ABSTRACT
The problem of cooperation between democratic and Communist parties is not new. Originally, in the 1920s, it was a major doctrinal issue for the Communists, but lately it has ceased bothering them and has now mainly become a problem for their prospective democratic partners. In the United States, by contrast, many voices have been advocating an accommodation with West European Communism, or "Eurocommunism", as it is coming to be called. Advice has freely been offered as to how the United States should deal with the new offensive of West European Communism. Some of it is based on predictions that need hardly be taken very seriously—for instance, the idea that the advance of the Western Communists is bound to strengthen the liberal trend in world Communism and inside the Soviet Union itself. More specifically, it has been claimed that American intransigence toward the Italian Communists is bound to drive them back into Moscow's arms.
