ABSTRACT
The strategy of a national, democratic and peaceful road to socialism is at the core of eurocommunism: it is, indeed, the fulcrum from which all other aspects of eurocommunism derive. The search for strategic and ideological autonomy from the Soviet Union, the acceptance of the democratic ‘rules of the game,’ a gradualist approach to change, the adoption of the characteristics of a mass party, are manifestations of the strategy of the national, peaceful road to socialism; they are interdependent and mutually reinforcing expressions of the factors shaping the euro-communist position. The peculiar characteristic of a strategy of a peaceful road to socialism lies in its search for a synthesis of traditional communist goals and strategic principles, and the constraints and opportunities stemming from the domestic and international conditions of a given country. The Italian and Spanish parties, the latter after a change in leadership, significantly elaborated the principles of their national strategies.
