At that time, the working class of Thessaloniki, led by tobacco workers and guided by the KKE, launched major strikes and demonstrations demanding better living conditions, effectively taking control of the city for two days.
The events of May 1936 inspired the renowned poem Epitaph by the great communist poet Yannis Ritsos, which was later set to music by Mikis Theodorakis.
In his speech, the GS of the KKE referred to the historical conditions of the period, the influence of the Great October Socialist Revolution on the development of the workers’ struggles, and the subsequent formation of the Socialist Workers’ Party of Greece (SEKE), the name of the KKE in its early years. He also highlighted the striking similarities between the wartime conditions of that era and the situation today. Referring in particular to current developments, he stated, among other things:
“We repeat it here in Thessaloniki: your government, gentlemen of New Democracy, has no mandate to drag the country and our people into the slaughterhouse of war. Guided by the interests of capital, it also signed the renewal of the agreement with the French government —an agreement that has nothing to do with the needs and interests of our people, but instead serves multiple anti-popular objectives, above all the business interests and profits of French and Greek monopolies, while drawing the country ever deeper into imperialist rivalries and wars.
Now is the time to intensify the struggle against any participation or involvement of our country in the war! The government must not dare send Greek officers and conscripts to the Persian Gulf or the wider region. All personnel serving in imperialist missions abroad must return immediately. The bases of death —targets for retaliation and a danger to our people— must be closed now.
Especially here in Thessaloniki, the NATO Headquarters at the Third Army Corps, located in the city centre, must shut down immediately! There must be no further use of the port of Thessaloniki for the war objectives of NATO and the US!
We must now advance a solution with a view to tomorrow. This is not the time to wait for developments. This is the moment for the broadest possible popular mobilization and action. It is time for struggle and demands, so that the people are not once again made to pay for their profits and their wars! It is time to organize in workplaces, neighbourhoods, and wherever young people live and study. It is time to strengthen the working-class and popular opposition even further.
And today this can only be expressed through an even stronger workers’ and people’s movement, through a much powerful KKE. Join your forces with the KKE even further in the face of the difficult but also significant challenges that lie ahead.”
Following the rally, a mass demonstration marched through the streets of Thessaloniki, concluding at the monument to the tobacco worker, where a wreath was laid by the GS of the CC of the KKE.
