“The Spark Will Become a Fire”: KNE Festival in Athens Draws Mass Crowds, Sends Message of Struggle

Under a sky lit by flares and smoke, the 51st KNE-Odigitis Festival unfolded in Athens' Tritsis Park, drawing tens of thousands of young people and workers. 

The park transformed into a crimson citadel of defiance, echoing the Festival’s resounding slogan: “The spark will become a fire — with KKE strong, steadfast in every trial, ready at the call of History, for socialism.” For four days, Tritsis Park became a living “red city.” KNE’s organizations from every region marched in with banners, chants, and raised fists. 

KKE General Secretary: The danger of a generalized imperialist war is growing

Political speeches, discussions, and concerts continue throughout the country as part of the 51^st Festival of KNE -“Odigitis”. Dimitris Koutsoumbas, General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), attended the events of the 51^st Festival of KNE -“Odigitis” in Livadia, and made the following statement:

“We are in a very difficult phase as a people and as a country. We need to be as ready and mobilized as possible, because the government is constantly introducing new anti-labour and anti-people measures, starting with this monstrosity of a law that allows a 13-hour working day that will exhaust the people and workers.

KKE's leader Koutsoumbas: "The truly new productive model is the workers' power and socialism"

In a speech yesterday, 11/9, at the 89th Thessaloniki International Fair, the General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Dimitris Koutsoumbas, stressed that a truly new productive model is only possible through the radically different path of development proposed by the KKE.

"And this is the road of abolishing capitalist ownership and voracious profit. It is the road of workers' power, of a people's government, of socialism," he said.

 

KKE leader reaffirms solidarity with the Palestinian people, calls government to cut ties with Israel

"It is unacceptable for the Greek government to support the genocide and starvation of the Palestinian people by supporting a war criminal along with its allies. It must stop now, immediately, and cease all cooperation with this murderous state. A free Palestinian state within the 1967 borders must be recognized, based on the unanimous decision of the Greek Parliament in 2015", Dimitris Koutsoumbas, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), stated during a rally held on Sunday 25 August in Athens.

 

KKE blasts Greek government's despicable attempt to suppress popular protests against Israel’s crimes

KKE MP C. Katsotis holding a photo of a malnourished child in Gaza.

The New Democracy government is escalating its attacks on and repression of popular protests denouncing Israeli crimes in Gaza and the West Bank. These protests express solidarity with the Palestinian people and demand an end to all support from the Greek government for the murderous state of Israel as well as an end to all relations with it (military, political and economic).

It has even gone so far as to activate the anti-racism law, which confirms the KKE’s warnings that, once voted in Parliament, it would ultimately turn against the people and their movement.

 

Funeral of Ammar Bakdash, long-time leader of the Syrian Communist Party, was held in Athens

On Wednesday 23 July, the political funeral of comrade Ammar Bakdash, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Syrian Communist Party, took place at the Kaisariani Cemetery in Athens. Comrade Bakdash had come to Athens after being persecuted by the criminal regime of the jihadists in Syria.

A large delegation from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece, a delegation from the Central Council of the Communist Youth of Greece, and a delegation from the Syrian Communist Party attended the ceremony.

The KKE on the issue of refugees and migrants

Speaking during a relevant debate in the Greek Parliament concerning the ongoing migrant-refugee crisis in the Mediterranean, the General Secretary of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, said:

“According to the latest annual report by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide has reached 122.1 million. This figure that has doubled in the last decade due to an increase in armed conflicts, which have reached their highest level since World War II". 

Dimitris Koutsoumbas: The people and the youth must have confidence in their own struggle, with the KKE by their side!

Dimitris Koutsoumbas, GS of the CC of the KKE, spoke at the large political rally in Patras, which was the culmination of the events of the 34^th Anti-Imperialist Camp of KNE.

Thousands of young people also chanted together ‘Freedom for Palestine’ and ‘The imperialists are redividing the world, drawing borders with the blood of the peoples’, sending a message of internationalist solidarity to all the people that are rising up and fighting for their freedom against capitalist barbarity.

KKE's leader Koutsoumbas calls Greek government to end "all military cooperation with Israel"

"The developments in our region are critical! The murderous state of Israel, with its attack against Iran and backed by the USA, NATO, and the EU, has lit the fuse of war, with the danger of escalation across the entire region clearly visible," said the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), Dimitris Koutsoumbas, on Monday.   

 

Furthermore, the General Secretary added: 

 

KKE's leader Koutsoumbas: Greece must immediately recognize a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders

In the face of dramatic situation experienced by the Palestinian people due to the brutality of the Israeli state, the General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and President of the Party's Parliamentary Group, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, sent a letter today to the leaders of the opposition Parties.

The letter proposes the creation of a joint draft text that will be addressed to the Greek government urging it to take - also in its capacity as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council - relevant initiatives on the following issues:

KKE: 80 years since the Great Anti-fascist Victory of the Peoples - Its conclusions and significance today

Opening speech by Dimitris Koutsoumbas, GS of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), at the hybrid meeting of the European Communist Action, held in Berlin on 9 May 2025 under the subject “80 years since the Great Anti-fascist Victory of the Peoples.  Its conclusions and significance today”:

Dear comrades,

KKE's General Secretary concludes visit to Germany

KKE event in Berlin

Dimitris Koutsoumbas, the General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) concluded his visit to Germany on Sunday 11/5 with a speech in Stuttgart. 

 

The event, organized by the Communist Youth (KNE) organization, was held at Clara Zetkin Haus and was attended by numerous workers, members, supporters and friends of the Party.  

 

KKE Secretary: "9 May will forever be engraved in the peoples' memory as the day of the Anti-Fascist Victory"

Various activities are being held by the party organizations of the KKE and KNE throughout Greece to commemorate the 80^th anniversary of the Anti-Fascist Victory.

On 4 May 2025, at the Kaisariani Shooting Range, right next to the site where on May Day 1944 the Nazis executed 200 communists, a large rally of the Attica Party Organization of the KKE was held to mark the 80^th anniversary of the Anti-Fascist Victory of the Peoples, with Dimitris Koutsoumbas, GS of the CC of the KKE, as the keynote speaker.

KKE - TKP: Greek and Turkish Communist leaders meet, reaffirm strong fraternal relations

Koutsoumbas and Okuyan

The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), Dimitris Koutsoumbas met on Sunday (4/5) morning with Kemal Okuyan, General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), 902 portal reported. 

The meeting took place at the headquarters of the KKE in Perissos, Athens and was also attended by Giorgos Marinos, member of the Political Bureau of the KKE Central Committee, Elisseos Vagenas, member of the KKE Central Committee and head of the KKE International Relations Department. 

KKE's Secretary Koutsoumbas: Mitsotakis' meeting with war criminal Netanyahu an insult to genocide victims

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' meeting "with war criminal Netanyahu, while the genocide of the Palestinian people continues and escalates, is an insult to the victims of this crime, but also an insult to the Greek people who consistently express their solidarity with the suffering people of Palestine," stated Communist Party of Greece (KKE) General Secretary Dimitris Koutsoumbas on Monday. 

Koutsoumbas was commenting on the Greek prime minister's meeting with his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, in Israel on Sunday.

D. Koutsoumbas: The KKE's position on the nature of the war in Ukraine is confirmed once again

During the debate in the Parliament on 5 March, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, General Secretary of the CC of the KKE, referred, among other things, to international developments and the war fronts, noting the following:

“One of the things you told the people to justify our country’s involvement in the war in Ukraine in the role of a NATO stooge was that we are supposedly on the 'right side of history'. Among other things, this involvement has hit the pockets of our people, especially due to high energy bills.

KKE's leader Koutsoumbas on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army

In a statement concerning the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau by the Soviet Red Army in 1945, the General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, stresses out:

"The Holocaust of the Jews is a timeless reminder of the true face of the rotten capitalist exploitative system and the criminal nature of Nazism - fascism that it engenders. 

The KKE expresses solidarity with the communists and the people of Syria

During a speech at a party event in the city of Larisa on Sunday afternoon, the General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Dimitris Koutsoumbas, referred to the ongoing developments in Syria and the capture of Damascus by the Syrian "opposition forces". 

More specifically, Koutsoumbas said:

"In Syria, another war zone has been ignited on the global chessboard of imperialist competitions. There is another intervention that portends new sufferings for the people of Syria and the peoples of the region, new waves of refugees, possibly new border changes. 

European Communist Meeting held in Brussels: Speech by KKE General Secretary Koutsoumbas

On the initiative of the MEPs of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), the European Communist Meeting was successfully held in Brussels on 2 December on the theme “The EU of imperialist wars, capitalist exploitation and anti-communism and Lenin’s timely work on the Slogan for a United States of Europe”.

The introductory speech was given by the GS of the CC of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumbas. Kostas Papadakis, member of the CC and MEP of the KKE, opened the event and Lefteris Nikolaou – Alavanos, MEP of the KKE, gave the closing speech. Giorgos Marinos, member of the PB of the CC of the KKE, and Eliseos Vagenas, member of the CC and head of the International Relations Section of the KKE, also attended the meeting.

 

KKE leader Dimitris Koutsoumbas on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People

In a statement (here in Greek) concerning the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, which was established by the UN in 1977, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), Dimitris Koutsoumbas notes:

"We join our voices with the voice of the people of Palestine, with the voices of the peoples of the whole world who demand: The genocide that the state of Israel, the war criminal Netanyahu who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, is carrying out in the Gaza Strip with the support of the US, NATO and the EU, must stop here and now.