The Italian Communists and the Polish Crisis

“A historical phase is ending. The momentum originating with the October Revolution is exhausted. The societies of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe have lost their capacity for renewal.”

Enrico Berlinguer, head of the Italian Communist party (PCI), spoke these words on December 15, 1981, two days after General Jaruzelski’s move against Solidarity.

The PCI’s new position emerges clearly from a document of December 30. Signed by the Direzione (Politbureau), it is the first truly thoroughgoing condemnation of the Soviet and East European Communist experience published by the Italian Communist press.

Part of the document addresses the Polish events directly. It reiterates demands for the easing...