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Some Perspectives on the Nature and Role of the Western European Communist Parties

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Bernard S. Morris
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Extract

The international Communist movement is commonly described as a conspiracy and so, in part, it is. It is a conspiracy in the sense that the national Communist parties are members of a coordinated international political movement which attempts to undermine the present social and economic order and replace it with the Soviet brand of collectivism. It is also a conspiracy in the sense that Communist parties, unlike other national parties, would, if given power, deliberately place their countries under the domination of, or at least align them with the USSR. The Communist parties with their clandestine organization and their addiction to violence when they think they stand to gain by its use, simply cannot be put on a par with other political parties. All this is well known and needs no retelling.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , April 1956 , pp. 157 - 169
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1956

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References

1 The writer wishes to emphasize that he is concerned with present period, not with the past and not with the future strategy.

2 See, for example, Deutscher, I., Stalin (New York, 1949), pp. 391–92 and p. 405Google Scholar, n.2.

3 Cf. Kecskemeti, Paul's “Totalitarianism and the Future” in Totalitarianism, edited by Friedrich, Carl J. (Cambridge, Mass., 1954), pp. 345–360, especially pp. 354 ff.Google Scholar

4 Zhdanov, Andre on “The International Situation,” address at the founding conference of the Cominform in Poland, 09 1947Google Scholar; National and International Movements, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee No. 5, GPO, Washington, 1948, pp. 211–230.Google Scholar

5 See, for example, Article “New Asia” by Micheev, V. in Kommunist, No. 12, 08 1955, pp. 80–94.Google Scholar

6 “Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR,” supplement to New Times, No. 44, 10 29, 1952, pp. 14–15.Google Scholar

7 The British Road to Socialism, published by the Communist Party, London, 04 1952.Google Scholar

8 Road to Socialism, p. 12.Google Scholar

9 For a Lasting Peace, for a People's Democracy!, 06 11, 1954, p. 2.Google Scholar

10 For a Lasting Peace …, 01 21, 1955, p. 3.Google Scholar

11 Togliatti, 's speech at the Congress of the Milan Communist Federation, 03 19, 1951Google Scholar. Per un Governo di Pace (For a Government of Peace). Togliatti, P., Editions of Social Culture, 04 1951, pp. 122–126.Google Scholar

12 Radio Free Greece (Communist), 11 25, 1954.Google Scholar

13 The comparison is probably not applicable to Italy which, after all, endured a Fascist dictatorship for most of the inter-war period.

14 Humanité, 06 5, 1954Google Scholar, report on party organization by Marcel Servin.

15 Iceland's Communist Party is a notable exception, polling 16.1 percent in 1953.

16 The stability of French Communist electoral support was reflected in the national elections held in January 1956 when, on the basis of incomplete returns, the Communist party polled 5,427,000 votes or approximately 25.7 percent of the total vote.