The Communist Party of Spain and the International Communist Movement (1969-1977)

Abstract

This article focuses on the international activity of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) since the aftermath of the Prague Spring’s repression until 1977. It was a period characterized by the beginning of the definitive decline of the international communist movement. The analysis takes into account multiple dimensions. It examines the PCE’s growing criticism towards the soviet model, and its repercussions on the relations between the party leaded by Santiago Carrillo and the communist movement. Moreover, the article explores the PCE’s attempt to promote a new kind of internationalism in Western Europe, invoking a renewed collaboration between communists and socialists and taking advantage of the conditions provided by the détente. In this context, there was the rise of the eurocommunism, that the essay analyzes illustrating the internal and external factors that determinated its crisis in the second half of the 70s.