ABSTRACT
1951 saw the appearance of one of the first works in an extensive literature that was henceforth to explore the question of Communism in Western Europe. Mario Einaudi, son of the first president of the post-war Italian Republic, specialist in comparative European politics, from a clearly anti-communist perspective investigated the characteristics of the “communist conspiracy for global conquest”, along with the antidotes to it. 1 Einaudi notes that even if the military, political, or institutional threat posed by communism is eliminated, its spectre will continue to haunt Europe for as long as the economic and, in particular, the social questions posed by communism are not addressed. The long-term political problem remains: the reconstruction of a Europe ruined by the war, the healing of social wounds, the shaping of a modern society.
