| Workers' Party Dělnická strana |
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|---|---|
| Leader | Tomáš Vandas |
| Founded | 18 January 2003 |
| Dissolved | 17 February 2010 |
| Headquarters | Ciolkovského 853, 161 00 Praha 6 |
| Ideology | Nationalism, National Socialism, Populism, Euroskeptism |
| Political position | Far-right |
| European Parliament Group | None |
| Official colours | black, red and white |
| Website | |
| www.delnicka-strana.cz | |
| Politics of the Czech Republic Political parties Elections |
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Worker's Party (Czech: Dělnická strana) was a Czech political party, often described as the major far-right extremist party in the Czech Republic. The party in not represented in any legislative body in the Czech Republic and its biggest electoral success so far has been a gain of 1,07% in the European Elections in 2009. Some of the high-ranking party officials, including a Prague party leader, have been associated with neo-nazi groups such as Národní odpor, Czech subsidiary of international militant neo-nazi group [1][2]. In spring 2009 the petition for the ban of the party was dismissed by the Czech Supreme Administrative Court [3], because, as the presiding judge stated, the applicant (Czech government) didn't manage to provide sufficient evidence in what was seen as a botched application [4][5]. Following violent attacks against Czech minorities by far-right extremists [6] (such as Vítkov arson attack of 2009), and the government has filled a more detailed petition for the ban, which was discussed by Czech Supreme Court in January and February 2010. The party was banned, making it the first instance of banning a party for its ideology in the modern history of the Czech Republic.[7]
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The program of the Workers' Party is not easily classifiable. On January 19, 2003, a day after the party was established, it published a press release that it planned to compete mostly with the Czech communist party[8] and as late as in early autumn 2008 the Workers' party program was considerably socialist, when the party's most important program point in the regional elections was an abolition of medical fees paid by Czech patients. The party received less than 1% of votes, but shortly afterwards attracted major media attention for organizing riots in quarters of Litvínov city with a significant Roma population [9][10]. Afterwards, the party has managed to maintain considerable publicity by organizing a marche against homosexuals[11] in Tabor.
The party has then started to emphasize a nationalist dimension of its program, mostly effort to overhaul what they see as a favorable treatment of minorities, and in fact has started a radically anti-communist rhetoric, e.g. on the 20th anniversary of the collapse of communism in Czechoslovakia the party leader Tomáš Vandas has said: "So what is the state of the society nowadays? In one word: tragic. Communists still govern us."[12].
The party claims that it is the only "real opposition" in the Czech Republic, since it is the only party opposing the Czech political system (which has been repeatedly rated as the most democratic of former communist countries and is currently the 19th most democratic system in the world by The Economist Democracy index). The party has repeatedly called for the overthrow and subversion of Czech political system, which the party describes both as "liberal" [13] and "totalitarian" [14] The official slogan for 2009 European Elections was "Resist the totalitarian regime".
Concerning economic aspects of the party's program, it includes vague and contradictory populist demands such as reducing national debt while increasing old age pensions and reducing the retirement age [15]. Some of the more concrete proposals include restrictions on foreign investment, including a total ban on purchases of real estate by foreign nationals[15] and nationalization of certain companies[16].
The party also wants to restore the death penalty[16], criminalize "sexual deviation", including homosexuality [16], abolish registered partnership, reduce rights of the prosecuted [16] and in some cases create new crimes with a retroactive effect [16]. Some of the most controversial proposals include marking of ethnicity in ID cards [17] and giving the police discretion to treat the arrested person inhumanly [16].
In international affairs, the party opposes NATO and European Union and requires the Czech Republic leave these organizations [17]. The party is strongly anti-American and seems to be pro-Russian [18], going as far as stating that the Czech Republic must "immediately and strongly restore its relations with Russia" [19] Concerning other matters in international affairs, it is hard to determine the party position, since the party has not taken a stance and its releases in the party internet journal are very contradictory: e.g. the chairman of the party arbitration commission congratulated the radical president of the Islamic Republic of Iran after the controversial elections[20], but wrote a highly islamophobic article 6 weeks afterwards [21].
The party has never denied its ideology is national socialism, but has occasionally claimed that it is inspired by Czechoslovak inter-war parties, which were democratic, respected human rights and opposed nazism, but were called national socialists. Instead, it claims that it is not inspired by Hitler's variant of national socialism. However, there is a clear evidence of affiliation with, or inspiration by, nazism, besided the above-mentioned affiliation of some of its leaders with neo-nazi organizations. Some of the reasons include:
| Year | # of total votes | Vote % | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 4,289 | 0.18 | 0 |
| 2009 | 25,368 | 1.07 | 0 |
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