Eurocommunism : from the communist to the radical European left = Eurōkommounismos : apo tēn kommounistikē stē rizospastikē eurōpaikē Aristera

Eurocommunism constitutes a "moment" of great transformation connecting the past and the present of the European Left, a political project by means of which left-wing politics in Europe effected a definitive transition to a thoroughly different paradigm. It rose in the wake of 1968 - that pivotal year of social revolt and rethinking that caused a divide between radical, progressive and socialist thinking in western and southern Europe and the Soviet model. Communist parties in Italy, France, Spain and Greece changed tack, drew on the dynamics of social radicalism of the time and came to be associated with political moderation, liberal democracy and negotiation rather than contentious politics forging a movement that would hold influence until the early 1980s. Eurocommunism thus wove an original political synthesis delineated against both the revolutionary Left and the social democracy: "party of struggle__and__party of governance." Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 List of figures 10 List of tables 11 Acknowledgements 12 Chapter 1 Introduction 14 A comparative perspective 15 What was the Eurocommunist “moment”? 17 The great Eurocommunist transformation 23 Notes 28 Part I Eurocommunism in its time 32 Chapter 2 One window closing and one opening: From the popular fronts to de-Stalinization 34 Popular fronts and resistance 35 Communists in the post-war era 36 Duclos’ pigeons and the via italiana 39 De-Stalinization: a window of opportunity 40 Two deaths, three documents and an expulsion 42 Italy and France: the turn inside the party 45 Spain and Greece: the turn inside and outside the party 47 Notes 49 Chapter 3 1968: The rift 52 The catalyst of 1968 52 The lost Spring of Czechoslovakia 55 Another Spring lost: 1968 in Greece 57 Communists in May: France 59 Communists in May: the delayed-action case of Greece 62 Communists in May: Italy 64 Can dialectics break bricks? Between the “old” and New Left 66 Notes 68 Chapter 4 Variations of Eurocommunism: 1973–1979 72 Italy: the pioneer 73 Italian vanguard: from radical anti-hegemony to a moderate national role 76 Historic compromise: connecting the dots 78 France: an impossible historic compromise of the Left 81 The Spanish compromise on democratic transition 84 The Eurocommunist paradox in the Greek post-dictatorship period 87 Notes 91 Chapter 5 Disengagement from the communist identity 95 One step towards identity politics (and one step back?) 95 Gorbachev: the catalyst 98 One step towards the European Left, and one step back 99 A post-communist identity 100 Communist identity as exception: the French Communist Party 105 Notes 107 Part II The Eurocommunist transformation 110 Chapter 6 Opportunities and adaptations 112 The era of conferences 113 From autonomy to conflict: Afghanistan and Poland 115 The ideological aggiornamento 119 Dialectics, pluralism, pragmatism 121 The sociological aggiornamento 123 Towards a new communist sociological profile 125 Notes 138 Chapter 7 State, liberalism, democracy 143 The state as theoretical battlefield 144 The state as political challenge 145 From state to liberalism 146 Deepening of liberalism and pluralism 147 Papa, what is democratic centralism? 149 The majority wins 151 Socialism will either be democratic or will not be at all 154 Notes 154 Chapter 8 Revolution, protest, governance 157 The political role of “protest” 158 Reform or revolution? 159 And the dictatorship of the proletariat? 164 Taking power from local to national level 165 From class to the people and from the people to the nation 167 Notes 171 Chapter 9 Eurocommunism and social democracy 174 A “Mediterranean” communist reformism 175 The limits of communist reformism 177 Eurocommunism and social democracy: antagonistic co-existence 178 A communism without rupture? 182 A “communist” regime of governance? 185 Notes 190 Part III Eurocommunism between national and supranational politics 194 Chapter 10 Collapse or transformation of global capitalism?: The Eurocommunist response 196 “We are all planners now” 196 Beyond the monopolies 199 Global crisis: reorientations 202 The twofold crisis of the national welfare state 203 A new path for the European Left, with its bifurcations 205 From national to supranational: one step forward, but not completed 209 Notes 211 Chapter 11 The “Europeanization” of the communist movement 215 After the war: against the EEC, ma non troppo 216 Europe as horizon for democratic transition 218 From the rejection of European integration up to federalism 221 The Eurocommunist parties as mediators for Europeanisation 224 The upturn at the 1979 European elections 226 En route to the European Left 230 Notes 231 Part IV Conclusions 238 Chapter 12 Traces of the Eurocommunist inheritance 240 The radical left from 1989 to the present day: decline or mutation? 241 Heirs to a successful undertaking that was defeated 244 Capitalist cycles and cycles in the critique of capitalism 251 Notes 254 Bibliography 256 Periodicals 256 Archives 256 Published sources 256 Secondary sources 258 Index 272 Eurocommunism constitutes a "moment" of great transformation connecting the past and the present of the European Left, a political project by means of which left-wing politics in Europe effected a definitive transition to a thoroughly different paradigm. It rose in the wake of 1968 - that pivotal year of social revolt and rethinking that caused a divide between radical, progressive and socialist thinking in western and southern Europe and the Soviet model. Communist parties in Italy, France, Spain and Greece changed tack, drew on the dynamics of social radicalism of the time and came to be associated with political moderation, liberal democracy and negotiation rather than contentious politics forging a movement that would hold influence until the early 1980s. Eurocommunism thus wove an original political synthesis delineated against both the revolutionary Left and the social democracy: "party of struggle and party of governance." "Eurocommunism constitutes a 'moment' of great transformation connecting the past and present of the European Left. Left-wing politics effected a definitive transition to a thoroughly different paradigm in the wake of 1968 - a pivotal year of social revolt and rethinking that caused a divide between radical, progressive and socialist thinking in western and southern Europe and the Soviet model. Communist parties in Italy, France, Spain and Greece changed tack, drew on the dynamics of social radicalism of the time and became associated with political moderation, liberal democracy and negotiation rather than contentious politics, forging a movement that held influence until the early 1980s"-- Provided by publisher