When Enrico Berlinguer died on June 11, Italy reacted with a nationwide outpouring of sorrow that carried the Italian Communist Party to its finest electoral hour: a first-place finish, ahead of the rival Christian Democrats in the voting for the European Parliament. Last week, as the party elders met to elect Berlinguer's successor as Secretary-General, they apparently saw wisdom in continuity: they chose Alessandro Natta, 66, a longtime Berlinguer loyalist.
Western Europe's biggest Communist party (1.7 million members) thus served notice that it would continue to hew to Berlinguer's "Eurocommunist" line, polishing its democratic image and keeping Moscow at arm's...
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