polycentrism
다중심주의
The concept that the international communist movement consists of many centres rather than a single one. It was first raised by Palmiro Togliatti in a June 1956 interview and formalised in his December 1961 Rinascita article. It held that each national communist party should enjoy autonomy within the framework of proletarian internationalism, and that there are many roads to socialism.
In depth
Origins and Debate
The term was first used by Italian Communist Party (PCI) general secretary Palmiro Togliatti. In a June 1956 interview, shortly after the 20th CPSU Congress, he said that "there are many roads to socialism" and insisted that bilateral party-to-party relationships should replace complete dependence on the USSR. In his December 1961 Rinascita article "Diversity and Unity in the International Proletarian-Communist Movement", Togliatti defined polycentrism as "the absence of a single centre" and explicitly rejected the misunderstanding that it meant regional directing centres for large zones.
Historical Context
Polycentrism emerged against the backdrop of three ruptures. The first was the 1948 Tito-Stalin split, which demonstrated for the first time that the international communist movement was not monolithic. The second was the 1956 20th CPSU Congress, Khrushchev's de-Stalinisation, and the outburst of national-communist demands in Poland and Hungary that same year. The third was the Sino-Soviet dispute, which had already reached the stage of open polemics by 1961. Against these three fissures, Togliatti offered polycentrism as the theoretical framework justifying the PCI's independent line, the 'Italian Road to Socialism'.
Influence
Polycentrism was the direct precursor of Eurocommunism. It provided the theoretical foundation for the PCI, as well as the Spanish, French, British and Japanese communist parties, to develop independent lines adapted to their national conditions. The Gramscian theory of hegemony, the Yugoslav experiment with self-management, and Western European communist parties' critical response to the 1968 Prague Spring all unfolded in the theoretical space polycentrism opened. The CPSU was consistently uneasy with the concept, and Enver Hoxha, in Eurocommunism is Anti-Communism, denounced polycentrism as the product of revisionism.
See Also
- Eurocommunism
- Tito-Stalin split
- Sino-Soviet split
- National communism
Related historical events
Sources
- Palmiro Togliatti, "Diversity and Unity in the International Proletarian-Communist Movement," Rinascita, December 1961 (marxists.org) — Togliatti's canonical statement of polycentrism, defining it as 'the absence of a single centre' and denying it means regional centres of direction
- CIA Special Report, "Italian Communist Party Draws Further Away from Moscow," 25 October 1968, FRUS 1964–1968 Vol. XII (history.state.gov) — Traces polycentrism to Togliatti's June 1956 interview and his 1964 Yalta Memorandum, noting it was 'a degree of autonomy for each national party'
- Walter Z. Laqueur, "The End of the Monolith," Foreign Affairs, April 1962 — Identifies Togliatti as first user of the term in June 1956 and places it in the context of the Sino-Soviet schism
- Britannica, 'Polycentrism' (britannica.com) — Defines it as 'a political concept that describes the existence of multiple centers of ideological thought and control, particularly within Communist movements'
- Enver Hoxha, Eurocommunism is Anti-Communism (cited in Wikipedia: Eurocommunism) — The Soviet Union's refusal to reject Togliatti's polycentrism encouraged pro-Soviet communist parties to moderate their views