“Many people associate the Communists to 41 years of repression. But by being out of power for so long, the party has escaped the taint of sleaze that has tarnished the governments that took over from it.  Sobotka added that if his party formed a government, its economic policy would be more leftist than the previous centre-right coalition government, with plans to raise taxes for the biggest corporations and for high earners.  Jiří Stránský, a dissident writer imprisoned under Communist rule, said he believed today’s Communists were dangerous populists. ‘I am saddened that after nearly 24 years the country has ended this way, when we started out so amazingly,’ he said.”