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The debate touches on internal tensions that could prove more vexing to the party in the long run. Fernando Claudin, a former executive committee member who was expelled in 1964 for espousing what would now be considered Eurocommunist tenets, talks about "bureaucratic authoritarianism" in the P.C.E. "Democracy yes," he argues, "but without reducing the supreme authority and infallibility of the party chief."
Though it is difficult to gauge the depth of disillusionment, a younger Communist dissident notes that "this Leninism business is only a maneuver to avoid a general discussion of party matters. The leaders speak of liberalism, but obedience remains the word. They simply want to maintain their positions. It's a combination of personal ambition and opportunistic policy."
In this particular view, the confrontation is less ideological than generational, since many of the dissidents have no quarrel with the Eurocommunist policies of the leadership. But there is a difference in viewpoint between the old guard, like Carrillo, aging Party President Dolores ("La Pasionaria") Ibarruri and other seasoned apparatchiks, many of whom spent the Franco years in exile, and a younger group that remained at home. But how far can internal democracy go, particularly in a Communist party? As one Western analyst puts it, "Carrillo clearly wants it—up to a point. But can he then keep the lid on?"
Last week, at least, he demonstrated that he could. Despite strong Soviet advice to the Spanish Communists to stay with Leninism, the congress voted with Carrillo on Thesis XV, 968 to 248 to set a Communist precedent by dropping the party's Leninist label. With old Moscow friend La Pasionaria unaccountably absent and Carrillo grinning broadly, the delegates attempted to soften the blow by chanting "Lenin, Lenin, Lenin." The municipal elections anticipated later this year will be the first test of Carrillo's triumph—and new strategy.