The International Party?

What might be called “the French turn” in Communist tactics got into high gear with publication of the Marchais-Berlinguer declaration last November (cf. this column, Jan. 23, Feb. 20, Mar. 5). It presents two basic questions which, though usually lumped together, are pragmatically and logically distinct: 1) Have the French and Italian Communist parties (and possibly also the Spanish, British, and some other West European parties) shifted from a revolutionary perspective leading toward a dictatorial, totalitarian regime to a peaceful, parliamentary perspective leading toward a pluralist, democratic regime? 2) Have the French and Italian Communist parties (and possibly the others) shifted to a course that is genuinely independent of the Soviet Union?

I believe, as I have previously argued, that the answer to the first question is a clear No. The turn, in its bearing on the problem of “the road to socialism,” is not strategic but rhetorical and tactical. Granted the situations of the French and Italian parties (the two largest, richest, most powerful outside the Communist sphere), it is an almost inevitable tactical move. Neither has any prospect of winning a parliamentary majority in the normal course of events, but both have excellent prospects of entering the government, with a promising outlook for dominating it before long, through an electoral alliance. You cannot sustain an alliance if you announce in advance the intention of liquidating your ally.

JB

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James Burnham

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What might be called “the French turn” in Communist tactics got into high gear with publication of the Marchais-Berlinguer declaration last November (cf. this column, Jan. 23, Feb. 20, Mar. 5). It presents two basic questions which, though usually lumped together, are pragmatically and logically distinct: 1) Have the French and Italian Communist parties (and possibly also the Spanish, British, and some other West European parties) shifted from a revolutionary perspective leading toward a dictatorial, totalitarian regime to a peaceful, parliamentary perspective leading toward a pluralist, democratic regime? 2) Have the French and Italian Communist parties (and possibly the others) shifted to a course that is genuinely independent of the Soviet Union?

I believe, as I have previously argued, that the answer to the first question is a clear No. The turn, in its bearing on the problem of “the road to socialism,” is not strategic but rhetorical and tactical. Granted the situations of the French and Italian parties (the two largest, richest, most powerful outside the Communist sphere), it is an almost inevitable tactical move. Neither has any prospect of winning a parliamentary majority in the normal course of events, but both have excellent prospects of entering the government, with a promising outlook for dominating it before long, through an electoral alliance. You cannot sustain an alliance if you announce in advance the intention of liquidating your ally.