Bans on communist symbols

Albania's Institute for Communist Crimes (ICC) proposed a ban on communist-era films, sparking negative reactions from the public.[2]

In Bulgaria, lawmakers voted on first reading of a proposed law on 24 November 2016 to make the public display of communist symbols illegal. The law, known as the "Criminal Nature of the Communist Regime", requires that signs and items created during the communist regime glorifying the former communist party and its leaders be removed from public places.[3][4][5] The proposal, however, was never put to a second reading, signed by the President of Bulgaria or published in Bulgaria's State Gazette and hence never became law. Both the parliamentary session and convocation in which the law was proposed later ended, thus rendering the proposal dead.[6]

The use of fascist and communist symbols is currently under review in Croatia, one of the discussions being the banning of the red star, a symbol used by the Yugoslav People's Army during the Croatian War of Independence.[7]

In 1991, in Czechoslovakia the criminal code was amended with w § 260 which banned propaganda of movements which restricted human rights and freedoms, citing Nazism and communism. Later the specific mentions of these were removed citing their lack of clear legal definition. Nevertheless, the law itself was recognised as constitutional.[8][9] However, in 2005, there was a petition in the Czech Republic to ban the promotion of communism and in 2007, there was a proposed amendment to the law to ban communist symbols. Both attempts failed.[10][11]

In early 2007 the Riigikogu was proceeding a draft bill amending the Penal Code to make the public use of Soviet and Nazi symbols punishable if used in a manner disturbing the public peace or inciting hatred.[12] The bill did not come into effect as it passed only the first reading in the Riigikogu.[13]

In Georgia the use of Soviet-era symbols on government buildings is prohibited, as is their display in public spaces, although this law is rarely enforced by authorities.[14] A ban on communist symbols was first proposed in 2010,[15] but it failed to define the applicable sanctions.[16] In 2014, there was a proposal to amend the ban to introduce clearer parameters.[17]

The flag of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was outlawed as an unconstitutional and criminal symbol in West Germany and West Berlin, where it was referred to as the Spalterflagge (secessionist flag) until the late 1960s, when the ban was lifted. The emblem and flag of the Communist Party of Germany are still banned in the country under section 86a of the German criminal code.

Hungary had a law (Article 269/B of the Criminal Code (2000)) that banned the use of symbols of fascist and communist dictatorships.[8][18] The same year the Constitutional Court upheld the law when it was challenged, claiming that the involved restriction of the freedom of expression was justified.[19] In July 2008 the European Court of Human Rights considered the challenge of Attila Vajnai who was charged with a misdemeanor for use of the red star and declared the Hungarian law to be in violation of the freedom of expression. The Court recognised the gross violations by the Nazi and communist regimes; however, it noted that modern Hungary is a stable democracy with negligible chance of dictatorship, therefore restrictions on the freedom of expression have no justification in the country in the form of a "clear, pressing and specific social need".[20] Eventually the law was annulled in 2013 by the Constitutional Court, citing the lack of precise definition and the European Court of Human Rights.[21] In March 2017, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán introduced a draft law that outlaws merchandise featuring symbols like the Nazi swastika or the communist five-pointed red star, including the one used by the Dutch brewing company Heineken.[22]

Anti-communist propaganda leaflets and literature, blaming the Indonesian Communist Party for being the actor of 30 September Movement

Communism, alongside Marxism and Marxism–Leninism, was officially banned in Indonesia following the aftermath of the 30 September coup attempt and the subsequent anti-communist killings, by adoption of TAP MPRS no. 25/1966 in 1966 and Undang Undang no. 27/1999 in 1999, which are still in force. The law does not explicitly declare a ban on symbols of communism, but Indonesian police frequently use the law to arrest people displaying them.[23] Some of its violators were people with no knowledge of symbols of communism, in which cases the authorities frequently freed them with only minor punishment or small fine applied.[24] The display of such symbols in an attempt to propagate communist and/or Marxist-Leninist ideals are considered a high treason, and could be punished by up to 20 years of prison.[25][26] This makes Indonesia a country with a very strict anti-communist policy compared to other countries that also practised anti-communism.

Other socialist and left-wing related symbols, while not officially prohibited by law (as democratic socialism itself remained acceptable in the country) are still widely condemned by the Indonesian people and considered as being closely related to Communism in general. These include the red star, the socialist heraldry, the red flag, and anthems or slogans such as The Internationale and "Workers of the world, unite!". Despite this, The Internationale was still remained in use during International Labour Day.

In addition, since the New Order regime was established in 1967, the hammer and sickle has become stigmatized in the country, which itself is very similar to how Nazi symbolism is treated in the West in general. As such, displaying the symbol in public, even without any political intentions, is still regarded as highly offensive, especially among Indonesian Muslims and Christians due to a widespread allegation of religious persecution by the Indonesian Communist Party in the years leading up to the 1965 purges.

Indonesia is the one of the first countries in the world to introduce a ban on communist symbols, not including the Axis countries during World War II.

In April 2017, Indonesian police detained a Malaysian tourist at a hotel in Mataram for wearing a T-shirt with an image of the hammer and sickle symbol. The tourist was not aware that communist symbols were banned in Indonesia. The police seized the T-shirt and released the tourist after giving him a warning.[27] In May 2018, a Russian tourist was also detained by police in Bali for displaying a Soviet victory banner, which also contains the symbol.

In June 2013, the Latvian parliament approved a ban on the display of Soviet and Nazi symbols at all public events. The ban involves flags, anthems, uniforms, Nazi swastika, and the Soviet hammer and sickle.[28][29]

Lithuania banned Soviet and Nazi symbols in 2008 (Article 188¹⁸ of the Code of Administrative Offences) under the threat of a fine.[30] Article 5 of the Law on Meetings prohibits meetings involving Nazi and Soviet imagery.[31] As of 2015, the laws were in effect.[32]

In 2009, such a ban was proposed in Moldova by parliamentarian Oleg Serebryan, and the law came into effect in 2012.[33] The Constitutional Court of Moldova found it unconstitutional.[8]

In 2009, in Poland § 2 to 4 were added to Article 256, which ban "fascist, communist or other totalitarian symbols" unless used "as part of artistic, educational, collecting or academic activity." On 19 July 2011, the Constitutional Tribunal of Poland found this ban partly unconstitutional due to the violation of freedom of expression.[34] In June 2017, Poland updated its "decommunization" legislation to include Soviet propaganda monuments, prompting negative reactions from the Russian government.[35] However, communist symbols are not prohibited by law in Poland.[36][37]

Law 51/1991, article 3. h) on the National Security of Romania considers the following as threats to national security: "the initiation, organisation, perpetration, or the supporting in any way of the totalitarian or extremist actions of a communist, fascist, iron guardist, or of any other origin, of the racial, anti-Semitic, revisionist, separatist actions that can endanger in any way the unity and territorial integrity of Romania, as well as the instigation to deeds that can put in, danger the order of the state governed by the rule of law".[38] However, symbols are not specifically mentioned in the law.

Similar to West Germany's ban on the East German flag, the North Korean flag and its Worker's Party flag are prohibited in South Korea as an unconstitutional symbol though some exceptions exist.[39][40]

Under the Temporary Provisions against the Communist Rebellion (1948 to 1991), the Kuomintang regime outlawed the five-starred red flag, similar to the flag bans enacted in West Germany and South Korea, alongside the branch of the Chinese Communist Party in Taiwan Province in 1952. The ban on communist ideology and symbolism in the National Security Law of the Republic of China was abolished in 2011.[41]

In April 2015 the Verkhovna Rada passed a law banning communist and Nazi symbols.[42] Earlier, in 2012, the city of Lviv in Western Ukraine banned the public display of communist symbols.[1] On 17 December 2015, all communist parties were officially banned in Ukraine.[43] Singing or playing the former anthem of the Soviet Union or any other former anthems of the Soviet Republics is punishable with a sentence of up to five years in prison.[44] In July 2019, the Constitutional Court upheld the law, equating communism to Nazism.[45][46]

During the Red Scare of 1919–20 in the United States, many states passed laws forbidding the display of red flags, including Minnesota, South Dakota, Oklahoma,[47] and California. In Stromberg v. California, the United States Supreme Court held that such laws were unconstitutional.[48]