The Czech Ministry of the Interior recently banned the KSM (Communist Youth Union) simply because it "strives for revolutionary overcoming of capitalism and... removal of private ownership of the means of production and its replacement with collective ownership." Here we provide a letter from the Czech Young Communists, explaining the latest developments.

We are publishing an appeal issued by the Czech Communist Youth Union (KSM) after the government recently banned their organisation. We ask you to support their struggle for the basic right to exist as an organisation. Send letters of protest and make the Czech Young Communists know that workers and youth around the world support them.

The demonstrations in Seattle, Washington, London and Prague are an indication that something is changing. For the past twenty years, Capital has been on the offensive. On its banners are inscribed the new slogans: Liberalisation, Globalisation, Downsizing, Outsourcing, Flexibilisation, and a host of other reactionary neologisms. The fall of the Soviet Union gave a further impulse to this offensive. The bourgeoisie was filled with confidence and optimism in the future. But now, a decade after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the whole thing is beginning to come apart at the seams.