Almost one in five Czechs believe people would live better if communist rule had not fallen in 1989; 37% of Slovaks agree. The figure reaches about 45% among SPD voters and 50.6% among Stacilo! voters in the 2025 election. Both pro-Russian parties oppose military aid to Ukraine.
The Political Split
A Czech-Slovak survey by Ipsos and Focus found that pattern. Stacilo! includes members of the Czech Communist Party; SPD is led by Tomio Okamura.
Those figures do not mean every voter in either camp wants communism restored. They do show where nostalgia is most concentrated, and the parties' present-day positions matter. Both promote referendums on Czech membership of the EU and NATO. Stacilo! also proposes a new "European security system" involving Russia.
The argument over whether life felt simpler decades ago carries real harm. These parties are making decisions about Ukraine's defence and the institutions that protect Czech sovereignty into live political issues. A promised security order with Russia at the table has a very different meaning while Russia is waging war against Ukraine.
The Generational Divide
Nearly three-quarters of Czechs under 24 reject a return to the pre-1989 system. Among people aged 66 to 99, roughly a quarter express nostalgia for it. Education also marks a divide: among respondents with only basic schooling, almost a third think life would be better under communism.
The wider picture shows that the country accepts the Velvet Revolution. Fifty-two per cent of Czechs are unequivocally opposed to communist rule, as are half of Slovaks. But the minority looking back favourably is large enough to matter, especially where it overlaps with parties questioning the alliances Czechia joined after 1989.
The sharpest contrast is between young Czechs rejecting the old order and political movements that package nostalgia with a softer line toward Moscow.
The survey measures attitudes to the past. SPD and Stacilo! are asking voters to act on choices being made now.
