In the 1970s the major communist parties of the Western European countries — Italian, 

French, and Spanish —put forward programs that defi ned the strategic guidelines for 

their activities under the dйtente. The most signifi cant elements of these strategies were 

the rejection of inevitability of a violent revolutionary path to power and recognition of 

parliamentarism. In the political use of those years, this phenomenon was defi ned by the term “Eurocommunism”. This article is devoted to a series of interviews published by G. 

Urban, awell-known American political observer, in the magazine “Encounter” with famous representatives of Eurocommunism. It is shown that the prticipants of these conversations discussed the historical conditionality and inevitability of the withdrawal of the Western European communist parties from the World Communist Movement headed by the CPSU. It is noted that according to the results of the conversations, Urban informed Zb. Brzezinski,the Assistant to the US President for National Security Affairs, on the situation in the European Communist parties. It is concluded that the publication of stenograms of conversations contributed to the formation of the controversial opinion about Eurocommunism among representatives of the US political and academic elite. Speaking about the need to shatter the monopoly of the CPSU in the WСM, representatives of this elite strongly opposed the inclusion of communist parties in the coalition governments of Western European countries.

Keywords: Encounter, Eurocommunism, Urban, Brzezinski, Lombardo Radice, Spinelli, 

Azcarate.

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