Alla conquista del Parlamento europeo. Strategie comunicative e campagne elettorali del PCI durante le elezioni europee del 1979 e del 1984

Abstract

The Italian Communist Party and the European Parliament. Communication strategies and electoral campaigns during 1979 and 1984 european elections. At the beginning of the 80's, while not denying its own membership in the international communist movement, the PCI tried a relocation on the international chessboard, starting a more intense dialogue with the socialist and the social-democratic forces of Western Europe, trying to undertake a new path free from Moscow influences. In this context the PCI changed also its approach toward the European Integration process. While in the past the historiographical debate has been mainly concerned with the relation between the PCI, the international communist movement and the Soviet Union, more recent studies have focused on the international action of the party in relation to European integration process. These works have mainly dealt with the phase of the PCI rejection of the communitarian policies (1950-1960) and on the reconsideration of those same policies during the 60's. On the contrary very few researches have been devoted to the next phase of the PCI stance toward the European integration process, that is the firm acceptance, by the party, of the idea of European unity. In order to investigate more deeply this latter phase, this paper aims at analyzing the communication strategies that the PCI adopted during the electoral campaigns for the European elections of 1979 and 1984. Moreover the object of this article is to reflect in a more detailed way upon communication techniques, identifying the main issues dealt with during PCI election campaigns. To broaden this analysis, the paper considers also some aspects of political communication in relation to the big changes experienced by the Italian society during the 80's. The article is based on the following primary sources: the party propaganda manifestos, the declarations which the candidates released during the electoral forums, the reports of the communication office that set up the election campaigns and the election advertisements commissioned by the PCI.