Unreconstructed Communists

UNCLAS BRATISLAVA 000688 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV LO SUBJECT: Unreconstructed Communists ¶1. Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. ¶2. (SBU)Poloffs met with Jozef Sevc (Phonetic: sheffts), the head of the Communist Party of Slovakia (KSS),on 15 July at their party headquarters. After a 20 minute opening monologue, Sevc finally yielded the floor for questions. He proudly admitted that the KSS is an unreconstructed Communist party that has limited appeal among the Slovak electorate. He stated that his party attracts the elderly, poor, and disenfranchised. Over 60 percent of KSS members are over the age of 65, but he proudly noted that in the past four years, the party had attracted 4,600 new members under the age of 45 and that the KSS had 1,000 "comrades" under the age of 25. Sevc added that his party would focus on the younger generation in the next parliamentary elections scheduled to be held in fall 2006. Sevc noted that the KSS was disappointed that it did not receive enough votes to be represented in the European Parliament. ¶3. Sevc was critical of U.S. visa policy toward Slovakia, questioning why so many Slovaks are turned down. He noted that his daughter had traveled to the U.S. twice as a university student, but had been denied three times since graduation. He noted that U.S. should soften its visa rules, but respects the current state of affairs in light of the threat of terrorism. ¶4. (SBU) Sevc was pleased that members of the U.S. Embassy had requested the meeting, noting that the USG rarely met with them. His monologue was peppered with language used by the former regime, including remarks about U.S. hegemony and the bourgeoisie. KSS members still address each other by the title of comrade. Sevc is married to the daughter of Vasil Bilak, who wrote the letter to the Soviet Union asking for intervention in 1968. Sevc spoke no English, so Comrade Blaha served as an interpreter. Blaha is 25 years old, with two university degrees, his is an international secretary of the KSS. NNNN