"Eurocommunism"

[ColonelCossack]

I have a friend who's uncle- Ben Aaronovich- is supposedly a "Euro-communist". What is this strange tendency I've never heard it?

My friend who this person is related to fervently denies his uncle's (Euro)Communism.

[Tim Finnegan]

Eurocommunism was a trend in the 1970s and 1980s within various Western European (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Europe) communist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism) parties to develop a theory and practice of social transformation that was more relevant for a Western European country and less aligned to the influence or control of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union).
...
The main theoretical foundation of Eurocommunism was Antonio Gramsci (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Gramsci)'s writing about Marxist theory which questioned the sectarianism of the Left and encouraged communist parties to develop social alliances to win hegemonic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_hegemony) support for social reforms. Eurocommunist parties expressed their fidelity to democratic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy) institutions more clearly than before and attempted to widen their appeal by embracing public sector (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_sector) middle-class (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle-class) workers, new social movements (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_social_movements) such as feminism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism) and gay liberation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_liberation) and more publicly questioning the Soviet Union. Early inspirations can also be found in the Austromarxism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austromarxism) and its seeking of a "third" democratic "way" to socialism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurocommunism
tl;dr: Making Marxism-Leninism more consumer-friendly by misinterpreting Gramsci.

[ColonelCossack]

iiiiiiiiiii see.

[Sasha]

Social democracy/ state capitalism without a dictatorship

[Veovis]

Should be called "Market Communism."

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

Should be called "Market Communism."

No. It's not communism at all, or socialism. It's simply a form of social-democracy to which certain disillusioned former "Stalinist" parties degenerated as a result of their inherent ideological corruptions and confusions.

[Veovis]

No. It's not communism at all, or socialism. It's simply a form of social-democracy to which certain disillusioned former "Stalinist" parties degenerated as a result of their inherent ideological corruptions and confusions.

Precisely. It's an oxymoron. ;)

[Die Neue Zeit]

Besides what others said above, the specific problem with Eurocommunism, both politically and economically, was/is that it's not even market socialism (properly defined, not Deng-ism) to begin with.

[brigadista]

no such ting ..lol

[Prometeo liberado]

I just dont wanna hear how Eurocommunism can be traced back to Gramci. Nothing reveals a lack of understanding said author than blaming him as the theoretical seed of Eurocommies.

[Philosophis Pony]

I have not heard of the term myself but If I were to throw a stone in the dark I would say it was created somewhere in the past 2 centuries. Such as during the revolution in Spain. I'd presume it meant a purely european influenced version of communism, it could be any number of things.
If there is anyone who knows more on the subject please correct me because I could be wrong.

[Crux]

I have a friend who's uncle- Ben Aaronovich- is supposedly a "Euro-communist". What is this strange tendency I've never heard it?

My friend who this person is related to fervently denies his uncle's (Euro)Communism.
I met a greek who identified as a "left eurocommunist" he was pretty alright politically, despite his identification. Basically it is a half way house between stalinism and modern social democracy usually leaning more towards the latter, point in case being the Communist Party of Italy one of the pioneers of eurocommunism which, through this, turned into the Democratic Party, the italian social democrats. No different than say Labour in the UK. They are in today in the "Socialist International" so them being socialdemocrats it's not just me saying it.

[Tommy4ever]

Basically when offical Communist Parties in Europe took an independent (from Moscow) position and adopted more 'social democratic' policies.

[blake 3:17]

I have some sympathies for Eurocommunism. It was basically the European Communist Parties breaking with Stalinism. Unfortunately they moved to the right.

Folks might be interested in this piece by Ralph Miliband: http://www.marxists.org/archive/miliband/1978/xx/eurocomm.htm

[North Star]

The use of Gramsci particularly by the PCI provided left cover. Cultural struggle and building a alternative culture is of course important, and to an extent the PCI did this. However a lot of the other politics of Eurocommunism come straight out of the Popular Front.

Miliband's article is good in the context of when it was published, but not only did Eurocommunism fail by its own standards (PCI and PCE lost vote share through the 1980's) its advocates Napolitano and Carillo that Miliband mentions, abandoned any commitment to even the transformation of society along Eurocommunist lines by the end of the 1980's. Though Miliband may be right that its potential may have been stunted due to the undemocratic nature of Communist Parties.

That being said Ernest Mandel wrote a book called: From Stalinism to Eurocommunism: The Bitter Fruits of 'Socialism in One Country. I have not read it, but Mandel was actually a good theorist even if he couldn't totally escape certain Trotskyist thinking. The title alone sums up my view on the subject basically.