ABSTRACT
One of the largest of the West European communist parties and also one which has played an important role in the governing of its nation, the Italian Communist Party (PCI) provide an interesting case to examine the impact of a democratic environment on the theoretical evolution of a communist party. The party's attitudes toward Leninism have come to be seen as a test of its commitment to democratic processes and institutions as well as an indicator of its fitness to take part in the government. Increasingly, the PCI's leaders have attempted to base the party's communist identity firmly on domestic, Italian roots. The highlighting of the PCI's links to indigenous thinkers has been accompanied by a renewed emphasis on the domestic basis of the party's appeal and success. Part of the effort to base the party's communist identity more firmly on domestic roots, this aspect of the Third Way also occasioned some dissent.
