The Crisis of the Communism in Western Europe: between the Eurocommunism and the Collapse of the Soviet Block

Abstract

In this article we analyze the reasons of the decline of the communist parties of western Europe under the supposition that this decline took place in a previous situation of crisis, prior to the fall of the Wall of Berlin, which was sharpened by the collapse of the communist States, and had very different effects due to the different historical path of the diverse national parties in relation with the Soviet Union. We also analyze the different ideological and organizational answers given by the communist western formations to the loss of the Soviet model, and the relevancy that its location in the systems of national parties had in the political orientation of this formations. Finally we extract the conclusions relative to the reasons and principal features of the configuration of a new anticapitalist European left that includes the former communist parties.