Old Ploy or New Hope?

...Challenge for East and West By Wolfgang Leonhard Holt, Rmehart and Winston 398 pp $17 95 Reviewed by Lloyd Harrington Rejecting with varying emphases the Marxism-Leninism of the Soviet Union in favor of what are essentially the earlier Socialist views of Karl Kaut-sky, the Eurocommunist parties have infuriated Moscow and perplexed Europe's Social Democrats Yale professor Wolfgang Leonhard is admirably equipped to trace the genesis of this intriguing political phenomenon He has several previously published works to his credit that establish his distinctly democratic credentials, and a background of experience in both East and West Europe On the theoretical level, what Leonhard finds characteristic of Eurocommunism—somewhat misleadingly named since the Japanese and the Australian Communists share the same positions—is a lefusal to accept Moscow's tiadiltonal Leninist doctrines as sacrosanct In pi actical terms, the movement is seen as having established its legitimacy by taking stands in the area of foreign policy that run counter to the Kremlin's Eurocommunists do not participate in the wholesale condemnation of China, they are relatively objective about the roles of the Warsaw Pact and the nato alliance, and—admittedly with differing zeal—they manage to criticize Soviet domination in Eastern Europe But emancipation from Moscow's yoke has been a slow and intellectually painful process Even the Italian Communist Party, the first to dare display a hesitant friendship toward Yugoslavia's Marshal Tito, has faltered along the way Indeed, Leonhard's assertion that it "did not side with the Soviets' seems somewhat strained According to his own account, in December '56, the Italian Communists, despite some reservations, called the Soviet invasion "an evil necessity which could not and should not have been avoided ' It was not until 1976, as the author himself admits, that the Italian Communists clearly expressed their objections to what had taken place in Hungary Certainly Leonhard has no illusions, though, where the French Communists are concerned In his forthright evaluation of Georges Marchais' party and the games it has played with the French Socialists, he perceptively comments "On the one hand, the French Communist Party avowed its unity with the Socialists, on the other, it wanted to strengthen its own role within the Left coalition at all costs ' By insisting, in effect, that they must be the leading force in the coalition, the French Communists demonstrated their continued adherence to the Stalinist approach to such unity It is part of Wolfgang Leonhard's thesis, however, that the evolution of Eurocommunism over the past several decades is seriously misunderstood if judged purely "on the basis of analogies to the Stalinist past In his view, it was the very absurdity and embarrassment of having to defend everything coming out of Moscow that destroyed whatever credibilitv the Western Communist parties had, prodding them to reject total subservience While Jugoslavia's 1948 break with Stalin was a watershed in the Kremlin's relations with foreign Communist parties, Khrushchev's 1956 revelations about the dictator created a new climate for independent thinking, especially outside of the Soviet bloc At the First Communist World Conference in 1957, concessions were grudgingly made to the autonomists, forerunners of the Eurocommunists, and from that point on a reluctant Soviet leadership watched its domination of world Communism diminish When the Soviet Umon invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968, more than two-thirds of Europe's Communist parties, according to Leonhard's count, openly opposed the move And by the 1970s, dissociation from Soviet leadership had become the rule where previously it had been the exception With an implacable China on one side and Eurocommunism on the other, the USSR now faces a double threat to its once monopolistic power over world Communism But the China threat, with its military overtones, tends to unite Soviet citizens The peaceful challenge of Eurocommunism, emphasizing greater freedom and "the individual road to socialism," shows dissidents within the Soviet Union and its satellites that a Communist alternative to Moscow's ideology exists This constitutes a major danger for the Soviet elite, because Eastern European and Soviet citizens in unknown numbers silently agree with the criticisms the Euro-communists voice about dictatorship, bureaucracy and repression In Leonhard's opinion, "The bureaucratic dictatorial system [in the USSR] is presently in a state of crisis He maintains that it is too unwieldy to keep pace with the needs of a modem industrial society, and that serious lags in science, technology and production are everywhere manifest "All attempts to carry out reforms,' he adds, "run up against unyielding resistance on the part of the bureaucratic authoritarian forces which cling to their positions of power and whose sole political goal is to retain as much Stalinism as possible " It is therefore no accident that Soviet-bloc news media censor Eurocom-mumst statements concerning political freedom The idea of a multiparty democratic society is at odds not only with Soviet reality but with Moscow's declared principles There can be no basis for conflict, according to Soviet orthodoxy, in a society "characterized by socio-political and ideological unity " Yet dissidents bravely contend that there is in fact no such unity, and some argue that the Soviet model is not consistent with the Marxism it espouses Meanwhile, the Eurocommurusts are being watched with special interest by leading Social Democrats Some of their rhetoric, to the effect that their intention is to transform capitalism and not simply to administer it, is considered less than promising Nor is it consistent with assurances of the Italian Communists that they "do not propose to extend further the state-directed sector of the Italian economy, but would use economic planning to advance new development priorities with full consideration of market mechanisms In Spain, Leonhard finds that on some issues the Communists advocate a more moderate policy than the Socialists " If the Eurocommunists follow the pattern of the Popular Front in the 1930s, they will move so quickly to the Right that Social Democrats will look like Leftists and their own exaggerated moderation will once more rob them of credibility In fairness, Leonhard doesn't see this as probable, and he correctly points out that the Popular Front was a strategy orchestrated entirely from Moscow Nevertheless, it will require an extended period of open and meaningful change to persuade large numbers of Social Democrats that Europe's Communists are ready to abide by democratic procedures of government Leonhard does not expect otherwise, noting that it took two decades for many to recognize that the Sino-Soviet rift was genuine But he cautions that it is a serious error to label every development in the Communist world a tactical maneuver Further, since he finds Eurocommunism a "significant and ongoing process of emancipation" whose chief impact seems to be centered upon the Communist world itself, he believes that especially in this case such an attitude would be counterproductive...