Li Kaixuan: "Greening": The Ecological Dimension of European Communist Parties' Adaptive Transformation
In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe, it further stimulated the sensitivity of the European public toward green movements. Mainstream European Green parties called for attention to the ecological crisis and climate change, arguing that these shifts have become primary factors in the recurrence of existing infectious diseases and the emergence of new ones. Meanwhile, the Party of the European Left—an alliance at the pan-European level between European Communist Parties and other anti-capitalist radical leftists—pointed out that mainstream Green parties remain pro-capitalist in essence. They argued that anti-capitalist leftist forces, such as Communist Parties that truly represent the interests of the working class, should work together to initiate a process of "social-ecological transformation."
In fact, due to the full exposure of serious ecological problems caused by capitalist modes of production and consumption at the end of the "Golden Age" [1] and the vigorous development of green movements, some European Communist Parties had already attempted to initiate "greening" adjustments as early as the 1970s and 80s. Following the drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe [2], European Communist Parties—trapped in a predicament of local organizational atrophy and crises of political identity—have accelerated their "greening" adjustments to actively respond to recent public demands for ecological rights and the "pan-greening" phenomenon in European politics. "Green" has become a new expression for the European Left’s anti-capitalism and its movement for capitalist alternatives. Tracking and comparing the ecological dimensions of political activities and theoretical innovations among Communist Parties in different European countries helps to better grasp the development trends, commonalities, and differences of socialist movements in 21st-century Europe.
This article selects three influential and representative European Communist Parties for analysis: the French Communist Party (hereafter "PCF") and the Communist Refoundation Party of Italy (hereafter "PRC"), which possess the tradition of Eurocommunism [3]; and the Portuguese Communist Party (hereafter "PCP"), which adheres to the Marxist-Leninist tradition. First, the article parses the internal and external causes of each party's "greening"; second, it evaluates the content and methods of this "greening" through the lenses of theoretical propositions, organizational structures, and political activities; finally, it analyzes the impact of "greening."
I. Internal and External Motivations for the "Greening" Adjustments of European Communist Parties
As Engels stated: "Communism is not a doctrine but a movement; it proceeds not from principles but from facts." [4] The motivations for the "greening" of European Communist Parties lie, on one hand, in the reality of intertwined economic and ecological crises in Europe and the multiple demands of the public for economic democracy and ecological rights. On the other hand, they lie in the internal requirements for European Communist Parties to carry out self-renewal of their theories and organizational development based on the aforementioned changes.
(1) Worsening ecological crises and the vigorous development of green politics
After World War II, a state of tension emerged between the industrialist production mode of infinite capitalist expansion and the finite resources of nature. Ecological problems, once neglected, gradually evolved into a crisis affecting all regions and ecosystems of the planet. This crisis triggered discussions in European intellectual and media circles regarding the dialectical relationship between the "quantity" and "quality" of economic and social development, which in turn sparked public concern and anxiety over the natural environment and helped facilitate the formation of post-materialist values. Consequently, the green movement rose and flourished. By the late 1970s, Green parties—transformed from ecological organizations or new social environmental movements—sprang up across Western Europe like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. Between 1980 and 1984 alone, Green parties appeared in twelve Western European countries. As Luciana Castellina pointed out in the mid-1980s in her article Why "Red" Must Be "Green": "In the past few years, a new color has been added to the political map of Europe: green. Green has become a symbol of mass movements... strictly speaking, it is now also the symbol of newly created political parties." [5]
The green camp can be roughly divided into "Green-Greens" and "Red-Greens." The former includes the "Deep Green" movement, centered on ecocentric philosophical values, and the "Light Green" movement, centered on economic and technological innovation. The latter takes the realization of alternatives to the capitalist economic and political system as its core goal. From the end of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st, European Green parties focused on uniting with leftist forces and diversifying their issues; in addition to environmental protection, they incorporated economic democracy into their political agendas. As the influence of the green movement expanded, other radical left forces, the center-left, and even the right began to include ecological and environmental issues in their platforms. European politics manifested a "pan-greening" phenomenon.
However, the "left-wing" label of Green parties caused them to form a powerful competition for political discourse primarily with Communist Parties, which belong to the same leftist camp. Furthermore, European Green parties established a pan-European alliance—the "European Green Party"—in 2004, making their actions at the international level more coordinated and institutionalized. [6] This also created a certain amount of external pressure on the attempts of Communist and Workers' Parties to explore supranational alliances.
(2) The internal requirement for self-renewal of European Communist Parties
Because the early European new social green movements developed without direct links to the traditional workers' movement, the traditional left-wing politics of the 1970s and 80s, based on class mobilization, did not realize its own need for the green movement and even denied its anti-capitalist attributes.
However, eco-socialism, which matured in the 1980s and 90s, was not only inherently compatible with the social ideals of European Communist Parties regarding the transcendence of capitalism and systemic alternatives, but also offered insightful explanations of the double exploitation—economic and ecological—suffered by the working class. Its explanation of how capitalist accumulation is obstructed by internal economic barriers and external natural and social barriers [7] provided inspiration for the development of the European Communist Parties' theories of capitalist critique. As James O'Connor stated: "The contradictions of world capitalism themselves provide the conditions for an eco-socialist tendency." [8] Therefore, the "greening" of European Communist Parties at the theoretical level is an internal requirement for self-renewal to maintain vitality based on changes in the external situation.
Following the drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the widespread dissemination of the "End of History" thesis and the changing of names and flags by some Communist Parties—represented by the Italian Communist Party, formerly the most influential in Western Europe—not only deeply affected the younger generation in Europe but also, to some extent, dissolved the consciousness of struggle among the working class. This caused the European socialist and workers' movements to fall into a low ebb. Simultaneously, many European Communist Parties fell into the predicament of organizational fragmentation and marginalization. For example, the membership of the PRC in Italy remained above 80,000 from the 1990s until 2008. After 2008, following organizational splits and reorganizations, membership plummeted, falling to approximately 17,000 in 2018. [9] After experiencing major organizational splits and large-scale loss of members, the PRC's support fell below 3%, or even below 1% in the 2018 national parliamentary elections and the 2019 European Parliament elections. The PCF underwent a similar process of marginalization, with its support rate plunging to 2.49% in 2019. The support rates of other European Communist Parties, such as the Communist Party of Spain and the Swiss Party of Labour, have also hovered at low levels. Furthermore, parties that still maintain significant influence, such as the PCP, face serious issues with an aging membership. According to statistics from the PCP's 18th Congress, members under 40 account for only 15.9%, while those aged 41–64 account for 49.3%, and elderly members over 64 account for 34.9%. [10]
Meanwhile, the growing green movement has won increasing support from the middle class and the youth. Among them, "Red-Green" parties even once occupied a dominant position in the field of radical left politics in countries like Italy. Therefore, expanding allies within the anti-capitalist camp, winning the support of more youth reserves, and achieving organizational innovation and growth are also inherent parts of the "greening" of European Communist Parties' political activities.
II. The "Greening" of European Communist Parties' Theory, Organization, and Political Activities
"Socialism does not proceed from certain theoretical principles, but is a movement based on historical facts and social changes." [11] Therefore, in an era where capitalist economic and ecological crises overlap and green politics is flourishing, the momentum of the European socialist movement increasingly stems from the encounter and union between the traditional working class and those emerging anti-capitalist subjects expressing ecological demands. For these factors to be effective, European Communist Parties need both to innovate their political platforms—transcending economism [12] to answer and respond to new ecological demands—and to change their methods of political action by strengthening alliances with green forces and expanding anti-capitalist coalitions.
(1) The "greening" of theoretical propositions and organizational structures
From the perspective of theoretical propositions, the PCF, the PRC, and the PCP have mostly undergone a process concerning the green movement moving from denial and hesitation to acceptance and the absorption of lessons. At the same time, this "greening" has produced both similar and different results within the various national politico-economic environments and communist traditions.
In its self-renewal, the PCF constructed green concepts with distinct communist characteristics, such as "Eco-communism." In the early 1970s, the PCF did not recognize the scientific validity or legitimacy of the green movement. However, with the movement's vigorous development and the worsening of ecological issues, it included content on controlling noise, water, and air pollution, and managing nuclear waste in its platform for the first time in 1978. In the 1989 European Parliament elections, the PCF proposed the campaign slogan "Advance for Disarmament, Environmental Protection, and the Development of the Third World." After the changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the PCF proposed the so-called "New Communism" theory, which included content on strengthening environmental protection and building a "blue planet." After entering the 21st century, the PCF wrote ecological issues—such as environmental protection and resource sharing—into the documents of its various National Congresses, making them part of the evolution of "New Communism theory." Amidst the wave of green politics that flourished after 2016, the PCF explicitly proposed the thesis that ecology is one of the core elements of communism. In 2018, the platform released at the 38th Congress of the PCF regarded ecology as the core essence of sustainable development. Simultaneously, the PCF added a "green leaf" design to its new party flag to clearly indicate that ecology is one of the identities of the Communist Party. At the Communist Ecology Conference held that same year, Pierre Laurent, then-National Secretary of the PCF, took a clear stand by stating that "communism must be ecological"; without environmental protection, there is no communism. [13] Productivism and consumerism together have exacerbated the social livelihood crisis of the public and the deterioration of the natural environment, while the ecological crisis has become an international challenge. Therefore, the PCF calls on communists to possess internationalist ambitions and persevere in the struggle against the minority of people in the world who stubbornly persist in lifestyles and production modes that destroy the ecology. Meanwhile, the struggle against social inequality and the struggle against ecological inequality should be unified, viewing ecology as a core component of class struggle and the fight for communism. [14] Thus, the PCF’s theoretical construction of "Eco-communism" possesses comprehensive ideological significance.
The PRC, which also belongs to the Eurocommunist tradition, directly regards eco-socialism as one of the party’s guiding theories, explicitly advocating for a balance between employment and ecological rights in an era of intertwined economic and ecological crises. From the late 1960s to the 1980s, the attitude of the original Italian Communist Party (1921–1991) toward the green movement was also primarily one of denial and rejection, believing the movement's theoretical propositions were markedly "Utopian," detached from the reality of economic and social development, and out of sync with the political culture of the traditional industrial workers' movement, making them unsustainable. In the 1990s, the PRC, which inherited the communist tradition of the original Italian Communist Party, adopted an attitude of acceptance and learning toward eco-socialism, explicitly regarding environmental protection, the atmosphere, water resources, and food safety as among the most basic social rights of laborers. After entering the 21st century, especially after 2008...
After the outbreak of the 2008 international financial crisis, the "greening" theoretical adjustments of the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC) in Italy centered on its advocacy for a balance between workers' employment rights and ecological rights. Following the departure of the party’s ecologist faction in 2009, the majority of PRC members reaffirmed at the 8th National Congress in 2011 that Italy’s industrial policy should place equal weight on ecological and employment protection. In 2013, the documents adopted at the PRC’s 9th National Congress explicitly integrated "ecological economy and green employment" into the new agenda of "21st-century socialism" as an alternative to capitalism. [25] Since then, the PRC has essentially maintained the position established at the 9th Congress regarding the protection of both labor and ecological rights, maintaining a strongly critical stance toward practices that pursue profit in the name of environmentalism while damaging workers' interests. For instance, in October 2020, the PRC National Committee issued a call titled "Employment and Environment: No Ransom, We Want to Build an Alternative," opposing the environmentally destructive activities of multinational industrial enterprises in Italy and insisting on the defense of the right to work for people in vulnerable groups and regions. [26]
As a core force among European Communist Parties holding to the Marxist-Leninist tradition, the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) has been relatively slow and cautious in its theoretical "greening." Although the PCP included environmental protection in its agenda as early as the 1980s and did not ignore environmental issues when it proposed building a new society in the 1990s, it never granted them a particularly prominent position, nor did it view ecosocialism as its guiding theory. In the 21st century, especially after the 2008 crisis, the PCP’s critique of the structural crisis of capitalism across economic, political, socio-cultural, and environmental levels still avoided introducing too many post-materialist concepts. With the rise of a new wave of green politics after 2016, the PCP significantly increased its theoretical focus on environmental issues. For example, the General Secretary of the PCP noted at the 21st Congress in November 2020 that the pressure to commodify natural resources has hindered the introduction of policies to defend ecological balance; Portugal’s environmental policies, natural resource management, and land-use planning have all succumbed to the interests of monopoly groups. He argued that shifting the responsibility for environmental issues onto individuals obscures the root of environmental degradation: the destructive nature of capitalist modes of production and consumption. [27] Furthermore, the French Communist Party (PCF) and the Italian PRC established environmental departments responsible for organizing and launching the party’s struggles in the field of ecological protection. The PCF’s environmental department has been renamed the Ecology Commission (Commission Écologie); it is not only responsible for fielding green candidates in elections but also for initiating seminars and protests regarding global ecological issues, striving to change the French public's perception of communism as "non-ecological." [28]
2. "Greening" Adjustments in Political Activities
Since the 1980s, European Communist Parties have primarily formed close political alliances with the "Red-Green" faction within the green camp. Among these, the Party of the European Left (EL) is a typical example of this alliance in practice at the pan-European level. Simultaneously, the PCF, the Italian PRC, and the PCP have also attempted domestic alliances with Green Parties over many years.
1. Pan-European Political Alliance Practice: The Party of the European Left Driven by the Italian PRC, the PCF, the Red-Green Alliance (RGA) of Denmark, and the Left Alliance of Finland, the Party of the European Left was established in 2004. It is a decentralized political association composed of left-wing parties that fully enjoy their autonomy. [29] The EL defines itself as a platform uniting all democratic, anti-imperialist, feminist, and ecosocialist left-wing forces. Drawing on the traditions of communism, socialism, the labor movement, and the environmental movement, its goal is to achieve an "alternative" to capitalism from social and ecological dimensions. [30] Through triennial congresses, mobilization for European Parliament elections, "summer universities," and the initiation of common political initiatives, the EL promotes unity and collaboration at the pan-European level between Communist Parties, "Red-Green" parties, and other anti-capitalist left-wing forces.
The EL's anti-capitalist ecological critique and alternative proposals have been reflected in the documents of its successive congresses. Notably, at its second congress in 2007, the EL predicted that the severe social inequality and environmental disasters brought about by the neoliberal economic, social, and ecological development model would inevitably lead to the rise of populism in Europe. [31] To respond to the impact of the international financial crisis, the EL's third and fourth congresses focused on anti-poverty and anti-austerity struggles. At the fifth congress in 2016, the EL articulated its social and green transformation proposals more clearly, finally formally proposing the initiative to start a "socio-ecological transformation" in the documents of the sixth congress in 2019. The EL pointed out that although mainstream European Green Parties sometimes hold social and ecological positions very close to its own, they are not inherently anti-capitalist; more often, they are allies of the conservative or Social Democratic alliances within the camp of "green capitalism." The "socio-ecological transformation" initiative launched by the EL is a necessary and urgent class struggle, requiring member parties to effectively combine domestic struggles with pan-European struggles to change Europe's industrial production methods, restructure production organization, and ultimately achieve fundamental social change. [32]
EL member parties also coordinate their positions and conduct joint struggles through European Parliament elections. Before each election, member parties such as the PCF, the Italian PRC, and the Nordic "Red-Green" parties formulate election programs with relatively consistent themes based on their national conditions and European green political realities. For example, in the 2019 European Parliament elections, the PCF, based on France's reality as a major nuclear power, called for a more democratic and scientific management of nuclear energy while increasing the proportion of rail transport as much as possible and researching new energy sources that could replace carbon-based energy. [33] The Italian PRC, based on the severe industrial pollution in Italy, called on the public to pay attention to the deterioration of the natural environment and climate, pushing EU member states to sign a new "Green Pact" and transition toward an ecological economic development model. [34] Following the European Parliament elections, MEPs from EL member parties joined the "European United Left/Nordic Green Left" (GUE/NGL) group, playing an active role in promoting the green transformation of the EU's development model.
Organizing summer universities and establishing other anti-capitalist initiative platforms are also primary methods for the PCF, the Italian PRC, and other radical left forces to conduct political activities through the EL. The EL has held nine summer universities to date, with the aim of promoting the development and dissemination of ideas such as communism, ecosocialism, peace, and feminism. Themes such as global climate change, environmental pollution, and how the left should face the challenges brought by the overlapping economic and ecological crises have been included in the seminars. Additionally, after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, facing the harm suffered by grassroots workers due to a lack of medical and health security and the worsening of livelihood issues under economic stagnation, the EL built the "Protect Our Europe" platform to promote Europe's transition toward a socio-ecological development model that is not market-centric. [35]
2. "Red-Green" Alliances in Domestic Political Activities The development of green politics in Europe is uneven. Green parties possess stronger political influence in Western and Northern Europe and are weaker in Southern Europe; Communist parties generally show the opposite trend. Therefore, the PCF, the Italian PRC, and the PCP have more practical experience with "Red-Green" alliances and often hold a greater voice within them.
As early as the 1990s, the Italian PRC formed a close alliance with Italy's Federation of the Greens through street protests. Notably, the PRC and the Greens successfully initiated four referendums in 2002 covering workers' rights, food safety, and environmental protection; although these did not pass, they garnered widespread attention. Before 2008, the two parties were stable allies in political elections. They jointly joined center-left led political alliances such as "The Alliance of Progressives" and "The Olive Tree" by running independent lists of candidates. Leaders from both parties respectively served as the Minister and Undersecretary of the Italian Ministry of the Environment, exerting significant influence on the environmental policies of the center-left government. After 2008, the ecologist faction within the Italian PRC split to form the Left Ecology Freedom party (SEL). The PRC suffered a massive blow from this split and has yet to emerge from its state of marginalization. Subsequently, the Federation of the Greens also began a transition toward becoming a mainstream Green party, gradually distancing itself from the PRC.
The PCP and the Portuguese "Ecologist Party 'The Greens'" (PEV) have formed a stable political alliance that is both independent and closely cooperative. The PEV belongs to the "Red-Green" faction of the green movement; since 1987, it has participated in local, national, and European Parliament elections with the PCP under the name Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU), consistently maintaining a good and relatively stable level of support. Although the two parties hold consistent positions and close relationships in political activities, their policy programs still show significant differences that clearly reflect their respective core ideologies and identities. For instance, in the 2019 national parliamentary elections, both the PCP and the PEV focused on domestic economic development, public services, and progress in science, education, culture, and health. However, the PEV focused more on climate change, protecting biodiversity, and maintaining peace—propositions that reflect green politics—while the PCP's program highlighted traditional left-wing political claims such as protecting the working class and defending workers' rights, which more clearly embody its identity as a Communist party.
As in Italy and Portugal, the Green Party is an important ally for the PCF in the struggle for environmental and social rights, though the closeness of this alliance is slightly inferior. Since the mid-to-late 1990s, the PCF has begun opening itself up to social movements including feminism, anti-racism, and ecologism. In this process, the Greens also became an important political ally. However, the political alliance between the two parties in presidential and parliamentary elections at all levels is not solid or continuous; it is more of a tactical move of convenience, and the results sometimes fail to meet expectations. For example, the "Red-Green" alliance formed by the PCF and the Greens in the 2020 local municipal elections barely managed to hold onto the PCF’s local political base but helped the Green party achieve a major breakthrough.
III. The Impact of the "Greening" Adjustments of European Communist Parties
The "greening" of European Communist Parties can, to a large extent, be seen as a new exploration, new content, and new expression of the European socialist movement under the overlapping pressures of a deepening economic and ecological crisis and a changing political landscape. In their "greening" adjustments, European Communist Parties have constructed new theoretical concepts and expanded anti-capitalist alliances, but they have not yet fundamentally improved their state of political marginalization.
(1) Increasing the Influence of Communism within New Green Social Movements The timely "greening" adjustments initiated by European Communist Parties—whether from the Eurocommunist faction or the traditional Marxist-Leninist faction—have increased the influence of Communist Parties within new green social movements and provided beneficial insights for the new development of Marxism in Europe.
The "greening" of the theoretical claims of European Communist Parties has, to varying degrees, demonstrated the characteristic of placing equal emphasis on "employment and ecology." It is embedded with an institutional reflection on the roots of the capitalist ecological crisis and possesses anti-capitalist progressive attributes aimed at pursuing social equity, justice, and ecological equality. This is essentially different from the "green capitalism" or eco-capitalism positions held by mainstream European Green Parties. The "greening" of European Communist Party theory...
Successfully fusing the pursuit of ecological rights with communist ideals helps push European Marxism out of the realm of textbook and academic textual research to face the greatest practical challenges of the contemporary world. This "green" adjustment has also, to a certain extent, bridged the distance between the green movement and its theorists and communism and Marxism. If ecological Marxism is the most influential faction within Western Marxism, and even represents the developmental direction of contemporary European Marxism, then the significance of the "green" theoretical adjustment by European Communist Parties (CPs) is self-evident.
However, in its theoretical adjustment toward "greening," the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC) in Italy failed to clearly distinguish between ecological Marxism and an eco-socialism that encompasses social democracy. the PRC explicitly listed eco-socialism as one of the party’s guiding theories and upheld ideologies, while simultaneously maintaining an inclusive attitude toward the fundamentalist and technocratic reformist propositions of mainstream Green parties. The ideological diversity of the party and the growth of the ecologist faction within its ranks ultimately led to a severe organizational split in 2009. Nichi Vendola, then one of the primary leaders of the PRC, led his supporters to form the "Red-Green" Left Ecology Freedom (SEL) party after his de-communizing proposal to rename the party the "Ecological Left Party" failed to win majority support. This split greatly weakened the PRC's vanguard position in European radical left politics and had an extremely negative impact on the European communist movement as a whole.
While the PRC failed to clarify the boundaries between ecologism and Marxism, and the Portuguese Communist Party’s (PCP) stance remains insufficiently radical, the French Communist Party’s (PCF) "eco-communism" is perhaps one of the most noteworthy achievements in the "green" theoretical development of European CPs. This concept, which possesses relatively complete ideological connotations, vividly demonstrates that communism not only does not reject the green movement and its underlying cultural values—which aim to promote harmonious development between man and nature—but is also capable of absorbing and drawing upon their essence. The "social-ecological transformation" advocated by the Party of the European Left is a product of theoretical innovation shared by European CPs and "Red-Green" left-wing forces; it contains both a critical reflection on the capitalist system and a strategic plan for a future green society, and warrants continued attention. The dissemination of these iconic "green" new concepts by European CPs may influence the European public's perception of communism in the future.
(2) The Paradox of Expanding Political Alliances and Failing to Increase Influence
The PCP has maintained its political influence and appeal through its alliance with the Greens. The Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) formed by the two parties is the fourth-largest parliamentary group in Portugal. Its support in national parliamentary elections has generally remained above 8%, while its support in municipal councils has stayed around 10%. However, its support in European Parliament elections has fluctuated significantly—dropping to 6.88% in 2019, with both elected MEPs coming from the PCP. Consequently, the PCP holds significant discourse power within the CDU, and the close cooperation between the two parties has allowed the coalition to maintain substantial influence in Portugal.
However, an alliance between European communist factions, such as the PRC and PCF, and anti-capitalist forces (including the Greens) has created a paradox: while the alliance partners have become increasingly diverse, the CPs' own influence and the recognition they receive have declined. Before 2008, the PRC was able to maintain considerable influence within alliances with the Greens and the center-left, impacting government policies on the environment and nuclear energy. Yet after 2008, the PRC suffered a crisis of division and fell into a state of severe fragmentation. The political alliances it formed with the Greens and other anti-capitalist progressive forces failed to win broader support or recognition. While the gains made by the alliance between the PCF and the Greens in the 2020 municipal elections briefly attracted attention, in reality, this alliance did little to help the PCF expand its political influence.
The influence of European communist factions within pan-European alliances has also declined. Until 2014, parties like the PRC and PCF still held seats in the European Parliament; for instance, the PRC won five seats in 2004, while the PCF won two seats in both 2004 and 2009, and one seat in 2014. However, in the 2019 European Parliament elections, neither the PRC nor the PCF won any seats. In contrast, Nordic member parties of the Party of the European Left, such as the Red-Green Alliance in Denmark and the Left Alliance in Finland—the "Red-Green" factions within the ecological movement—have maintained stable support levels and seat counts.
The political alliances between European CPs and Green parties, as well as the "green" adjustments to their platforms, have found it increasingly difficult to achieve the expected results in recent years. On one hand, this is because the European socialist movement has yet to emerge from its low ebb, and the CPs' own organizational and political influence is shrinking. On the other hand, the booming ecological movement has led to a "generalized greening" of values in European politics. This means that mainstream parties, as well as far-right and emerging populist parties, have "borrowed" terms from the green agenda, absorbing parts that align with their own programs while casually discarding the more radical elements. Both the generalization of green politics and the "follower" role played by CPs in the ecological field have weakened the appeal and impact of the "green" adjustments in their political programs.
IV. Conclusion
In recent years, the strong adaptability and diversity shown by European capitalism in the face of overlapping ecological and economic crises have made the task of finding a capitalist alternative more complex and difficult. This implies that European CPs must both adapt to the new requirements for theoretical renewal imposed by economic and social crises and political shifts, and contend with the negative impacts of the diversification and fragmentation of the radical left camp on building anti-capitalist alliances. In this regard, the accelerated "greening" of European CPs across both theoretical and practical dimensions constitutes a proactive response to multiple crises and dilemmas.
From the perspective of theoretical innovation, the PRC and PCP have yet to construct a unique "Red-Green" concept. In contrast, the PCF is relatively adept at absorbing the essence of new green issues and cultural theories, making it more likely to become a vanguard for the "green" theoretical exploration and innovation of European CPs in the short term. In current political practice, alliances between European CPs, "Red-Green" parties, and other anti-capitalist forces are not only necessary but often urgent. Even mainstream Green parties, broadly regarded as left-wing forces, sometimes become objects of "competitive cooperation" for CPs at local, national, and EU supranational levels as they seek to expand the political influence of the anti-capitalist movement. However, based on the experiences of Italy and France, alliances between Green parties and CPs whose organizational strength and political influence are weakening cannot effectively halt the overall marginalization of European communist forces.
Therefore, in an era where ecology is increasingly viewed by the European Left as a new expression of an effective alternative to capitalism, European CPs must address a key issue in their future "greening" process: how to use the strengthening of their own political, theoretical, and organizational building to break the Green parties' monopoly on the vanguard role in ecological issues and the challenge they pose to class identity. Only by doing so can they encourage the public to recognize that "Red is the New Green" in both theoretical innovation and political practice.
The "greening" of European Communist Parties constitutes a positive response to the escalating ecological crisis and the shifting political landscape of the European Union. By integrating ecological theory with the critique of capital, these parties have attempted to transcend the traditional "productivist" framework, seeking a synthesis between labor rights and environmental protection. This adaptive transformation is not merely a tactical adjustment for electoral survival, but a theoretical deepening of the Marxist critique of the contradictions between the limitless expansion of capital and the finite constraints of the natural environment. However, this process remains fraught with challenges, particularly in balancing the immediate material interests of the traditional working class with the long-term requirements of ecological sustainability. Ultimately, the success of this "greening" will depend on whether these parties can effectively mobilize the masses around a vision of "ecosocialism" that provides a viable alternative to the current neoliberal order.
Looking forward, the ecological dimension of European Communist Parties will likely continue to expand within the framework of Chinese-path modernization [33] and the global pursuit of a community with a shared future for humanity. As the global climate crisis intensifies, the theoretical innovations and practical explorations of European Communists offer valuable reference points for the international socialist movement. By continuing to uphold the fundamentals and break new ground, these parties are striving to ensure that the red flag of socialism carries with it the green hope of a sustainable future, further contributing to the diversified development of world socialism in the New Era.
(The author is affiliated with the Institute of Marxism Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) Web Editor: Zhang Jian Source: Contemporary World and Socialism, Issue 2, 2021