Communist Party aligns itself with the ideals of 1948.

The leadership of the Czech communist party (KSČM) has formally announced that it aligns itself with the spirit and thinking of the notorious February 1948 communist putsch. The announcement came on Friday afternoon, following a meeting of the party’s leadership. A statement issued by the party noted that it was grateful for the “sacrifice and hard work of the generation that formed the first form of socialism.” However, the party also conceded that this early form of what it deemed “socialism” was replete with “inadequacies and tragic deformations.” The party also formally rejects that it undertook an illegal putsch, insisting that the events in 1948 were a “constitutionally sound revolution, in which wide layers of society took part.” The remarks come as the Czech Republic marks 60 years since the beginning of one party rule in Czechoslovakia, and are likely to infuriate many Czechs.