Czech Republic bans communist propaganda

The Czech Republic has equated communist propaganda with Nazi propaganda. The EU member state's Communist Party has tens of thousands of members and is hugely popular. Will it be banned now?

For sworn enemies of communism in the Czech Republic, this marks the end of a long road: more than 30 years after the democratic "velvet revolution" of November 1989, they demanded that communists be equated with National Socialists (Nazis) and similar authoritarian ideologies, and consequently banned.

This is how it happened: in the second half of July, President Petr Pavel signed an amendment to the Criminal Code that clearly equates National Socialism and Communism in the Czech Republic. With the President's signature, the legislative process is completed. The new law will enter into force on January 1, 2026.

The change in the law was initiated by the civic movement "November is not over yet". Its leader is Martin Mejstrík, a student leader from the era of the Velvet Revolution and later a senator. Historians from the Czech Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (USTR) also joined the initiative. In the spring of this year, it was approved in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate by a group of deputies and politicians from the pro-European government coalition of Prime Minister Petr Fiala.

Martin Mejstrik, a student leader during the "velvet revolution", is today the leader of the civic movement "November is not over yet". Wearing a hoodie, he looks thoughtfully towards the camera. Martin Mejstrik, a student leader during the "velvet revolution", is today the leader of the civic movement "November is not over yet". Wearing a hoodie, he looks thoughtfully towards the camera.

"Whoever establishes, supports or spreads a national socialist, communist or other movement that has as its proven objective the suppression of human rights and freedoms or that spreads racial, ethnic, national, religious or class hostility or hostility towards another group of people shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of one to five years," reads the new text of Article 403 of the Czech Criminal Code.

Defending the democratic rule of law

"The purpose of the bill was to eliminate the obviously unfair distinction between two totalitarian criminal ideologies of the 20th century," Kamil Nedvedicky, first deputy director of the USTR, declared in late May, after the law was passed by the Chamber of Deputies. "Both - National Socialism and Communism - have a proven goal of suppressing fundamental rights and freedoms, and it is logical and right that Czech criminal law clearly reflects this," Nedvedicky added. "This is not about ideology, but about protecting the democratic rule of law."

Paradoxically, the Czech Republic, with its ten million inhabitants, is today one of the few countries in the European Union where a communist party, the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM), has operated successfully for more than three decades. Until the last parliamentary elections, held almost four years ago, the KSCM not only had deputies in Parliament, but also held several vice-presidential positions in the National Assembly.

Babis: "For me, they are not communists"

The successor party to the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSC), which ruled the country in a dictatorial manner until 1989, still has several tens of thousands of members and has entered the electoral coalition "Stacilo!" (Enough!) after the 2024 European elections in the European Parliament as the main force. Currently, most polls show that "Stacilo!" will pass the 5% threshold in the elections scheduled for October 2025.

Andrej Babis, leader of the populist ANO movement, former prime minister and oligarch, is the favorite in the Czech parliamentary elections in October 2025. He looks towards the camera. Andrej Babis, leader of the populist ANO movement, former prime minister and oligarch, is the favorite in the Czech parliamentary elections in October 2025. He looks towards the camera.

And maybe not only that. The favorite in the Czech parliamentary elections in October, the leader of the populist ANO movement, former prime minister and oligarch Andrej Babis, has not ruled out forming a new government with Stacilo! "For me, they are not communists," Babis said in an interview with the news website tn.cz. The main candidate of the electoral coalition is the leader of the KP and MEP Katerina Konecna.

An attempt to silence the opposition?

In fact, the new law could lead to the banning of the KSCM itself, as happened with the Czech Workers' Party, which was banned and dissolved in 2010 for its proven national socialist ideology. KSCM leader Katerina Konecna told DW that the current amendment to the law that was implemented at the time is a political attack by the ruling coalition against her party./ DW (A2 Televizion)