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This study examines the relationship between, on the one side, the UPC (Union des populations du Cameroun) and the MNC (Mouvement national congolais) and, on the other, one of the most important communist parties in Western Europe: the Italian Communist Party (PCI). These organizations are studied through a European and a global lens, and in connection with international events and changes within the communist movement. The Italian communists, who rejected revolutionary violence in favor of a democratic path towards socialism, maintained contacts with two organizations that chose armed struggle: the UPC and the MNC. Different ideologies coexisted in these two movements. The Cameroonians had both a “moderate” wing, which was less inspired by the principles of Marxism-Leninism, and a “hard” wing, which was close to the French Communist Party as well as to Maoist ideology. The militants of the MNC, unified around Antoine Gizenga, had important contact with the USSR, but also used the Chinese model as a reference. The interest of Italian communists for national paths and for “polycentrism” in the communist movement drew the PCI closer to African anti-colonial movements; however, international events soon modified these relationships of solidarity and collaboration.