Brigades. Smaller groups included Catholic and monarchist partisans. There were partisan units not represented in the CLN, including the Brigata Maiella and anarchist, republican and Trotskyist formations.

It led the governments of Italy from the liberation of Rome in June 1944 until the first post-war elections in 1946.

See also

• National Liberation Committee for Northern Italy
• Italian Resistance