ABSTRACT
The postwar communist movement was influenced by a model of communism distinguished by its totalitarian, ideological determinist, and monolithic features. The question arises whether a polycentric (nonmonolithic) system can be reconciled with the existence of monolithic communist parties. Polycentrism calls for toleration of diversity and a more permissive and decentralized arrangement among communist parties. Of the parties which have most strongly stressed autonomy and independent decision-making, the Italian has been the most articulate in commenting on new forms of interparty relations. The Italian concept of the autonomous international has no room for an international organization with executive power or for a command party. Autonomy, as the Italians use it, defines the functional relationship between the individual party and the communist parties considered as an international movement. The unity-autonomy syndrome has another dimension that threatens not only the factor of unity but the character of the communist parties as well.
