(Communist Only) Legal Battle of Communist Party of Poland continues

The case against the Communist Party of Poland's newspaper, Brzask, has been on going for over four years. This is despite an acquittal last year, only for the case to be re-opened following appeals by the prosecutor. Changes to the Polish penal code have banned the "ideology, symbols and other material associated with communism" based on "equating it with Nazism and including it as a "totalitarian belief"". Charges were brought against the editorial board for the display of communist symbols and content in the articles of the paper. Communist Party officials have claimed that the prosecution is part of a politically motivated campaign to outlaw the party.

The London branch of the Young Communist League(YCL) protested outside the Polish embassy in February 2020. Expressing international solidarity with the Polish Communist Party, similar actions took place in Austria, Spain, Serbia, Philippines, Chile Mexico, Belgium and the Netherlands in early March.

In Defense of Communism: Hands Off the Communists of Poland: Protests across the world against persecutions in Poland

YCL London branch organiser Amy Field: “This dangerous trend in Poland and other European countries is on the rise, including in Britain where the Communist Party of Britain was labelled an extremist organisation, this is a slippery slope to criminalising legitimate opposition to a capitalist system that is taking away our livelihoods and now our hard-won democratic rights.”

Communist Party general secretary Rob Griffiths said: “This prosecution is a threat to civil rights across Europe including Britain. It sets most dangerous precedents.

“The imprisonment of journalists for ‘any public presentation of the ideology of communism’ is very comprehensive and could include the favourable reporting of the social and economic achievements of Cuba or Vietnam or expressing support for the aspirations for human emancipation outlined by Marx and Engels in the Communist Manifesto.

“The three-year prison sentences sought for the editorial staff of Brazsk threatens all progressive people across Europe.

“It is for this reason that we have written to the High Representative of the EU in Britain asking that he convey to the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Councils of Ministers the request that they publicly condemn the prosecution as a direct violation of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.”

A statement from "In Defence of Communism" website released on March 21st, authored by Krzysztof Szwef, President of the Polish communist party says:

"In this case, the District Court in Dabrowa Gornicza has already rejected the charges twice and after the appeals of the prosecutor's office, the case returned for being reconsidered. This time the Distict court in Dabroaw Gornicza was under the pressure of the unfavourable judgements of the higher court, the District court in Katowice.

The Verdict was pronounced without the defendants being present because access restrictions were introduced due to the epidemic. The charges against all three of the accused were conditionally dropped, but at the same time, they were obliged to pay PLN 1,000 each to the Victim Assistance Fund and were ordered to pay part of the court costs. So we were not convicted... but Fined.

The judgement is not final and may be appealed by both the prosecutor's office and the accused.

We await the justification and written form of the judgement."

He continues: "Regardless of the course of the case and the subsequent convictions, we are determined to fight until the legal possibilities in the country are exhausted. After the judgement becomes final, we will continue our struggle for compensation for many years of harassment of the Party and its members, pointing to numerous precedents indicating the bias of the judicial system, which fulfils the political demand of the PiS ruling nationalist and anti-communist party in Poland."

"In Defence of Communism" Link (March 21st 2020): In Defense of Communism: Poland: The legal struggle of the Communist Party continues, as Court imposes fine

Young Communist League protests outside polish embassy in UK (March 3rd 2020): Young Communist League protests at Polish embassy over persecution of its comrades

Poland's Communists call for international support and an end to persecution (February 18th 2020):
Poland's communists call for international support and an end to persecution

There is a lot going on here in terms of the context of Polish politics and the global shift which has emboldened the parties of the far right. It is also part of efforts to draw a line under Poland's communist past, similar to efforts at de-communization in Ukraine, which included stripping the three Ukrainian Communist parties of their ability to participate in elections and ending their registration as political parties in Ukraine, outlawing communist symbols, removing statues for the soviet era and renaming streets, villages and towns.

Do you think the Communist Party is right to challenge the legal ruling against the use of Communist symbols and content by the party newspaper? And should Polish Communists continue to contest the way in which Communism is equated with Nazism as a form of "totalitarianism" given the country's history?

"Changes to the Polish penal code have banned the "ideology, symbols and other material associated with communism""

Wow. I thought Poland was more tolerant of expression than that.

Regiomontanus said:

"Changes to the Polish penal code have banned the "ideology, symbols and other material associated with communism""

Wow. I thought Poland was more tolerant of expression than that.

Click to expand...

I'm not well versed on this, but it appears it is not the case.

Sources:
(2016): Poland adopts new anti-communist law.
(2019): Polish Parliament votes to criminalise communist ideas.

Here's a few extracts:

In the new Constitution of 1997, article 13 was introduced, banning the existence of political parties or organisations basing themselves on “totalitarian methods and practices of nazism, fascism, and communism”. In the country’s fundamental law, communism was officially dubbed totalitarian and was put in the same bag with the murderous ideologies of nazism and fascism.
...

Also in 1997, the new Penal Code was passed, including the infamous article 256, which enforced a ban on public propaganda of “totalitarian systems”.
...
In 2010, the right-wing MPs stepped up their anti-communist campaign. A new bill was passed, changing Article 256 of the Penal Code, introducing a new paragraph 2, which penalised selling, buying or merely owning items or printed material (including books) that have “totalitarian” content, or fascist or communist symbols. However, before anyone could experience the newly approved, repressive measure for having the works of Lenin on their bookshelves or wearing a t-shirt displaying Che Guevara, the application of the new bill was blocked by the Constitutional Tribunal, after a group of MPs of the Alliance of the Democratic Left (SLD – party formed from the aforementioned Socjaldemokracja RP – descendant of the PZPR) appealed against it. The Constitutional Tribunal deemed the new formulation to be violating the Constitution, therefore making it legally inapplicable.

However, because of the virtual non-existence of sizeable communist groups in Poland – apart from the small Communist Party of Poland (KPP) formed in 2002 from the above mentioned ZKP “Proletariat” – the draconian law remained effectively dormant. So far, it has only been used as a scarecrow by the right-wingers and anti-communists trying to intimidate left-wing activists. All attempts to convict communist activists have ended in a fiasco, due to the highly imprecise nature of the regulations. Also, the KPP successfully preserved its legal status, bypassing the constraints of Article 13 of the Constitution, by arguing that it did not uphold the totalitarian methods and practices of “Communism”, whatever that may mean, but the ideas of communism.

[As of the changes in June 2019] Here is how Article 256 reads after the amendment:

"§ 1 Who publicly promotes Nazi, communist, fascist or other totalitarian state system or calls for hatred based on national, ethnic, racial or religious differences, or because of non-religiousness, is to be punished with imprisonment for up to 3 years.

"§ 1a The same penalty is imposed on whoever publicly promotes Nazi, communist or fascist ideology, or an ideology calling for the use of violence in order to influence the political or social life.

"§ 2 The same penalty shall be imposed on anyone who, for the purpose of dissemination, produces, fixes or imports, acquires, disposes, offers, stores, holds, presents, transports or transmits a print, recording or other object containing the content specified in § 1 or 1a or as a carrier of Nazi, communist, fascist or other totalitarian symbols used in a way that promotes the content specified in § 1 or 1a."

Laika said:

There is a lot going on here in terms of the context of Polish politics and the global shift which has emboldened the parties of the far right. It is also part of efforts to draw a line under Poland's communist past, similar to efforts at de-communization in Ukraine, which included stripping the three Ukrainian Communist parties of their ability to participate in elections and ending their registration as political parties in Ukraine, outlawing communist symbols, removing statues for the soviet era and renaming streets, villages and towns.

Do you think the Communist Party is right to challenge the legal ruling against the use of Communist symbols and content by the party newspaper? And should Polish Communists continue to contest the way in which Communism is equated with Nazism as a form of "totalitarianism" given the country's history?

Click to expand...

It's hard to say. Poland has had a difficult existence, being sandwiched in between Russia and Germany. For a century after the Napoleonic Wars, they weren't even independent. They were essentially divided between Russia, Germany, and Austria. It's understandable that they would seek to resist and discourage any symbols or reminders of foreign domination or hegemony by a foreign power.

Naturally, they would condemn any kind of Nazi ideology, although the more basic ideology of nationalism appears to be acceptable in Poland, as long as it's Polish nationalism and not German nationalism.

Likewise, with communism or socialism, there might be those who support similar programs (such as socialized medicine, public education, labor unions, etc.) - without necessarily using Soviet-era symbolism or terminology.

It's just not clear whether they're against the actual ideology or just the packaging material.

From an American point of view, such restrictions on freedom of expression seem antithetical to the principles of our Constitution. America allows people to express extremist viewpoints and display offensive imagery, whether it's a Nazi flag, a Confederate flag, a Communist flag, or whatever it may be. We allow the existence of a Nazi Party and a Communist Party. We allow people to say outlandish or even incendiary things - up to the point where it causes a clear and present danger, at which point the line is drawn.

I've had discussions with Europeans about this, and I've asked them "How can you call yourselves 'free' societies if you have these kinds of restrictions on free speech and freedom of association?" Their usual response has been along the lines of "It's easy for you Americans to say that, since you've never had to live under Nazi or Soviet rule."

But that never really made sense, since banning a political party doesn't necessarily prevent them from rising to power. The Tsarist government tried really hard to ban and censor the communists, but couldn't. Hindenburg and others in the Weimar government tried to stop Hitler, but they were also unsuccessful. It seems that they have this belief that banning something or censoring it or locking people up for having certain ideas will make it disappear. It may work in the short-run, but it rarely works in the long-run.