Apparently the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) was banned by the Federal Constitutional Court of [West] Germany in 1956. The political motives for such an action are obvious, but what was the actual legal basis for the ban? And how was the KPD’s successor organization, the German Communist Party (DKP), able to escape the same legal fate? (I believe it was founded prior to Brandt’s Ostpolitik.)
The legal basis was article 21 (2) of the German constitution ((official translation [PDF]). Other than the KPD, only one other (far right) party was ever banned under this provision.
The DKP did not officially admit to being an successor organization. From what I read, the reason for not banning it was a combination of less anti-communist fervour in general in the late 1960s than in the 1950s, and domestic communism seen as something of a spent political force.
The Federal Constitutional Court has the right to declare a political party unconstitutional if it “by reason of [its] aims or the behavior of [its] adherents, seek[s] to undermine or abolish the free democratic basic order or to endanger the existence of the Federal Republic of Germany".
See here.
What about the Germany Party of Communists (DPK) then? Splitters!
Well, the DKP was already mentioned. I haven’t heard of the DPK.
I believe mrpayday was making a Life of Brian reference.