The Eurocommunist Schism

To try to answer the question whether there are “varieties of communism”—Eurocommunism, Asian Communism—I make three assumptions:

FIRST: Despotism is not a “degeneration” of Communism. So far, we haven’t seen any Communism in power except in Leninist-Stalinist, totalitarian versions. There is no exception to the rule that wherever Communism has come to power, no matter in which way (internal forces or foreign domination), not only were civil liberties and democratic institutions done away with, but a totalitarian form of social organization was imposed. (Not everywhere, it is fair to add, was it imposed with the same efficacity.)

Not every variety of despotism is totalitarian. The latter co...