EURO-COMMUNISM
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conversion to Western values, and a real commitment to N.A.T.O.,
and not the tact ical sort which we have heard to date from the Italian
party, this should encourage them, and it will keep pressure on
them.
Blair Clark:
I would like LO get both of the panelists LO address the
question of what th ey think the Soviet Union could or would do in a
number of circumstances about Euro-Communist pani es that were
in or part of the power apparatus? Would, for instance, the Pany
leadership be a ided, would it be replaced? What would the money
factor be? I would just like to hear some discussion of how the Soviet
Union , which has been hovering over a lot of this discussion ,
naturally , would be expected to act in relation to these Pani es that in
the past have been so close, if not subservient?
William Phillips:
Well, we are throttling these speakers, so do you
mind if th ey answer that question later. The other names I have on
my list are Jane Kramer, Carl Gerschmann, and Kenneth Maxwell.
Who would like to go first? Carl Gerschmann, who is the executive
director of th e Social Democrats, USA.
Carl Gerschmann:
I think in the views of some who say that these
policies do not follow the foreign poli cy of the Soviet Union there is
a bit of disingenuousness, because more often than not, the people
who are making the argument that they are for N.A.T.O. or some–
thing like that are not people who have a terribly great concern
about N.A.T.O. They may be trying to rationalize something else,
namely rationalize American retrea t on ques tions of Europe.
Now it is true that when countries go Communist, and there are
splits such as the Sino-Soviet split, this can be used to give the
United States a degree of fl ex ibility in international affairs. But that
should not be seen as a LOta l process, a great gain for the West or for
the democratic world. These parties, if they come to power, are not
going to be great alli es of the United States, but the United States is
going to be in a weaker position. What is more likely LO happen is
that the coming to power of these panies will be one step funher in
the process of th e Fin landization of Europe.
In
other words, it will be
a kind of Finl andization from with in.
If
one reads Carrillo's book,
one can see that there is contempt for social democracy. Real
contempt. "Do not think that because we are Euro-Communists, we
have differences with the Soviet Union. Do not think for one
moment that we have become Social Democrats. "
Basi cally you have left wings which employ a double standard
when it comes
10
democracy in th e world and di ctaLOrships of the
