Abstract
The aim is to analyse the role of anticommunism within the inter-party competition in Czech Republic (taking into account developments in other countries of Central and Eastern Europe too). We are addressing questions primarily within the perspective of the party system.
Conclusion: Anticommunism in the Czech Republic is a strategy aimed at the de-legitimization of political left, the restriction of left wing parties’ room for manoeuvre (breaking their linkages of alliance/cooperation) and at the electoral mobilization of non-left party supporters. Although verbally targeted at the KSČM, anticommunism actually focuses mainly on the ČSSD.
The ability to adapt, mutate and innovate is a very typical feature of anticommunism. More specifically, personification is a highly efficient tool.
Anticommunism in this sense is likely to persist also in the future as a strategy used by non-left parties. Any so called “transformation” of the KSČM will not make it disappear.
Anticommunism has never been, and is not going to be, a platform for gathering electoral majorities. Despite this, its significance as a supplementary strategy is not likely to decline in the short to mid-term perspective and under certain circumstances importance of anticommunism as a strategy may even increase.