On the 86th anniversary of Greece's entry into World War II, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) pays tribute to the heroic struggle of the Greek people against fascist occupation, highlighting the decisive contribution of the communists to the National Resistance and drawing urgent lessons for today's escalating imperialist rivalries and wars. October 28 is commemorated annually in Greece as Ohi Day (“No Day”), marking the rejection of fascist Italy's ultimatum in 1940 and the subsequent Italian invasion. The anniversary also recalls the years of Nazi-fascist occupation and the mass resistance movement that emerged under the leadership of the communists.
In a statement issued by the Press Office of its Central Committee, the KKE emphasizes that the Italian invasion marked Greece's entry into the imperialist Second World War, opening a period of immense suffering but also extraordinary popular heroism.
Amid famine, brutal repression, mass executions and atrocities committed by the occupying forces and their local collaborators, the Greek working people demonstrated remarkable courage and self-sacrifice. The Party particularly honors the 200 communists executed by the Nazis at Kaisariani on May 1, 1944, whose defiance remains an enduring symbol of resistance.
The KKE underlines its leading role in organizing one of Europe's largest anti-fascist resistance movements, through the National Liberation Front (EAM) and its armed organization, the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS), alongside other mass and underground resistance organizations.
It recalls that in July 1941, when Hitler's armies were still widely regarded as invincible, a handful of determined communists in occupied Athens undertook the seemingly impossible task of rebuilding the Party's organizations and creating a national liberation front capable of driving out the occupiers.
This initiative laid the foundations for the legendary EAM Resistance, which mobilized broad sections of the population and demonstrated, according to the KKE, the immense potential of an organized and armed people.
The Party also places the Greek Resistance within the wider anti-fascist struggle, emphasizing the decisive contribution of the Soviet Union, the Soviet people and the Red Army to the defeat of the Nazi-fascist war machine.
At the same time, drawing lessons from the German, Italian and Bulgarian occupation, the class confrontation of December 1944 and the struggle of the Democratic Army of Greece between 1946 and 1949, the KKE stresses that even the most heroic popular struggle cannot achieve final victory without a revolutionary strategy directed against capitalist power.
Turning to the present, the KKE warns that the world is witnessing an unprecedented proliferation of military conflicts, accompanied by growing war expenditures, the militarization of economies and increasingly dangerous rivalries between imperialist powers.
It identifies the confrontation between the United States and China for supremacy within the international imperialist system as a central factor threatening to drag humanity into another catastrophic war.
The statement sharply criticizes the Greek government's deepening involvement in imperialist plans alongside the United States, the European Union and Israel. According to the KKE, the Greek bourgeoisie presents its own strategic interests as the interests of the entire nation, demanding new sacrifices from the people to strengthen its regional position.
The Party also warns against the sharpening antagonisms between the Greek and Turkish bourgeois classes, stressing that the peoples of the two countries have nothing to divide them. It highlights the fraternal relations and common positions of the Communist Party of Greece and the Communist Party of Turkey.
Recalling the historical experience of the 1940s, the KKE argues that the interests of the working people and those of capital remain fundamentally opposed, in times of peace as well as war. It insists that the defense of sovereign rights must be inseparable from the struggle against imperialist alliances and for workers' and people's power.
The statement calls for the strengthening of mass mobilizations against war preparations and anti-people policies, highlighting the international coordinated strike action at more than 100 ports on October 30, upcoming student demonstrations and the nationwide general strike scheduled for November 25.
For the KKE, the fundamental lesson of the anti-fascist struggle remains as relevant as ever: the working class and the people possess the strength to change the course of history, provided they organize independently of the interests and objectives of their exploiters.
Eighty-six years after October 28, 1940, the KKE reaffirms its determination to carry the struggle through to the end — for the overthrow of capitalist barbarism and the construction of socialism-communism in Greece.
Amid famine, brutal repression, mass executions and atrocities committed by the occupying forces and their local collaborators, the Greek working people demonstrated remarkable courage and self-sacrifice. The Party particularly honors the 200 communists executed by the Nazis at Kaisariani on May 1, 1944, whose defiance remains an enduring symbol of resistance.
The KKE underlines its leading role in organizing one of Europe's largest anti-fascist resistance movements, through the National Liberation Front (EAM) and its armed organization, the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS), alongside other mass and underground resistance organizations.
It recalls that in July 1941, when Hitler's armies were still widely regarded as invincible, a handful of determined communists in occupied Athens undertook the seemingly impossible task of rebuilding the Party's organizations and creating a national liberation front capable of driving out the occupiers.
This initiative laid the foundations for the legendary EAM Resistance, which mobilized broad sections of the population and demonstrated, according to the KKE, the immense potential of an organized and armed people.
The Party also places the Greek Resistance within the wider anti-fascist struggle, emphasizing the decisive contribution of the Soviet Union, the Soviet people and the Red Army to the defeat of the Nazi-fascist war machine.
At the same time, drawing lessons from the German, Italian and Bulgarian occupation, the class confrontation of December 1944 and the struggle of the Democratic Army of Greece between 1946 and 1949, the KKE stresses that even the most heroic popular struggle cannot achieve final victory without a revolutionary strategy directed against capitalist power.
Turning to the present, the KKE warns that the world is witnessing an unprecedented proliferation of military conflicts, accompanied by growing war expenditures, the militarization of economies and increasingly dangerous rivalries between imperialist powers.
It identifies the confrontation between the United States and China for supremacy within the international imperialist system as a central factor threatening to drag humanity into another catastrophic war.
The statement sharply criticizes the Greek government's deepening involvement in imperialist plans alongside the United States, the European Union and Israel. According to the KKE, the Greek bourgeoisie presents its own strategic interests as the interests of the entire nation, demanding new sacrifices from the people to strengthen its regional position.
The Party also warns against the sharpening antagonisms between the Greek and Turkish bourgeois classes, stressing that the peoples of the two countries have nothing to divide them. It highlights the fraternal relations and common positions of the Communist Party of Greece and the Communist Party of Turkey.
Recalling the historical experience of the 1940s, the KKE argues that the interests of the working people and those of capital remain fundamentally opposed, in times of peace as well as war. It insists that the defense of sovereign rights must be inseparable from the struggle against imperialist alliances and for workers' and people's power.
The statement calls for the strengthening of mass mobilizations against war preparations and anti-people policies, highlighting the international coordinated strike action at more than 100 ports on October 30, upcoming student demonstrations and the nationwide general strike scheduled for November 25.
For the KKE, the fundamental lesson of the anti-fascist struggle remains as relevant as ever: the working class and the people possess the strength to change the course of history, provided they organize independently of the interests and objectives of their exploiters.
Eighty-six years after October 28, 1940, the KKE reaffirms its determination to carry the struggle through to the end — for the overthrow of capitalist barbarism and the construction of socialism-communism in Greece.