An interview about the attack against the KSM

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Vytvořeno 20. 1. 2006

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"The attack against the KSM is obviously politically motivated. The Home Office does not attack the other civic associations that are connected with political parties, like Young Conservatives, Young Social Democrats or Young Christian Democrats. They attack just Young Communists."

(Radim Gonda is vice-President of the KSM responsible for international relations)

1) Can you recall us the facts?

In November 2005 The Home Office of the Czech Republic has sent to Communist Union of Youth in the Czech Republic (hereafter KSM) a letter titled: warning and precept, in which the home Office threatened to make the KSM illegal. The Home Office claimed two grounds for the attack against the KSM:

1/ The Home Office declared that the KSM interferes with the area of activity limited for political parties only.

This argument is absolutely baseless. The only legal point that differentiates area of activity of political parties on one hand and the area of activity of civic associations (and thus also the KSM) on the other hand is in the election law that says that only the political parties may take part in the parliamentary elections and compete for chairs in the parliament. But the KSM does not take part in the elections as a political subject. The Home Office seems not to know the laws it is supposed by the state to enforce.

The attack against the KSM is obviously politically motivated. The Home Office does not attack the other civic associations that are connected with political parties, like Young Conservatives, Young Social Democrats or Young Christian Democrats. They attack just Young Communists. This move by the Home Office is an attack against and an attempt to limit the basic civil rights and liberties that could be used against any civic associations that could be considered dangerous or unpleasant for the government. On the mentioned pretext that is not based on the law the government could make illegal for example environmentalist groups, association defending the rights of tenants (tenants´ association) etc.

2/ The other ground used by the Home Office for its attack was openly ideological, political. They targeted the Political program of the KSM, concretely some points: “The KSM works for a revolutionary overcoming of capitalism and for establishment of economic and social introduction of a socialist democracy – abolition of private ownership of means of production [those that are used as means of exploitation, clarified by R.G.] and its replacement with social (public) ownership – and of conditions for creation of socialism as a first level to the creation of a communist society, creation of which is an ultimate goal.[...]“The KSM is aware that capitalism cannot be simply reformed. The KSM therefore struggles for the revolutionary overthrow of the capitalist order by the masses of the working people.”. The Home Office also used some similar sentences published in the KSM journal Mlada Pravda.

The Home Office also wants the KSM not to bring political education to the public. To show you how ridiculous the attack against the KSM is I will quote from the letter: „In terms of quotations from works of Marx, Engels and Lenin (see the banner MARXISM directly on the main internet page of the KSM), from whose teaching the KSM stems, there is no way but to state, that the approach of the KSM to Marxist-Leninist ideology is not neutral, that the KSM is concerned not only to inform the public about Marxism-Leninism or to publish historical documents, but to promote it consciously, in the context of the aims expressed in “the Political Programme of KSM”.“

What can the KSM reply? Yes, we are for socialism, yes, we want to overcome capitalism, yes, we want to achieve it by the masses of the working people. Yes, we offer for free the texts of classics of Marxism on our web page.

On these grounds the Home Office of the Czech Republic threatened to make the KSM illegal by December 31, 2005.

The attack against the KSM is an attack against the whole communist movement in the Czech Republic; it is an attack against the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM), one of the strongest communist parties in Europe. It is a part of a large anticommunist campaign in our country and in Europe. This attack against the KSM is just the climax of a long-run anticommunist campaign that has increased in intensity last year. Among its manifestations was for example a petition titled “Let’s abolish the communists,” an endeavour of senators Mejstrik and Stetina to pass a law that would criminalize communist ideas, movement and the word “communist” as such. This bill simultaneously put communism and its ideas on one level with fascism and its crimes. (This text has been already passed in the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic and now it shall be discussed in the House of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic.) Also a so-called humanitarian organization People in Need – Czech Republic has been involved in this anticommunist campaign. This organization has begun to organize a strongly anticommunist campaign within the public education system in elementary schools and secondary schools. In recent days the House of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic has also passed a new Penal Code according which it is a criminal act to approve of and/or deny Nazi and so-called communist crimes. You can also watch the proposal to pass an anticommunist resolution in the Parliamentary Assembly of the council of Europe.

2) Can you tell us what is new in your fight in the Czech Republic?

The KSM has sent a letter to the Home Office in which we rejected the attack, asked the Home Office to explain and specify what they want from the KSM and we asked the Home Office to postpone the date of final decision because the KSM was not able to discuss it in such a short time. The Home Office prolonged the period for negotiations by 3 March but refused to specify and explain the reasons and grounds of their attack. Recently the minister of interior telephoned the president of the parliamentary group of the KSCM and told him that the KSM should initiate a meeting with the home office, which was also our proposal before. Therefore we called the head of elections and association department that started the problem. But she said that she did not know about the minister’s phone call. A strange game, isn’t it? Nevertheless a date of meeting was set. The vice-president of the KSCM Exner shall take part in our meeting with the Home Office representatives too.

The struggle of the KSM for its legal existence has been followed by the newspapers and TV. Recently, the previous president of the KSCM Miroslav Grebenicek has written a good article in which he excellently condemned the attack of the state against the KSM and described it as an unconstitutional attack against fundamental democratic rights.

3) What do you make against the Home Office decisions and which actions are
you preparing?

We have launched a campaign of solidarity with the KSM and for protection of civil rights and freedoms in the Czech Republic and abroad. We organized a protest demonstration. We actively take part in the international struggle against anticommunist campaign; our representatives shall participate in the demonstrations and conferences wherever they are organized in Athens, Denmark, in Brussels. We struggle for legal existence of the KSM, but we are prepared for any situation.

4) Do you have some supporters in Czech Republic and in the world?
In the Czech Republic we started a petition and we collect signatures of citizens, some civic associations have claimed their support for the KSM. As I have mentioned, support for the KSM comes from inside of the KSCM. Our international campaign has been unbelievably large, a great number of youth organizations, civic associations, political parties, various initiatives and individuals have expressed their support for the KSM and bombed the Home Office and missions of the Czech Republic abroad with their protests. That is crucial. One important conclusion has come from the described situation. The democratic and left forces have showed again that the international solidarity is one of our strongest weapons. I want to thank all the people in your country who have raised their voices in solidarity with the KSM.

We ask you to express your solidarity with the KSM and to send protests against this unprecedented move of the Home Office of the Czech Republic to the following address:

Ministerstvo vnitra

oddeleni volebni a sdruzovani,

namesti Hrdinu 3,

140 21 Praha 4

Czech Republic

Fax: ++420 974 816 872

e-mail: Tato e-mailová adresa je chráněna před spamboty. Pro její zobrazení musíte mít povolen Javascript.

Tato e-mailová adresa je chráněna před spamboty. Pro její zobrazení musíte mít povolen Javascript.

Tato e-mailová adresa je chráněna před spamboty. Pro její zobrazení musíte mít povolen Javascript.

You may also send your protest to the missions of the Czech Republic abroad. Their addresses are on the following internet page:

http://www.mzv.cz/wwwo/mzv/default.asp?ido=7904&idj=2&amb=1&ikony=False&trid=2&prsl=False&pocc1=

We ask you simultaneously to send copies of your protests on our e-mail: Tato e-mailová adresa je chráněna před spamboty. Pro její zobrazení musíte mít povolen Javascript. or on fax: ++420 222 897 426.

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