Fascist party in Slovakia seems to be falling apart

Milan Mazurek, Milan Uhrík and Ondrej Ďurica have left the board of the fascist party in Slovakia called ĽSNS-Kotleba ("People's Party Our Slovakia-Kotleba" because party chair Marián Kotleba has used the party's statutes to change the way in which it is directed so that it now follows the "leader principle", stripping them of powers while enhancing his own. "Marián Kotleba has cemented himself into the chairmanship of ĽSNS in such a way that nobody will ever remove him, even if he ends up behind bars," journalist Tomáš Kyseľ has reported.  

The leader, even from prison

What's going on here? Why has this happened?

As the Slovak daily Aktuality.sk reports, in October 2020 the Specialized Criminal Court in Pezinok convicted Kotleba and sentenced him to four years and four months for promoting neo-Nazism, a sentence that has yet to take effect. "The leader of the ĽSNS, who even pushed his own name into the name of the party, is apparently preparing for the possibility that he may be unable to avoid several years behind bars after the Supreme Court hands down its decision. He has changed the party's statutes so as to essentially paralyze the members' assembly as its highest decision-making body, significantly boosting his own power so as to become practically irrevocable and setting up a new post of executive vice-chair," the daily reports.    

"From a practical standpoint, therefore, the board has lost its importance and has just become a purely pro forma body," Mazurek posted to the Internet. He also dislikes the fact that nobody discussed a proposal for such changes with him, giving him no opportunity to express his views of them or to influence their content.   

"I am unable to explain why they kept this secret from us, why they have lied to us in this way... Just as I always speak out against the totalitarian practices of [Slovak Prime Minister] Igor Matovič, so I am unable to be silent now. It would be hypocritical," Mazurek posted. 

Mazurek said he will no longer seek a post on the party's board and his work in its leadership is over. However, he said he will remain in the party as a rank and file member, and MEP Uhrík and MP Ďurica have made statements to that effect as well.

Political excellencies 

Kotleba was convicted of publicly awarding checks in the amount of EUR 1488 in his role as Governor of the Banská Bystrica Region and ĽSNS-Kotleba chair, and of choosing that particular amount of money because the numerals 14 and 88 are neo-Nazi code (for details, see our reporting). As for Mazurek, he recently lost his seat in the national legislature because he was convicted of insulting Romani people and making generalizations about all Muslims being terrorists during a radio interview.

Mazurek was the first MP to ever lose elected office in Slovakia for being convicted of a crime (see here). In June 2015 he also assaulted an Arab family and their children in public (see here). 

As for MP Ďurica, he used to sing in the neo-Nazi band "White Resistance" (Bílý odpor). His lyrics demand punishment for "race traitors", the physical punishment of gays, and celebrate Ian Stuart, a legendary hero to Holocaust deniers and neo-Nazis.  

When a fascist demands democracy

In a commentary on these events inside ĽSNS-Kotleba, Peter Bárdy writes the following:  "These people are missing democracy? The party that was built on the foundations of 'Slovak Solidarity'? That 'solidarity' referencing traditions of a Fascist state that was constructed on anti-democratic principles? ... The problem that has caused three influential people to leave the leadership of Kotleba's party lies elsewhere. Apparently this is about a power struggle, which is to say, efforts by Kotleba to retain power, influence and naturally to impact the party's coffers in the future - even if the Supreme Court upholds his sentence of more than four years behind bars."

ĽSNS-Kotleba will be receiving more than EUR 7 million from the state during this parliamentary session, based on its electoral results and the number of legislators it seated in Parliament. Roman Pataj has written an article called "When the fascist Mazurek demands democracy" for the news server DenníkN.sk calling this amusing because the firm foundations of internal democracy among the fasicsts are now being shaken. 

Kotleba has insidiously maneuvered his aides out of the leadership of the party, they are now insulted, and like proper fascists they are complaining that they have been harmed. "These shocks among Kotleba's followers are a lot of fun, generally speaking. The whining of these lovelorn extremists can be dealt with through one question:  What else did you all expect from a person who allows himself to be called 'Leader' and puts his own name in the name of the party - all of which was fine with you? For years it hasn't seemed like it because ĽSNS-Kotleba has been held together by a wave of successes, but in the DNA of a fascist party it is necessarily firmly encoded that sooner or later something like this has to happen. These kinds of groups are led by people with deeply anti-democratic instincts," Pataj is convinced.