COMMUNISM IN FRANCE & ITALY.   Term Paper ID:21855 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Parties, ideology, membership, inmpact of 1989 Soviet revolution, public support, elections.... More...

12 Pages / 2700 Words 7 sources, 35 Citations, TURABIAN Format $96.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: Parties, ideology, membership, inmpact of 1989 Soviet revolution, public support, elections. Paper Introduction: The 1989 Revolution in the Soviet Union had a profound impact on Communist parties in Western Europe. Communists in France and Italy differed significantly in their leadership responses to the Revolution. Bull identifies three possible responses: "first, remaining an unchanged 'more orthodox' communist party; second, becoming a 'refounded' communist party; and third, changing into a non-communist party of the left." French and Italian Communist parties combined represented the entire range of responses. The seeds of division in West European communist parties were sown prior to the 1989 Soviet Revolution when Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985. Gorbachev's regime changed the nature of the relationship of many West European communist parties with Moscow. Disagreement arose over the concept of Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Revolution Bull identifies three possible responses the entire rangeof responses The seeds Moscow Disagreement arose over theconcept of perestroika communist cause Before liberalisation had of the PCF is characterized system of Democratic Centralism in which the higherlevel candidates in the front line of militant action the Sections are the Federations whichmaintain offices and permanent staff v The supreme governing body Membership in the PCF has losses ThePCF is no longer a dominant political power support in wide-ranging areas of France traditional left-wing sections and where the populace retained strongmemories gap in time between the of the PCF isexhibited in their performance during the votes and won seats In of per cent of the PCF on the municipal level Of the largest cities Communist-run industrial suburbs that surround Parisare known is the city of Bobigny Bobigny witha population to those facing eviction and to new churches These benefits arefunded by they control municipal servicesby allocating jobs under a capitalistsystem Under the ruling class In essence FrenchCommunism has four social roles times the political role assumes the characteristicsof a revolutionary a conservative Stalinist party The party does nottolerate the Communistdoctrine even in the face of the dismantling the Soviet Union's system was merely a crisis ofdevelopment in viability of the international communist moreorthodox Towards this end the PCF decided to reorganize its which champions the cause of the working class According movements from the other end of thepolitical This helped todiscredit the French peace movement in future elections The decline of was considered its goldenera Bull cites behavior the rise of the new were traditionally predicated on stateintervention to restructure society level In terms of the electorate almost all in their newspapers lectures and meetings The parties suffered intellectually created dissent and strife Someparties even began to PCI was unique among West European countries in Italian politics the Christian Democratic party DC success lies in its ability to convince theaverage Italian that of the Italian vote xxii Despite this popularsupport the PCI PCI enjoyed the financial supportof the trade unions and prohibitions against donations by interestgroups xxiii from lack of funding their fund-raising was based and on substantial support from the of the PCI's rivals used the the s some Italian governments began necessary evils in order to keep the once becamethe PDS Democratic Party of the Left Refoundation party received per cent of on the composition of the strength andimage of the existing socialist its replacement with a stylized tree not push the status quo Conditions in the city of Bologna typify the PDS the corruption and at least some of of these programshave been cut back However socialized subsidies for political ghettos in Emilia-Romagna and a few other central and the former Soviet Union hascreated cause for concern againstBolshevism in Italy That bogyman has been buried could be overthrown in the SovietUnion the same could that percentage had dwindledto The PCI estimated at about xxxi Part of the PCI-PDS decline a coalition with the Socialists and social and economic reform Ironically the PDS has by the DC the DC maintained the theSoviet Union and its divisive effects on makea breakthrough entry into Italian attacked Italy's political parties for Bossi has focused on the misuse political burden due tothe excesses of with the PDS The Soviet Union Revolution left many from the Italian PCI qualify as moderates Still others like Martin The West European Communist Movement in the Late Twentieth Voters in France London Hurst Company Gallagher Tom The Regional Nation October Sidoti Francesco The Italian Political Class Government andOpposition Company Ibid Ibid Bull Frears Ibid Bull Frears Frears Ibid Bull Ibid Corbett Bull Ibid Sidoti Tom Gallagher The Regional Dimension in Western Europe Communists in France and of the left i French and Gorbachev came to power in Gorbachev's regime changed the were considered pro-Stalinist They could and support of Moscow ii The Communist party in conciliatoryphases iii As with other Communist parties the of joining the partyis at a workplace cell since the grouped into Sections and delegates Congress proclaims important changes in the politique approximately members the Secretariat eightmembers and the Secretary-General Georges to roughly in vi Paris once considered to it has ceased to beone vii At the peak of thecenter and south-west areas has declined in popularitygiven the reduction in size old men and women and among seats By the party had of the vote and seats x Communist power has survived populations above of which LeHavre is the only town halls inthese industrial suburbs The Communistsaddress the needs of the are subsidizedsummer camps outpatient clinics and municipal retirement homes system members ofthe party support each other and Leninist The party'sMarxist beliefs maintain that human existence revolves a party of professional revolutionaries better living conditions Theparty also acts in a political the proletariat in joining thestruggle of by the decadence crime and financial decay of thePCF made Brezhnev the scapegoat for the international Communistmovement These orthodox Marxists and Bull's first alternative response to the Marchais in The PCF's survival in future elections disillusioned with advancedcapitalism and communist parties may find themselves During the Persian Gulf War inner stability and to form critical alliances with parties The Eurocommunist movementreached its peak during decline in thetraditional working class of the new right' and an anti-state' these parties' nature xxi These complex changes affected theparties' membership declined as well The parties suffered socialisolation movement Strategic difficulties arosebecause the Communists no longer as a result of the political turmoil of the Its success was party due theDC has expended considerable energy in preventing political party Subsequently the PCIenjoyed great electoral triumphs during lacking majority political support the PCI was a powerfulpresence in country characterized by the highest expense for political parties Unlike its rivals the PCI hadvirtually no the USSR on the control of unions s oppositionparties expanded their requests for campaign the late s provided an impetus realizedthat a new era had begun whereas for fifty years Soviet Union Revolution In a PDSbecame a leftist non-communist party the Communist Refoundation communism Reformed communistparties such as the probably depend less on their ability to non-communist party of the left Symbolic of this move program thatremoved all vestiges of Marxism and most of the PCI's endorsement of foreign Observers describe the city as many socialist programs in the past States while farming worker and consumer cooperatives stillthrive Christian Democrats Although the DC governmenthas DC cannot rely oncold war fears to maintain it operates a substantial number of in Italy in terms of votes In declined From apeak of million members in to of the PDS depends on several factors There is a new political movement called social democracy xxxii However of communism in Eastern Europe With the Italian voter tolerated thecorruption and mismanagement of the status the power base of the DC works in of the country'santi-centralist revolt Under the of revenue in return for politicalsupport and businessmen women professional people the self-employed xxxv In Bossi spurned the Communist Refoundation Partyin the left and became more orthodox Others see a new breed of Introduction to France in theNineties Ann Arbor U of a la Francaise Time September Century West European Politics January Ibid John toFrance in the Nineties Ann Arbor U Bull Andrew Kopkind Communism alla Bolognese The Revolution in the Soviet Union had a first remaining an unchanged'more orthodox' communist party second becoming a of division in West European communist parties were sownprior and the proposed reform of the socialist system gone hand in hand with detachment by a series of alternatingphases hard-line are elected by the rank-and-file The primary organizingunit at work iv Cells are where Federation delegates attend theParty Congress which of the PCF is the CentralCommittee The Central Committee declined dramatically over the past in France The PC retains thetrappings and the apparatus Support was greatest among the heavy industrialzones of of the Communists' participation in the Resistance present and the Resistance Support forthe Communists has past three elections In the party received the Communists regained a portion of French vote Thepeak of Communist power occured in when in France are PCF-held xi The party as the red belt These towns have of residents is home to Communist those living in low-incomehousing Among higher taxes on local business and subsidies from Socialistallies housing and grants to support their party objectives The party's Leninist beliefs it sees itself as a It acts as a tribune on behalf party as opposed to maintaining the dissidents and discourages open debate The PCF maintains of the Communist systemin Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union Socialism xvii The PCF initially rejected the movement and the relevance ofthe communist goal as party andeffectively drop democratic centralism to Bull the PCF faces stiff spectrum xix In France the Left which proved incapable of enrollingsignificant support among the population support for the PCF in France is typical specific reasons for the Communists' fall from glory politics' and concomitantdecline in salience and the total discrediting of theSoviet the partiesexperienced declines in voter because manypolitical thinkers who formerly turned question their identities and ideologies Unlike the PCF the most of which wereovershadowed by hadbeen unable to produce leaders to rival Communism does not represent a has never achieved its objective of attaining the cooperative movement This put the rivalpolitical parties at a The PCI backed government regulations onspontaneous contributions from militants on cooperative movement xxiv Threatened by threat ofcommunism as a leverage to to crack down on illegalcampaign powerful but finallydefunct Communist Party out of government Dissidents formed a splinter partycalled the the vote in the election The political environment According toBull In the short to parties and the relationship the communistparties have with them ThePDS has become more moderate tothe left xxvii Political scientists contend approach tocommunist government Communists have controlled the theinefficiency that plague the Christian Democrat-controlled health economicdevelopment housing and education still enjoy northernareas xxix The continued viability of the PDS is Support for the DC was maintained partlybecause xxx The overthrow ofthe state-party system in the Soviet happen in Italy The transformation of the PCI-PDS has had captured governments seats in seats in and seats in is due to the presence of the Communist form aunified left According to Bull the success of a renewed opportunity of making inroads monopoly of governmentand the PCI maintained the monopoly of the the PCI-PDS transformation votersare no longer willing to accept government Nowhere is the unwillingness to accept the one-party status sheltering the corrupt and the inefficient from public scrutiny distributing of Northern taxes tosubsidize the corruption of the central the South In the April general election the NorthernLeague West European communistparties in the the PDS have moved significantly to the right andformed Century West European Politics January Dimension in Italy's Political Upheaval Role of the Northern League Summer Martin Bull The West European Margot Hornblower Communism a la Francaise Time September Francesco Sidoti The Italian Political Italy's PoliticalUpheaval Role of the Northern Italydiffered significantly in their leadership responses to the Italian Communist parties combined represented nature of the relationship of manyWest European communist parties with modernize their partylines without seeming disloyal to the France is the Parti communiste francaise PCF The history PCF for decades wasorganized under a PCF sees itself as the spearhead of theclass struggle and from the cells attendSection Conferences Ranked above party line and is the supreme nationalbody of the PCF Marchais was the party'sSecretary-General from until when he resigned be astronghold of Communist control experienced the most dramatic of its power the PCF maintained with weak ties to the Catholic church of the heavy industrial labor force and thelengthy manual laborers Evidence of the decline of political importance slipped to per cent of the ix As recently as the PCF was still capturing upwards in France mainly through the activity ofthe Communist-run city with more than inhabitants xii The xiii A typical Communist stronghold grass roots population They offer assistance tothe unemployed Communists even donate money to build the party machine Once Communistmajorities are elected in a municipality around a classstruggle in which the proletariat suffers oppression that refuses to compromise with the role in assuming control of municipalgovernment At other the working class xvi The PCF is also the West The PCF rarely criticizes and asserted that the corruption inertiaand repression of pro-Soviets continued to believe inthe Soviet Union Revolution by remaining unchanged and becoming is dependent upon its abilityto remain a protest party competing on the sameterrain as extremist parties and the pacifistCommunists forged an alliance with the extreme Left like-minded political parties are the keys to its success the mid s in what the bedrock of these parties' support and class-related voting consensus in the s when these parties' programmes the WestEuropean parties on an electoral organizational social strategic andinternal from the diminished public interest held as many government offices Internalfactions within the parties themselves s Prior to the s the to strong leaders The othermajor force the rise of communism inItaly Part of the PCI's the mid s In the PCIreceived per cent Italy during the s The financing in spite of the most severe support from the Italian business community However the PCIseldom suffered and city councils in manyareas funding by the businesscommunity during the s Many for campaign financing reform During illegal funds had beenregarded as national convention in the PCI became a refounded communist party Although relatively new the Communist Refoundation party stand a good chance of survivaldepending refound' communismthan on the nature of domestic political competition the toward non-communism was the abandonment of itsformer hammer-and-cycle logo and democratic socialism optinginstead for a kind of Euroliberalism that dares policy in the Westduring the s awell-run bustling place free from e g housing subsidies and free transportation most Aside from Bologna Communists maintain a political edge in ruled since World War II the collapse of its position as the only bulwark major Italian corporations andlocal public works If a state-party the Italian partyhad per cent of the Italian vote by approximately in current membership is apossibility that it can form the PDS has thus far failed to attempta program of the communist threat still intact Italians accepted a one-partygovernment led quo With the collapse of favor of the PDS to leadership of Umberto Bossi theNorthern League has relentlessly involving organised crime in the misuse of statefunds xxxiv and youth who feel saddled by an unfair favor of forming an alliance like the CommunistRefoundation splinter party communism emerging in Western Europe Endnotes BibliographyBull Michigan P Frears John Parties and Kopkind Andrew Communism alla Bolognese The Frears Parties and Voters in France London Hurst of Michigan P Frears Hornblower Ibid The Nation October Ibid Ibid Ibid Bull Ibid profound impact onCommunist parties in refounded' communistparty and third changing into a non-communist party to the Soviet Revolution when Mikhail West European communist parties who supported perestroika and Moscow nolonger from Moscow after it drew on the example and uncompromising phases followed by of the PCF is the cell The preferred method the local party activities are conducted Related cellsare often meets every three years The Party elects the PCF leadership consisting ofthe Bureau severaldecades In the party boasted members this figure has sincedropped of a major party but the north the Paris region the east the rural areas viii It isnot surprising then that the Communist party declined across the board in all categories both youngand per cent of the votes and won their political strength andgarnered per cent the party received percent of French voter support has Communist senators and Communistmayors run of the towns with remained staunch Communistsupporters since the s Communists control out of activists whooperate from neighborhood and factory cells xiv the party's other humanitarian activities in state ministries xv Under the Communist ideology of the PCF is both Marxist and vanguardof the oppressed The PCF is of theworking class in assisting them to obtain status quo Thefourth role is that of the vanguard of thatthe merits of the Socialist system are apparent In reaction to these events idea thatthe Revolution meant serious changes traditionally understood xviii Therefore theCommunist party in France chose after the resignation of Secretary-General competition Protest parties nowrepresent an inter-class mix of those most is represented chiefly bySocialists and Communists at large xx The ability of thePCF to maintain of thesituation for other West European Long-term socio-economic changes which had resulted in a of economic issues on which communist parties relied the rise model the historical association with which was an indelible markon support On an organizational level to the Communists became involvedinstead with the new right Communist party of Italy PCI underwent radicalchanges socialist governments In contrast the PCI dominated theItalian Left the PCI despite the face that national threat andthat the PCI is just like any other asignificant portion of political power in Italy Though severe disadvantage During the s Italy wasthe that restrictedsecret political donations to the the direct and indirectassistance of the strength of the PCI during the obtain funds The subsequent decline of the PCIafter funding After decades of immunity politicians quickly xxv The Italian Communists expressed a twofold response to the Communist Refoundation Using Bull's definitions the party considered pro-Sovietand seeks to provide a rejuvenated form of medium term the success of Western communistparties will xxvi The PCI-PDS transformation became a The party fashioned a new that this move to the rightwas foreshadowed by government of thisnorthern capital since World War II south xxviii Although the Communists instituted greater popularity than inthe United partly due to the shakyfoundation of support for of the perceived threat of communism it the Union also caused concern for the DCbecause a negative effect on thecommunist movement Membership in the PCI-PDS has also Refoundation partywhich captured seats in The future non-communist parties likethe PDS are linked to the survival of intoItalian government due to the collapse opposition xxxiii Since theonly viable alternative was Communism a one-party system Potentialfragmentation of quo moreapparent than in Italy's Northern League region a part state jobs and vast amounts government The Northern League issupported by small garnered of the Italian vote mostly acquired from former DCsupporters throes of identity crises Some like the French PCF movedto alliances with non-communist movements The decade of the swill Corbett James Through French Windows An Parliamentary Affairs July Hornblower Margot Communism Communist Movement in the LateTwentieth James Corbett Through French Windows An Introduction Class Government andOpposition Summer Ibid Ibid League Parliamentary Affairs July Ibid Revolution Bull identifies three possible responses the entire rangeof responses The seeds Moscow Disagreement arose over theconcept of perestroika communist cause Before liberalisation had of the PCF is characterized system of Democratic Centralism in which the higherlevel candidates in the front line of militant action the Sections are the Federations whichmaintain offices and permanent staff v The supreme governing body Membership in the PCF has losses ThePCF is no longer a dominant political power support in wide-ranging areas of France traditional left-wing sections and where the populace retained strongmemories gap in time between the of the PCF isexhibited in their performance during the votes and won seats In of per cent of the PCF on the municipal level Of the largest cities Communist-run industrial suburbs that surround Parisare known is the city of Bobigny Bobigny witha population to those facing eviction and to new churches These benefits arefunded by they control municipal servicesby allocating jobs under a capitalistsystem Under the ruling class In essence FrenchCommunism has four social roles times the political role assumes the characteristicsof a revolutionary a conservative Stalinist party The party does nottolerate the Communistdoctrine even in the face of the dismantling the Soviet Union's system was merely a crisis ofdevelopment in viability of the international communist moreorthodox Towards this end the PCF decided to reorganize its which champions the cause of the working class According movements from the other end of thepolitical This helped todiscredit the French peace movement in future elections The decline of was considered its goldenera Bull cites behavior the rise of the new were traditionally predicated on stateintervention to restructure society level In terms of the electorate almost all in their newspapers lectures and meetings The parties suffered intellectually created dissent and strife Someparties even began to PCI was unique among West European countries in Italian politics the Christian Democratic party DC success lies in its ability to convince theaverage Italian that of the Italian vote xxii Despite this popularsupport the PCI PCI enjoyed the financial supportof the trade unions and prohibitions against donations by interestgroups xxiii from lack of funding their fund-raising was based and on substantial support from the of the PCI's rivals used the the s some Italian governments began necessary evils in order to keep the once becamethe PDS Democratic Party of the Left Refoundation party received per cent of on the composition of the strength andimage of the existing socialist its replacement with a stylized tree not push the status quo Conditions in the city of Bologna typify the PDS the corruption and at least some of of these programshave been cut back However socialized subsidies for political ghettos in Emilia-Romagna and a few other central and the former Soviet Union hascreated cause for concern againstBolshevism in Italy That bogyman has been buried could be overthrown in the SovietUnion the same could that percentage had dwindledto The PCI estimated at about xxxi Part of the PCI-PDS decline a coalition with the Socialists and social and economic reform Ironically the PDS has by the DC the DC maintained the theSoviet Union and its divisive effects on makea breakthrough entry into Italian attacked Italy's political parties for Bossi has focused on the misuse political burden due tothe excesses of with the PDS The Soviet Union Revolution left many from the Italian PCI qualify as moderates Still others like Martin The West European Communist Movement in the Late Twentieth Voters in France London Hurst Company Gallagher Tom The Regional Nation October Sidoti Francesco The Italian Political Class Government andOpposition Company Ibid Ibid Bull Frears Ibid Bull Frears Frears Ibid Bull Ibid Corbett Bull Ibid Sidoti Tom Gallagher The Regional Dimension in Western Europe Communists in France and of the left i French and Gorbachev came to power in Gorbachev's regime changed the were considered pro-Stalinist They could and support of Moscow ii The Communist party in conciliatoryphases iii As with other Communist parties the of joining the partyis at a workplace cell since the grouped into Sections and delegates Congress proclaims important changes in the politique approximately members the Secretariat eightmembers and the Secretary-General Georges to roughly in vi Paris once considered to it has ceased to beone vii At the peak of thecenter and south-west areas has declined in popularitygiven the reduction in size old men and women and among seats By the party had of the vote and seats x Communist power has survived populations above of which LeHavre is the only town halls inthese industrial suburbs The Communistsaddress the needs of the are subsidizedsummer camps outpatient clinics and municipal retirement homes system members ofthe party support each other and Leninist The party'sMarxist beliefs maintain that human existence revolves a party of professional revolutionaries better living conditions Theparty also acts in a political the proletariat in joining thestruggle of by the decadence crime and financial decay of thePCF made Brezhnev the scapegoat for the international Communistmovement These orthodox Marxists and Bull's first alternative response to the Marchais in The PCF's survival in future elections disillusioned with advancedcapitalism and communist parties may find themselves During the Persian Gulf War inner stability and to form critical alliances with parties The Eurocommunist movementreached its peak during decline in thetraditional working class of the new right' and an anti-state' these parties' nature xxi These complex changes affected theparties' membership declined as well The parties suffered socialisolation movement Strategic difficulties arosebecause the Communists no longer as a result of the political turmoil of the Its success was party due theDC has expended considerable energy in preventing political party Subsequently the PCIenjoyed great electoral triumphs during lacking majority political support the PCI was a powerfulpresence in country characterized by the highest expense for political parties Unlike its rivals the PCI hadvirtually no the USSR on the control of unions s oppositionparties expanded their requests for campaign the late s provided an impetus realizedthat a new era had begun whereas for fifty years Soviet Union Revolution In a PDSbecame a leftist non-communist party the Communist Refoundation communism Reformed communistparties such as the probably depend less on their ability to non-communist party of the left Symbolic of this move program thatremoved all vestiges of Marxism and most of the PCI's endorsement of foreign Observers describe the city as many socialist programs in the past States while farming worker and consumer cooperatives stillthrive Christian Democrats Although the DC governmenthas DC cannot rely oncold war fears to maintain it operates a substantial number of in Italy in terms of votes In declined From apeak of million members in to of the PDS depends on several factors There is a new political movement called social democracy xxxii However of communism in Eastern Europe With the Italian voter tolerated thecorruption and mismanagement of the status the power base of the DC works in of the country'santi-centralist revolt Under the of revenue in return for politicalsupport and businessmen women professional people the self-employed xxxv In Bossi spurned the Communist Refoundation Partyin the left and became more orthodox Others see a new breed of Introduction to France in theNineties Ann Arbor U of a la Francaise Time September Century West European Politics January Ibid John toFrance in the Nineties Ann Arbor U Bull Andrew Kopkind Communism alla Bolognese If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.