BOURGEOIS COMMUNISM II

In the previous chapter; we identified the attempts made throughout history to keep the utopia alive; 1968 was a tumultuous year but the need for change undermined both the west and the communist bloc. Alexander Dubcek, the newly elected First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, applied some reforms in an effort to put a human face to a totalitarian regime; after diplomatic pressure failed the Soviet leadership sent troops of the Warsaw Pact to "normalize" the small Central European country. As usual, the west limited its response to political gestures and symbolic press coverage; this hasty decision, however, caused a fracture within the hitherto increasing segment of academics, artists, students and blue collar workers who felt at odds with the status quo in the capitalist societies. It also cost Fidel Castro a sizable portion of his revolutionary prestige and irreversibly damaged his image as a Maverick communist. The "indomitable" Comandante, trapped by the dilemma between his own survival and remaining the immaculate leader of the Third World chose the former and after juggling with revolutionary rhetoric for more than a half hour he swallowed his pride and publicly supported the Kremlin's actions. The US Communist Party, whatever that political specter may be, also gave its irrelevant blessing to the invasion. Ironically enough it was Nicolae Ceausescu's finest hour since he publicly condemned the violent  meddling in Czechoslovakia's internal affairs; Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha predictably joined the voices against Moscow.

The Italian and the Spanish communist parties had been for sometime working on yet another attempt to avoid the demise of communism; aware of how different their world was from the one Lenin had lived in and mindful of the effectiveness and celerity of modernization in their respective countries, they had concluded that the Soviet way was not their way, that a third or a fourth route needed to be found; standing ovations in Moscow did not translate into votes in the elections in Italy nor did they dent the body of Franco's improving economy in Spain. The invasion of Czechoslovakia was the straw that broke the camel's back. As author Christopher Hitchens put it: "What became clear, however, was that there was no longer something that could be called the world Communist movement. It was utterly, irretrievably, hopelessly split. The main spring had broken. And the Prague Spring had broken it."

Despite the "atrocities" perpetrated by the Americans in Vietnam; the exploitation of the masses in Latin America, and Asia; the literal theft of Africa's vast resources by the western powers through a new brand of colonialism the lyrics of the Internationale did not ring true anymore for millions of workers and middle class citizens that had a roof over their heads, drove cars and watched television in the living rooms of houses with running water and electricity. The challenge had to come from within if communism was to survive. Brezhnev's self inflicted mortal stab had precipitated that inconvenient truth to the forefront. Eurocommunism gained momentum and the historic compromise reached between Christian Democrat Aldo Moro and Communist leader Enrico Berlinguer in Italy made the schism official. The historic compromise is also the result of the coup-d'etat in Chile and Berlinguer's realization that the left by itself was not capable of governing, at least not yet; Gramsci was vindicated for a brief moment, but Italy's chaotic political scenario and perhaps a little help from one or more western intelligence services shortened the honeymoon and paved the way for il Pentapartito, a balancing act of Christian Democrats, Socialists, Republicans (nothing to do with our GOP) Social Democrats, and Liberals (nothing to do with our left) It is important to note that in their quest to save the dream communists & Co. renounced Satan but never did they deviate from their objective destroying our"liturgy"from within... TO BE CONTINUED