Gwydion M. Williams

Born in 1950, I remember how different the world was in the 1970s.  Communist parties were powerful in most of Western Europe, and the British Communist Party was very influential despite a lack of electoral success. 

At that time, many in Eastern Europe wanted Reformed Communism rather than a surrender to Western values,  the same sort that Brezhnev and the other heirs of Khrushchev had crushed in Czechoslovakia in 1968.

Those who grew up in the world remade by Thatcher and Ronald Reagan will find it hard to believe that Moscow’s Communism was once popular among ordinary people. It gets written out of history.

But you can confirm it from sources like the Wikipedia, which is mostly neutral and which tends towards the US Libertarian views of its founders, in as far as it is biased.  It will show you the large votes that Communist parties once got within Western electoral systems and in the fact of mostly-hostile media.

Or you can find it nicely summarised by one of the on-line web-page-reading services.  Their judgement can be wildly off, but they generally have the facts set out correctly:

“The decline of Communist Party votes in Western Europe between about 1970 and 2000 was gradual but very clear, and it varied somewhat by country. At a high level, most parties went from being significant electoral forces (often 10–30% of the vote) to marginal ones (often under 5–10%, sometimes collapsing entirely).

“1. Peak strength around the 1970s

“In the early 1970s, several Western European communist parties were at or near their historical highs:

“Italian Communist Party: around 25–34% in elections during the 1970s (one of the largest in the West).

“French Communist Party: roughly 20–25% in the late 1960s/early 1970s.

“Spanish Communist Party: legalized after Franco, gained influence but peaked lower (around 10%).

“Smaller but relevant parties existed in countries like Finland and Greece.

“2. Decline begins in late 1970s–1980s

“From the mid-to-late 1970s, vote shares began to fall:

“In Italy, the PCI dropped from ~34% (1976) to the mid-20s by the 1980s.

“In France, the PCF fell from ~20% in the 1970s to around 10% by the mid-1980s, and kept declining.

“In Spain, the PCE declined quickly after the transition to democracy, dropping below 5–10%.

“3. Collapse around 1989–1991 (end of the Cold War)

“The biggest turning point was the collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the dissolution of the Soviet Union:

“Many Western communist parties lost ideological credibility.

“Some rebranded or dissolved:

“  The Italian PCI dissolved in 1991 and became the Democratic Party of the Left.

“Voters shifted to social democratic, green, or new left parties.

“4. By 2000: marginalization

“By the end of the century:

“In Italy, no major communist party remained; successors were no longer explicitly communist.

“In France, the PCF had dropped to around 5–8%.

“In Spain, the PCE was part of broader coalitions (like United Left) with low single-digit influence.

“In most of Western Europe, communist parties were minor players.

“5. Overall pattern (summary)

“Across Western Europe:

“1970s: Typically 15–30% in strongholds.

“1980s: Decline to 5–20%.

“1990s–2000: Often below 10%, sometimes near 0–5%.

“6. Key reasons for the decline

“Disillusionment with Soviet-style communism.

“Rising prosperity reducing appeal of revolutionary politics.

“Competition from social democratic and green parties.

“Internal splits and ideological crises.

“The symbolic and real impact of 1989–1991 events.

“In short: Communist parties in Western Europe went from being major electoral forces in the 1970s to largely marginal ones by 2000, with the sharpest decline occurring in the 1980s and especially after the end of the Cold War.”  (ChatGPT)

At that time, many in Eastern Europe wanted the same sort of Reformed Communism that Brezhnev and the other heirs of Khrushchev had crushed in Czechoslovakia in 1968.  And in most of the former Warsaw Pact countries, Communist parties remained strong in open Western-style elections till about the year 2000.  Then they either declined or became part of coalitions using other names.  But before the year 2000, some were significant.  

Yeltsin as President of Russia banned the Soviet Communist Party after the 1991 coup.  But a successor called the Communist Party of the Russian Federation was founded in 1993.  It began to get votes surprisingly similar to the 23.3% the Bolsheviks got in the 1917 Russian Constituent Assembly election.  22% in the 1995 parliamentary election, becoming the largest party.  32% in the first round of the 1996 presidential election, and 40% in the runoff against Boris Yeltsin.  24% in the 1999 parliamentary election, still the largest party.  Putin then rallied the system with Christian Nationalism and much tighter controls on Russia’s newly-rich oligarchs.  From 2000 it has remained the largest Opposition party, ranging between 13% and 19% of the vote.

Most surprising to those who trust mainstream Western media is what happened in Ukraine.  After soviet officials shared power in the initial creation of a sovereign state, a Communist Party of Ukraine was established or re-established in 1993.  It got 13% in 1994.  And 24% in 1998, making it the largest single party.  In the 2002 election it was still strong at around 20%, but fell to 5% or less in 2006 and 2007.  It rallied in 2012 with 13.2% but fell to less than 4% in 2014.  Kiev banned it in 2014, when there was armed conflict began with Russia and pro-Russian Ukrainians.  Kiev also banned non-Communist parties that sought compromise after 2022, even though they had condemned the actual invasion.

Globally, Communism in the various sovereign states has gone in very different directions.  China remains under the absolute control of the Communist Parties, though other small parties are allowed small roles.  And people in China have much more trust in their rulers and more satisfaction with their work than has ever been the case in any Western country.

None of the ruling Leninist parties outside Europe have lost power, though the USA is just now targeting Cuba.  Mongolia is the nearest to an exception, with the party renaming itself the People’s Party and officially social-democrat from 1992.  It was always close to Russia and suspicious of China, and remains so.  Other Mongols in Inner Mongolia diverged long ago and remain content to be autonomous within People’s China.

In Iran, the communist Tudeh Party was once strong.  Crushed in the 1953 coup, it was one of many leftist groups who supported Khomeini in 1979, and were then crushed.  It is no longer significant. 

Something similar happened in Indonesia, though it never got beyond 16% of the vote.  And its members were killed in vast numbers after a supposed left-wing coup in 1966, which is widely believed to have been a CIA machination.  It seems not to have recovered after the later relaxation.

In India, the Communist Party split, with the largest being anti-Moscow but not Maoist.  It settled down to function as three strong regional parties, but lost West Bengal in 2011.  Lost Tripura in 2018, but remains strong in Kerala.

In Nepal, two of the three dominant parties call themselves Communist, though one is functionally social-democratic.  The other was a survival of Maoist Communism and forced the ending of a corrupt royal government.

South Yemen had a successful Marxist insurgency, with the National Liberation Front driving out one of the last stands by the British Empire, and then beginning to spread in Muscat and Oman.  But failed, and seems no longer to exist as a distinct force.  There seems to be no coherent account of it in English, perhaps because most of those calling themselves Revolutionary Socialists are or were Trotskyist or pro-Moscow and jealous that the ‘wrong’ movements were the only serious force.

The same seems true of the Shining Path that was once very strong in Peru.  

In Japan, anti-Moscow Communists have ranged between 7% and 11%, and seem a stable strong opposition party.  Of course the Japanese Liberal Democrats do most of the things social-democrats do in Europe.

There was a split but entirely serious global communism in the 1970s, but it has diverged and in many places declined.  It is no longer what it once was and on social matters it has achieved most of its original aims.  Sexual and racial equality were once mostly championed by Communists, and correctly identified by right-wingers as communist-inspired.  But the inspiration has happened, and most movements calling themselves communist failed to adapt to a changing world.