:en:Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia

The party was formed in 1989 by a congress of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ), which decided to create a party for the territories of Bohemia and Moravia (including Czech Silesia), the areas that were to become the Czech Republic. The new party's organization was significantly more democratic and decentralized than the previous party, and gave local district branches of the party significant autonomy.{{sfn|Bozóki|Ishiyama|2002|p=147}}

In 1990, KSČ was reorganized as a federation of KSČM and the Communist Party of Slovakia (KSS). Later, KSS changed its name to the Party of the Democratic Left, and the federation dissolved in 1992. During the party's first congress, held in Olomouc in October 1990, party leader Jiří Svoboda attempted to reform the party into a democratic socialist one, proposing a democratic socialist program and changing the name to the transitional Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia: Party of Democratic Socialism.{{sfn|Bozóki|Ishiyama|2002|pp=145–146}} Svoboda had to balance the criticisms of older, conservative communists, who made up a majority of the party's members, with the demands of an increasingly large and moderate bloc of members, led primarily by a group of young KSČM parliamentarians called the Democratic Left, who demanded the immediate social democratization of the party. Delegates approved the new program but rejected the name change.{{sfn|Bozóki|Ishiyama|2002|p=146}}

During 1991 and 1992, factional tensions increased, with the party's conservative, anti-revisionist wing increasingly vocal in criticizing Svoboda. There was an increase in popularity of the anti-revisionist Marxist–Leninist clubs amongst rank-and-file party members. On the party's other wing, the Democratic Left became increasingly critical of the slow pace of the reforms and began demanding a referendum of members to change the name. In December 1991, the Democratic Left split off and formed the short-lived Party of Democratic Labour. The referendum on changing the name was held in 1992, with 75.94% voting not to change the name.{{sfn|Bozóki|Ishiyama|2002|p=146}}

The party's second congress, held in Kladno in December 1992, showed the increasing popularity of the party's anti-revisionist wing. It passed resolutions reinterpreting the 1990 program as a "starting point" for KSČM, rather than a definitive statement of a post-communist program. Svoboda, who was hospitalized due to an attack by an anti-communist, could not attend the congress but was nevertheless overwhelmingly re-elected.{{sfn|Bozóki|Ishiyama|2002|p=146}} After the party's second congress in 1992, several groups split away. A group of post-communist delegates split off and merged with the Party of Democratic Labour to form the Party of the Democratic Left (SDL). Several independent left-wing members who had participated with KSČM in the 1992 electoral pact, which was called the Left Bloc, left the party to form the Left Bloc Party.{{sfn|Bozóki|Ishiyama|2002|p=147}} Both groups eventually merged into the Party of Democratic Socialism.{{sfn|Bozóki|Ishiyama|2002|p=157}}

In 1993, Svoboda attempted to expel the members of the "For Socialism" platform, a group in the party that wanted a restoration of the pre-1989 Communist regime;{{sfn|Bozóki|Ishiyama|2002|pp=146–147}} however, with only the lukewarm support of KSČM's central committee, he briefly resigned. He withdrew his resignation after the central committee agreed to move the party's next congress forward to June 1993 to resolve the issues of its name and ideology.{{sfn|Bozóki|Ishiyama|2002|p=147}} At the 1993 congress, held in Prostějov, Svoboda's proposals were overwhelmingly rejected by two-thirds majorities. Svoboda did not seek re-election as chairman, and neocommunist Miroslav Grebeníček was elected chairman. Grebeníček and his supporters were critical of what they termed the inadequacies of the pre-1989 regime but supported the retention of the party's communist character and program. The members of the "For Socialism" platform were expelled at the congress, with the existence of platforms in the party being banned altogether, on the grounds that they gave too much influence to minority groups. Svoboda left the party.{{sfn|Bozóki|Ishiyama|2002|p=147}}

The expelled members of "For Socialism" formed the Party of Czechoslovak Communists, later renamed the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, which was led by Miroslav Štěpán.{{sfn|Bozóki|Ishiyama|2002|p=157}} KSČM refuses to work with this group. The party was left on the sidelines for most of the first decade of the Czech Republic's existence. Václav Havel suspected KSČM was still an unreconstructed neo-Stalinist party and prevented it from having any influence during his presidency; however, the party provided the one-vote margin that elected Havel's successor Václav Klaus as president.{{cite book |title=The World Today Series: Nordic, Central and Southeastern Europe 2008|last=Thompson |first=Wayne C. |year=2008 |publisher=Stryker-Post Publications |location=Harpers Ferry, West Virginia |isbn=978-1-887985-95-6}} After a long-running battle with the Ministry of the Interior, the Communist Youth Union led by Milan Krajča, was dissolved in 2006 for allegedly endorsing in its program the replacement of private with collective ownership of the means of production. The decision met with international protests.{{cite web|url=http://www.cpa.org.au/z-archive/g2006/1296czech.html|title=Czech Communist Youth Union outlawed|date=25 October 2006|website=The Guardian|publisher=Communist Party of Australia|access-date=19 December 2017}}

In November 2008, the Czech Senate asked the Supreme Administrative Court to dissolve KSČM because of its political program, which the Senate argued contradicted the Constitution of the Czech Republic. 30 out of the 38 senators who were present agreed to this request, and expressed the view that the party's program did not reject violence as a means of attaining power and adopted The Communist Manifesto of Karl Marx;{{Cite web| url = https://www.idnes.cz/zpravy/domaci/komuniste-ve-svete-nas-nedaji-rika-o-hrozbe-rozpusteni-sef-kscm.A081101_164422_domaci_abr| publisher=iDnes, the online portal of Mladá fronta DNES| title = Komunisté ve světě nás nedají, říká o hrozbě rozpuštění šéf KSČM| agency=Czech News Agency| date=November 2008| access-date = 8 November 2008}} however, this was only a symbolic gesture, as according to the constitution only the cabinet may file a petition to the Supreme Administrative Court to dissolve a political party. For the first two decades after the end of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia, the party was politically isolated. After the 2012 Czech regional elections, it started participating in coalitions with the Czech Social Democratic Party, forming part of the ruling coalition in 10 out of 13 regions. From 2018 to 2021, KSČM provided parliamentary support to Andrej Babiš' Second Cabinet.{{Cite web|url=https://zpravy.idnes.cz/referendum-cssd-vlada-ano-andrej-babis-vysledek-frq-/domaci.aspx?c=A180614_205409_domaci_evam|title=ČSSD v referendu schválila vládu s ANO. Babiš však ještě nemá vyhráno|date=2018-06-15|website=iDNES.cz|access-date=2018-06-24}}{{Cite web|url=https://zpravy.idnes.cz/babis-jmenovani-premier-hrad-prezident-zeman-fnm-/domaci.aspx?c=A180605_224752_domaci_kop|title=Babiš je podruhé premiérem. Hájil, že vláda bude opřená o komunisty|date=2018-06-06|website=iDNES.cz|access-date=2018-06-24}}

After the party's poor performance in the 2021 Czech legislative election, in which KSČM failed to reach the 5% voting threshold and was excluded from representation in parliament for the first time in its history, Filip resigned as leader of the party.{{cite web|date=2021-10-09|title=Vedení KSČM rezignovalo. Vstanou noví bojovníci, vzkázal Filip|url=https://www.idnes.cz/volby/vojtech-filip-kscm-rezignace.A211009_192107_volby_rapc|access-date=2021-10-09|website=iDNES.cz|language=cs}} On 23 October 2021, Member of European Parliament Kateřina Konečná was elected as leader.{{cite web|date=2021-10-23|title=Novou šéfkou KSČM se stala Konečná. Vyhrála s velkou převahou|url=https://www.novinky.cz/domaci/clanek/novou-sefkou-kscm-se-stala-konecna-vyhrala-s-velkou-prevahou-40375838|access-date=2021-10-23|website=Novinky.cz|language=cs}}

As a communist party and the successor of the former ruling Communist Party of Czechoslovakia,{{sfn|Bozóki|Ishiyama|2002|pp=150–153}} its party platform promotes anti-capitalism{{cite web |url=https://www.idnes.cz/zpravy/domaci/rozstrel-katerina-konecna-eurovolby-kscm-evropska-unie.A190416_150838_domaci_lesa |title=Musíme vést třídní boj a zničit kapitalismus, řekla v Rozstřelu Konečná z KSČM |website=Idnes.cz|date=24 April 2019 |access-date=6 July 2021}} and socialism{{cite web|url=https://www.kscm.cz/cs/nase-strana/kdo-jsme|title=Kdo jsme|website=KSČM|access-date=6 July 2021|archive-date=19 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210619114436/https://www.kscm.cz/cs/nase-strana/kdo-jsme|url-status=dead}}{{Primary source inline|date=April 2025}} through a Marxist lens.{{cite web|title=Naděje pro Českou republiku (2006)|url=https://www.kscm.cz/sites/default/files/soubory/Program%20KS%C4%8CM/Nadeje_pro_Ceskou_republiku%20%282004%29.pdf|website=KSČM|access-date=13 February 2017|date=29 March 2016|language=cs|archive-date=13 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170213165357/https://www.kscm.cz/sites/default/files/soubory/Program%20KS%C4%8CM/Nadeje_pro_Ceskou_republiku%20%282004%29.pdf|url-status=dead}}{{Primary source inline|date=April 2025}} It holds Eurosceptic views in regards to the European Union.{{cite web|title=How Europe will break on Brexit|url=http://www.politico.eu/article/how-europe-will-break-on-brexit-brexit-map/|website=Politico.eu|access-date=6 September 2016|date=22 June 2016}}{{cite web|title=O Brexitu neboli proč by EU měla jít|url=https://www.kscm.cz/cs/aktualne/aktuality/o-brexitu-neboli-proc-eu-mela-jit|website=KSČM|access-date=4 July 2017|date=19 July 2016|archive-date=10 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171110004950/https://www.kscm.cz/cs/aktualne/aktuality/o-brexitu-neboli-proc-eu-mela-jit|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=Krachující Evropská unie a Česká republika|url=https://www.kscm.cz/cs/aktualne/fakta-argumenty/krachujici-evropska-unie-ceska-republika|website=KSČM|access-date=5 July 2017|date=9 September 2016|archive-date=10 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171110004937/https://www.kscm.cz/cs/aktualne/fakta-argumenty/krachujici-evropska-unie-ceska-republika|url-status=dead}}

KSČM's strongest bases of support are in the regions hit by deindustrialization,{{Cn|date=November 2024}} particularly in the Karlovy Vary and Ústí nad Labem regions. In 2012, the party won a regional election for the first time in Ústí nad Labem. Its regional leader Oldřich Bubeníček subsequently became the first communist regional governor in the history of Czech Republic.{{cite web|url=http://tema.novinky.cz/oldrich-bubenicek|title=Oldřich Bubeníček|work=Novinky.cz|access-date=25 May 2016}}{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable (WP:NOTRS).|date=November 2024}} The party is stronger among older than younger voters, with the majority of its membership over 60.{{sfn|Bozóki|Ishiyama|2002|p=155}} The party is also stronger in small and medium-sized towns than in big cities.{{sfn|Bozóki|Ishiyama|2002|p=156}}

File:Demonstrace proti Ondráčkovi, Praha, Václavské náměstí 01.jpg]]

File:May Day Rally in Brno 01.JPG meeting in Brno organized by the party]]

File:Vojtech Filip.jpg]]

; Notes

{{notes

| refs =

{{efn

| name = LeftBloc

| In 1992, KSČM participated in the Left Bloc, an electoral alliance with smaller left-wing groups and independents.{{sfn|Bozóki|Ishiyama|2002|p=146}}

}}

}}

File:KSČM - 1996.svg|KSCM 1996

File:KSČM - 1998.svg|KSCM 1998

File:KSČM - 2002.svg|KSCM 2002

File:KSČM - 2006.svg|KSCM 2006

File:KSČM - 2010.svg|KSCM 2010

File:KSČM - 2013.svg|KSCM 2013

File:KSČM - 2017.svg|KSCM 2017

File:KSČM - 2021.svg|KSCM 2021

{{Notelist}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|last1=Bozóki|first1=András|last2=Ishiyama|first2=John|year=2002|title=The Communist Successor Parties of Central and Eastern Europe|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9780765609861}}

• {{cite book|editor-last1=Hough|editor-first1=Dan|editor-last2=Paterson|editor-first2=William E.|editor-last3=Sloam|editor-first3=James|year=2005|title=Learning from the West? Policy Transfer and Programmatic Change in the Communist Successor Parties of East Central Europe|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9780415373166}}

{{Commons category|Komunistická strana Čech a Moravy}}

• [http://www.kscm.cz/ KSČM website]
• [http://www.ksm.cz Communist Youth Union website]

{{Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia}}

{{European communist parties}}

{{Party of the European Left}}

{{Czech political parties}}

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Category:1989 establishments in Czechoslovakia

Category:Anti-capitalist political parties

Category:Communist parties in the Czech Republic

Category:Eurosceptic parties in the Czech Republic

Category:Left-wing parties in the Czech Republic

Category:Far-left politics in the Czech Republic

Category:Marxist parties in the Czech Republic

Category:Parties represented in the European Parliament

Category:Party of the European Left observer parties

Category:Political parties established in 1989

Category:Political parties in Czechoslovakia

Category:International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties