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Why Do Communist Parties Advocate Pluralism?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2011

Peter Hardi
Peter Hardi
Affiliation:
Karl Marx University
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Abstract

The concept of pluralism has been a familiar one in political science since the first decade of this century, and has appeared in different theoretical frameworks. Pluralism is regarded as inherent in Western democracies, but it has also been interpreted as a transitional form leading to socialism. The Western communist parties, in adopting the concept of pluralism, have found a theoretical justification for abandoning the concepts of a leading model and one authentic party. The new doctrine that embraces pluralism advocates that the communist parties transform their societies to a more advanced, partly socialistic state, and then attempt to gain power by consensual means. The main issues of debate on the transformation are the abolition of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the guarantee of human rights, and the pluralist power structure.

Type
Research Article
Information
World Politics , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , July 1980 , pp. 531 - 552
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 1980

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References

1 These parties include: the British Communist Party, the French Communist Party, the Greek Communist Party (so-called external wing), the Spanish Communist Party, the Swedish Left (communist) Party, in Europe; and the Australian Communist Party, the Japanese Communist Party, and the Venezuelan Communist Party (known as the Movement Towards Socialism, or MAS), outside Europe.

2 Some of the most significant European works are: Barker, Ernest, The Citizen's Choice (Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1937Google Scholar); Barker, , Political Thought in England 1848–1914 (London;Oxford University Press, 1915Google Scholar); Coker, Francis W., “Pluralism,” in Seligman, E.R.A., ed., Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, XXII (New York:Macmillan, 1937) 170Google Scholar–74; Coker, , “Pluralistic Theories and the Attack upon State Sovereignty,” in Merriam, Charles E. and Barnes, Harry E., eds., A History of Political Theories. Recent Times (New York:Macmillan, 1924), 80–119Google Scholar; Figgis, John Neville, Churches in the Modern State (London:Longmans, Green, 1913Google Scholar); Laski, Harold J., “The Pluralistic State,” in Laski, , The Foundation of Sovereignty (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1921), 232Google Scholar–49; Laski, , Studies in the Problem of Sovereignty (New Haven:Yale University Press, 1917Google Scholar); Fraenkel, Ernst, Kollektive Demokratie (Berlin:Neuer Staat, 1929Google Scholar); Gierke, Otto, Das deutsche Genossenschaftsrecht, I, Rechtsgeschichte der deutschen Genossenschaft (Berlin:Weidmann, 1868Google Scholar); Preuss, Hugo, Deutschlands republikanische Reichsverfassung (Berlin:Neuer Staat, 1923Google Scholar); Rathenau, Walther, Der neue Staat (Berlin:S. Fischer, 1919Google Scholar); Paul-Boncour, Joseph, Le féderalisme économique (Paris:F. Alcan, 1901Google Scholar).

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6 For more about the conception of institutionalized processes as an approach to analyzing human societies and their transformations, see Polanyi, Karl, The Great Transformation (Boston:Beacon, 1968Google Scholar).

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9 Cf. Huntington, Samuel P., “Post-Industrial Politics: How Benign Will It Be?”, Comparative Politics, vi (January 1974), 163CrossRefGoogle Scholar–91; Inglehart, Ronald, “Policy Problems of Advanced Industrial Societies,” Comparative Political Studies, x (October 1977), 291CrossRefGoogle Scholar–98; Lasswell, Howard D., “The World Revolution of Our Time,” in Lasswell, and Lerner, Daniel, eds., World Revolutionary Elites (Cambridge, Mass.:M.I.T. Press, 1966), 29–96Google Scholar; Rose, Richard, “Models of Governing,” Comparative Politics, v (July 1973), 465CrossRefGoogle Scholar–96; Seligman, Lester G., “Political Elites Reconsidered,” Comparative Politics, vi (January 1974), 299–314CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Weber, Jiirgen, Interessengruppen im politischen System der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Munich:Bayerische Landeszentrale für politische Bildungsarbeit, 1976Google Scholar).

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11 Cf. Rossanda, R., “The Risk of Spontaneity and the Logic of the Institution: An Interview with J. P. Sartre,” Telos, iv (Summer 1969), 191–205Google Scholar.

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13 See Lenin, V. I., “The State and Revolution,” in Lenin, , Selected Worlds (Moscow:Progress Publisher, 1975) 238–327Google Scholar. It is interesting to compare the new theses of the Italian communists with the late views of Friedrich Engels; e.g., “Zur Kritik des sozialdemokratischen Programmentwurfes 1891,” Die Neue Zeit, 1 (xx, 1892), 10–13Google Scholar; Delogu, Ignazio, ed., La Via europea al socialismo (Rome:Newton Compton, 1976Google Scholar).

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13 See a series of interviews with Italian communist mayors, “Communists in the local self-governing organs,” Peace and Socialism (Prague), No. 10 (October 1977).

10 Gramsci, “II moderno principe: Egemonia (societa civile) e divisione dei poteri,” in Note sul Machiavelli (fn. 14), 156–85.

17 See the numerous articles in Rinascita and France Noupelle in 1977 and 1978, especially the ones by Kanapa, J. and Ellenstein, J.; see also Carillo, S., Eurocomunismo y estado (Barcelona:Editorial Critica, 1977Google Scholar); Fabre, Jean, Hincker, Francois, and Seve, Lucien, Les communistes et l'état (Paris:Editions Sociales, 1977Google Scholar).

18 Berlinguer (fn. 5); Berlinguer, , La politica internazionale dei communisti italiani, 1975-1976 (Rome:Riuniti, 1976Google Scholar); Kanapa, J., “Les caracteristiques de l'eurocommu-nisme,” I'Humanite, November 29, 1977Google Scholar; Macaluso, M., “I tesi dei PCI e PCSU,” I'Unita, July 5, 1977Google Scholar.

19 Cf. Luelmo, Julio and Winston, Henry, Eurocomunismo y Estado o la desintegración del P.C.E. y la ruptura con el movimiento comunista international (Madrid:AKAL, 1978Google Scholar).

20 Delogu (fn. 13); cf. the French Communist Party's thesis on “socialism in national colors.”

21 L. Lombardo-Radice, La Stampa, September 16, 1977.

22 Togliatti, Palmiro, La via italiana al socialismo (Rome:Riuniti, 1964Google Scholar).

23 Ingrao, P., “Un primo dibattito sul pluralismo politico,” Rinascita, No. 27 (June 1964Google Scholar); Ingrao, , “Sul rapporto tra democrazia e socialismo,” Rinascita, No. 21 (May 1964Google Scholar); Lombardo-Radice (fn. 5) , 251–62.