Eurocommunism
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{{Communism}}
'''Eurocommunism''' was a new trend in the 1970s and 1980s within various [[Western Europe]]an [[communism|communist]] parties to develop a theory and practice of social transformation that was more relevant in a Western European democracy and less aligned to the partyline of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]].
==Origin of the term==
The origin of the term ''Eurocommunism'' was subject to great debate in the mid-1970s, being attributed to [[Zbigniew Brzezinski]] and Arrigo Levi, among others. [[Jean-François Revel]] once wrote that "one of the favourite amusements of 'political scientists' is to search for the author of the term ''Eurocommunism.''" In April 1977, ''Deutschland-Archiv'' decided that the word was first used in the summer of 1975 by [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslav]] [[journalist]] Frane Barbieri, former editor of [[Belgrade]]'s [[NIN (magazine)|NIN Newsmagazine]].
== Theoretical foundations ==
The main theoretical foundation of Eurocommunism was [[Antonio Gramsci]]'s writing about Marxist theory which questioned the sectarianism of the Left and encouraged communist parties to develop social alliances to win [[Cultural hegemony|''hegemonic'']] support for social reforms. Eurocommunist parties expressed their fidelity to [[democracy|democratic]] institutions more clearly than before and attempted to widen their appeal by embracing [[public sector]] [[middle-class]] workers, [[new social movements]] such as [[feminism]] and [[gay liberation]] and more publicly questioning the [[Soviet Union]]. Early inspirations can also be found in the [[Austromarxism]] and its seeking of a "Third" democratic way to socialism.
== Western European Communist Parties ==
Some [[Communist Party|Communist parties]] with strong popular support, notably the [[Partito Comunista Italiano|Italian Communist Party (PCI)]] and the [[Communist Party of Spain|Spanish Communist Party (PCE)]] adopted Eurocommunism most enthusiastically. On the contrary, at least one mass party, the [[French Communist Party (PCF)]] and many smaller parties strongly opposed to it and stayed aligned to the positions of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] until the end of USSR (although the PCF did make a brief turn toward Eurocommunism in the mid-to-late 1970s).
The [[PCE]] and its [[Catalonia|Catalan]] referent, the [[Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya|United Socialist Party of Catalonia]], had already been committed to the liberal possibilist politics of the [[Popular Front]] during the [[Spanish Civil War]]. The leader of the PCE, [[Santiago Carrillo]], wrote Eurocommunism's defining book ''Eurocomunismo y estado'' (''[[Eurocommunism and the State]]'') and participated in the development of the liberal democratic constitution as Spain emerged from the dictatorship of [[Francisco Franco|Franco]]. The Communist parties of [[Communist Party of Great Britain|Great Britain]], the Netherlands and Austria also turned Eurocommunist.
Western European communists came to Eurocommunism via a variety of routes. For some it was their direct experience of [[feminism|feminist]] and similar action. For others its was a reaction to the political events of the Soviet Union, at the apogee of what [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] later called the [[Era of Stagnation]]. This process was accelerated after the events of [[1968]], particularly the crushing of the [[Prague Spring]].
The politics of [[détente]] also played a part. With war less likely, Western communists were under less pressure to follow Soviet orthodoxy yet also wanted to engage with a rise in western proletarian militancy such as Italy's [[Hot Autumn]] and Britain's [[shop steward|shop steward's movement]].
== Outside Western Europe ==
Eurocommunist ideas won at least partial acceptance outside of Western Europe. Prominent parties influenced by it outside of Europe were the [[Movement towards Socialism (Venezuela)|Movement for Socialism]] ([[Venezuela]]), the [[Japanese Communist Party]], the [[Mexican Communist Party]] and the [[Communist Party of Australia]]. Mikhail Gorbachev also refers to Eurocommunism as a key influence on the ideas of ''[[glasnost]]'' and ''[[perestroika]]'' in his memoirs.
== Results ==
Eurocommunism was in many ways only a staging ground for changes in the political structure of the European left. Some — principally the Italians — became [[social democrats]], while others like the Dutch [[Communist Party of the Netherlands|CPN]] moved into [[green politics]] and the French party during the 1980s reverted to a more pro-Soviet stance.
Eurocommunism became a force across Europe in 1977, when [[Enrico Berlinguer]] of the [[Italian Communist Party]] (PCI), [[Santiago Carrillo]] of the [[Communist Party of Spain]] (PCE) and [[Georges Marchais]] of the [[French Communist Party]] (PCF) met in Madrid and laid out the fundamental lines of the "new way". The PCI in particular had been developing an independent line from Moscow for many years prior, which had already been exhibited in [[1968]], when the party refused to support the Soviet invasion of [[Prague]]. In 1975 the PCI and the PCE had made a declaration regarding the "march toward socialism" to be done in "peace and freedom". In 1976 in [[Moscow]], Berlinguer, in front of 5,000 Communist delegates, had spoken of a "pluralistic system" (translated by the interpreter as "multiform"), and described PCI's intentions to build "a socialism that we believe necessary and possible only in Italy". The [[Historic Compromise|''compromesso storico'']] ("historic compromise") with [[Christian Democracy (Italy)|''Democrazia Cristiana'']], stopped by [[Aldo Moro]]'s murder in [[1978]], was a consequence of this new policy.
Before the end of the [[Cold War]] put practically all Leftist parties in Europe on the defensive and made [[neoliberal]] reforms the order of the day, many Eurocommunist parties split, with the Right (such as [[Democrats of the Left|Democratici di Sinistra]] or [[Iniciativa per Catalunya]]) adopting [[social democracy]] more whole-heartedly, while the Left strove to preserve some identifiably Communist positions ([[Partito della Rifondazione Comunista]] or [[PSUC viu]]/[[Communist Party of Spain]]).
==Criticism of Eurocommunism==
Two main criticisms have been advanced against Eurocommunism. First, it is alleged by [[right-wing]] critics that Eurocommunists showed a lack of courage in definitively breaking off from the Soviet Union (the Italian Communist party, for example, took this step only in 1981, after the repression of [[Solidarność]] in [[Poland]]). This "timidity" has been explained as the fear of losing old members and supporters, many of whom admired the USSR, or with a ''[[realpolitik]]'' desire to keep the support of a strong and powerful country.
Other critics point out the difficulties the Eurocommunist parties had in developing a clear and recognisable strategy. They observe that Eurocommunists have always claimed to be different - not only from Soviet Communism but also from Social Democracy - while, in practice, they were always very similar to at least one of these two tendencies. Thus, critics argue that Eurocommunism does not have a well defined identity and cannot be regarded as a separate movement in its own right.
From a [[Trotskyism|Trotskyist]] point of view, [[Ernest Mandel]] in ''From Stalinism to Eurocommunism: The Bitter Fruits of 'Socialism in One Country''' views Eurocommunism as a subsequent development of the decision taken by the [[Soviet Union]] in [[1924]] to abandon the goal of [[world revolution]] and concentrate on social and economic development of the Soviet Union, the so-called "[[Socialism in One Country]]". Thus the Eurocommunists of the Italian and French Communist parties are considered to be [[nationalist]] movements, who together with the Soviet Union abandoned [[internationalism (politics)|internationalism]]. This is analogous to the Social democratic parties of the [[Second International (politics)|Second International]] during the [[World War I|First World War]], when they supported their national governments in prosecution of the war.
From an [[Anti-Revisionist]] point of view, [[Enver Hoxha]] in ''Eurocommunism is Anti-Communism'' views Eurocommunism as the result of [[Nikita Khrushchev]]'s policy of [[peaceful coexistence]]. Khrushchev was accused of being a [[Marxist revisionism|revisionist]] who encouraged conciliation with the [[bourgeoisie]] rather than adequately calling for its [[Dictatorship of the proletariat|overthrow]]. He also stated that the [[Soviet Union]]'s refusal to reject [[Palmiro Togliatti]]'s [[theory]] of [[polycentrism]] encouraged Communist parties to moderate their views in order to join [[cabinet|cabinets]], which in turn forced them to abandon [[Marxism-Leninism]] as their leading ideology.
More generally, from the point of view of most revolutionary [[left-wing]] movements, Eurocommunism simply meant an abandonment of basic communist principles, such as the call for a [[proletarian revolution]], which eventually led many Eurocommunists to abandon communism or even socialism altogether (by giving up their commitment to overthrow capitalism). Such critics felt strongly vindicated when several Eurocommunist parties scrapped their communist credentials following the fall of the [[Soviet Union]].
More rhythmic criticisms of Euro Communism were presented by the poet [[John Cooper Clarke]], in 'Euro Communist/Gucci Socialist.'
==Further reading==
* [[Antonio Gramsci]], ''Prison Notebooks: Selections'', Lawrence and Wishart, 1973, ISBN 0-85315-280-2
* [[Santiago Carrillo]], ''Eurocommunism and the State'', Lawrence and Wishart, 1977, ISBN 0-85315-408-2
*[http://www.spw.de/9706/otto_bauer.html Michael R. Krätke,Otto Bauer and the Third Way,Early Inspiration to the Eurocommunist Movement,Michael R. Krätke]
* Detlev Albers u.a. (Hg.), Otto Bauer und der "dritte" Weg. Die Wiederentdeckung des Austromarxismus durch Linkssozialisten und Eurokommunisten, Frankfurt/M 1979
* [[Enrico Berlinguer]], [[Antonio Bronda]], [[Stephen Bodington]], ''After Poland'', Spokesman, 1982, ISBN 0-85124-344-4
* [[Richard Kingsley]] (ed.), ''In Search of Eurocommunism'', Macmillan Press, 1981, ISBN 0-333-26594-2
* [[Roger Simon]], [[Stuart Hall (cultural theorist)|Stuart Hall]], ''Gramsci's Political Thought: An Introduction'', Lawrence and Wishart, 1977, ISBN 0-85315-738-3
* [[Ernesto Laclau]], [[Chantal Mouffe]], ''Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics'', Verso, 2001, ISBN 1-85984-330-1
* [[Ernest Mandel]], ''From Stalinism to Eurocommunism: The Bitter Fruits of 'Socialism in One Country''', NLB, 1978, hardcover, ISBN 0-86091-005-9; trade paperback, ISBN 0-86091-010-5
* [[Robert Harvey]], "A Short History of Communism." New York: St. Martin's Press, 2004. ISBN: 0-312-32909-1
* http://johncooperclarke.com/Pages/euro.htm
==References==
* "A Trotskyist criticism" is adapted from the Wikinfo article, [http://www.wikinfo.org/wiki.phtml?title=Eurocommunism,_the_Trotskyist_criticism "Eurocommunism, the Trotskyist criticism"]
* [http://marxists.catbull.com/reference/archive/hoxha/works/euroco/env2-3.htm "Enver Hoxha - Eurocommunism is Anti-communism"]
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