Czech Deputies Pass Ban on Communist Expression

A recent vote in the Czech Chamber of Deputies has approved controversial changes to the Criminal Code that would criminalize expressions of support for the communist movement.

To the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia,

The Party of the European Left expresses its solidarity with the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM), in response to the Czech Chamber of Deputies’ decision to criminalize support for the communist movement as part of amendments to the Criminal Code.

This move represents an attack on political pluralism, democratic freedoms, and the legacy of anti-fascist and workers’ struggles. It targets a political party that has long been part of democratic life in the Czech Republic and serves as an Observer within the Party of the European Left — a European political force composed of communist, socialist, and other democratic left parties.

To outlaw the memory and struggle of the communist movement, is to criminalize the fight of workers, the poor, and the oppressed for dignity and justice. The European Left will never accept the criminalization of communism — we stand with KSČM not only in solidarity, but in struggle for democracy and freedom.

This is not only an unjust assault on KSČM — it is an attack on all who resist neoliberalism, inequality, and war. These authoritarian tendencies, masked in legal form, are familiar to us in Europe’s history, and we reject them unequivocally.

The Party of the European Left will raise this issue in European institutions and stand in active solidarity with KSČM. We will not remain silent in the face of political repression.

In firm solidarity,

Walter Baier, President, Party of the European Left