Czech elections 2012

[The Cheshire Cat]

Apparently the Czech Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia won alot of votes in the recent elections. One fifth of all voters voted for them. That makes them, with 20.4% of all votes, the second largest party, just behind the Social-Democrats with 23.6%. The center-right party of Prime minister Petar Necas, the Civic Democrats, became third with only 12.3%.

The Civic Democrats' achievement is only half the achievment of the 2008 elections. The Social-Democrats lost many votes too. In 2008 they had 35.8% of all votes.
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=144118

However, none of the candidates for the 27 Senate seats managed to overcome the needed 50% and run-offs will be held next week.
Necas, who is facing a no-confidence vote and a possible toppling of the cabinet, blamed the losses on austerity measures and voters' tendency to support the opposition in regional ballots.
A fall of the cabinet means early election at the beginning of 2013.

The wiki page of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (I had never heard of them before): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Bohemia_and_Moravia
And their own site (partly in English): http://www.kscm.cz/our-party

[bad ideas actualised by alcohol]

What is up with the cherry-logo?

[Pravda]

Are they any good? Or just another "communist party" like russian communist party?
And yeah, whats with the cherries:D?

[Delenda Carthago]

Are they any good? Or just another "communist party" like russian communist party?
And yeah, whats with the cherries:D?
From what I know, could be wrong, they have denounced class war. Their youth on the other hand, being way more serious, it is outlawed.

[Red Commissar]

The KSCM has to abide by constitutional provisions in the Czech government or they risk getting banned. As far as I know this concerns a provision in the constitution that legal political parties can not condone violence as a means of political power.

http://www.hrad.cz/en/czech-republic/constitution-of-the-cr.shtml

Art. 5
The political system is based on free and voluntary formation of and free competition between political parties respecting the basic democratic principles and rejecting violence as a means of asserting their interests.

I do not know much more about the party though and their principles compared to other communist parties in former eastern bloc countries. Best way would be to see how they've voted in the past I guess.

The party did not perform as strongly in local elections as far as I can see, placing third in most of the provinces behind the social democrats and civic democrats. The achievement is more that its an increase in its previous results where as the two main parties had losses. It's in the senate where they placed second, though it must be noted that this senate election only covers a third of the total seats, so it was 27 at stake.

I don't know why they use cherries as their logo, probably something to do with the negative association of the hammer and sickle or an endorsement of the previous communist state. Or maybe they wanted something unique.

[Crimson Commissar]

The Wiki article seems to imply it's a descendant of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Though I somehow doubt this adds any more weight to their claim of being anything other than slightly redder Social Democrats.

Their website also lists connections with the Communist Parties of China and Vietnam. Not exactly the organisations any party with genuine Communistic tendencies should be associating with at this point. They are also involved in the Party of the European Left which includes several of the aforementioned red Social Democrats and other movements that learn more towards reformism and capitalism.

The cherries are odd too, but I'm pretty sure the Czech Republic is one of the countries that bans use of the hammer and sickle and maybe even the red star, along with Poland, Hungary and the Baltic States.

[Pravda]

Well, i think cherries are brilliant:laugh:

[soso17]

From the English portions of their website, their platform seems to be pointing in the right direction (i.e., away from Social Democracy).

The cherries are adorable! Almost Sanrio-esque. Why can't commies have cute logos?

btw...their name does have a red (outlined) star above it).

http://www.kscm.cz/our-politics/documents/39736/

[Crimson Commissar]

Well, i think cherries are brilliant:laugh:

I've got nothing against the cherries, it certainly paints a more friendly image of Communism. Just a bit untraditional, is all. :lol:

[Igor]

i love how commies get all weirded out the moment a party uses symbols beyond just hammers and sickle all over the place. how in the fuck is a cherry in any way a weird symbol idgi

[bad ideas actualised by alcohol]

i love how commies get all weirded out the moment a party uses symbols beyond just hammers and sickle all over the place. how in the fuck is a cherry in any way a weird symbol idgi

Hammer and sickle symbolizes labor and thus workers.
Cherries, well, don't.

[xvzc]

The only Communist Party worth its own skin and name is one which prepares for smashing the bourgeois state and establishing proletarian dictatorship, not one which corners itself in the dead-end swamp of "peaceful transition" -- a term used to cover up the reality of class capitulationism, parliamentary cretinism and revisionism.

I feel no joy, fraternity or solidarity towards the parliamentary victory of a party which has turned its back on world proletarian revolution and internationalism.

[Comrade Samuel]

Hammer and sickle symbolizes labor and thus workers.
Cherries, well, don't.

Whatever we will just start our own movement. cherry pickers of the world unite!

Why is symbolism relevant anyways? The discussion should be more about what they plan to do. Its pretty easy to be cynical of just about every reformist party but at least communism is getting some kind of attention that isn't wholly bad right?

[Mather]

The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia are social democrats, they have been more or less since the collpase of the stalinist regime in 1989. Their trajectory is similar to that of the other ex-'communist' parties in Eastern Europe.

[Workers-Control-Over-Prod]

I want to ban all parties from using the name "Communist Party" if their party program does not call for social revolution and formation of a workers' militia.

[Workers-Control-Over-Prod]

From what I know, could be wrong, they have denounced class war. Their youth on the other hand, being way more serious, it is outlawed.

Yes, I read their page quite a bit because they are in contact to the Socialist German Worker's Youth. They are radical leftists.

[Delenda Carthago]

Yes, I read their page quite a bit because they are in contact to the Socialist German Worker's Youth. They are radical leftists.
Can you share a link please?

[Workers-Control-Over-Prod]

Can you share a link please?


Sure (http://www.ksm.cz/).

[Rocky Rococo]

Cherries: the redder the fruit, the sweeter the taste.

[Workers-Control-Over-Prod]

Cherries: the redder the fruit, the sweeter the taste.

A Czech comrade says that the Cherries come from a poem written by a French poet in the Paris Commune, something about a cherry. The "Communist" Party public spokesman said in the interview that they will make a coalition with the Social-Democrats; they are even more rightist than DIE LINKE!

[Workers-Control-Over-Prod]

But anyway here is a graph of which European countries are near to forming "Socialist", "Communist", anti-austerity governments or have a "left" majority. The black colored ones are the most right wing, most potentially fascist ones.

[Igor]

idgi why finland is black. our biggest party is pretty right-wing yeah but the "potentially fascist" party down here is actually one of the two parties in opposition, while both our socdem and the left party are in the government. there is pretty much no reason to colour finland black unless you'd like to colour p much every center-right cabinet run country black

[kuriousoranj]

Odd map. Are you going to point to the reasons behind your colourful ensemble?

[Workers-Control-Over-Prod]

Odd map. Are you going to point to the reasons behind your colourful ensemble?

Sorry, i was never very good at art.

If you want to know the reasons to the "black", it is because these countries have strict laws against communist opposition parties and have a hegemony of right wing parties. As you see Igor points out that the opposition in Finland "True Finns" (i believe they are called) are a nationalist party. You see, countries that have governing parties that like to call themselves "Socialist" (Crance) or have a majority opposition to austerity (i.e. will soon have a "Socialist" rhetorically anti-capitalist government soon), have been marked red. The relevance to this, for me, is to see which countries look to be moving towards a left approach in this expanding crisis, or towards a rightist approach. In the countries colored "red", there is a higher chance for revolutionary parties to criticise the fake "Socialists" once these parties will also fail to stop a capitalist crisis.

[Workers-Control-Over-Prod]

idgi why finland is black. our biggest party is pretty right-wing yeah but the "potentially fascist" party down here is actually one of the two parties in opposition, while both our socdem and the left party are in the government. there is pretty much no reason to colour finland black unless you'd like to colour p much every center-right cabinet run country black

I thought the center right party was in government, no? If not, my mistake. But the relevant thing here is that anti-austerity pro-left-Keynesian parties look like the growing force.

[Pravda]

The map is wrong. In Croatia, ruling party is Social-democratic party (SDP). They are liberals.
In Slovenia, right wing is in power.
In Serbia, the prime minister is from socialist party, but he is nationalist that formed coalition with ultra-nationalists.

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

I thought the center right party was in government, no? If not, my mistake. But the relevant thing here is that anti-austerity pro-left-Keynesian parties look like the growing force.

Didn't the French government eventually embrace assterity?

Also Sweden should be black.

[Tim Cornelis]

But anyway here is a graph of which European countries are near to forming "Socialist", "Communist", anti-austerity governments or have a "left" majority. The black colored ones are the most right wing, most potentially fascist ones.

Netherlands and Portugal are also wrong.

The Netherlands and Portugal both have a right-wing prime-minister/president and a right-wing party as the largest party.

Two largest right-wing parties in Portugal have 50.37% of the votes. In the Netherlands the only left-wing anti-austerity party is the Socialist Party with 9.7% of the votes. The centre-left and centre-right PvdA and VVD will form a coalition, both are pro-austerity.

[l'Enfermé]

Hammer and sickle symbolizes labor and thus workers.
Cherries, well, don't.
How many proletarians work with hammers and sickles?

[Mather]

How many proletarians work with hammers and sickles?

Not many and the sickle represents the peasantry.