(The following article is from the September 16-30, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

On Sept. 1, the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic cancelled the ban against the Communist Youth Union (KSM), which has been categorized as an illegal organization, deprived of its basic political rights.

     The Supreme Administrative Court overturned a ruling by the Municipal Court of Prague, which in 2008 rejected an earlier appeal against a decision of the Czech Ministry of Interior to dissolve the Communist Youth Union. The Supreme Administrative Court also handed back the KSM case to the Municipal Court.

     As reported previously in People's Voice, the official reason for the Interior Ministry's move in 2007 to ban the KSM was its goal of collective ownership of the means of production. Another stated reason was the KSM's work to convince young people about the necessity to struggle for a society not based on capitalist principles.

     The attempted ban sparked wide protests in the Czech Republic, including petition drives, and statements by student groups and organisations of former fighters against Nazi fascism. Support for the KSM was also expressed by the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia and other Czech political parties.

     Hundreds of organisations in other countries sent protests, along with members of national parliaments, the European parliament, university professors, and former fighters against fascism. Protests have taken place in front of Czech Republic embassies in a number of countries.

     KSM chair Milan Krajca says, "The judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court is a very positive step in the struggle for legality of the KSM, and against anti-communism and anti-democratic developments in the Czech Republic."

     The World Federation of Democratic Youth, of which the KSM is an affiliate group, called the ruling "a major development and a historical moment. We reaffirm now that, as in the past, this is not an administrative or even legal matter, but a deeply political matter... This decision is the result of KSM and Czech youth's struggle, as well as of the intense and worldwide solidarity expressed by the youth of all corners of the world. WFDY and its member and friend organizations have, from the first moment, developed countless demonstrations, petitions and many other means of solidarity, which were an important support to the Czech youth."