9 May 2020: The European Communist Initiative for the People's Great Antifascist Victory

Statement by the European Communist Initiative on the 75th anniversary of the Great Antifascist Victory of 9th May 1945:

75 years ago, the Red Army raised the Red Flag in the heart of Berlin,signaling the great anti-fascist victory of the peoples and the defeat of Nazism, after a hard and bloody struggle, led by the Soviet Union, to which decisively contributed many anti-fascist partisans and movements, led by the CPs, from many countries who responded to the call, committed to crush the reactionary forces headed by Italy and Germany.

Turkish musician Ibrahim Gökcek, member of Grup Yorum band, dies in hospital

Turkish music band Grup Yorum have announced that their bass guitarist Ibrahim Gökcek has died at the hospital where he was treated.

After Grup Yorum applied to the Governor's Office of Istanbul to hold a concert, Ibrahim Gökcek had decided to end his death fast on the 323rd day and he was taken to a hospital in an ambulance on May 5.

Gökcek was 40 years old. His wife Sultan Gökcek, whom he married five years ago, is still arrested in Istanbul's Silivri Prison.

International Communist Bulletin #1 2020

 Week #1, May 2020

Greece: PAME’s impressive May 1st rally caused nightmares to anti-communists

The impressive May Day rally in Athens / Photo: Reuters.

The great, eye-catching demonstration  organized by the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) on May 1st in Athens' Syntagma Square caused nightmares to anti-communists and various apologists of capitalist barbarity. 

The enemies of the working class from all over the bourgeois political spectrum, from Golden Dawn's neo-Nazi criminals to conservative New Democracy MPs and from far-right charlatans to SYRIZA's social democrats, expressed their deep discomfort for the celebration of the International Workers’ Day.

Karl Marx's birth anniversary: 20 quotes by the philosopher who changed the world

Today marks the 202nd anniversary since the birth of the greatest of the philosophers, whose teachings changed the course of world's history. Karl Marx was born on 5 May 1818 in Trier, part of then Kingdom of Prussia. 

On the occasion of his 202th birth anniversary, we choosed from the treasury of his writings, 20 memorable quotes:

1. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.

Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right (1844).

KKE condemns the new intervention attempt by mercenaries against Venezuela

In a statement the International Relations Section of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) condemns the new infiltration attempt by mercenaries against Venezuela. 

More specifically the statement, which was published in 902 portal, reads:

“The KKE condemns the new intervention attempt in Venezuela by paramilitary group of mercenaries based in Colombia whose aim, according to the statements of the paramilitry group's leader in social media, was to cause sabotages and murder members of the Venezuelan government. The group of mercenaries-murderers was countered by Venezuela’s security forces.

Turkey and Covid-19: Interview of TKP General Secretary Kemal Okuyan in "Rizospastis"

In an interview with the daily newspaper of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) "Rizospastis", the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) Kemal Okuyan commented on the Covid-19 pandemic, its effects on working-class and TKP's initiatives to protect the health and rights of the workers. Okuyan noted that they have built solidarity networks organized by the district organizations of TKP:

— What is the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic in Turkey? How does the TKP judge the measures of the Erdogan government and the positions of other bourgeois parties?

"The deadliest virus is capitalism": Great May Day rally by PAME in Athens

In a rally with great symbolism, workers and labour unions honored the International Workers’ Day in Athens’ Syntagma Square, thus sending a powerful message of proletarian solidarity. 

Organized by the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME), the rally took place with all the necessary measures of protection due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the protestors keeping distance from each other, wearing masks and gloves. 

Workers' May Day 2020: Message by the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE)

Message by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) on the occasion of the International Workers' Day:

This year’s Workers’ May Day finds the working class of our country and all over the world in the middle of a pandemic. The working people, the poor popular strata are once again the great victims of this “healthcare” crisis that functions as a catalyst for a new deep capitalist economic crisis, but also for the promotion of plans and demands from big capital and its political representatives.

The collapse of the public healthcare system, even in the apex of capitalism, the USA, despite the heroism of healthcare workers there, the intensification of labor and the lack of even the most basic protection measures with risks to the lives and the health of the working people, unemployment, the testing out of new, more advanced forms of exploitation, such as telework, are just a few of the daily images that reveal the decay and the historical bankruptcy of capitalism.

Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) denounces Bolsonaro for "crimes against humanity"

In a statement regarding the current situation in Brazil, the COVID-19 pandemic and the policy of the far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian Communist Party (Partido Comunista Brasileiro) points out:

The capitalist crisis, aggravated by the global Coronavirus pandemic, continues to aggravate and threaten peoples' lives. The number of people infected and killed by COVID-19 increases. Even in this scenario, imperialism continues to show its claws to maintain the profit rates of the capitalist monopolies at any cost. 

May Day 2020: Joint Statement by Communist and Workers' Parties - Capitalism is not the end of history

Joint Statement by Communist and Workers' Parties on the occasion of the 1st of May, the International Workers' Day.

The Communist and Workers' Parties, which co-sign this Joint Statement, would like to express a common global position on the occasion of the first of May International Labor Day. Despite the fact that this year's workers' mobilizations will not be as massive as in previous years, due to the effects of the Covid-19 epidemic, workers will use many forms of struggle to honor their International Labor Day as a strike day, and will project their goals and demands, to oppose capitalist exploitation.

May Day 2020 amidst Coronavirus pandemic — Statement by the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU)

The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), on the occasion of May Day 2020, salutes the workers in all continents; all those whose work continues to move the gears of life even in difficult conditions such as the Coronavirus Pandemic and keeps producing all the necessary goods so that life may continue and the needs of workers and popular strata can be met.

We honor the millions of employees in public healthcare systems around the world: doctors, nurses, all healthcare workers, who amidst the Coronavirus pandemic struggle every day to save the patients from the pandemic without even having the necessary protective and medical equipment, risking their own health and lives. 

Lenin's Great Heritage: KKE General Secretary D. Koutsoumbas writes in "Sovetskaya Rossiya"

In an article published on April 22, 2020 in “Sovetskaya Rossiya” newspaper, the General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Dimitris Koutsoumbas praises the personality and heritage of Vladimir Lenin on the occasion of his 150th birth anniversary. 

“Today, 150 years since the birth of V.I.Lenin, the teachings of this great revolutionary and theorist of scientific communism remain alive, relevant, serves as a guide of the struggle of the international working class, of the people’s movements, for the their final and irrevocable this time liberation by the exploitation, oppression and injustice - which are characteristic of capitalist production relations, of the capitalist system itself which, for decades, has been at its last and highest, most dangerous and barbaric stage, the stage of imperialism”.