Old party

In the past, the Communist Party of Slovakia (Slovak: Komunistická strana Slovenska -- KSS) was a communist party in Slovakia. It was formed in March 1939, when the WWII Slovakia was created, from the KSC. Although formally independent, it was led by the KSC leaders, who were in exile in Moscow during the war. When Czechoslovakia was established again, the KSS was still a separate party for a while (1945-1948). On September 29, 1948, it was reunited with the KSC and continued to exist as a "organizational territorial unit of the KSC on the territory of Slovakia". Its (thus also Communist Slovakia's) main newspaper was the Pravda. It ceased to exist in 1990, 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 KSC, not as an independent political institution. Therefore, the organizational structure of the KSS paralleled that of the KSC: The KSS party congress met for several days every five years (just before the KSC party congress), and it selected 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 Lenart (1970 – 1988). Following the March 1986 party congress, the KSS Presidium consisted of 11 members; the Secretariat included, in addition to Lenart, 3 secretaries and 2 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.

Current party

The modern Communist Party of Slovakia (Slovak: Komunistická strana Slovenska -- KSS) is a communist party in Slovakia. It was formed in 1992. This Communist Party of Slovakia is strongly opposed to the Party of Democratic Left and the other center-left parties in Slovakia that virtually replaced the PDL in the meantime (as of 2003). The KSS officially upholds Marxism.

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

See also:

• Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
• Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia
• Politics of Slovakia
• List of political parties in Slovakia

External links

• KSS web site in English