FESTA DO AVANTE and KNE-ODIGITIS FESTIVAL: Europe’s largest communist festivals to be held in September

The posters of this year's festivals in Portugal and Greece:
Festa do Avante! and the 46th KNE-Odigitis Festival.

Despite pressure and efforts by reactionary bourgeois political forces to postpone this year’s “Festa do Avante” due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) has decided to proceed to the organisation of the festival, ensuring that all the necessary health measures will be taken. 

In a statement, the PCP provide solid answers to its critics about the festival’s organisation. The governmental decree on summer festivals and similar activities stresses out that they can be carried out as long as they comply with the necessary health rules and obligations. “The attack on the party is just an expression of the reactionary forces’ long-standing objective: to question the exercise of political rights and more particularly the activity of the PCP and unions”, points out an article of the Party titled “Why we organize the Avante Festival”. 

Nikos Zachariadis: 47 years since the death of the Greek communist leader

Today, August 1, 2020, marks the 47th anniversary of the death of Nikos Zachariadis, General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) from 1931 to 1956, one of the most significant figures of the european and international communist movement in the 20th century. 

He was born to ethnic Greek parents in Ottoman Empire's Edirne (Andrianoupolis) in 1903. At the age of 16, Nikos moved to Istanbul where he worked in various jobs, including as a dockworker and sailor. It was there when he started having his first organised relationship with the working-class movement. 

Greek and Turkish Communists: No to a military confrontation for the interests of the bourgeois classes and imperialist alliances!

In a joint statement, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) express their deep concern over the latest dangerous developments in the relations between the two countries and declare once again that the people of Greece and Turkey have the right to live in peace and shape their future, against capitalist exploitation and tensions created by the interests of the bourgeois classes and the imperialist alliances.

You can read below the statement in English, Greek and Turkish language.

Turkey-Greece tensions: The USA-EU stance adds fuel to Turkish government's aggression

Tensions in Eastern Mediterranean are, once again, at high level after the NAVTEX issued by Turkey on Tuesday, with which Ankara blocks the maritime zone south-east of the Greek island of Kastellorizo in order to carry out seismic surveys. 

From its side, the Greek government filed a protest demarche to the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and raised the issue with the EU, NATO and the United Nations. 

“Today’s announcement of Turkish surveys in a section of the Greek continental shelf through a new illegal NAVTEX constitutes an escalation of tension in our region”, the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement issued on Tuesday. 

29th Anti-imperialist camp of KNE: Thousands of young communists sent message of struggle

Source: 902.gr

Thousands of young men and women sent a powerful message of class struggle during the 29th Anti-imperialist Camp of the Communist Youth of Greece (KKE) which was held in Stomio, Thessaly, on July 17-19th. 

The 2-day camp concluded on Saturday evening with a major political event where Dimitris Koutsoumbas, the General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), delivered a speech. 

Greek Communist Youth (KNE) anti-imperialist camp to kick off on July 17th in Stomio

Archive photo from previous KNE camp.

Under the slogan “We remain strong – We move forward to counterattack. With the KKE for socialism!”, the Communist Youth of Greece (KNE) organizes the 29th Anti-imperialist Camp on 17-19 of July 2020. 

The camp, which has a tradition of many years, will take place in the seaside village of Stomio, close to the city of Larisa and will include numerous political, cultural and sports events.

Hundreds of young people from all over Greece are going to unite their voices against the new capitalist crisis, the anti-people policies and the country's involvement in the dangerous imperialist plans.

Hagia Sophia: The EU-NATO policy stimulates Turkey's provocation and aggression

The European Parliament group of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) condemned on Monday the decision of Tayyip Erdogan's government to convert Hagia Sophia into a mosque. 

As 902 portal reports, in an urgent question submitted to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell, KKE MEP Kostas Papadakis points out:

Hagia Sophia: Turkish and Greek communists condemn its conversion into a mosque

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's decision to sign a decree which converts Istanbul's Hagia Sophia, a World Heritage Monument, into a mosque has provoked negative reactions. 

In a statement issued today, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) condemns the decision, stating that the conflict is not between Christianity and Islam, but between reactionalism and secularism. TKP also calls the world's communists to denounce Erdogan's decision and the bourgeois reactionary mindset behind it, which obscures the future of Turkey’s working class. 

Greece: Huge rallies against ND government's bill which aims to restrict and prohibit protests

“The prohibition of demonstrations will not be implemented” was the message sent to the government by thousands of protesters throughout Greece who participated in massive rallies against the new law which aims to restrict demonstrations and public gatherings. 

In Athens’ Syntagma Square, outside the Greek Parliament, Trade Unions, Students Unions and various organizations of the workers’ movement gave a militant response to the government’s authoritarian bill.

Five years since the 2015 Greek referendum — The stance of the KKE was totally vindicated

By Nikos Mottas.

The 5th of July marked the fifth anniversary since the bailout referendum in Greece. The 2015 Greek referendum, a milestone event in the four year governmental term of SYRIZA coalition government, is one of the biggest political frauds in post-1974 Greek history. 

In the referendum, the Greek people were asked to choose whether or not they agree with the bailout conditions proposed by the so-called “Troika”, the EU Commission, the IMF and the European Central Bank (1). The outcome was a triumph of the “No” vote with 61.31%, contrary to 38.69% of “Yes”. 

KKE and PAME call for mass popular uprising against government's bill on demonstrations

In a statement regarding Greece's right-wing government's shameful bill which aims to ban demonstrations and popular protests, the Political Bureau of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) points out:

"The KKE calls for a mass popular uprising for the withdrawal of the ND government bill, which is trying to paralyze the right to labor-people's demonstrations, for which rivers of blood were shed. 

Greece: The prohibition of demonstrations by Mitsotakis’ government shall not pass!

On Monday, the conservative government of New Democracy (ND) submitted to the Greek Parliament a despicable bill that aims to restrict demonstrations, protest rallies and outdoor public gatherings. 

The bill stipulates that organizers will have to promptly notify police or port authorities about planned gatherings. It provides for restrictions regarding the amount of road space occupied and the location of the demo. It also allows authorities to ban demonstrations under certain conditions, and sees criminal penalties for violators.

Aris Velouchiotis: The soul of Greek Resistance

Today, June 16th, marks the 75th anniversary since the death of the iconic Greek communist guerrilla Aris Velouchiotis. A member of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and First Captain of the Greek People’s Liberation Army (ELAS) during World War Two, Velouchiotis is a leading personality of the Greek Resistance against the Axis occupation. 

Aris Velouchiotis, whose real name was Thanasis Klaras, Born in Lamia to a wealthy family on August 27, 1905, Aris studied at Larisa’s Averoff Agricultural School and worked briefly as an agronomist. 

Moving to Athens, he became a member of the Communist Youth (OKNE) in 1922 and a member of the KKE in 1925. Due to his radical, communist views he was sent to Kalpaki Disciplinary Platoon, an army camp where communist soldiers were imprisoned and tortured. 

Capitalism is the virus: Large workers' rally by PAME and Trade Unions in Athens

Under the slogans “Take a breathe. Break the chains of exploitation” and “Poverty, unemployment and authoritarianism: Capitalism is the virus” thousands of people, workers, students, young men and women participated in a large rally organized by the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME), Trade Unions and Labour Centers in Athens, Greece.

The rally was organized as a response to the anti-worker attack of the conservative ND government which tries, once again, to shift the burden of the new economic crisis to the people. 

KKE responds to the fabrications published in "Die Rote Fahne" online newspaper

On June 6, 2020, an article titled "The Migration Issue "divides" the Left" was published online in Greece. The author of the article is a geologist who had studied in Germany and lives in Athens. It refers to an article in the German online newspaper "DIE ROTE FAHNE", which deals with the migration issue in Europe and criticises the ΚΚΕ for ..."deficient analysis". 

The author of the article claims that what we are dealing with is a "not so friendly reaction of the "fraternal" Communist Party of Germany, KPD (Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands).

Dimitris Koutsoumbas on U.S. protests: "The myth of the American Dream is collapsing"

In an interview with CNN Greece, the General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Dimitris Koutsoumbas commented, among other things, about the mass protests in the U.S. following the murder of George Floyd:

“The murder of African American Floyd by a white police officer was the trigger for the outburst of popular outrage that had been simmering. Alongside state violence, this outbreak is affected by other factors, such as the 100,000 deaths due to Coronavirus – with most victims belonging to the poor popular strata who had no access to health facilities – as well as the burgeoning of unemployment and poverty.

KKE: Condemns U.S. aggression against Cuba, demands end to "barbaric blockade"

In a unilateral and arbitrary act, the U.S. government has included Cuba in the State Department list of countries which allegedly not cooperating fully against terrorism.

Read here the full statement-response of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

The groundless argument used by the U.S. government is the presence in Cuban territory of members of the delegation to peace talks of the National Liberation Army (ELN) of Colombia.

EastMed pipeline and the position of the KKE

THE POSITION OF THE KKE ON EAST-MED PIPELINE

The ruling right-wing party New Democracy, together with the "left" party SYRIZA, the Social Democratic Party KINAL/PASOK and the far-right party Hellenic Solution, aligning with the dirty plans of the USA - NATO - EU - Israel and having their eye on the "upgrade" of the bourgeoisie of Greece, voted on 15/05/20 in the Plenary Session of the Parliament the agreement for the gas pipeline "East Med" with concise procedures.

Charilaos Florakis Remembered: The story of a Greek communist leader

By Nikos Mottas.

It was the 22nd of May 2005 when Charilaos Florakis, General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) from 1972 to 1991, passed away at the age of 91. Florakis' life and activity, identified with the history and struggles of the KKE, was devoted to the ideals of marxism-leninism.

Born in 1914 in Paliozoglopi, a small village in Thessaly, Charilaos Florakis became a member of OKNE, the Communist Party’s Youth Wing, in 1929. As an OKNE member and later as a student and active worker at the so-called “TTT” (Posts, Telegraphs, Telephone Offices) he began his political activity, during a socially and politically turbulent period for Greece. 

European Communist Initiative: The slogan "Socialism or Barbarity" is more timely than ever

On May 10, 2020, a Teleconference of the parties of the European Communist Initiative was held, with the theme: "The struggle of the Communist and Labor Parties in the conditions of the pandemic and the new capitalist crisis".

The Teleconference was attended by 24 Communist and Labor Parties from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland,  Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Turkey and Ukraine.