Communist Party of Slovakia

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The Communist Party of Slovakia was the name of a Czechoslovak communist party which was formed from the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) in 1939 and remerged into the same organisation in 1948. It is also the name of a political party in Slovakia that was formed in 1992.

1 Old party
2 Current party
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Old party

In the past, the Communist Party of Slovakia (Slovak: Komunistická strana Slovenska — KSS) was a party in Slovakia. It was formed in March 1939, when the WWII Slovak Republic was created, from the KSČ. Although formally independent, it was led by the KSČ leaders, who were in exile in Moscow during World War II. When Czechoslovakia was again established, the KSS was still a separate party for a while (1945-1948). On September 29, 1948, it was reunited with the KSČ and continued to exist as an "organizational territorial unit of the KSČ on the territory of Slovakia". Its main (and thus Communist Slovakia's) newspaper was the Pravda. KSS ceased to exist in 1990 (following the Velvet Revolution), when it was transformed into the independent Social Democratic party called the Party of Democratic Left. A new Communist Party of Slovakia was soon founded, however (see below).

The old KSS functioned solely as a regional affiliate of the KSČ, not as an independent political institution. Therefore, the organizational structure of the KSS mirrored that of the KSČ: the KSS Congress held session for several days every five years (and just before the KSČ's Congress), selecting its Central Committee members and candidate members, who in turn selected a Presidium, a Secretariat, and a First Secretary (i.e. party leader).

The most important first secretaries were Alexander Dubček (1963–1968) and Jozef Lenárt (1970–1988). Following the March 1986 party congress, the KSS Presidium consisted of 11 members; the Secretariat included, in addition to Lenárt, three secretaries and two members; and the Central Committee comprised 95 full members and 36 candidate members. The KSS in 1986 also had its own Central Control and Auditing Commission, four other commissions, twelve party departments, and one training facility.

[edit] Current party

The modern Communist Party of Slovakia (Slovak: Komunistická strana Slovenska — KSS) is a communist party in Slovakia. It was formed in 1992 and officially upholds Marxism.

In the 2002 elections, the KSS received about 6% of the vote and got 11 seats in the Slovak parliament (for the first time since its formation).

In the parliamentary election of 17 June 2006, the party won 3.9% of the popular vote and lost its parliamentary representation.