Aleka Papariga: The KKE’s stance towards bourgeois governments is a valuable tool for our current struggles

“Under capitalism, no government is an independent authority. Power is exercised by the bourgeoisie, and the bourgeois state is the instrument of its power, to which all institutions are subordinate. The decisions of the EU and NATO are binding and take precedence over national constitutions and national legislation. Governments of bourgeois management cannot and do not want to abolish the law of laws: capitalist profit. The defence of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie by all means is inevitable and obligatory. Laws are abolished through the revolutionary overthrow of the system itself and the establishment of a new form of power: of the working class in a socialist communist society."

 

Aleka Papariga — Lenin on the role of the revolutionary vanguard, the Communist Party

By Nikos Mottas.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin's death, an important event titled “Lenin on the role of the revolutionary vanguard, the Communist Party” was organized on Wednesday 13 March in the fully-packed “Studio” cinema, in the heart of Athens. 

The keynote speaker was Aleka Papariga, the former General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), former MP and currently member of the CC. The speech was followed by the screening of the 1937 Mikhail Romm classic film “Lenin in October”. 

The stance of the KKE in the face of the 1990-91 overthrows in the USSR

Interview with Aleka Papariga, member of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), former General Secretary of the Party from 1991 to 2013, in "Rizospastis" concerning the stance of the KKE during the 1990-91 counterrevolutionary overthrows in the Soviet Union. 

The interview (here in Greek) was originally published in "Rizospastis" weekend edition (18-19 December 2021). English translation by Nikos Mottas.

— The bourgeois parties celebrated when the red flag was lowered from the Kremlin. What were their main declarations at that time?

KKE: Former General Secretary Aleka Papariga placed head of the nationwide candidates' list

Aleka Papariga, the former General Secretary of the Party's Central Committee, has been placed first in the Communist Party of Greece's (KKE) nationwide list of candidates for the upcoming general elections of July 7th.

Born in 1945, Papariga has served as General Secretary from 1991 to 2013, thus being the first woman to head a major political party in Greece. Born in a family of National Resistance fighters and Communist Party members, Aleka Papariga became active in the peace and women's movements during the 1960s and 70s. 

Prespes Agreement in the Greek Parliament - KKE MPs expose the truth about the deal

The parliamentary debate on the Prespes Agreement began on Wednesday morning, with the final vote projected to take place late Thursday night. According to the state-run AMNA news agency, the vote is expected to be taken after midnight, during the early hours of Friday 24 January on Friday afternoon (updated).

The deputies of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) are participating in the debate exposing the actual nature of the Prespes name deal between Athens and Skopje as a tool of promoting the imperialist plans in the Balkans. In this post we present a report including the major abstracts of the speeches that have been delivered by the KKE MPs.

Aleka Papariga: Capitalism will not live forever; it will be overthrown

Speaking in a political event organised by the KKE Sectoral Organisation of Volos on Sunday 11/12, the member of the CC of the KKE and former General Secretary of the Party Aleka Papariga, mentioned, among others, the following:

"The KKE is the only Party that knows very well what the capitalist system means. It knows very well the danger of Capitalism, the power it has in its hands, but also knows that the capitalist system isn't a system that will live forever. On the contrary, it is a system which can be overthrown. [...] Many believe that as long as the Socialist system does not exist today, the only system that can exist is Capitalism. We say that Capitalism has contradictions and deadlocks- even today, when it appears in a global scale, without opponent- and can be overthrown.

Of course, it will not collapse by itself, but in one or another country the conditions for its overthrow can be created. And what is important today, above all, is that the working class and her allies must understand that there is the potentiality to take the power in their hands. 

Aleka Papariga- The importance of the critical assessment of the socialist construction in the 20th century

The importance of the critical assessment of the socialist construction in the 20th century for the strengthening of the labor movement and for an effective counter-attack.

By Aleka Papariga*.

Source: International Communist Review, Issue 2, July 2014.

When we made public the subject of our 18th Congress, which, besides the mandatory overview of our work, included as a special subject our conclusions from socialist construction, several friends of the Party wondered whether it was advisable, under the current conditions and while the signs of the economic capitalist crisis had already become visible in the international scene, to focus on such an important issue which, in their opinion, might not have been at the top of the agenda.

It is not necessary, of course, to remind the reaction raised in the bourgeois press, the ironic and bitter comments of well-known journalists, who were annoyed by our decision to deal with this issue as they knew beforehand why we took such a decision. Their reaction is quite understandable from their point of view; they have a sharp instinct, they catch everything that can give strength and dynamic to the revolutionary movement.

From the very first moment that we realized that the infamous course of perestroika was nothing else but the beginning of the counterrevolution and the temporary defeat of the socialist system, we understood that we had to bear the brunt of giving answers to all progressive people –and to ourselves as well- who were reasonably wondering what happened. Even more so, since it was proved that we were not at all prepared for such a tragic development; we had not anticipated it and, unfortunately, we did not have the appropriate reflexes in order to react, even just before the lowering of the red flag from the Kremlin.

Aleka Papariga fires at SYRIZA government: "You are the pillars of the rotten capitalist system"

Speaking at the Greek Parliament on Saturday, Communist Party's former General Secretary and current MP, Aleka Papariga unleashed an attack against the SYRIZA-ANEL government. "SYRIZA is the most recessive, conciliatory and degenerated thing appeared in the course of class-struggle" said Papariga in her speech during the discussion for the anti-people law on Social Security.

The former GS of KKE attacked Tsipras' government by saying: "you are the pillars of the rotten capitalist system". She stressed out that SYRIZA deceived the people with big lies, including false arguments such as that "the EU can become a union for the working people" or that, within the frame of capitalism, "another world is possible".

Aleka Papariga mentioned that SYRIZA has revealed it's true face and underlined that the government can only convince the people by using lies and deception.