At the 40th anniversary of the 1968 events, the aftermath of the reforms launched by the Prague Spring and consequences of the Soviet intervention were discussed rightly in detail. The study presents a less frequently examined field: the reaction of West-European – mainly French and Italian – communist parties, the road of their gradual disaffection with the Soviet Union. The program and politics of the Czechoslovak Communist Party lead by Dubcek announcing "socialism with a human face" feed the hope of Western comrades that the "Eastern Block" can be changed.