Czech President Petr Pavel on Thursday signed an amendment to the country’s criminal code that criminalises the promotion of communist ideology, placing it on the same footing as Nazi propaganda.
The revised legislation introduces prison sentences of up to five years for anyone who “establishes, supports or promotes Nazi, communist, or other movements which demonstrably aim to suppress human rights and freedoms or incite racial, ethnic, national, religious or class-based hatred.”
The change follows calls from Czech historical institutions, including the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, to correct what they viewed as a legal imbalance.
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The thing is, that communism itself isn’t necessarily authoritarian (if we want to be exact communism would mean a complete ebolishment of the state and until this happens we have a somewhat “authoritarian” socialist era). It can be as free as every western country, but it can also be authoritarian. The main principles that are promoted when promoting communism are not authoritarian. Its the idea, that people should own their workplaces and have more freedom, which is quite the opposite.