L’eurocomunismo nelle carte della SED

Abstract

This essay, based mainly on the new sources made available by the opening of the East German Communist party archives, but also on the historical records of the Italian Communist party, moves from Eurocommunism as a comprehensive political and media phenomenon even though not an homogeneous one as it appears in the joint declarations and press releases of the French, Italian and Spanish communist party leaders in the late 1970s, and in the common principles they stated and in the unanimous criticism they directed to the shortcomings of Communism in Eastern Europe. The article then focuses on how Eurocommunism was perceived by the strongly orthodox communist leadership of the German Democratic Republic, and discusses the cautious and vigilant counter-strategy in spite of the conventional, harsh language used in public adopted by the SED. The essay takes into consideration such issues as whether Eurocommunism was really considered as a challenge to the unity of the international communist movement, and it analyses the most controversial matters in the relations between East German and Western European communists.