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| Photo: Eurokinissi |
The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) has taken a clear, decisive position in support of the escalating struggle of poor farmers across the country.
With a series of on-site visits to the roadblocks in Larissa, Karditsa, Trikala, Tirnavos and other areas, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, conveyed the Party’s full solidarity and its commitment to stand at the side of those fighting for their survival.
During his meetings with farmers, Koutsoumbas underlined that the government bears full responsibility for the explosive situation in the countryside. It refuses to address the just demands of small farmers because it is structurally committed to the interests of big capital—large agricultural businesses, exporters, energy monopolies, shipowners, and all those who profit from the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy. As he stressed, the government subsidises industrial groups and big exporters, guarantees tax exemptions to shipowners, supports companies in renewable energy sources, and even allows them to charge exorbitant prices, while farmers are forced to pay out of pocket for their essentials.
In this framework, even the most elementary measures for farmers—such as reducing production costs, securing fair prices, or establishing real protective mechanisms—are dismissed as “fiscal impossibilities,” while billions are channelled to capitalist groups. The recent example of forcing livestock breeders to destroy their animals instead of ensuring vaccinations demonstrates, once more, that state policy sacrifices small producers for the benefit of monopoly interests.
The KKE places this entire confrontation within a broader class context. The struggle of the poor farmers concerns not only those who work the land in Thessaly or Macedonia; it affects workers, employees, and the popular strata across the country. High food prices—driven not by farmers but by wholesalers, middlemen, and state taxation—burden working-class households daily. The same political forces that crush farmers are those that attack labour rights, public services, wages, and social provisions.
For this reason, the KKE calls on the working class to actively support the farmers’ mobilisations. It denounces efforts by the government and the mass media to divide workers and farmers or to present the struggling rural poor as an obstacle to society. Such divisive tactics, alongside the deployment of riot police, chemicals, and arrests, aim to wear down the movement. The KKE demands the lifting of all repressive measures, the release of all detained demonstrators, and the immediate withdrawal of police forces from the roadblocks.
In his interventions, Koutsoumbas also linked the farmers’ struggle with Greece’s deeper political commitments to NATO and EU militarism. He pointed to the transformation of regions like Thessaly—especially Larissa—into strategic hubs for U.S. military drones and operations extending from the Balkans and Black Sea to the Middle East and the Red Sea. While the government spends more than €30 billion on armaments for NATO missions, it claims a lack of resources for essential support to farmers and workers. The KKE exposes this contradiction as proof that the state serves imperialist designs rather than the needs of the people.
Against this backdrop, the Party promotes a clear political perspective: no sustainable solution for poor farmers can be found within the current framework of capitalist development, EU policies, and market competition. Partial adjustments or temporary subsidies cannot reverse the relentless concentration of land and production in the hands of agribusiness. The KKE argues that the only real alternative is a radical shift—a people’s economy based on social ownership, central planning, and cooperatives of small producers integrated into a unified plan for food production, infrastructure, and supply. Such a system can guarantee low-cost inputs, stable and fair prices, rational use of resources, and the elimination of parasitic intermediaries.
The Party thus calls for escalation of the people’s struggle, not only to defend the urgent demands of the farmers but to build the political and social alliance capable of confronting monopoly power, breaking with the EU and NATO, and paving the way for workers’ and people’s power.
The KKE’s presence at the roadblocks, its intervention in Parliament, and its continuous activity across unions, associations, and popular organisations highlight a consistent line: the battle of the poor farmers is a battle of the entire working people. The Party urges both workers and farmers to strengthen their unity, reject any attempt at division, and continue the fight with confidence, determination, and a clear orientation toward the real solution—popular power and a socialist reconstruction of agriculture and the economy as a whole.
In this framework, even the most elementary measures for farmers—such as reducing production costs, securing fair prices, or establishing real protective mechanisms—are dismissed as “fiscal impossibilities,” while billions are channelled to capitalist groups. The recent example of forcing livestock breeders to destroy their animals instead of ensuring vaccinations demonstrates, once more, that state policy sacrifices small producers for the benefit of monopoly interests.
The KKE places this entire confrontation within a broader class context. The struggle of the poor farmers concerns not only those who work the land in Thessaly or Macedonia; it affects workers, employees, and the popular strata across the country. High food prices—driven not by farmers but by wholesalers, middlemen, and state taxation—burden working-class households daily. The same political forces that crush farmers are those that attack labour rights, public services, wages, and social provisions.
For this reason, the KKE calls on the working class to actively support the farmers’ mobilisations. It denounces efforts by the government and the mass media to divide workers and farmers or to present the struggling rural poor as an obstacle to society. Such divisive tactics, alongside the deployment of riot police, chemicals, and arrests, aim to wear down the movement. The KKE demands the lifting of all repressive measures, the release of all detained demonstrators, and the immediate withdrawal of police forces from the roadblocks.
In his interventions, Koutsoumbas also linked the farmers’ struggle with Greece’s deeper political commitments to NATO and EU militarism. He pointed to the transformation of regions like Thessaly—especially Larissa—into strategic hubs for U.S. military drones and operations extending from the Balkans and Black Sea to the Middle East and the Red Sea. While the government spends more than €30 billion on armaments for NATO missions, it claims a lack of resources for essential support to farmers and workers. The KKE exposes this contradiction as proof that the state serves imperialist designs rather than the needs of the people.
Against this backdrop, the Party promotes a clear political perspective: no sustainable solution for poor farmers can be found within the current framework of capitalist development, EU policies, and market competition. Partial adjustments or temporary subsidies cannot reverse the relentless concentration of land and production in the hands of agribusiness. The KKE argues that the only real alternative is a radical shift—a people’s economy based on social ownership, central planning, and cooperatives of small producers integrated into a unified plan for food production, infrastructure, and supply. Such a system can guarantee low-cost inputs, stable and fair prices, rational use of resources, and the elimination of parasitic intermediaries.
The Party thus calls for escalation of the people’s struggle, not only to defend the urgent demands of the farmers but to build the political and social alliance capable of confronting monopoly power, breaking with the EU and NATO, and paving the way for workers’ and people’s power.
The KKE’s presence at the roadblocks, its intervention in Parliament, and its continuous activity across unions, associations, and popular organisations highlight a consistent line: the battle of the poor farmers is a battle of the entire working people. The Party urges both workers and farmers to strengthen their unity, reject any attempt at division, and continue the fight with confidence, determination, and a clear orientation toward the real solution—popular power and a socialist reconstruction of agriculture and the economy as a whole.