Abstract

This essay investigates the evolution of the external policy and internationalism of the Italian Communist Party (Pci) from 1968, when Berlinguer was elected as vice-secretary, to 1984, the year of his unexpected passing. Special attention is given to the way in which the party led by Berlinguer re-elaborated the relations among the communist internationalism, the national road to socialism and the specificities of the European-occidental area. In this complex historical phase - the 1970s and the 1980s - Berlinguer tried to confer legitimacy and practicability to his Party in order to overcome the limits of a communist movement in crisis and to operate autonomously inside the Western area of Europe, without any identity loss.