22
PARTISAN REVIEW
wing and chauvini st. The same is true in Norway, where the
Communist party last year decl a red th at it would gladl y di ssolve
itself, if by do ing so it could prevent No rway jo ining Europe. Bi g
deal. And you have it even among the left win g of the Socia list party.
In Greece there is our old fri end Papandreou , a g rea t revoluti on ary,
eating ten Turks for breakfas t. H e wants a wa r with Turkey tomor–
row. In a way I regard Euro-nati ona li sm as a much bigger danger
now than Euro-communism. And the mixture of the two is the
worst.
William Phillips:
Do you want a minute?
Norman Birnbaum:
Yes. I think tha t the French case is interesting
becau se there are doctrinal struggles go in g on in the Part y, up and
down the Party, in the Central Committee, judged by leaks to
L e
Monde.
There is a faction which would like to restore the alli an ce
with the Socialist party, a faction led probabl y by L aurent. It seem s
to me that, given the structure of these parti es, the onl y way the
change will come is through the occupa ti on of key pos itions in the
Party by important facti on s whi ch seek an openin g. Thi s has
happened to some extent in th e Ita li an Part y, with the importance o f
the group around Amendola, and even the Left facti on in the Ita li an
Party, the facti on led by the present Pres ident of the Parli ament,
Ingrao, is no t a Sta lini st faction . But it is a party whi ch call s fo r mo re
working-class democracy, pa rti cipa ti on of the base, spontan eity, and
the like.
It
seems tha t the onl y way you a re go ing
to
ge t a change in these
parti es is th rough struggles in their centra l committ ees, given their
structure. We may regret their structure, bllt they do have th ese
structures. They do have the loya lt y of impo rt ant secto rs of th e
European electo ra te, and until in fact the ques ti on o f the democra ti–
za ti on of these parti es is settl ed, in the countri es in whi ch they a re
strong, any kind of advance towa rds an a lterna te model of society is
blocked. Th ey are n o t like Brita in or the spec ia l case of West
German y, where, fo r a ll kinds of reason s, th ere is fo r a ll practi ca l
purposes no Communi st party.
William Ph illips:
T hen you rea ll y are bo th agreein g tha t the ques ti o n
of structure is the decisive on e.
Norman Birn baum:
I am say ing tha t it is one o f the questi ons. But it
seems to me th at the p resent struclUre by no mea ns p recl udes a
tra nsforma ti on , because in respon se to a long seri es o f hi sto ri cal
press ures one can get leaders in th ese pa rti es who will in fact open
them up. We a lso have to reali ze th a t these pa rti es are responsive to
