16
PARTISAN REVIEW
in European social structure of a more profound kin d than ou r
political imagina ti on all ows us to envi sage as possibl e. So tha t, for
the moment, the onl y judgment one ca n reach is tha t cen a in
judgments have to be su spended .
Walt er L aqueur:
If
I were to talk a bout the rea liti es of Euro–
communism, I wouldn 't need fifteen minutes. I would simpl y say
that I am all in favor of it. I am in favor of Communi st pani es
becoming parti es of freedom, democracy, social democracy.
In
o ther
words, that they stop being Communi st and become Eu rop ean .
Unfortuna tely, such parti es do no t exi st today. Whether they come
into existence a t some future da te is a different questi on .
In
sho n , to
attack Euro-communi sm is a little bit like ki cking a dead ho rse.
Well , the horse may not be dead , but it is in so weak a sta te tha t an y
decent person who had any love of animals would think twice before
kicking it.
Wha t happened in Fran ce, we all know. Itali an Communi st
leadership has been very, very careful in recent months, mending its
fences with the Soviet Union . And as fa r as the Spani sh are con –
cerned, it is true tha t Carrill o has written an interestin g book. But hi s
party is far from being a Democra ti c Sociali st pan y. And an yway,
one Carrillo does not make a summer. Now, in stead of talking about
the realities of Euro-communi sm, let me talk a bout the concept.
Here of course there has been a deba te, especiall y in thi s country, and
to a certain extent in Europe, and I want very bri efl y to go into the
arguments.
I would like to say immedia tely tha t concl usio ns have been
drawn whi ch a re much too fa r-reaching. On e such ass umpti on says
tha t there has been a genuine conversion of Wes tern Eu ropean
communi sm, and young people have come in , whi ch is perfectl y
true. But the fact tha t these pani es have become more modern does
not necessaril y mean tha t they have become more democra ti c. They
have not become a " party like all o thers." T hey are still a very
disciplined p arty, in whi ch the line can be changed from on e day to
the next, as has just h appen ed. We know from the hi story of the
churches, the further a world movement spreads, the more it splits.
However, these splits do not usuall y amount to a rea l schi sm . So far
there has been onl y one schi sm in the Communi st movement , and
that is Chin a. All the rest have been kep t within the famil y.
It
is
perfectl y true that Wes tern Eu ropean pani es want a loosening o f the
ties. They want the fa ther to have less authority. But it is still on e
famil y. And, if a ttacked, they will rall y.
