EURO-COMMUNISM
11
The three major panies which have been call ed Euro–
Communist are, of course, the Spanish Party, just emerged from a
long period of illega lity; the French Pan y, which for a while was, as
you a ll know, one of the most Sta linist parties o f the internationa l
Communist g roupin g, and which was for a time even tempted to
back th e Chinese aga in st Kru schev on the grounds tha t the Chinese
represented what they sa id th ey did, namely doctrinal purity; and the
Itali an Pa rty, wh ich is the largest Communi st party o utside the
Communi st, State Socia list regimes, and a lso the most differentiated,
the mos t interestin g, and in some ways the mos t perplexing. These
parties are embedded in very different politica l and na tional hi sto–
ries, despite the [act tha t a ll three have in common belo ng ing no t
onl y
to
Western Europe, but to La tin and Catholic Europe, whi ch
may account for a t least some o f their characteri st ics. So, I think the
best thin g we can do is cas t a brief look at the hi sto ri cal setting,
examin e the specifi city o f each party in its recent development, and
try to reach concl usions on that bas is.
In
th e first place, it seems to me that the movement call ed Euro–
communi sm and the recent changes in the European Communist
panies, their doctrines , their strategy , and their degree of autonomy
from the Soviet Union can be understood onl y if we look a t two o ther
forces 'in Wes tern Europe with which we are mo re fam ilia r or more
comforta ble. The first o f th em , paradoxical ly enough, is Euro–
capita li sm. European capita li st systems recently , a t least, have been
rather different from o ur own , since they genera ll y enta il a much
hi gher degree o f sta te interventi on , or welfarism, and modification o f
market mecha ni sms. So th at, so to spea k, the capita li st opponents,
whom a ll the European Left panies seek to some degree to supersede,
have
to
be reckoned with politica ll y in very different terms. Th ere is
also something we could ca ll Euro-socialism. It has been call ed tha t
by a lo t of Europeans, and by a lo t o f American commenta tors. And
that is a broad belt of panies rang in g from the Briti sh La bour party,
the German Social Democra ts, the Swedish Socia l Democra ts,
through the French and Spanish Sociali sts, which are rather la rge
panies, to the Ita li an Socialists, now in disarray, but who will not be
permanently in di sarray. These panies, whi ch have kept a live
to
some degree a trad iti on o f parliamentary socia li sm , need not be
conven ed to it. And, particu larl y in France, Ita ly, and Spain, they are
in electoral and cultura l competiti on with the Communist parties
for large blocs of voters fr om th e working cl ass and the intelligentsi a.
These parties have indeed exercised some influence on the
