Extract

The impossible Third Force

Italian and French socialism and Europe, 1943-1963

Christine VODOVAR

Assistant professor, Luiss-Guido Carli University, Rome

Introduction

Among European political families, the Socialist one is not the most Europeanist. Some of its members, like the Labour Party, have remained particularly reluctant. Even if we consider the most Europeanist among them, like the French or some of the Italians, who are the protagonists of this essay, they have often appeared more hesitant than other political families. However, at the same time, Europe is present in their theoretical reflections, programmatic formulations and commitments and it is indisputable that Europeanism must be considered, from its turning point in the 1950s, a specific feature of their political culture; if by political culture we mean a system of representations, standards and values, internalised by a group or a party and which is the basis for its mobilisation.1

What are the reasons for this ambiguity? Why is mobilisation in favour of Europe not evident and complex? Was it due mainly to international and national constraints or was there some kind of cultural or ideological reluctance?

It is well known that the international context is a decisive condition of the Socialist’s attitude towards Europe. No European political family was as affected by the division of the world into two antagonistic blocks as the socialists. As they did not identify either with Anglo-Saxon Liberalism or with Soviet communism, Socialists would have...