Euro-Communism

The worst did not happen in Italy—this time. But the portents remain. More than one-third of the voters were ready to entrust their civil liberty to the Communists. Why? They had been beguiled by Berlinguer’s clever slogan, “Euro-Communism,” the line that the Italian Communists. are different; that they would not be guided by Moscow, would respect human rights, and would step down if people voted against them; that they embrace NATO, whose secrets they surely would like to get their hands on, as “the military guarantee of their independence from the Soviets.”

Many highly educated Italians, and masses of the less well educated, accepted this stuff at face value. So did Dr. Eduard Benes, Czechoslovakia’s unlucky president, when in 1945 he embraced the Communists as partners in a coalition of anti-fascist forces. Three years later he had to turn over power, people, and public order to the Communists. These problems are ours, too. Have we not been inclined to say that Communists could be regarded as a legitimate party if they would allow free elections, admit a choice of candidates, and show some respect for human rights? Setting up a list of conditions of good behavior implies that if the Communists appeared to meet most of them, we could then call them compatriots, fellow citizens, sharers of the public faith.

GN

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Gerhart Niemeyer

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The worst did not happen in Italy—this time. But the portents remain. More than one-third of the voters were ready to entrust their civil liberty to the Communists. Why? They had been beguiled by Berlinguer’s clever slogan, “Euro-Communism,” the line that the Italian Communists. are different; that they would not be guided by Moscow, would respect human rights, and would step down if people voted against them; that they embrace NATO, whose secrets they surely would like to get their hands on, as “the military guarantee of their independence from the Soviets.”

Many highly educated Italians, and masses of the less well educated, accepted this stuff at face value. So did Dr. Eduard Benes, Czechoslovakia’s unlucky president, when in 1945 he embraced the Communists as partners in a coalition of anti-fascist forces. Three years later he had to turn over power, people, and public order to the Communists. These problems are ours, too. Have we not been inclined to say that Communists could be regarded as a legitimate party if they would allow free elections, admit a choice of candidates, and show some respect for human rights? Setting up a list of conditions of good behavior implies that if the Communists appeared to meet most of them, we could then call them compatriots, fellow citizens, sharers of the public faith.