The eurocommunist challenge and the Eastern European and Soviet response

Abstract

The phenomenon of Eurocommunism, especially as practiced by the Communist parties of Italy, France, and Spain, is a direct threat to Soviet hegemony in Eastern Europe and a serious challenge to the power, prestige, and legitimacy of the CPSU itself. This research represents an analysis of the validity of the Eurocommunist shift away from Moscow's influence, the impact of the "Eurocommunist model" upon the ruling Communist parties, and the responses the West may expect from the Soviet bloc in the future. Using not only Western sources, but also the pronouncements of the Communist parties in the USSR, East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, and others, this study reveals a wide variety of reaction from behind the "Iron Curtain." However, given the current political reali­ties, the West may most likely expect the eventual expulsion of the Eurocommunist parties from the international Communist movement and a simultaneous Soviet-led repression of dissent and "revisionism" within its sphere of influence, perhaps rendering a fatal blow to East/West detente.