The rise and fall of Eurocommunism

Abstract

After the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, the leading West European Communist Parties – the Italian and the French – expressed their disapproval of the repression of the Prague Spring and of its ideological justification, known as the Brezhnev Doctrine. Such dissent marked a historic turn of events, given that both parties had unconditionally approved the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956. For a brief moment, the creation of a Western Communist pole was conceived of as a possibility in Italy and France, and perceived as a danger in Moscow. However, in a few months, the scenario of a coup de théâtre – a new heresy in the Communist world – came undone. Under pressure from the USSR, Western Communism’s united front fell apart. The French Communists (Parti communiste français, or PCF) backtracked, happily accepting the authoritarian “normalization” in Czechoslovakia. The Italian Communists (Partito comunista italiano, or PCI), on the other hand, maintained their dissent, but were careful not to break with the Soviets, retaining the idea of “unity in diversity” inherited from Palmiro Togliatti, the leader of the PCI from 1927 to 1964.