I.

Introduction

Communist Parties, political organizations espousing Communism, theoretically dominated by the working class and generally patterned on the party established in Russia after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Most Communist parties have been totalitarian and monolithic in both spirit and practice.

Communist parties have existed in many countries of the world. In the 1980s more than a quarter of the world's population lived under Communist rule. Two of the world's most populous nations, China and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), had Communist governments, and Communist parties also held power in Afghanistan, Albania, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Ethiopia, Hungary, Laos, Mongolia, North Korea, Poland, Romania, Vietnam, and Yugoslavia. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, however, political and economic upheavals in Eastern Europe, the USSR, and elsewhere led to the collapse of numerous Communist regimes and severely weakened the power and influence of Communist parties throughout the world.

II.

The USSR

Throughout the 1980s, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) was the dominant legal political party in the USSR. Its parent organization was the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, established in 1898. That group split into Bolshevik (“majority”) and Menshevik (“minority”) factions in 1903. The Bolsheviks, headed by Vladimir Ilich Lenin, were actually a minority of the party membership after 1904. In 1912 they broke away from the Mensheviks to form a separate party, which in 1917 seized control of the Russian revolutionary movement and founded the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. In 1918 Bolsheviks adopted the name Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik). In 1925 this name was changed to the All-Union Communist Party (Bolshevik). The name Communist Party of the Soviet Union was adopted in 1952.

A.

Organization and Composition

Traditionally, the structure of the CPSU paralleled the administrative structure of the USSR. At the lowest level were an estimated 400,000 primary party organizations; above them, in ascending order of power, were a much smaller number of rural, city, district, regional, and republic committees. At the apex of the pyramid were the All-Union Congress, nominally the party's supreme policymaking body; the Central Committee, elected by the Congress; the Political Bureau (Politburo), chosen by the Central Committee; and the Secretariat. The general secretary of the CPSU, the party's highest official, wielded pre-eminent political power in the USSR. The composition of the Politburo and Secretariat generally reflected the preponderance of ethnic Russians in party affairs.

B.

Leading Role

The 1977 constitution recognized the CPSU as “the leading and guiding force of Soviet society and the nucleus of its political system, all state organizations and public organizations”. As such, the party permeated all facets of Soviet economic, political, military, and cultural life. Mass organizations that regularly carried out CPSU policies included the Communist Youth League (Komsomol), from which nearly 75 per cent of party members were recruited, and the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, with more than 100 million members. The main CPSU organs were the newspaper Pravda (Truth), with a circulation of nearly 10 million, and the ideological journal Kommunist.

Until the end of the 1980s, the CPSU was the leader of the international Communist movement by virtue of the power and prestige of the USSR, despite the changes made under glasnost and perestroika. Its authority was particularly evident in relations with the Communist parties in Eastern Europe and with the smaller parties of Western Europe and the western hemisphere. Although the primacy of the CPSU was challenged by certain European parties, and above all by the Chinese Communist Party, the CPSU long remained the most powerful Communist political organization in the world.

C.

The CPSU in Crisis

As the 1990s began, economic and political upheavals in Eastern Europe and the USSR forced the CPSU to give up its leading role both domestically and internationally. CPSU membership declined from about 19.5 million in 1988 to 15 million in 1991. The USSR legalized opposition parties in February 1990, and a new party charter proposed in July 1991 veered away from Marxist-Leninist orthodoxy. In August hardline Communists sought to re-establish their authority by ousting Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The collapse of the coup marked a disastrous defeat for the CPSU. Within days, the Central Committee was disbanded, CPSU operations were suspended, and the party's files were sealed and its property was nationalized. By the end of 1991 the USSR had dissolved and its Communist remnant was in disarray. Communists remained active in Russia following the dissolution of the USSR, despite the ban by President Boris Yeltsin on the CPSU. Several new communist political parties formed, including the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (AUCPB), the Union of Communists, the Russian Communist Workers' Party (RCWP), and the People's Party of Free Russia. The membership of these parties consisted primarily of Russian citizens opposed to Yeltsin's market reforms, although the People's Party was founded and headed by Vice-President Aleksandr Rutskoy. These parties grew rapidly by taking in ex-CPSU members after Yeltsin's ban was decreed. In April 1992 the RCWP claimed to have 150,000 members, which would have made it the largest party in Russia at the time. These parties organized numerous public rallies against government domestic and foreign policies, with some of the rallies ending in violence.

Yeltsin's decree banning the CPSU was challenged in Russia's Constitutional Court. The court's decision in November 1992 supported the ban of the national organization of the CPSU, but ruled against the ban at the local level. As a result of the decision, local remnants of the CPSU in Russia banded together to form the Russian Federation Communist Party (RFCP), which grew rapidly. By April 1993 the RFCP claimed 600,000 members. The RFCP established relations with other Russian communist parties and communist groups in other republics of the former Soviet Union. In February 1993 the Constitutional Court delivered another political blow to Yeltsin by rejecting his ban on the National Salvation Front, a Communist-nationalist organization that sought Yeltsin's removal from office. Nonetheless, the revived Communist forces showed little ability to alter policy or reimpose Communist rule.

III.

Eastern Europe

The drastic decline of the CPSU closely followed the collapse of many Eastern European Communist parties, which had been historically linked to the CPSU. After more than 40 years of domination, every Communist government in Eastern Europe surrendered its monopoly on political power between 1989 and 1991. East Germany first ousted its Communist leaders and then dissolved itself to become part of the unified Federal Republic of Germany. Communist regimes gave way to multi-party governments in Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Poland. Romania's Communist leader Nicolae Ceauşescu was killed in a bloody coup.

With the exception of the Albanian Party (founded in 1941), all the Communist parties of Eastern Europe had their origins in the period 1891-1921. Most were outlawed during the 1920s and functioned illegally until the end of World War II. Their assumption of power in the late 1940s followed the occupation of the countries of Eastern Europe by the Soviet army. Until 1948, when the Yugoslav Party removed itself from Soviet tutelage, all Communist parties of Eastern Europe were almost totally subordinated to the CPSU. The East German organization, known from 1946 to 1989 as the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, was always firmly allied to the CPSU, as were the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party and Poland's United Workers' Party. The Albanian Party of Labour remained Stalinist even after the CPSU began turning away from Stalinism in the late 1950s. In Romania, the Communist Party, although organized strictly along Soviet party lines, pursued a semi-independent foreign policy.

Bowing to the new political realities of the 1990s, some Eastern European Communist organizations sought to mask their origins by changing their names. The Bulgarian Communist Party restructured itself as the Bulgarian Socialist Party, and the Communists who continued to rule Romania called themselves the National Salvation Front. In Poland, the Communists split into rival Social Democratic factions. Prospects for the Communist remnant in Germany were doubtful.

IV.

China

Unlike the Communist organizations of Eastern Europe and the USSR, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was able to stem the tide of democratic protest in the late 1980s. Founded in 1921, it is the largest Communist party in the world, with an estimated membership of about 66.4 million (2002), and devoted to the doctrine of Maoism. Since the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949, it has been the country's only legal party. The Chinese and Soviet parties were once closely allied, but were divided by an ideological dispute during the 1960s and subsequently became bitter rivals.

The leading body of the CCP is the National Party Congress, which elects the Politburo, the Standing Committee of the Politburo, and the chairman and vice-chairmen of the Central Committee. The Central Committee elected at the 16th National Party Congress in September 2002 had 198 full and 158 alternate members. The first secretaries of all 30 major administrative divisions—provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities—are full members.

Below the Central Committee is a network of party committees at the provincial, special district, county, and municipal levels. Primary party organizations, or party branches, are located in factories, mines, and other enterprises as may be needed—for example, in people's communes, offices, schools, shops, and neighbourhoods.

Because of the political instability that followed the death of its longtime chairman, Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung), the CCP resolved to avoid repetition of such excesses—identified with the late chairman—as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-1969). It therefore sought to lessen the monopoly of power by individual leaders. Thus, according to the state constitution adopted in December 1982, the highest organ of state power in China is the National People's Congress. It exercises that power through its Standing Committee, to which the State Council, or government, is responsible.

To wipe out the remaining effects of the Cultural Revolution, the new CCP leaders also sought to destroy the power of “revolutionary committees” that Mao had used to undermine his adversaries. At the same time, mass organizations that had disbanded during the Cultural Revolution were reactivated. The most important of these are the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the Communist Youth League of China, and the All-China Women's Federation. Beginning in 1979, the party undertook a programme of rapid modernization.

The CCP's influence in the international Communist movement declined after Mao's death, but it remains identified with the interests of several Communist parties in Asia, Africa, and even Europe. All these parties shared a common opposition to CPSU hegemony in the international Communist movement.

V.

Other Asian Communist Parties

The various ruling Communist parties in Asia, such as the Communist Party in Vietnam, the Lao People's Revolutionary (Communist) Party of Laos, and the Korean Worker's Party of North Korea, have followed pro-Russian or pro-Chinese lines according to their local political circumstances. Most are more or less totalitarian, with some making more or less effort to assimilate to new thinking towards the global free market, and few have approached the murderous character of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Communist parties have also been significant in many non-Communist Asian countries. The Communist Party was an important element in India's struggle for independence from the British Empire, and the Partai Komunis Indonesia, or PKI, was a key political player in the Republic of Indonesia until its brutal suppression in 1965. In South Korea, underground Communist cells long practised a pro-North Korea policy opposed to the successive right-wing military governments which preceded democratic rule, and in Japan Communists orchestrated opposition to military ties with the United States.

VI.

France

The French Communist Party was founded in 1920 by members of the French Socialist Party who wished to follow the lead of the Russian Bolsheviks. Since the early 1960s the party has followed a policy of electoral alliances with non-Communist parties of the Left and Centre. Although it has never won the allegiance of a majority of the voters, the French Communist Party by the late 1970s was the largest of all French parties, with a membership of some 700,000. The proportion of women members—36 per cent of the total—was among the highest in the world. About 50 per cent of the members were from the working class. Four Communists served in the Cabinet from June 1981 to July 1984, when the party withdrew from the government because of differences with the Socialists over economic policy.

The French party was organized along the same lines as the CPSU. At its peak the Communist Youth Movement had more than 100,000 members, including those belonging to the Union of Communist Students, the party's organization among university students. The General Confederation of Labour, with a membership of some 1.6 million, was the major mass organization within the Communist sphere of influence. Other Communist-dominated mass organizations have included the National Union of Higher Education, the National Union of Secondary Teachers, and the militant feminist Union of French Women.

The party maintained an active press and publication programme, and its principal daily newspaper, L'Humanité, had a circulation of more than 110,000 copies up until the 1990s. During the 1970s the French Communist Party joined with those of Italy and Spain in advocating a more liberal, pluralistic form of communism (Eurocommunism). However, with the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, the proportion of votes cast for the party in national elections declined to less than 15 per cent. In the 2002 presidential elections the party received just 3.4 per cent of votes cast.

VII.

Italy

The Italian Communist Party was established in 1921 by a radical group of the Italian Socialist Party. It was outlawed by the Fascist regime but reappeared as a major force in Italian politics in 1944. At the local level the party has held power in many municipalities since the late 1940s. It has shared control with the Italian Socialist Party of all major urban centres in the country since the mid-1970s and has played a significant national role as part of a governmental majority, but has held no Cabinet posts.

The Italian party was organized in a manner similar to the CPSU with slight variations for specific needs. The basic party organization is the section, several of which form a federation. The federations, each usually coinciding with the area of an Italian province, are grouped into regional committees. The total membership of the Italian Communist Party was about 1.5 million in the mid-1980s. Of these, 40 per cent were labourers. The party has a smaller following among women than among men, and has declined in popularity among younger Italians. The party engages in extensive publication activities. The official newspaper, L'Unita, had a daily circulation of 300,000 up until the 1990s.

In the 1970s and early 1980s the Italian Communist Party was closely identified with so-called Eurocommunism and was the principal opponent of those policies of the CPSU considered repressive of human rights. These positions, however, did little to secure greater support from the Italian middle class and peasantry, who remained sceptical of the feasibility of Eurocommunism and of disengagement from the CPSU. They also held little attraction for some radical left-wing factions, which turned to terrorism instead. Responding to the upheavals in Eastern Europe and the USSR, the Italian Communist Party sought to redefine its programme for the 1990s. It took a new name, the Democratic Party of the Left, and emphasized social democracy, women's rights, and environmental issues. In 1991 opponents of the dissolution of the old party established the Party of Communist Re-foundation, which by 2002 had a membership of about 90,000.

VIII.

Other Western European Parties

The Communist parties of Western Europe were all established between 1918 and 1923, following the Russian Revolution. Their history has varied with the fortunes of international relations, and they enjoy varying degrees of political power in their respective countries. Among the smallest and least significant parties are those of Austria, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, all of which generally supported the CPSU. The parties in Sweden, Norway, Belgium, and Great Britain are also weak but have enjoyed, at one time or another, representation in their respective parliaments and have participated in governance at both the central and local levels. The strongest Western European parties, other than the French and the Italian, are those of Greece, Finland, Portugal, and Spain. At their peak, the Finnish and Portuguese parties captured about 20 per cent of the total vote in national elections, and the Spanish, approximately 15 per cent. Generally the Finnish party was neutral towards the CPSU, and the Greek and Portuguese parties supportive; the Spanish party is Eurocommunist.

IX.

The United States

The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) is descended from the Communist Labor Party and the Communist Party, both founded in 1919. It has been known as the Workers' Party and the Communist Political Association. The CPUSA has no representation in Congress or in any state legislature.

The membership of the CPUSA is estimated at approximately 20,000 and is concentrated in a few industrial states. Its membership is believed to be largely middle-aged or older. Whether these figures are indicative of the composition of the party as a whole is uncertain, because no such data are available. The CPUSA is structured on the CPSU prototype. It has no formally affiliated organizations, but the Young Communist League of the USA (formerly the Young Workers' Liberation League), with a membership of some 3,000, serves as its youth arm.

The CPUSA was one of the most consistently pro-Soviet parties, and, as such, echoed all the USSR's positions on foreign policy and internal US affairs. Its rigidity, both doctrinal and political, has frequently been challenged by rival Marxist political organizations, of which the most important is the Socialist Workers' Party, with an alleged membership of some 2,500. Smaller Maoist sects, such as the Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist) and the Revolutionary Communist Party, have also opposed the pro-CPSU positions but have attracted only a minimal number of adherents.

X.

Other Parties in the Western Hemisphere

Communist parties in the western hemisphere, except for those of Cuba and Nicaragua, are generally small and sometimes illegal. Their significance, particularly in Central and South America, stems from their support of leftist coalitions and, on occasion, of guerrilla activities. The Communist parties of Chile, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico have been among the most active in these respects. Latin American parties have usually supported both the CPSU and the Cuban Communist Party, from which they have received financial assistance.

The Cuban Party is the only ruling Communist party in the western hemisphere. It was organized strictly along the lines of the CPSU, was dependent on the Soviet Union for financial support, and during the 1970s and 1980s acted in fulfilment of CPSU policies by providing military assistance to “national liberation movements” abroad.