Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia

Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia
Komunistická strana Čech a Moravy
AbbreviationKSČM
ChairwomanKateřina Konečná
First Vice-ChairmanPetr Šimůnek
Deputy LeadersMarie Pěnčíková
Leo Luzar
Milan Krajča
Founded31 March 1990
Preceded byCommunist Party of Czechoslovakia
HeadquartersPolitických vězňů 9, Prague
NewspaperHaló noviny
Think tankInstitute of the Czech Left
Youth wingYoung Communists
Membership (2023)18,307
IdeologyAnti-capitalism
Euroscepticism
Political positionLeft-wing to far-left
National affiliationStačilo! (Since 2023)
Left Bloc (1992–1994)
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (1990–1992)
European affiliationParty of the European Left (observer)
European Parliament groupNon-Inscrits (since 2024)
The Left in the European Parliament (2004–2024)
International affiliationIMCWP
WAP (disputed)
Colours  Red
Slogan"S lidmi pro lidi!"
('With the people for the people!')
Chamber of Deputies
0 / 200
Senate
0 / 81
European Parliament
1 / 21
Regional councils
32 / 675
Local councils
466 / 62,300
Party flag
Website
kscm.cz

The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (Czech: Komunistická strana Čech a Moravy, KSČM) is a communist party in the Czech Republic. As of 2022, KSČM has a membership of 20,450. Sources variously describe the party as either left-wing or far-left on the political spectrum. It is one of the few former ruling parties in post-Communist Central Eastern Europe to have not dropped the Communist title from its name, although it has changed its party program to adhere to laws adopted after 1989. It was previously a member party of The Left group in the European Parliament, and an observer member of the European Left Party, but is now unaffiliated.

For most of the first two decades after the Velvet Revolution, the party was politically isolated and accused of extremism, but later moved closer to the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD). After the 2012 Czech regional elections, KSČM began governing in coalition with the ČSSD in 10 regions. It has never been part of a governing coalition in the executive branch but provided parliamentary support to Andrej Babiš' Second Cabinet until April 2021. The party's youth organization was banned from 2006 to 2010, and there have been calls from other parties to outlaw the main party. Until 2013, it was the only political party in the Czech Republic printing its own newspaper, called Haló noviny. The party's two cherry logo comes from the song Le Temps des cerises, a revolutionary song associated with the Paris Commune.