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Communist Youth defends rights

Two years after being banned, group is ordered to dissolve

By Markéta Hulpachová
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
April 30th, 2008 issue

VLADIMÍR WEISS/THE PRAGUE POST
Members of the KSM, which is openly affiliated with the KSČM, voiced support for communist symbols at a rally in Brno in early April.
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One cannot walk through the Prague headquarters of the Communist Youth Union (KSM) without facing Lenin and Che Guevara. Loosely taped to the lackluster walls, their colorful portraits meet visitors at every turn. When trying to avoid their haunting stares, one is inevitably bombarded by the revolutionary slogans occupying the last inches of wall space, urging the masses to mobilize against capitalistic extortion in a confetti of languages.
The organized mess throughout the dormlike office suggests that the union’s members have been busy: Nearly all flat surfaces are piled high with fliers and random papers, and the constricting conference room is littered with chairs leftover from well-attended meetings.
But even as the group prepares for its annual participation in the traditional May Day demonstrations organized by the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM), the days of its existence as a registered civic organization are numbered.
On April 24, the KSM — an organization of approximately 600 members — received a ruling of the Prague City Court ordering its immediate dissolution. As its leaders struggle to postpone the decision by filing an appeal with the Supreme Court, the verdict represents the culmination of a three-year battle between the KSM and a group of government officials who maintain its existence threatens democratic ideals.
The initiative to dissolve the KSM dates to 2005, when senators Jaromír Štětina and Martin Mejstřík filed a criminal complaint against the anonymous authors of several articles published in Mladá pravda (Young Truth), the KSM’s official publication.
Convinced that the publication’s statements conflicted with democratic principles, the senators claimed the KSM had violated a law prohibiting the propagation of a movement aimed to suppress personal rights and freedoms.
“In the publication, the KSM alludes to Lenin, to Marxism-Leninism and its appellation to practice class warfare,” Štětina said.  
To illustrate his concerns, he cited an article alleging that “unified [Marxist-Leninist] theory and practice are the leading star of the proletarian revolution,” essentially condoning the revolutionary rhetoric of the founding fathers of communism.  
Upon the conclusion of a police investigation in which both senators were interrogated, the Interior Ministry ruled to dissolve the KSM in May 2006, citing the unconstitutionality of an article in the union’s official agenda seeking to “abolish the private ownership of the means of production” and “overthrow capitalism through revolution.”
Despite its fruitless correspondence with the Interior Ministry and its recently unsuccessful appeal to the Prague City Court, which stalled the dissolution for two years, the KSM refuses to surrender the fight for its existence.
“We are planning to submit a complaint to the Supreme Court,” said Ludvík Šulda, the 28-year-old chairman of the KSM’s advisory club. “If that doesn’t work, we’re willing to take it as far as [the International Court of Human Rights] in Strasbourg, but we’re hoping it won’t come to that.”
Šulda says the increasingly anti-communist sentiments of the Czech government and society are behind the banning of the KSM.
With individuals like Milan Paumer, a former anti-communist resistance fighter, visiting schools and voicing anti-communist sentiments, it is little wonder that KSM members feel persecuted for their beliefs, he said.
“Far-right organizations such as the National Party and the National Resistance movement publicly voice their antipathies toward democracy, and they are still allowed to operate,” Šulda said. “[The government] condones the existence of one mouse while banning the other.”
Political convictions aside, the KSM leadership believes the ministry’s decision is a flagrant violation of the freedom of speech and assembly.
“The actions of the Interior Ministry aroused a strong reaction from abroad,” Šulda said. “Hundreds of youth organizations, unions and [EU politicians] have voiced their disapproval. … Banning us is nonsensical, because it’s not going to change our opinions.”
Ironically, both the KSM and its opponents in the Senate invoke democratic principles in their chief arguments.
While the KSM clings to the democratic staple of the freedom of expression, Štětina argues that the organization’s agenda endangers the very existence of democracy by acting as the radical appendage of the Communist Party.
“In practice, the KSM actually represents a handful of loudmouths and politically confused young people who are hardly dangerous to the young democracy of our state,” he said. “What’s dangerous is that KSM is being used to promote the violent solution of societal problems, which is something the KSČM cannot afford to do by itself for tactical reasons.”
Radical youth
Both the KSM and the KSČM openly admit to their long-standing affiliation.
The KSM’s Prague offices are housed in the same building as the KSČM headquarters, and approximately half of the youth union’s members end up joining the KSČM, according to Šulda.
 Speaking at a KSM congress in March, KSČM Chairman Vojtěch Filip expressed his hopes that “the people who passed through the ranks of the KSM will compose the new blood of the KSČM.”
Meanwhile, young people throughout the country continue to identify with communist beliefs.
“Even after the ruling of the Prague City Court ordered its dissolution, membership in the KSM has increased,” Šulda said.
As he mulls the uncertain fate of his organization in the dusty confines of the Prague branch office, Šulda’s opinions seem moderate next to the convictions of the young communists in poorer regions like Bruntálsko, north Moravia, whose Web pages are decorated with a portrait of notorious Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
“Youths are always radical in their views, but you have to excuse them because they are young and inexperienced,” said Statis Prusalis, a prominent KSČM member and an avid supporter of the communist youth movement in north Moravia. “They haven’t done anything terrible enough to warrant the actions of the Interior Ministry. I am convinced that time will rule in their favor.”

Markéta Hulpachová can be reached at mhulpachova@praguepost.com


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