Eurocommunism - Lessons for the Indian Left

The Indian left’s decline is widely attributed to its disconnection from the masses and its failure to acknowledge and address India’s social realities. In a recent interview, CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat himself admitted that the Indian left was still "banking on the concepts and theories of the 1940s" and had not adapted itself to changing times. He also acknowledged a fundamental flaw in the Indian left movements- the refusal to acknowledge caste system. Feminist scholars have often lamented the left’s refusal to address, even within its party ranks, concerns centered on gender and sexuality. As India is swept by different socio-cultural changes, other movements and issues—gay rights, extremism, the rising influence of religion on politics, tribal movements, extremism—have   also become issues that the left movement must grapple with. While the left leadership remains impervious to these prevailing currents, it might be useful for those interested in the future of left politics in India to look back at the ways in which other communist parties in democratic countries in Europe, when faced with a similar national environment, made attempts to re-invent themselves expanding beyond just the organised working class within their fold.

The year was 1969. Enrico Berlinguer , the deputy national secretary of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) took stage at the International conference of Communist parties in Moscow to deliver one of the strongest speeches that the plenary had ever heard. In his address, Berlinguer, whose party was then the largest Communist party in Western Europe, criticised the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia to unseat a liberal reformist government and raised pertinent questions about Communism and its approach towards cultural freedom, democracy and national sovereignty.

Italian communism was never completely dominated by Soviet-style communism, rooted as it is in the ideological traditions of thinkers like Antonio Gramsci. But Berlinguer’s unexpected questioning of Soviet style communism was symptomatic of the dilemmas faced by communist parties in other western European nations like Spain, France, Great Britain as well. Communist parties in these countries had felt the need for reconciling western democratic systems with Communist ideals; to achieve transformation into a socialist society through democratic means, as opposed to the rigid, undemocratic ways of the Soviet leadership from which they wanted now to distance themselves.

The divisions between Western European communist parties and the Marxist-Leninnist orthodoxy in Moscow deepened after 1969. The leaders of Communist parties of Italy, Spain and France met in 1977 in Madrid and charted a ‘new way’, what came to be called Eurocommunism - Communism characterised by a readiness to adapt to western democratic principles and independence from the Soviet Union.

Eurocommunism was derided by both capitalists and soviets alike; termed opportunism to capture power by the quickest way possible-by opposing the Soviet Union; but it was also a brave attempt at reform, borne out of an engagement with radical changes occurring in the society around. Eurocommunists opposed the lack of internal democracy in communist parties and sought to broaden left politics to include other revolutions of the time—the women’s movement, gay rights movement, student politics—into its goal of a society of equals.

Euro communism evolved differently in different nations and eventually lost most of the ground they gained in the 70’s due to American arm twisting and ideological conflicts and confusions within party ranks, as well as the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of the cold war and resultant swing toward neo-liberal reforms.

 Eurocommunists in Italy entered into a “historic compromise” with the Christian Democrats.They made considerable gains under Berliguer- polling 34.4% of total votes in 1976, but lost their influence when the agreement fell apart with the assassination of Christian Democratic Party leader, Aldo Moro, by the extremist Red Brigade. A lack of clarity in its ideology and the party’s alleged failure in completely breaking with Soviet style communism eventually led to the dissolution of PCI in 1991.

 French communists eventually took a U-turn and went back to traditional communism, losing the supporters to the Socialist Party (PS). In Spain, internal conflicts led to the downfall of Eurocommunist movement.  Sanitago Carrilo who led democratic reforms in Communist Party of Spain (PCE), was expelled from the party in 1985 after successive electoral defeats and strong dissent against his ‘revisionist’ policies from party ranks.

But for all its failures, Eurocommunism inspired progressive socialist movements in many countries outside Europe like Japan, Mexico and Australia and was even acknowledged by Gorbachev as having inspired him in formulating glasnost and perestroika.

Now as the Indian left faces an uncertain future and the threat of fading into complete irrelevance, it could draw some pointers from the victories and failings of Eurocommunists on how it can adapt itself to changing times and the realities that surround it. However, the Indian left has so far remained remote, refusing to broaden itself to engage with a complex society where class does not constitute the only division, and where the goal of a ‘class-less’, or rather, a just and equal society, is complicated by class, caste, ethnic and regional identities as well.