The Eurocommunism of the Intellectuals: Poulantzas and the Third Way to Socialism

In this contribution I will try to relate Nicos Poulantzas' theses on the state and democratic socialism to the political and ideological movement known as Eurocommunism. His theses emerged in a context in which it seemed possible that the two biggest Communist Parties in the West could reach power by the peaceful and democratic road. He systematically expounded these arguments in his book State, Power, Socialism, published in 1979 at a moment when the Eurocommunist movement was already in crisis.