Dimitris Koutsoumbas — The struggle against “green” and “digital” capitalist barbarism

On Sunday 28 November, the European Communist Initiative held a teleconference titled "The communists at the forefront of the workers’–people’s struggle against “green” and “digital” capitalist barbarism, for the contemporary popular needs, for the real way out, socialism". 

Below you can read the introductory speech delivered by the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Dimitris Koutsoumbas:

Joint statement of Communist Parties on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People

Joint statement by the Palestinian People's Party (PPP) and the Communist Party of Israel, co-signed by many Communist and Workers' Parties, on the International Day for Solidarity with the Palestinian People:

Joint Statement of Communist and Workers parties on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People 

Cuba: "Fidel Castro Ruz" Center inaugurated in Havana

On Thursday November 25, precisely five years after the physical departure of the Comandante en Jefe of the Cuban Revolution, the Fidel Castro Ruz Center was inaugurated on a night described by Army General Raul Castro Ruz as the most moving performance he had ever seen.

“I am still excited and, I confess one thing, I have cried like everyone here,” said Army General Raul Castro Ruz to the children of the La Colmenita theatre group who, on the evening of November 25, precisely five years after the physical departure of Cuba’s Comandante en Jefe, had the great responsibility of inaugurating the Fidel Castro Ruz Center.

Visite du Secrétaire général du KKE Koutsoumbas à Paris

Dimitris Koutsoumbas, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), will visit Paris on December 2-4, 2021. 

According to "Rizospastis" Koutsoumbas will pay a visit to Louvre museum on Thursday 2 December, while on Friday he will participate in a guided walk "on the footsteps of the Commune". On the same day he will lay a wreath at the Communards' Wall at the Père Lachaise cemetery where, on May 28, 1871, one-hundred and forty-seven fédérés, combatants of the Paris Commune, were shot and thrown in an open trench at the foot of the wall.

Turkish communists lead protests over price rises: "Stand up against expensiveness"

While the Turkish Lira collapses and the cost of living is rising day by day, demonstrators are taking the streets in Turkey's major cities in order to protest Erdogan government's economic policy.

The Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) is once again on the forefront of the protests, organizing rallies in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and other cities.

 “Our labor is exploited, our country is plundered. Our lives are being stolen with prices that change every day, with increasing bills. We have to resist for our life, for our future. Now is the time to stand up!”, reads a statement by the TKP which calls the working people to mobilize against the governmental policies. 

Communist Parties on the situation in Donbass: "Fascism can’t be healed!"

Left: Cartoon by Carlos Latuff (2014).

A number of Communist Parties and organizations from Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan undersign a joint statement about the situation in Donbass. 

 

Under the title "Fascism can't be healed", they call for internationalist workers' solidarity against the imperialists and their fascist puppets. 

The statement reads:

KKE event in Berlin: Only the people can save the people

Under the theme “Pandemic, high prices, competitions – Developments show that only the people can save the people”, the Central Europe Party Organization of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) organized on Saturday 20 November a political event at the premises of Greek community in Berlin.

The speaker at the event was Giorgos Marinos, KKE MP, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee. Other attendants included KKE MEP and Central Committee member Kostas Papadakis, as well as representatives of the German Communist Party (DKP) and the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP). 

Austria: Communists slam government's policy on pandemic

In a statement titled "Lockdown for the unvaccinated: diversionary tactics and government failure", the Central Committee of the Party of Labour of Austria (PdA) condemns the federal government's policy on the management of the pandemic situation.

The statement reads:

On the 15th of November 2021, the federal government imposed an Austria-wide "lockdown for the unvaccinated". The Party of Labour of Austria cannot agree to this measure and wants to state the following points in this regard:

European Communist Initiative: "The price rises in basic goods did not fall from the sky"

In a statement concerning the constant price rises in electricity, fuel and goods of popular consumption, the Secretariat of the Initiative of Communist and Workers' Parties stresses out:

In the recent period an acute rise in prices of different basic goods, including electricity, fuel, and other essential commodities is being registered. This situation, which is particularly worrying when we are on the threshold of winter season, is affecting the working class and the popular strata of our countries, who have been the victims of the bourgeois governments and their management of the recent crisis against the peoples.

The impact of AUKUS on international developments and the stance of the communists

By the International Relations Section of the
CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE).

The tripartite “security” alliance between the US, Australia, and the UK under the name “AUKUS”, announced on 15/09/2021, constitutes a new important development in the structure of imperialist alliances.

What does this development mean and which additional tasks arise for the communist movement?

Ástor García re-elected General Secretary of the PCTE

On November 13 and 14 were held the plenary sessions of the 2nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Workers of Spain (PCTE), called the Centennial Congress as a tribute to the founding, in November 1921, of the Communist Party of Spain as the Spanish Section of the Communist International.

Throughout the two days of debates, the delegates debated and unanimously approved the Political and Accountability Report, which analyzed the tasks carried out by the Party since the previous Congress, held in November 2017, the proposal of reform of the Statute of the Party and the Political Resolution which establishes the main tasks of the PCTE until the next Congress. Seven short resolutions on different issues were also approved unanimously.

Poland's communists blast governmental policy on refugees

“The Polish government's policy towards refugees failed and resulted in the death of at least a dozen people” points out the Communist Party of Poland (KPP) in a statement concerning the ongoing refugee crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border. 

 

“A government that is unable to resolve this crisis in a peaceful way should resign” adds the Communist Party, underlining that the foreign policy of Poland must change.

The KPP stresses out that “it shouldn't be forgotten that Poland, as a NATO member-state, had an instrumental role in the tragic situation affected by war, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan” and adds: “The refugees hope to reach Western European countries through Poland. These people often flee from Islamic fundamentalism, imperialism or the lack of prospects in their home country. Many migrants are Kurds who have become victims of Turkism imperialism in Syria and Iraq. Some have successfully fought against the Islamic State but, now, the U.S. has handed them over to Erdogan's regime which is occupying part of Syria's territory and carries out air strikes in northern Iraq”.

Greece: Massive anti-imperialist rallies in honor of the 1973 Polytechnic Uprising

Thousands of people took part in the annual rallies held in Athens, Thessaloniki and other major Greek cities by the Communist Party (KKE) and its youth wing (KNE) on Wednesday 17 November, in order to commemorate the 48th anniversary of the 1973 Polytechnic Uprising against the military Junta.

In Athens, the demonstrators marched peacefully through central streets of the Greek capital, shouted anti-imperialist slogans ("Since the Polytechnic, the enemy remains the same: NATO, governments, capitalism") and ended outside the U.S. Embassy where they burned flags of NATO and the United States.

The KKE pays tribute to the 48th anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic Uprising

By Nikos Mottas.

 

"This year's celebration of the Polytechnic uprising can become another link in the workers-people's struggle for education and work with humane conditions, protection measures for the health and life of the people, free time, income for a dignified life, for the rejection of any anti-labor - anti-popular law, for the condemnation of any bourgeois party, which, with the whip or carrot, deprives the workers and their families of the wealth they produce", the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) emphasizes in its statement on the occasion of the 48th anniversary of the uprising of the Athens Polytechnic (read here the statement in Greek).

KKE: Statement for the refugee crisis in Belarus-EU borders

The KKE calls the people of Poland and Belarus, as well as the other people of the region, to turn their backs on nationalism and racism, to strengthen the solidarity with the people who are victims of imperialist wars and exploitation, points out a statement of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) concerning the dramatic situation in the Polish-Belarusian border.

More specifically, the statement (here in Greek) issued by the Press Bureau of the CC of the KKE reads:

Communist Party of Ireland on COP26: "There is no green capitalism possible"

In a statement about the COP 26 UN Climate Change Conference held in Glasgow, the Communist Party of Ireland stresses out:

"The future belongs to socialism and to those who fight for it.

The jamboree that was the COP26 closed and a statement issued to the press. Their carefully choreographed opinion pieces, the television news features of how “western democracies” are leading the fight to save the planet and the parcelling of selected nations as villains into neat packages to reassure the gullible that it is not capitalism that is the problem. Nothing has fundamentally changed.   

Belarus-Poland standoff: The lives of refugees are not a tool in imperialist antagonisms

In a statement about the tension in the Belarusian-Polish border the Secretariat of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) underlines that "the lives of refugees are not a tool in imperialist antagonisms" and calls for an end to the imperialist interventions which are the root of refugee-migrant crisis, The statement reads:

"The tension on the Belarusian border with Poland is intensifying every day at the expense of thousands of stranded migrants and refugees who are treated like a tennis-ball in the EU – USA – NATO geopolitical confrontation with Belarus and Russia.

KKE: Solidarity with Cuba - Imperialist plans will not pass!

In a statement concerning the new escalation of aggressive imperialist activities against Cuba, the International Relations Section of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) expresses its solidarity with the Cuban people, the government and the Communist Party of Cuba, pointing out out that “the new imperialist plans will not pass”.

More specifically the statement reads (here in Greek):  

Dolores Ibárruri — ¡No Pasarán! (They Shall Not Pass)

On July 19th, 1936, the emblematic Spanish communist Dolores Ibárruri, also known as "La Pasionaria", delivered a radio message calling the people to defend the Second Spanish Republic from the fascist military uprising. 

 

Representing the Spanish Communist Party, then part of the Popular Front Government, Ibárruri ends her speech with the historic battlecry phrase "They shall not pass" (¡No Pasarán!).

 

Dolores Ibárruri served as the General Secretary of the Central Commitee of the Communist Party of Spain from 1942 to 1960. 

Spain: PCTE to hold its 2nd Congress in Madrid

The 2nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Workers of Spain (Partido Comunista de los Trabajadores de España, PCTE) will be held on November 13-14, 2021 in Madrid. 

The congress, which coincides with the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Communist Party of Spain, has been called by the PCTE as the "Congress of the Centenary". 

The PCTE is a young but dynamic Marxist-Leninist party founded on March 2019 following a split from the Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain. The party's youth wing is the Collectives of the Communist Youth (CJC) and its official newspaper is Nuevo Rumbo. 

PCTE participates in the International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties (IMWCP) as well as in the European Communist Initiative. 

Israel's Communist Party re-elects Adel Amer as its leader

Adel Amer, CPI General Secretary. Photo: Al-Ittihad

During last month’s 28th Congress of the Communist Party of Israel (CPI), the delegates unanimously reelected Adel Amer as the party’s General Secretary. 

 

Having in 2015 initially succeeded the previous General Secretary Mohammed Nafa’h (1940-2021), the renowned Arab-Palestinian Druze writer from the Galilee, Amer is a well known educator and journalist from Kafr Kassem in the center of the country.

IMCWP: Solidarity with the CP of Cuba and the Cuban people

In a teleconference held on 5-6 November 2021, the Working Group of the International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties (IMCWP) issued the following statement of solidarity with Cuba:

STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY WITH CUBA

 ¡No pasarán!

The Cuban Revolution, whose 62nd anniversary is approaching, is a milestone in the history of the class struggles. The Cuban people fighting for independence, equality, freedom and justice have achieved all the above under the banner of socialism and revolution. 

A story about Molotov's last days

Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov, the legendary Soviet politician and diplomat, an old Bolshevik revolutionary, died on November 8th, 1986 at the age of 96.  

At the time of his death, he was the last surviving major participant in the events of the 1917 October Revolution.

During the last weeks of his life the decline in his health had become noticeable. However he never lost his sense of duty. There is a story about elderly Molotov's reaction concerning a statement or decision of Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze in 1986. 

Socialism or Extinction: YCL on COP26 protests in Glasgow

In a statement concerning the protests against the COP26 summit in Glasgow, the Central Committee of the Young Communist League of Britain (YCL) stresses out the following:

"Yesterday the Young Communist League joined thousands of protestors in opposing the sham COP26 meeting in Glasgow, Scotland. As has been noted in the national media and by many online, we were surrounded by a police line that engaged in arbitrary confrontations with us throughout the day. They opposed our right to march with no reason given to us or legal observers, clearly seeing us as a credible threat. 

October Revolution's 104th anniversary honored in Russia

Thousands of communists, workers, men and women of every age gathered on Sunday 7th of November in Moscow's Red Square to pay tribute to the 104th anniversary of the 1917 Great October Socialist Revolution.

Holding red flags the participants laid flowers to the Lenin Mausoleum, as well as to the memorial complex to Heroes of the Revolution at Kremlin's Necropolis. In his statement to journalists the Chairman of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) Gennady Zyuganov talked about the “major holiday for all the workers of world”, pointing out some of the Revolution's great achievements. 

V.I. Lenin: Letter on the eve of the October Revolution

The following letter, written by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin on 24th October (6 November) 1917, on the eve of the Great October Socialist Revolution, was addressed to the Central Committee members of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks):

Comrades,

I am writing these lines on the evening of the 24th. The situation is critical in the extreme. In fact it is now absolutely clear that to delay the uprising would be fatal. With all my might I urge comrades to realise that everything now hangs by a thread; that we are confronted by problems which are not to be solved by conferences or congresses (even congresses of Soviets), but exclusively by peoples, by the masses, by the struggle of the armed people.

Demosthenes Ligdopoulos, Greece's first communist hero

 By Nikos Mottas.

Demosthenes Ligdopoulos was born in Athens, Greece in 1898. At the age of 18, in 1916, he was enrolled at the University as a mathematics student. On the same year, alongside his co-students Sp. Komiotis, Fr. Tzoulatis and Tzoumas brothers, he founded the “Socialist Youth” of Athens. Since then, the socialist ideas and the labor movement became an inseparable part of his life. The Great October Socialist Revolution in 1917 was an event that ignited the flame of Ligdopoulos' revolutionary thinking and activity.

Greece: Significant victory for COSCO dockworkers!

After seven days of strike, the dockworkers of COSCO at Piraeus Port in Greece came victorious, as the employers were forced to accept most of their demands. The good news were announced yesterday, Thursday 4/11, during a rally held by Trade Unions in Athens. 

According to information, after negotiations of the Ministry of Shipping with Piraeus bodies and company executives, there was a framework to satisfy the demands of the employees, while COSCO accepted the application of shift and increase of the post from four to six people, in the composition health and safety committee, while abolishing the counter-shift.

Madrid: Young communists paid tribute to the Centenary of the Communist Youth of Spain

On Sunday 31 October, the Collectives of Communist Youth (CJC) held an act in commemoration of the Centenary of the Communist Youth of Spain, the first communist youth organization in the country.

This act was dedicated to all militant communists who resisted to Franco's fascist dictatorship and who stood firm against the trends of opportunism and euro-communism. 

Communist Party of Venezuela: Statement on the extradition cases of Alex Saab, Claudia Diaz and Hugo Carvajal

The following statement by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) refers to the extradition cases of Alex Saab, Claudia Diaz and Hugo Carvajal:

"The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) reiterates its historic condemnation of US government’s efforts to take on the role of the world’s policeman and judge which it exercises today through the recurrent practice of illegally applying its national laws beyond its borders in flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of other countries.  

56th Congress of Britain’s Communist Party

Under the slogan "The crisis is capitalism - Take the road to socialism", the 56th Congress of the Communist Party of Britain will be held in London on 6-7th November.

According to the party's website, this year's Congress "will be the biggest congress of the Party since the 1980s, due to membership growth."

The Communist Party of Britain's Congress takes place every two years except in extraordinary circumstances and this Congress, set for November 2020, was delayed as a result of the pandemic. 

Vietnam's Vice President visits KKE headquarters in Athens

Dimitris Koutsoumbas, the General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), met on Monday with the Vice President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and member of the CC of the Communist Party of Vietnam Vo Thi Anh Xuan. The meeting took place at the headquarters of the KKE in Perissos, Athens.

Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan is on a visit to Greece, as the head of a multi-member delegation consisting by the president of the Women's Union, the deputy ministers of Foreign Affairs, Labour and Social Affairs, Planning and Investments, Industry and Trade, as well as other governmental officials. From the side of the KKE the meeting was also attended by Giorgos Marinos, Politburo member, MEP Lefteris Nikolaou-Alavanos and Christina Skaloumpaka, president of the Greek Women's Federation. The Ambassador of Vietnam in Greece Le Hong Truong also participated in the meeting. 

Sudanese Communist Party: Message to the people of Sudan

In face of the recent developments in Sudan, the military coup and the people's uprising, the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Sudanese Communist Party addresses the people of the country with the following statement:

"The Security Committee, led by its head, carried out a military coup on 25 October 2021 as a link in a series of military coups that began with the palace coup on 11 April 2019. The aim is the same, which is to block the path to the continuation of the mass movement to achieve the goals and slogans of the glorious December Revolution.

Museum in honor of communist guerrillas unveiled in Greece

“The KKE is the power of the people today, because it doesn't enter the fold of the false 'national arrangements', it does not obey the hostile for the people bourgeois plans”, pointed out Dimitris Koutsoumbas, General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), during his speech in the northern Greek town of Nestorio on Sunday morning.

The speech was given on the occasion of the inauguration of a Museum-Memorial for  the communist guerrilla fighters of EAM-ELAS and the Democratic Army (DSE), who fought against the Axis occupation and during the Greek Civil War respectively. The Museum was a donation by Harisis Tsoutounis who provided a space “in memory of his militant parents”, as well as to “honor the struggle of EAM-ELAS and DSE, to which the people of the area contributed significantly”.