Communist Party of Slovakia (1939)

Communist Party of Slovakia
Komunistická strana Slovenska
FoundedMay 1939
Dissolved22 November 1990
Preceded byCommunist Party of Czechoslovakia
Succeeded byParty of the Democratic Left
NewspaperPravda
Ideology
Political positionFar-left
National affiliationCommunist Party of Czechoslovakia (1948–1990)
National organizationNational Front (1944–1990)

The Communist Party of Slovakia (Slovak: Komunistická strana Slovenska, KSS) was a communist party in Slovakia. It was formed in May 1939, when the Slovak Republic was created, as the Slovak branches of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) were separated from the mother party. When Czechoslovakia was again established as a unified state, the KSS was still a separate party for a while (1945–1948). On 29 September 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 organ (and thus the main newspaper in Slovakia at the time) was Pravda.

After the merger KSS functioned 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.

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 (SDĽ). Most of that party, in turn, is now part of Direction – Social Democracy, which had separated from the SDĽ in 2000.

A new Communist Party of Slovakia was, however, founded in 1992 from a merger of the Communist Party of Slovakia – 91 and Communist League of Slovakia.

Leaders

Party leaders (1944–1990)

Prime Ministers of the Slovak Socialist Republic (1969–1990)

Election results

Slovak assembly elections

Date Leader Votes Seats Position
# % # ± Size
1938 Banned. Hlinka's Slovak People's Party sole legal party.
1946 Karol Šmidke 489,596 30.61
31 / 100
Increase 31 2nd Coalition
1948 Štefan Bašťovanský as part of National Front
75 / 100
Increase 75 1st Majority
1954 Karol Bacílek
47 / 103
Decrease 28 1st Majority
1960 Karol Bacílek
34 / 100
Decrease 13 1st Majority
1964 Alexander Dubček
58 / 92
Increase 24 1st Majority
1971 Jozef Lenárt
102 / 150
Increase 44 1st Majority
1976 Jozef Lenárt
102 / 150
Steady 0 1st Majority
1981 Jozef Lenárt
102 / 150
Steady 0 1st Majority
1986 Jozef Lenárt
103 / 150
Increase 1 1st Majority
1990 Peter Weiss 450,855 13.35
22 / 150
Decrease 81 4th Opposition

See also


This page was last updated at 2023-11-10 02:28 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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