This book analyzes the dynamics through which the two major communist parties of the capitalist world—which in the 1970s had great influence on their respective national political contexts since the 1980s are increasing their marginality and, although in different forms and with different timeframes are unable to stem the decline of their political and cultural influences on the working classes.

First published in 1981, The Communist Parties of Italy, France, and Spain presents a comparative and integrative overview of the development of three Communist parties in the postwar Europe. Through the systematic presentation of the most important documents of the Communist parties, the book provides an access to the basic declarations and positions to illustrate the strategic and ideological evolution of these three parties in the advanced industrial democracies. Eurocommunism, the editors argue cannot be usefully understood as a phenomenon which suddenly appeared and equally as rapidly disappeared, in the 1970s. Rather it is a process of adaptation and change which characterizes the development of all three parties since World War II. The explicitly comparative organisation of the documents into five basic themes -general strategy, alliances, party organization, international policy, policy toward the communist movement, allows the reader both to follow any single party in a specific policy area or to compare the parties in response to major domestic or international events of significance. Rich in archival material, this book will be an invaluable resource to scholars and researchers of European Politics, comparative politics, comparative communism and modern European history. .

The contributors to this volume address themselves to the growth, behavior, and prospects of the two largest Communist parties in Western Europe. The book deals in particular with the adaptation of the French and Italian Communist parties to the secular changes in their advanced societies. It emphasizes the different attempts made by each party's leaders to participate actively and fruitfully in parliamentary political systems. Originally published in 1976. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

This volume is a systematic comparative study of the French and Italian Communist parties in the period from the early 1960s to the early 1980s.

Several key questions are the focus for this study of the French Communist Party and its role in the crisis engulfing the international Communist movement. What has been the historical relationship of the Parti communiste français to Moscow? How did de-Stalinization, East European upheavals in 1956, and Sino-Soviet differences affect that relationship? Why has the PCF continued to remain an important ally of the Soviets? Mr. Fejtö answers these questions with a detailed discussion of the integration of French communism into the political life of France. Taking a partly sociological approach, he establishes the bases for the appeal of communism in France; then he describes French domestic and foreign politics in relation to developments in the Soviet Union and to changes in the international Communist movement. His approach here is to give a roughly chronological account of PCF response to developments at home and abroad, in part through a discussion of official party congresses. He amplifies his discussion of French communism by comparing and contrasting it to the Communist Party in Italy, where advanced industrialization and a highly influential domestic party have made the two countries rough counterparts in the structure of world Communist activity. Mr. Fejtö's many points of emphasis allow him to draw certain conclusions about the present and future character of the French Communist Party, conclusions that center around public support for the party on French soil and increasingly shrewd management of relations with Communist and non-Communist interests represented at home and abroad. One of the particular advantages of this study is that it is firmly embedded in French history and politics. An authoritative and highly perceptive treatment of the subject, The French Communist Party and the Crisis of International Communism will be an indispensable entry on any reading list in Communist affairs, especially in the influence of pivotal Communist parties loosely associated with the West. François Fejtö is uniquely qualified to write about the Parti communiste français. Of Hungarian origin, he has lived in France for nearly thirty years. His historical works on Central Europe include a biography of the Austrian Emperor Joseph II and the standard Histoire des démocraties populaires. More recently he has published the only serious work in French on the Sino-Soviet dispute, Chine-U.R.S.S., Vol. I, La fin d'une hégémonie: Les origines du grand schisme communiste, 1950-1957 (Paris: Pion, 1964); Vol. II, Le Conflit: Le développement du grand schisme communiste, 1958-1965 (Paris: Pion, 1966). Volume 9, Studies in International Communism, Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.