Polish authorities seek to ban communist party

The Polish Prosecutor General Zbigniew Ziobro has filed a submission in the Constitutional Tribunal seeking a ban on the Communist Party of Poland (KPP) accusing it of adhering to a totalitarian ideology

December 10, 2020 by Peoples Dispatch
The Communist Party of Poland (KPP) was formed in 2002 as the ideological heir of the Communist Party of Poland which was active in Poland during the interwar period (1918-1939)

On Sunday, December 6, Polish Prosecutor General Zbigniew Ziobro filed a submission in the Constitutional Tribunal (TK) to ban the Communist Party of Poland (KPP) accusing it of adhering to a totalitarian ideology. This is the latest attempt to persecute the Polish communists which started when the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party came to power. The Polish prosecutor general pleaded with the Constitutional Tribunal to adjudge the goals and activities of the KPP as inconsistent with the Polish constitution.

The KPP was formed in 2002 as the ideological successor to the erstwhile Communist Party of Poland which was active during the interwar period (1918-1939). The right-wing in Poland has been consistently attacking the KPP since its inception. The editors of the KPP publication Brzask are being tried for allegedly spreading totalitarian ideas.  In 2017, Poland’s parliament, the Sejm, dominated by the PiS, ratified amendments to the country’s decommunization law, permitting the demolition of Soviet-era monuments, including memorials in honor of the Red Army. The witch hunt of the Polish communists has drawn widespread protests from the leftist and other progressive sections across the world on several occasions.

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Krzysztof Szwej, chairman of the KPP executive committee, told Strajk.eu “Zbigniew Ziobro, by submitting a motion to the Constitutional Tribunal to ban the KPP, is trying to improve his impaired reputation by using fragments of the Party’s program taken out of context. Similar attacks on the KPP have been going on for years, and intensified after PiS came to power.”

“The attempt to ban the KPP stems from the hatred of communism, the idea of ​​a fair distribution of goods, giving everyone the right to a dignified life and freedom of opinion and religion, providing for the elimination of the sources of war conflicts and exploitation, i.e. capitalist ownership of the means of production,” added Krzysztof Szwej.

The continuous attack by the right-wing PiS-led regime against the relatively smaller KPP in Poland is regarded as a trial run for a wider attack against the vibrant left movement. The Polish Left, especially the Lewica Razem bloc, has been active in the protests against PiS’s controversial judicial reforms and the ongoing women’s protests against the ban on abortion in Poland.