Songs of Resistance Across the Aegean: Communists Honor Mikis Theodorakis at 100

The Aegean reverberated this weekend with the defiant songs of struggle, as communists from Greece and Turkey joined forces in a powerful celebration of the centennial of Mikis Theodorakis. 

More than a concert, the evening in Izmir (Smyrna) became a living manifesto: a declaration that music and revolution remain inseparable, and that the peoples of the region share a common fight against imperialism, war, and exploitation.

Communist Parties of Greece (KKE) and Turkey (TKP) to commemorate the centenary of Mikis Theodorakis with concerts in Chios and Izmir

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) are commemorating the 100th birth anniversary of Mikis Theodorakis by organizing two concerts in Greece and Turkey, one in Chios (the composer's birthplace) and another in Izmir. 

According to 902 portal, concerts have been scheduled on Friday 19 and Sunday 21 September 2025 in Chios and Karciyaka, Izmir respectively. 

 

Mikis Theodorakis: "Dissolve NATO, now!"

The following article-statement was issued by Mikis Theodorakis (1925-2021), the world-renowned Greek communist music composer who became a major symbol of the anti-dictatorial struggle in 1960-1970s, on the occasion of the 60th NATO Summit in Strasbourg in March 2009. Translation from Greek (Να διαλυθεί το ΝΑΤΟ! Τώρα!) by Nikos Mottas. 

Dissolve NATO! Now! 

By Mikis Theodorakis 

Communists of the world bid farewell to Mikis Theodorakis

Communist Parties from Russia to Chile and from Turkey to Mexico express their condolences for the death of the legendary Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis who died on September 2nd aged 96. 

In a message published on Twitter the President of the Republic of Cuba Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez pays tribute to the late composer: 

"Mikis Theodorakis died and the world accompanies the mourning of Greece for one of the greatest musicians of all times. Cuba, which always had his militant solidarity, also mourns. Let the Canto General sound in his memory". 

Mikis Theodorakis: I want to leave this world as a communist

Mikis Theodorakis, anticipating the end of his life, had contacted by telephone the Secretary General of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, giving him the stigma of his last wishes.

In his personal letter on October 5, 2020, to Dimitris Koutsoumbas, he wrote: "Now at the end of my life, at the time of reckoning, the details fade from my mind and remain the big picture. So I see that my most critical, strong and mature years were spent under the banner of the KKE. That is why I want to leave this world as a communist."

Statement of the KKE on the death of Mikis Theodorakis

In a lengthy statement, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) pays farewell to Mikis Theodorakis, the world-renowned  Greek composer who died on Thursday morning aged 96. 

 

Statements concerning the death of Mikis were also issued by the Communist Youth of Greece (KNE), the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME), the National Union of Fighters of the National Resistance and the Democratic Army of Greece (PEAEA– DSE), Trade Unions and Associations.

The full statement of the KKE reads:

KKE: Comment regarding the nationalist rally over "Macedonia" name in Athens

Commenting on the "Macedonia" rally* that was held in central Athens on Sunday 4th February, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece pointed out the following:

"Both the speeches and the slogans that dominated in the rally, do not challenge the dangerous NATO plans which the SYRIZA-ANEL government promotes by designating the arsonists of the Balkans as supposed guarantors of peace and cooperation.

They conceal the actual problems, throwing water in the mill of nationalism and irredentism, while at the same time they are fostering the government to present its policy with the mandle of a supposed progressivity.

Applause and respect for Mikis Theodorakis at the KNE-Odigitis Festival

Under the sounds of "Romiosini"- one of Greek music's greatest compositions- and a warm applause thousands of people welcomed Mikis Theodorakis at the KNE-Odigitis festival, yesterday evening at Tritsis Park in Athens. The legendary composer- also a political figure whose activity left its stamp on the Greek left- was welcomed by the Secretary General of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Dimitris Koutsoumbas and the Secretary of the Communist Youth (KNE) Nikos Abatielos.

Legendary composer Mikis Theodorakis blasts anti-communists and anti-Stalin slanderers

With a powerful letter to the Athens daily "Ta Nea", the renowned Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis comments on the recent anti-communist hysteria on the occasion of the EU and Estonian government's unhistorical, anti-communist events. 

Theodorakis, 92, begins his letter by blaming "Ta Nea" for the newspaper's anti-communist stance: "I'm terrified by the anti-communist hysteria that overwhelms your newspapers. As a young communist, I had the honor to fight through the lines of EAM for the achievement of freedom. Later, during the Junta period, through the Patriotic Front for the restoration of Democracy". 

Among other references regarding Greece's recent political history, Theodorakis writes: "The only thing that counts for you is our defeat in the Civil War and your inconvenience because the Left's ideology continues to exist, act and affect after so many persecutions".

A Legend called Mikis Theodorakis

Mikis Theodorakis, 91, conducting his song "Arnisi" (Denial) at the end of an emotional concert at Panathenaic Stadium in Athens. An one-thousand-member choir, numerous musicians, soloists, opera singers, actors and 50,000 spectators paid tribute to Greece's legendary composer.

"My beloved Fidel...": Greece's legendary composer Mikis Theodorakis farewells his friend, Fidel Castro

"My beloved Fidel, 

you left us 
and this is the first time 
I disagree with you".

- Mikis Theodorakis, 26/11/2016.

With the above laconic phrase published in his personal website the internationally-renowned Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis, 91, expressed his farewell to the emblematic Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro. 

Theodorakis, composer of numerous masterpieces such as Canto General (Poetry by Pablo Neruda), Axion Esti, Serpico and Zorba, whose musical genius made a decisive contribution to the cultural renaissance of postwar Greece, had the opportunity to meet with Fidel in Cuba and become a friend of the Cuban leader. 

Pablo Neruda and Mikis Theodorakis "CANTO GENERAL"- Concert in Chile 1993

   

CANTO GENERAL.

Poetry: Pablo Neruda / Music & Conducting: Mikis Theodorakis.

Singers: Arja Saijonmaa, Petros Pandis, Choir.

Teatro Monumental, Santiago de Chile, 23.4.1993.

Mikis Theodorakis fires against Tsipras' government: "They are destroying the present and future of our country"

Mikis Theodorakis.

In an article published in his personal webpage, legendary composer Mikis Theodorakis attacks the current Greek coalition government of Alexis Tsipras. 

In the beginning of his statement, Theodorakis writes about “a left-right political formation that has the overwhelming electoral and popular minority and obeys to the commands of foreigners destroying the present and future of our country," stressing that everything Tsipras' SYRIZA-ANEL government does, he does it "with no shame and knowing the harm he provokes to our society".

Two days ago, in a radio interview for 'Vima 99.5 FM' the renowned composer, songwriter and veteran politician expressed his dissapointment for the Greek Prime Minister. “I am sorry for Tsipras, because power changes people and the leftist government will take the Left and Greece back” Theodorakis said.

Mikis Theodorakis: The Pope, the predators and the hunted

Legendary composer Mikis Theodorakis, 91.

The Pope, the predators and the hunted.

By Mikis Theodorakis.

Translation from Greek: In Defense of Communism.

I am watching in live broadcast the visit of the Pope, the Religious Leader of the majority of Europe's people in Lesvos, where tens of thousands victims from Syria and other Middle East countries- who defying death and leaving behind dozens of drowned, especially children- arrived from Turkey.

Who is responsible for that big tragedy that millions of innocent fellow humans are living today?

It is the Black Death that the US and Europe's states, which have war industries, are exporting. How many thousands houses, schools, hospitals and other infrastructures were demolished, how many million people were killed or injured and how many of them were uprooted from their countries and forced to search a foreign refuge because of the weapons made by the hands of Europeans and Americans...

Here it is the splendor, the big crime of our era with the modern victimizers-predators from the one side and their victims-quarries from the other. The big crime which transforms our era into a Jungle and the uncountable hypocrisy of the supposedly civilized European People who seal their countries with wire, like the Nazis were doing with the numerous Auschwitz, Dachau and Mauthausen. With the difference (being) that, this time, the victimizers are inside and the victims are out.