The Sammarinese Communist Party (, abbreviated PCS) was a Marxist political party in the small European republic of San Marino. It was founded in 1921 as a section of the Communist Party of Italy (PCI). The organization existed for its first two decades as an underground political organization. Between 1945 and the spring of 1957 the PCS governed the country in coalition with the Sammarinese Socialist Party (PSS). The communist-socialist coalition lost power in the events known as . The PCS returned to membership in a governing parliamentary coalition in 1978, with its adherents remaining as part of the leadership group until 1992. In 1991, with the fall of the Soviet Union, the PCS formally renounced communism and relaunched itself Sammarinese Democratic Progressive Party (PPDS). History Establishment San Marino is a European microstate, considered the third smallest in Europe with an area of just 61 square kilometers (24 square miles). Despite its small size and tiny population, the tiny nation — wholly surrounded by Italy — was the home of a communist political party from 1921, the Communist Party of San Marino, , or PCS. The organization was established as a section of the Communist Party of Italy (PCI). The party's first two decades were spent in the political underground, as San Marino was dominated — as was Italy — by the fascist movement in the form of the Sammarinese Fascist Party, which held all 60 of the seats in the country's unicameral parliament from the election of 1923 until the end of the Second World War in 1945. The party was refounded in 1940 under the leadership of Ermenegildo Gasperoni (1906-1994). Period of coalition government The PCS was a governing party of San Marino in coalition with the Socialist Party of San Marino (PSSM) from 1945 until March 1957. Crisis of 1957 Following events in the Eastern Bloc in 1956, some of the socialist deputies abandoned the coalition. On September 18, 1957 the coalition lost its majority when a socialist deputy crossed over to the opposition, reducing the number of pro-coalition deputies to 29. The tenure of the assembly ended on October 1, 1957, placing the government in constitutional limbo. The Christian Democratic deputies refused to attend session; instead, they occupied a factory in Rovereta and set up a provisional government there. The Italian and U.S. government pledged support to the provisional government, whilst the communist-socialist coalition (with support