Heresies in European Communism

It now is a fact taken for granted that there are a variety of Communist regimes pursuing ever more divergent policies. In that narrow sense, the Titoist heresy has won an irreversible victory. Yet little attention has been paid to a parallel development among nonruling Communist parties in Western Europe, which range from those with a plurality of working-class votes, as the CPs in Italy, France, Iceland, and Finland, to the small parties of West Germany, Sweden, Britain, and the Benelux. Even the underground organizations in Spain, Greece, and Portugal, which could have been expected to maintain close ties with Moscow if only to obtain aid, have shown a critical independence unheard-of in the days before the Prague Spring.

The d...