The failed communist revolution in France and Italy. The massive presence of Catholics, right-wingers, and moderates prevented the communists from seizing power through the ballot box in either country. Another option was armed revolution. But the British and Americans maintained enormous armies in both countries, which would never have allowed revolution, mostly during a massive injection of American economic aid. The most astute leaders of the communist parties in both countries understood this very well. Togliatti and Thorez were heavily criticized for pursuing the democratic path, but the two leaders were realists and understood that the conditions in France and Italy were not right for a violent social revolution. The democratic path therefore remained the only possible one. History seems to have proven them right. In Greece, the communist party chose a violent path, and a bloody civil war began, which would prove even worse than the Nazi occupation. With British and American aid, this civil war would end with the complete annihilation of the Greek Communist Party, and a brutal elimination of left-wing politics in Greece for the next thirty years.
