Eurocommunism on the 12 Axes

Eurocommunism emerged after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 led several Western parties to distance themselves from Moscow. Its leading figures were Enrico Berlinguer of the Italian Communist Party, Santiago Carrillo of the Spanish Communist Party and, for a time, Georges Marchais in France. Drawing on Antonio Gramsci's ideas about winning cultural and political consent, they accepted multiparty elections and civil liberties, and in Italy proposed a 'historic compromise' with the Christian Democrats. Each country was to find its own national road to socialism. Eurocommunism keeps a communist party structure and the goal of public ownership, which distinguishes it from social democracy, while its acceptance of pluralism and rejection of the Soviet model separate it from Leninism and Stalinism.

• Marxism 81%Marxism is the body of theory begun by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that explains history through class struggle and expects capitalism to give way to a classless, communist society.
• Democratic Socialism 80%Democratic socialism aims to replace capitalism with social ownership of the economy, reached and governed through elections, civil liberties and multiparty democracy instead of revolution or one-party rule.
• Social Democracy 80%Social democracy accepts a market economy and parliamentary democracy but uses taxes, strong unions, regulation and a broad welfare state to reduce inequality and protect workers.
• De Leonism 79%De Leonism is a form of Marxism developed by Daniel De Leon that seeks socialism through a peaceful election victory combined with industrial unions that take over and run the economy.