Socialist Unity (Italian: Unità Socialista, US) was the name of a social-democratic political alliance that participated in the key Italian general election of 1948, which decided the post-war direction of Italy.Socialist Unity was formed by the Italian Socialist Workers' Party (Italian: Partito Socialista dei Lavoratori Italiani, of Giuseppe Saragat and the Union of Socialists (Italian: Unione dei Socialisti) of former socialist leader Ivan Matteo Lombardo.