EPITAPH FOR WORLD COMMUNISM 391marred the conference itself. The Italians objected to political repres-
sion in the USSR and denounced the invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Several of the West European parties spoke on the Italian communist
side. There was difficulty in getting others to sign any common decla-
ration as the discussions reached their term. The final statement on the
‘Tasks of the Anti-Imperialist Struggle’ appeared with notable absten-
tions.^3 Gorbachëv had no intention of getting embroiled in any such
nonsense. When he talked about communism, he took the precaution
of confining himself to the theme of perestroika in the Soviet Union.
This did not mean that the Soviet leadership lacked a concern for
the fate of foreign communist and left-wing parties. The Politburo still
felt obliged to help those organizations that were struggling for power.
This was a traditional sentiment for the USSR’s political elite. It was
also a useful way of enhancing prestige and influence around the globe
and showing the Americans that they were not the only superpower.^4
Requests continued to arrive for money, equipment and training. The
SWAPO forces fighting for Namibia’s independence from South Africa
appealed for arms, asking for delivery without need for payment.^5 The
Party Central Committee secretariat in May 1987 approved a request
to subsidize the British communist Morning Star. Moscow officials
liked the newspaper’s opposition to Eurocommunism.^6 (Gorbachëv at
that point had not yet openly shifted Soviet doctrine in the direction
of the Italian Communist Party’s ideas.) Money was not the only facil-
ity offered to fraternal parties. On 18 January 1988 the Secretariat
granted fourteen training places for the Communist Party of Chile for
‘conspiratorial work’.^7 The Chilean comrades were to learn techniques
of communication, sabotage and subversion for use against General
Pinochet’s dictatorship.
Moscow had for decades provided this kind of schooling. Soviet
leaders now worried that they might stray over the boundary of what
America and other NATO countries found tolerable. When in January
1989 a request arrived from Sean Garland of the Workers’ Party of
Ireland to train five of its activists, Karen Brutents in the Party Inter-
national Department recommended refusal. This was not a question of
principle for him. He simply thought that the danger of a leak was too
strong, with consequent damage to Anglo-Soviet negotiations.^8
On 11 December 1989 the Politburo approved a budget of
$22 million for the work of the International Fund of Assistance
to leftist workers’ organizations in the coming year. The state bank
was to deliver the money to Valentin Falin in the Party International