Mirko Svoboda, CSc
Prague, Czech Republic
The Czech Republic held regional elections recently. The electoral success in these elections by the Communist Party has created hysteria among the Czech right wing. The gains have brought to naught the efforts of the Right in this country over the past many years to liquidate the political influence of the Communists. The prophecy of President Havel, that the Communists over a period of a few years will die out and disappear has been disproved. This visionary assertion was of the same credence as his assertion that the coworker and colleague of Karl Marx, Frederick Engels was, but an insignificant philosopher of his time. In this years regional elections the Communists Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM) was successful in electing 161 of its’ candidates to seats on the various regional governments. The electoral defeat suffered by the Social Democrats was due, to their acquiescence in the establishment of capitalism in this country, through their alliance with the right wing Civic Union (political party), led by the former right wing Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus.
The Czech right, which is haunted by the specter of a Communist Scarecrow, has redoubled its anti-Communist struggle and hysteria. They are attempting to convince the citizenry of this country that the KSCM is not a democratic party and are untiringly trying to slander Communists and socialism. However they are cognizant of the fact that the citizens of this country are ever increasingly realizing the detrimental effects that the present system has had on their standard of living. It is somewhat of an anomaly that the right wing political parties of this country who represent the interests of the bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie are presenting themselves as the only democratic entities. This in spite of the fact that all the while they are trying to ghettoize not only Communists but also all other left wing schools of thought and thereby limit their input and influence in the political arena. Today the Czech right is trying to form anticommunist alliances, as for example, was the case in the recent senatorial elections, to fill a portion of the seats in the Czech upper house of parliament. The majority of the Czech electorate regarded these as superfluous and so by enlarge ignored them. The voter turn out was a measly 10% to 15% of the total eligible voters.
Social Democracy in the Czech Republic has not digressed from its tradition which is that, the policies that it institutes when in power differ from those which were contained in the program on which it was elected. . Today the social democrats present a hodgepodge collection of various points of view. However if they wish to retain parliamentary power in the next election, in two years time, they have to sever their ties with the Czech political right wing, and its’ efforts to institute wild cowboy capitalism in this country. A system which runs counter to the social interests of a wide segment of the Czech population.
The anti Communist campaign in the Czech Republic staged by the right has as its’ ultimate aim, the sanctioning of legal means, which could be used in the prosecution of all progressive members, and associations of our society. The right also wishes to incriminate all progressive citizen’s movements and organizations as extremists. In other words an extremist is one who does not accept unbridled capitalism with its’ disregard for social justice and well-being. An extremist is everyone who criticizes NATO and its aggressive policies while democrats are those who support American imperialism in its’ quest for world dominance.
The regional elections, which took place in the Czech Republic in November 2000, testify to the indestructibility of the Communist legacy in its’ influence on the future evolvement of our society. If today the Communists wield power in just one region, but are the official opposition in eight of the others, forming the second strongest party in those regions than, that too has a certain significance. It justifies our hopes and aspirations for the future.
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