Abstract

This paper focuses on Enrico Berlinguer's relations with the parties of the non-communist European Left and on the main historiographical issues on this topic. The paper stresses the importance to eschew any teleological interpretation of the "evolution" of the Italian Communist Party in the years of Berlinguer's leadership, and explains why the Italian Communist Party history should be considered an aspect of an entangled history of the Left in a crucial time of transformation for European politics and society. In this respect, special consideration is given to the impact of the 1970s' "shock of the global" and to the implications this focus may have for renewing the historical reflection on both Italian communism and the European Left.