Hudson particularly highlights the contradictory effect of the disintegration of ‘really existing socialism’ on the European Communist Parties. While this was a signal for Eurocommunists in western Europe to conclude their transition to social democracy, and for the majority of the east European ruling parties to adopt a programme of capitalist restoration, an important minority resisted the pressure and reappraised its strategy from a left standpoint. This, she argues, provided the basis, together with other forces to the left of social democracy, for the rise of a ‘new European left’—one rejecting both social democracy and authoritarian socialism, embracing feminism, green politics and antiracism and adopting more democratic and pluralistic political methods. Its components include, among others, the Party of Communist Refoundation in Italy, the French Communist Party (PCF), Spain’s United Left, the Party of Democratic Socialism in Germany and the Swedish Left Party.

The ‘new left’ grew on the back of social movements against the repercussions of the Maastricht Treaty (strikes in Italy in 1994, and in France in 1995), and the disappointment in socialist/social democratic governmental policies. It has stepped into the space vacated by socialism’s shift to the right, establishing itself as a significant factor in most west European nations. It has won a growing proportion of the total left vote at a national level and is organised in the European Parliament as the ‘United European Left/Nordic Green Left’.

Hudson links the rise of the ‘new left’ in western Europe with the recovery of the former ruling Communist parties in central and eastern Europe (successor parties have held power in Poland, Hungary, Romania and Hungary) and the continuing electoral popularity of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. She attempts to integrate developments in western and eastern Europe into an overall continent-wide process. Accordingly, the book is divided into three sections. The first—entitled ‘The Long Evolution of the European Left’—puts current processes into a wider historical framework. A brief but lucid chapter, written jointly with Redmond O’Neill, on developments in Russia since 1991, is particularly recommended. The second section covers western Europe, with separate chapters on France, Italy, Spain and Germany. Unfortunately some irritating factual errors creep into these—including the wrong date for the Portuguese Revolution (p. 27) and inaccurate charts of the left’s electoral performance in France and Italy (pp. 85 and 102). The final section on central and eastern Europe is the most satisfactory. The commentaries on Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Poland show Hudson’s grasp at its strongest.

This reviewer found the book’s analysis problematical in a number of respects. The first relates to the attempt to draw out a Europe-wide process. While it is true that the electoral successes of the post-communist parties in the east and the growth of the ‘new left’ in the west are both related to a discontent with the effects of neo-liberal capitalism, there are, nevertheless, some marked differences in the political characterisation of the two phenomena. As Hudson shows, the former ruling parties in the east have generally adopted a neo-liberal agenda, which links them far more to the trajectory of west European social democracy than to the politics of the ‘new left’. Generally, significant ‘new left’ factions have not arisen from their ranks. Those forces that have stood out against full-blown privatisation and welfare cuts (for example, the successor parties in Romania and Bulgaria) have adopted a ‘statist’ position, rather than a radical one. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation has included an extreme nationalist approach—a ‘patriotic opposition’, which is unfortunately defended in the book as ‘a correct strategy for opposing the restoration of capitalism’.

Two parties that have evolved somewhat differently are the Communist Party in the Czech Republic and the PDS (the former communist party of the GDR) in Germany. This latter example, however, illustrates another problem. Just how consolidated and stable is this ‘new left’? The PDS’s trajectory is clearly now in a rightward direction, as it searches for a way to play a role within an eventual SPD/PDS/Green coalition government. In Spain, recently, the United Left suffered a humiliating electoral defeat, after having tied itself to the fortunes of the PSOE in a similar fashion. Reports are that the party has lost many members and laid-off two-thirds of its staff. The forces to the left of PASOK in Greece also all suffered a decline in the recent general election. Rifondazione Comunista in Italy remains an important force, but tensions within its ranks are increasing, and there are criticisms over the leadership’s ability to relate to social movements. More discussion over whether or not the impulse that gave rise to these formations is coming to an end would have been useful.

Finally, Hudson’s focus on the components making up the ‘new left’ is often too narrow. By centring almost exclusively on the former Communist parties she overlooks a number of developments that should be included as part of the overall process. For example, Britain is dismissed in a couple of sentences as a ‘special case’. This ignores the development of the Scottish Socialist party, which in a very short time has won a seat in the Scottish Parliament and is polling around 11 per cent of the vote in Glasgow. Others warranting more consideration are the Left Bloc in Portugal (which has gained MPs), the formerly Maoist Socialist Party in Holland, and the Trotskyist LCR/ LO in France, which gained five seats in the European Parliament, winning close to the vote of the PCF.

Overall, however, Hudson is to be congratulated for identifying a process generally overlooked by academics and commentators. Her book will be of interest to all who follow left-wing politics. It is also a welcome antidote to the idea that socialism is finished as a serious political force.