Club of Committed Non-Party Members

Club angažovaných nestraníků (Club committed a non-party ), abbreviated KAN, in addition to the K Club 231 was one of the most important organizations that emerged during the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia in 1968 and were located outside the influence of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. They played a significant role both in the democratization process of 1968 as well as in the later justifications of the Soviet leadership for the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops in Czechoslovakia of 21 August 1968.

After the ban of this political movement in September 1968, the activity was resumed in the spring of 1990.

KAN during the Prague Spring

In the spring of 1968 there was a platform for political activity, only the Communist Party and the discredited as block parties, parties in the National Front practically surrendered to the leading role of the communist party. The effort to revive the 1948 received by a forced merger with the Social Democratic Party of Communists again, were still at the beginning. This led many citizens who wanted to get involved but that do not accept the existing system of political games, establishing a movement for non-party - of KAN. It was next to the K Club 231, the only independent political structure of the Prague Spring.

It was founded on April 5, 1968 in Prague. The foundation was attended by about 200 people, in brief, the club has not found 40000-50000 prospects. In the statutes the simultaneous membership in another political party was excluded; the statutes were presented to the Ministry of the Interior for approval on April 7, on 16 May 1968, the then reformist interior minister Josef Pavel granted a preliminary activity. One of the leading figures in the movement include Ludvik Rybáček Jan Stepanek, Rudolf Battěk, Jirina Mlýnková, temporarily also took up the club Alexandr Kliment and Ivan Sviták.

Within the movement, there were two conflicting ideas about the future organizational structure: a loose network of committed citizens, as in the beginning of the movement, and the slightly tighter alignment as a political party. In both cases, however, the goal remained the weakening of the party oligarchy that time the Communist Party. Similar to the K Club 231, this led to increasing attacks by the Communist Party together with a Deuck by the Soviet leadership. After the intervention on 21 August 1968 KAN was banned.

Activity after 1990

After the collapse of the communist regime in 1989, it came between March and May 1990 on a new foundation of the movement with the participation of Karel Soyček, Bohdan Dvořák, Emil Dejmek and Pavel Holba. The statutes include membership in another party out, then also the former Mitsch song shaft in the Communist Party, or acting as a functionary whose youth organization, and also the activity in the people's militia or the secret police.

However, the high level of awareness in 1968 was not able to ensure the success of the new CLS. In the parliamentary elections in 1990 and 1992, the best result was 2.7 percent of the vote in the subsequent elections in 2002, 2006 and 2010, the results were very marginal, even if it is partially blok to joint candidate lists as the Pravý (right block ) or the Konzervativní strana ( Conservative Party ) came.