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Luka Filipović, PhD
Institute for Contemporary History, Belgrade, Republic of Serbia

 

ZENITH AND DOWNFALL OF THE MEDITERRANEAN FAR-LEFT: LEAGUE OF COMMUNISTS OF YUGOSLAVIA AND EUROCOMMUNISTS IN THE LATE 1970s

God. XLIV, 2/2026, str. 511–530
https://doi.org/10.29362/ist20veka.2026.2.fil.511-530

 

APSTRAKT/REZIME:

From the perspective of our current time, it seems to be easy to neglect how dynamic the changes of social reality were, whose effects were experienced by the contemporaries of the late 1970s, and also, how politically significant and internationally influential the far-left parties and labour unions in the countries of Western Europe were. In a short period separating the “long year of socialism in Europe” (1974–1976) from the beginning of neoliberal reforms in the early 1980s, Eurocommunist parties reached both the zenith and the downfall of their influence in the domestic politics of Mediterranean countries and in international Marxist initiatives. At the same time, a similar path would be followed by Yugoslav communists, who became the closest associates and financial supporters of Eurocommunist parties, with LCY reaching the height of its influence on the European far left, only to lose it in a seemingly sudden turn of events. This paper will examine the potential manifestations of a long-term social and historical process that only became visible towards the end of the last decade of the “welfare state” in Europe. The presented research results were derived from applying the classical historical method to archival sources, while the same results were subjected to the comparative method to identify potential factors that may have influenced the stated process.

 

KLJUČNE REČI: Eurocommunism, democratic socialism, welfare state, neoliberalism, League of Communists of Yugoslavia, Communist Party of Italy

 

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