On Dec. 3, Polish local media outlet NFP reported that Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal (TK) recently declared the Communist Party of Poland to be in violation of the country’s constitution.
The Communist Party of Poland traces its roots back to the Polish Communist Workers’ Party founded in 1918, formed from the Polish and Lithuanian Social Democracy party and the Polish Socialist Left. In 1925 it was officially renamed the Communist Party of Poland. In 1938, the Comintern ordered the dissolution of the party. In 1942, based on the former Communist Party, left-wing activists established the Polish Workers’ Party, which merged with the Polish Socialist Party in 1948 to form the Polish United Workers’ Party, the ruling party until 1989. After Solidarity won the 1989 elections, the United Workers’ Party dissolved in 1990.
In 2002, the Communist Party of Poland announced it had re-established itself, claiming continuity with the pre-WWII Communist Party rather than the ruling United Workers’ Party of 1948–1989. The party, however, has never won parliamentary seats and has had low public visibility.
Five years ago, former Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Zbigniew Ziobro petitioned the Constitutional Tribunal to ban the party. In November 2025, current Polish President Karol Nawrocki submitted a similar request. In his statement to the Tribunal, President Nawrocki said that “the Communist Party of Poland shares the same goals as other 20th-century communist parties, including attempts to impose and implement the Soviet model of authoritarian rule.”
President Nawrocki emphasized that communism violates fundamental human values, European traditions, and Christian civilization. At the Dec. 3 hearing, the Constitutional Tribunal ruled that the Communist Party of Poland violates Articles 11 and 13 of the Polish Constitution, which include requirements that “all Polish citizens adhere to the principles of fairness, and that Poland must be governed democratically,” and which prohibit activities based on Nazism, fascism, and communism.
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After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many countries declared communist parties illegal or banned them by law. For example, Georgia introduced legislation in 2010 banning communist symbols. In 2015, Ukraine passed laws banning communist propaganda and symbols. In July 2025, the Czech Republic announced that promoting communism would be treated the same as promoting Nazism; the law will take effect on Jan. 1, 2026.
Currently, communist parties remain in power in China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam. But in many countries, communist parties or communist propaganda are banned or considered illegal. For example, after India’s state of Bihar carried out a purge of communist groups in the 1960s, it banned all forms of communist propaganda. South Korea, after the Korean War, also prohibits any form of communist promotion. Among former Soviet republics, besides Ukraine, Georgia, the Czech Republic, and Poland, other countries restricting communist activities include Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and Estonia.
In contrast, in the United States and Russia, communist parties and communist advocacy are still legal. After the Soviet collapse, Russia banned the Communist Party, but in February 1993 it was re-established and remains a major opposition party. The Communist Party USA, founded in 1919, issued a statement on Dec. 3 condemning President Nawrocki’s decision, calling it a blatant attack on democratic political rights.
