The New Economics of Communism

To most Americans, Communism conjures up images of the rigid, bureaucratized economic systems of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Its main characteristics are state ownership of all enterprises, collectivized agriculture, strict government planning. Is this the vision offered by the Communist parties of Western Europe? To varying degrees, the answer is no. Western Europe's Communists say they want to create a sort of Eurocommunism that draws its inspiration from neither the Soviet Union nor China nor Yugoslavia. "None of the models existing in the world today apply to us," says Jose Maria Gonzalez, economic spokesman of the exiled Spanish Communist Party.

Nowhere do the Communists sound more bourgeois than in Italy, where they hope to gain enough votes on June 20 and 21 to influence, if not control, economic policymaking in the next government. (The Paris-based newsmagazine L'Express recently caricatured French Communist Leader Georges Marchais eating spaghetti with a hammer and sickle in anticipation of the boost to his own party.) In its public pronouncements, at least, the Partito Comunista Italiano (P.C.I.) has disowned one of the basic tenets of Marxist economic analysis: that capitalism is in the process of being destroyed by its own contradictions. "This [Italy's economic] crisis is not an invention of the capitalist world," says P.C.I. Economist Eugenic Peggio. "It is an objective event."

Call for Sacrifice. Peggie's prescriptions for Italy's economic ills could almost have come from the economic research department of an American bank (with one exception: the P.C.I, insists upon national planning). Like everyone else, Peggio wants better public administration, a more efficient tax system, better controls over public spending, an end to Italy's massive borrowing abroad, investment in labor-intensive industries as well as in the depressed Mezzogiorno, and a further crackdown on the flight of capital.

"There is a need for sacrifices," Peggio says. "But it is unacceptable that they be borne disproportionately by working people." The P.C.I, is vague in describing these sacrifices, but they might include curbs on meat imports, higher taxes on certain consumer goods, and steep price hikes for such basic services as transportation and electricity. The Communists are afraid to advocate the one policy that many economists consider essential if Italy is to bring down its 25% annual inflation rate, namely, British-style wage restraints (see following story). The Communists also claim to be in the best position to reason with Italy's unruly trade unions, but many Italians doubt whether the P.C.I, has the necessary clout.

Unlike orthodox Marxists, Italy's Communists do not insist upon state ownership of all means of production. One reason is that the Italian government already controls the major banks as well as a host of companies ranging from automaker Alfa Romeo to the national airline, Alitalia. "We don't need further nationalization," says Peggio. "On the contrary, we need to avoid big private industries coming to the government to be rescued." Nor does the P.C.I. share the pathological aversion of many leftists to multinational corporations. "The problem at the moment," explains Luciano Barca, another P.C.I, economist, "is not that the multinationals are coming to Italy but that they are leaving." The Communists, however, insist that foreign companies operate in accordance with Italy's best interests; they lean toward the sort of legislation that now exists in Canada, where foreign investors must document the benefits for the national economy before making new acquisitions.

In France, the Communists have only recently begun to discard some of their heavy ideological baggage. At the party congress in February, Leader Georges Marchais formally excised the term "dictatorship of the proletariat" from the party lexicon. Yet in spite of an alliance with the French Socialist Party that dates to 1972, the Parti Communiste Franc,ais (P.C.F.) remains more rigidly Marxist than its Italian counterpart. The centerpiece of the two parties' Programme Commun--which faces its next test at the polls in 1978--is a call for the nationalization of all companies in key sectors, including natural resources, armaments, aerospace, the nuclear industry, Pharmaceuticals, computers and chemicals. The major banks, as well as Renault and Electricite de France are already in government hands. "If power doesn't come from ownership, why do capitalists want to own their industries?" asks Charles Fiterman, a member of the P.C.F.'s Politburo. But in deference to French farmers, an important political group, the Communists do not advocate an end to private land ownership. Says Fiterman: "If you collectivized vineyards, you would diminish the quality of wine."

Hopelessly Vague. In many ways, the economic policies of Western Europe's Communist parties bear an uncanny similarity to those of Northern European social democracies. Italian proposals for better social programs, improved working conditions, and a more egalitarian tax system seem banal in comparison with measures already in effect in Scandinavia and The Netherlands. The French party's fetish for nationalization is hardly different from that of the left whig of the British Labor Party. Communists reject such comparisons, claiming that social democracy only strengthens capitalism, while Communism leads to a "more advanced form of democracy." The Eurocommunists are hopelessly vague in describing this utopia.

There are good reasons for the apparently moderate economic views of Western European Communists. One is simply that the failures of the Soviet experience are clear for all to see. Another is the realization that countries like France and Italy are closely integrated into the Western economic system, and that sudden changes could be disastrous. Most important, though, is the fact that in Western Europe today Communists can only hope to come to power in some sort of coalition. The unanswered question is whether the moderate economic policies espoused by Eurocommunists represent a new strain in Communist thinking or whether they are just designed to smooth the party's way to power. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing in advance.

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