European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 16, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday february 16, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 13 Magazine european communism a fatal cancer by James  new York times a Cross Western Europe. Communist parties that were born seven decades again the Early enthusiasm of the Russia revolution Are in varying conditions of stagnation and decline according to Western european politicians and political commentators. While communist parties have faced challenges in the past notably during the nazi occupation of Europe these sources say the problems facing a number of parties May reduce them to Tittle More than sects. There have been ups and Downs of communism said Jean Ellenstein a former French communist party intellectual commenting on the state of an organization that has dramatically lost support in recent years. But this is not that it is Art irreversible regression. There can be remission but this is a fatal  the problems facing Western european communists Are most apparent in Spain and France where parties that once seemed solidly entrenched have suffered electoral reverses. In the late 1970s, the two parties briefly joined forces with the powerful italian communist party to present a new doctrine called eur communism which pledged respect Lor parliamentary democracy at Home and Independence from Moscow abroad. But the politicians and others note Only the italian party held to this course and it is today the most significant exception to the pattern of decline among communist parties. The italians Are increasingly toying with a new term eur left to replace euro communist. The wot of concept implies abolishing the longtime feud Between communists and socialists. The communist parties can Only go Forward in the context of a european left said Giorgio Napolitano the party s parliamentary Leader in Rome. For Many years i have been convinced that the old differences Between the communist and the socialist movements Are not  other communist parties have shrunk and now have about As much influence As american communists have in the United states. Last october for example the belgian communist party which in 1948 was the third largest in the country lost its sole parliamentary representative in National elections drawing 1.2 percent of the popular vote. In common with other Western european parties the belgian party had a Center of support that was value Ollar the steel and Coal mining centers of Wallola which today Are vanishing Industrial disaster zones. As in neighbouring France much of the remaining proletariat is composed of immigrants from third world countries who do not Haw the the. Tha erosion of such Blue Collar zones and the emergence of service and High technology industries whose employees Are unreceptive to the Marx act Ana of class struggle have the politicians a a Sher soul cos uncut deeply into communist voter support. Moderate socialist parties which have done Well in Spain. France. Italy and Greece have own the beneficiaries of the vote of previously in do nothing the working class doers said Annie Kruegel a former cry Oarth member who writes a column tar be me conservative Dally. The communists a my i lose their social base they Are left  a wolof ranch t tem Muht i Fader Tor get mar Naii Western european communists have ideological aspects. The Basic and Universal reason for the decline is the realization that the soviet Union is not a democratic system said Henri Fly Zbin a former communist who will run on a socialist ticket in French parliamentary elections in March. Ortegel said Public opinion in Western Europe is extremely anti communist and one reason is that there Are hardly any communist parties to combat this enl communism. Gorbachev comes to parrs and he is greeted by dissidents. Compare this to the tumultuous reception that the French communists organized for  those who have studied communism Over the years note that in the Western european countries where parties have managed to hold their own in Greece Cyprus and Portugal new industries have not yet changed social structures with roots in the 19th Century. Vet even in these countries problems have been evident these sources say. In elections last month the cypriot communist party which had been the weight est in the Eastern Mediterranean slipped from first to third place in the non turkish Side of the Bland pulling 26.5 percent of the vote. In Portugal where one of the most resolutely pro soviet parties is anchored among Dock workers and the Southern peasantry the charismatic leadership of a Aro Cuthal was unable three months ago to capitalize on a calamitous electoral showing by the socialists. The portuguese communists dropped three percentage Points to 15.4 percent of the electorate. The situation for what once seemed to be two of Western Europe s most promising communist parties the Spanish and French ones seems tar More dramatic. After Franco s death in 1975, the Spanish communist Leader Santiago Carrillo used to Tell his younger comrades that what the italian party had accomplished in three decades the Spanish communist party would have to do in three years. Carrillo was in too great a hurry to get to Power said Carlos Alonso Zaldivar a onetime Basque communist who was later purged along with others by the Carrillo leadership. The Spanish party which for four decades had spearheaded the underground struggle against Franco and which commanded Spain s biggest Trade Union quickly splintered after its legalization. In elections in 1982, it was reduced to 3.8 percent of the popular vote. Alter a series of purges and counter urges the Spanish communists Are now split into three Small factions a mainstream group that holds to the official party Emblem and has its Headquarters in Madrid a pro soviet party led by Ignacio Gallego a 69-year old civil War Veteran and a third group led by the 70-year-old Carrillo. Opinion polls suggest that together they will be Lucky to Garner two seats in parliament in elections expected this year. Carrillo embraced eur communism and criticized the soviet Union s fallings. Yet unlike the italian communists he was never Able to institutionalize or tolerate democratic processes in the party apparatus. In both Spain and France the communist decline has been hastened by the growth of Strong socialist parties. But whereas in Spain the socialists growth was dramatic and Swift in France an opposition politician named Francois Mitterrand built the strength of his socialist party Over More than a decade by maintaining a Loose Alliance with the bigger French communist party. By the the 8ocill�u swept to Power in 1981, they had so reversed the balance of forces in their favor that Mitterrand did not need the parliamentary support of the communists to which he nonetheless gave four Cabinet posts. In the summer of 1984, the communists pulled out of the government realizing that the Union of the left had done them More harm than Good. Georges marshals who officially took Over the French party in 1972, when it had a firm hold on More than a fifth of the French electorate has presided Over a striking slide. In the elections for the european parliament in 1984, the party pulled Only 11.2 percent of the vote. Opinion polls suggest it will have difficulty Matching that score in French parliamentary elections scheduled or March even though the polls suggest the socialists prospects Are poor. The most important exception to the problems of Western european communism is the italian communist party. But the party which through its founders Antonio Gram Sci and  established a Rich ideological tradition that stressed autonomy from Moscow is evolving into something rather like a social democratic party