Previous part. Czech Republic
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Czech Republic. Right-wing populist and nationalist forces remain dominant, with the ruling Orban-aligned ANO 2011 Party consistently leading at around 30%+ support. In 2025, President Petr Pavel signed a law criminalising “communist propaganda” with penalties of up to five years in prison.
Historically, communists played a central role in resisting and defeating fascism in Czechoslovakia. Before WW2, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) was banned in 1938, but continued to organise underground.
► Communist partisans played a major role in the 1944 Slovak National Uprising, which was launched in coordination with the advancing Soviet Red Army. After the uprising was crushed, partisan resistance continued until the final liberation of Czechoslovakia by Soviet forces in 1945.
► Czechoslovak military units actively participated in combat operations within the Red Army. By 1944, they had been consolidated into the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps, numbering 16,000 soldiers. The corps' advance detachment, armed with Soviet tanks, entered Prague on May 10, 1945, and fought its last major battle. After the war, the corps served as the foundation of the socialist Czechoslovak People's Army.