Inspiring Dissent: Yugoslavia and the Italian Communist Party during 1956

Abstract

This paper analyzes the relations between the communist parties of Yugoslavia and Italy during 1956, one of the most important years of the history of communism. The dissenting nature of those relations, which were based on the mutual wish to limit the Soviet hegemony within the global communist movement, is in the focus of this analysis. Finally, this paper aims to demonstrate how the roots of the close friendship between the two parties during the sixties and seventies can be traced back to 1956, and how the Yugoslav communists influenced or tried to influence their Italian counterparts.

Keywords

• communism
• yugoslavia
• italian communist party (pci)
• 1956
• cold war
• dissent