Greek debt deal: KKE slams government's celebrations, warns of new harsh policies

“The government's celebrations can not hide that yesterday's Eurogroup agreement is essentially a post-memorandum Memorandum [of austerity]. The so-called "post-memorandum" period, not only will not be accompanied by substantial relief for the working-class strata but will involve new burdens. The huge budget surpluses, the rigid surveillance and approval of the process of "reforms" by the "institutions", the privatizations, the preservation of all antipeople measures in the Memorandums, and the completion of all those “remaining issues” reveal the true outcome of the agreement" points out the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) in a statement on the Eurogroup decision on Greek debt.

Turkish elections: "Bu Düzen Değişmeli" as the real alternative for the working people

As the June 24th elections in Turkey approach, the electoral platform "Bu Düzen Değişmeli" (This Social Order Must Change), supported by the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), has intensified the struggle to inform the country's working class and popular strata that they actually have an alternative choice. The platform participates in the elections with 17 independent candidates in 13 provinces.

Below, we republish from soL portal, 19 basic policy points set by the TKP, as well as an electoral video which poses the question: 

McCarthyism reloaded: U.S. army kicks out young cadet who spoke against imperialism

WATERTOWN, N.Y. (AP)- The images Spenser Rapone posted on Twitter from his West Point graduation were intentionally shocking: In one, the cadet opens his dress uniform to expose a T-shirt with a blood-red image of socialist icon Che Guevara. In another, he raises his fist and flips his cap to reveal the message: "Communism will win."

Less than a year after Rapone's images drew a firestorm of vitriol and even death threats, the second lieutenant who became known as the "commie cadet" is officially out of the U.S. Army with an other-than-honorable discharge.

World Refugee Day: PAME expresses its solidarity and support with the refugees

In a statement regarding the World Refugee Day, the Secretariat for Refugees and Immigrants of the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) expresses support and substantial solidarity with the refugees:

The sharpening of the competitions for business group profits, the exploitation and the imperialist interventions have resulted in millions of uprooted and persecuted people around the world, the increase in 2018 of arrivals of refugees in our country. Thousands of them are trapped under outrageous conditions, stacked in the Reception and Identification Centers.

AKEL honored the memory of Cypriot communist leader Ezekias Papaioannou

Ezekias Papaioannou (1908-1988).

Last April, during the inauguration ceremony of a park named after Ezekias Papaioannou* in the city of Limassol, the Progressive Party of the Working People (AKEL) honored the memory of the Cypriot communist leader. AKEL's General Secretary Andros Kyprianou praised the role of Papaioannou in Cypriot politics and made some references to the late leader's life and political activity.

Among other things, Kyprianou referred to Papaioannou as "one of the most important political leaders of our country, one of the important personalities of the international communist movement" and "a Communist who lived a life full of struggles and service", beginning his speech with a passage from the memoirs of former Cypriot President (also former AKEL leader) Demetris Christofias: 

Tsipras regrets 2015 referendum, expresses full obedience to EU anti-worker reforms

In an interview to the German newspaper Die Welt, Greece's Prime Minister and SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras confirmed with his own words his total transformation into a docile impementer of the anti-people, anti-worker reforms, imposed by the EU and the capitalists. 

Speaking like a man who expresses repetance for his past, Tsipras had kind words for the German chancellor Angela Merkel, praising her role in dealing with the refugee crisis that swamped Greece in 2015, coming in the first few months of the Tsipras government's assumption of power.

PCPE: Don't be fooled by PSOE government's "good will" gestures on refugees

The Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE) salutes the offer made by the Government to accept in the port of Valencia the ship “Aquarius”, which has more than 600 people on board, among them more than one hundred children and pregnant women as well, and has evidenced once again the reactionary nature of the European Union, unable to give a humanitarian response to the denial of the governments of Italy and Malta to allow the arrival of such ship to their coasts. 

Capitalist Russia raises retirement age under the pretext of "budget stability"

According to international and russian media reports, Russia’s bourgeois government wants to raise the retirement age for both men and women and to increase value-added tax, unpopular measures it hopes will ease pressure on state finances, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday.

As Reuters has reported, Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have long talked about raising the retirement age but have shied away from doing so, in part because such measures risk stirring up popular discontent and damaging politicians’ popularity. 

KKE slams Tsipras government's deal with FYROM over the Macedonia name dispute

In a statement issued today, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece sharply criticized the government's recent deal over the Macedonia name issue. 

More specifically, the KKE statement writes that "the agreement between the governments of Greece and FYROM was achieved with the open intervention of the US, NATO and the EU, it has their stamp and was signed on the basis of the deadlines and timetables set by these organisations so that the euroatlantic integration of the western Balkans can proceed".

Ernesto Che Guevara: 90 years after his birth, his example continues to inspire

Ernesto Guevara: The man who gave himself

By Yisel Martinez / Source: Granma International. 

There are figures who never die, who cease being mere mortals to remain inevitably in history. People of thought, of character, of passion and sacrifice, who exalt human nature and attest to how much we can do as a species. Ernesto Che Guevara de la Serna is one of these figures.

It was no coincidence that his life should turn out like that. His asthma always accompanied him and made him a fighter. His father got used to sleeping up against the headboard of his bed, and Ernesto learned to control the asthma attacks lying on his father’s chest. 

He didn’t always go to school, and was taught at home. However, he became independent and determined. He practiced sports and studied medicine. The books written about his life note that he attended practice with a fever, that he was never absent or stopped working.

Macedonia name deal: A “solution” that serves the interests of NATO-EU imperialists

By Nikos Mottas.

Tsipras and Zaev agreed; the US, NATO and the EU applause. That phrase can describe the recent agreement between the governments of Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia regarding the decades-old name dispute. “We have a deal” said Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras yesterday in a televised announcement, describing the accord between the two countries on the name “Severna Makedonija” (Northern Macedonia).

World Day Against Child Labor: WFTU slams child labour as "barbaric" and "inhumane"

The World Federation of Trade Unions, representing more than 92 million workers in 126 countries worldwide strongly condemns the barbaric exploitation of the children as cheap labor force all over the world.

On the occasion of June 12th, World Day Against Child Labor, the WFTU reaffirm that the class-oriented trade union movement is fundamentally opposed and timelessly struggles against the capitalist exploitation and particularly the inhumane and bloody child labour.

PAME calls for nationwide demonstrations on June 14th against antipeople measures

On the occasion of the submission, by the SYRIZA-ANEL government, to the Parliament of the new omnibus bill that includes numerous antipeople measures, the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) calls the working people for nationwide rallies on Thursday 14th June. 

The demonstration in Athens will take place on Thursday 14th June, at 1 pm at Omonia Square. In Thessaloniki, the respective rally will be held a day before, on Wednesday at 7 pm.

Communist Party of Sweden: Statement on the proposed limitation on the right to strike

Communist Party of Sweden: Statement on the proposed limitation on the right to strike.

Further limitations to the right to strike

On the 5th of June, the three main labor union federations announced that they, in cooperation with the capitalists’ organizations had reached an agreement on how to further limit the right to strike.

Interview with Ástor García, Gen. Secretary of the Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE)

Special interview with Ástor García, General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE). 

IDC: According to your party's statement the dispute in the Parliament, between the People's Party (PP) and PSOE, consists the result of a competition between differents parts of the capital. Do you think that the big capital wants new anti-worker, anti-people reforms that a PSOE government under P. Sanchez premiership could implement easier than the previous government? If yes, could you briefly tell us what kind of reforms the new government is planning to implement?

Palestinian flag raised at Kesariani City Hall in Greece as a gesture of solidarity

In a symbolic gesture of solidarity to the struggle of the Palestinian people, the Municipality of Kesariani in Athens raised the Palestinian flag alongside the Greek one at the City Hall's facade. 

In a statement, the Municipality points out that "on the occasion of the 1948 disaster, the "Nakba", we express through this way our solidarity to the Palestinian people who, for decades, asserts their own free state, demanding the ending of the israeli occupation and the foundation of a Palestinian state."

What is Colombia seeking in NATO?

Colombia will be the first Latin American country to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as a “global partner.”

The South American nation already has a strong United States military presence in its territory, supposedly with the objective of combating drug trafficking. But its incorporation into NATO, a symbol of the interventionist militarism of Washington and its European allies, is an even more controversial step.

Italy: Outrage as migrant USB trade unionist murdered in Reggio Calabria

Soumaila Sacko, a 29-year-old Malian migrant always in the front row of the USB trade unions and social workers.

Another USB migrant militant was killed.

After Abdel Salam in Piacenza another migrant worker, the twenty-nine Malian Soumaila Sacko, inside the path of USB struggles between the workers of the plain of Gioia Tauro, was killed last night while together with other migrants he was near a disused factory perhaps to look for sheets or boards with which to build their own shack. He was joined by one of the rifle shots fired from 150 meters .

Nazim Hikmet: “One religion, one law, one right: the labour of the worker”

By Nikos Mottas.

The great Turkish Communist poet, Nazım Hikmet, died on 3 June 1963 in Moscow. He was an extraordinary personality, not only for his country but for whole world. 

A consistent marxist-leninist who never betrayed his beliefs. A real internationalist and a true patriot. A man who, through his unique writing skills and inspiration, became a symbol: A poet of the world's proletariat. 

The flame of Hikmet's magnificent poetry which set hearts on fire can not be extinguished, as long as there are people who continue the struggle for a better world, without exploitation of man by man.

Born in 1902, Nazim Hikmet was always present, through his poems and writings, in the major issues of his times. His heart - "one red apple" - was beating in the rhythm of the class struggle, of the fight against injustice and oppression. 

Solidarity with the dockworkers of Piraeus - COSCO's employer "terrorism" shall not pass

Photo from the dockworkers assembly in the Port.

On Wednesday 6 June the dockworkers at the port of Piraeus will organize a new strike, in an effort to organize their struggle against the orgy of employer terrorism exercised by the chinese multinational COSCO. 

On May 31st, COSCO filed a suit demanding the workers’ strike be called illegal and stopped. Based on the new anti-trade union legislation imposed by the SYRIZA-ANEL Government the Court of Piraeus convened immediately and called the Strike illegal.

Spain: "No trust" to Sánchez government, intensification of the people's struggle says the PCPE

"Not a minute of respite" towards the new government of Pedro Sánchez says the Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE) in a statement regarding the political developments in the country. 

"The approval of the motion of censure to the Government of Mariano Rajoy opens a new political cycle. The new government will try to take definitive steps to reform the political system, following a parliamentary debate in which it has been found that it is the very nature of capitalism that generates political corruption" writes the PCPE statement and underlines: "The dispute between the parliamentary forces represents the interests of different sectors of the bourgeoisie, which has seen its class economic interests guaranteed with the commitment of Pedro Sánchez to govern with the budgets designed by the Popular Party."

50 years since May 1968: The crucial role of the working class

On the occasion of the 50 years since the events of May 1968 in France, the Organ of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) "Rizospastis" (26-27 May 2018) republished abstracts of an interview with Mitsos Katsianakos (1942-2003), member of the CC of the KKE, who as a young worker had participated actively in the events of 1968. The interview had been published on 17 May 1998. 

Chronicling the facts, Mitsos Katsianakos said to "Rizospastis": "The May of 1968 wasn't just a student uprising and nothing else. We certainly had a student uprising, which began before May, towards the end of April and early May of 1968. Until then we had chases and skirmishes between students and the police in Quarter Latin, at the large university outside of Sorbonne. We had night street fights, until the 10th of May. By that time-and it should be clear to all of us-no one was worried. No one could see that this May would be red, that this May would give a new dimension to the social and political life of France itself.

Thousands of workers joined PAME in strike demonstrations throughout Greece

Under the slogan "your development crushes our lives! Struggle, organization and counterattack is our choice!" thousands of workers, young men and women, unemployed and self-employed people, pensioners joined PAME in demonstrations throughout Greece on the occasion of the 24-hour nationwide strike. 

In Athens, the demonstrators gathered at Omonoia Square, marched through the city's central avenues and reached Syntagma Square, outside the Parliament where they protested the antipeople, antiworker policies of the SYRIZA-ANEL government.

Italian communist leader Marco Rizzo: "The only revolution is the communist one"

Commenting on the recent developments in Italy and the failure of the two major parties to form a coalition government, the General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party, Italy (Partito Comunista) Marco Rizzo wrote on his personal twitter account the following:

"The governmental incident indicates who is in charge in Italy. The EU, IMF and NATO are able to choose ministers and not only. We, the communists, know that, as well as Di Maio and Salvini knew that. Forward to the battle against capitalist globalization. The only revolution is the communist one."

Ireland: The Communist Party welcomes the repeal of the anti-woman 8th Amendment

Statement by the Communist Party of Ireland.

26 May 2018.

The Communist Party of Ireland welcomes the vote of the Irish people to remove the anti-woman 8th Amendment of the Constitution. The result of 66 to 34, with a large turn-out, is a tribute to years of work and campaigning by many groups and individuals, and has little or nothing to do with the establishment parties. 

World Federation of Trade Unions: Abolition of all nuclear weapons everywhere!

The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), since the first years of its foundation, has had a clear and plain position against nuclear weapons. During all of its Congresses, decisions asking for the abolition of all nuclear weapons and of all countries have been voted.

Today, we are not only worried about USA’s withdrawal from Iran nuclear agreement but also about yesterday’s Trump unilateral refusal which canceled the scheduled meeting with DPR Korea’s leadership.

This position of the USA and their allies generates new dangers for the wider region and mankind as a whole. The USA, NATO and European Union aim at plundering Third World Countries’ natural resources, strengthening their spheres of influence and tracing new borders. The dangers for the World Peace are grave. The inter-imperialist antagonisms are constantly being exacerbated.

PAME denuncia la represión contra a los trabajadores del metro de Buenos Aires

Riot police forces at the Buenos Aires metro.

In a statement the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) denounces the violent repression of the police forces against the workers of the Buenos Aires metro. 

"The Municipality of Buenos Aires and the government of Argentina", writes the PAME statement, "responded to the just demands of the workers by using repression forces. In both Europe and Latin America the governments respond to the just demands of the working people with violence against the trade unionist organisation and activity". 

Joint Statement by Communist & Workers' Parties about June 24th elections in Turkey

As the communist and workers’ parties listed below, we condemn the Turkish government’s fait accompli in the strongest way possible, which prevented the Communist Party of Turkey from running for the elections on June 24th as one of the candidate parties.

We call on the people of Turkey for refusing to choose between one or another actor of the capitalist order. 

We invite you all to vote for the independent candidates of “This Social Order Must Change” Platform (Bu Düzen Değişmeli Platformu) and to raise the flag of socialism in and after the elections. Do not let the bourgeoisie to hold your future in their hands!

One gusano less: CIA-trained terrorist Luis Posada Carriles dies at 91

The most infamous terrorist in the Western Hemisphere, Luis Posada Carriles, died on May 23 in Miami, without paying his debts to justice or reparations to a single one of his victims.

The United States protected Posada Carriles until his final days, training him to plant bombs and carry out terrorist attacks against hundreds of Cubans.

According to a press statement by his lawyer, Posada Carriles died on the morning of May 23, at his Miramar home in South Florida. Although the cause of his death is still unknown, he was reported to be suffering from throat cancer.

Greek workers in the streets: Trade Unions call for National General Strike on May 30th

Under the slogan "Your development crushes our life! Struggle, organization and and counterattack", the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) calls the working people of Greece to participate actively in the 24-hour General Strike on Wednesday 30th of May. 

Labour Unions, students and womens' associations, peace committees and other groups of the class-based movement call for mass participation in the national strike. In Athens, the demonstrators will gather at Omonoia square at 10.30 am, while numerous strike rallies have been scheduled in many cities across Greece. 

The 20th IMCWP to be held in Athens on 23-25th November 2018

KKE headquarter offices in Athens.

The 20th International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties (IMCWP) will take place in Athens, Greece between 23 and 25 November 2018. 

The Meeting will be hosted by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) at the Party's headquarters in Perissos under the subject "The contemporary working class and her alliance. The tasks of the policy of the vanguard- of the communist and workers' parties in the struggle against exploitation and imperialist wars, for the rights of the workers and people, for peace, for socialism".

Venezuelan Elections: Maduro triumphs, calls for dialogue with opposition parties

President Nicolas Maduro won the Venezuelan presidential elections Sunday, gaining a second presidential term for six years with more than 5.8 million votes, the National Electoral Council (CNE) announced Sunday night. 

With 92.6 percent of the votes counted, Maduro had 5.8 million votes, while his closest rival, former governor Henri Falcón getting 1.8 million votes, said CNE President Tibisay Lucena who added that in total, 8.6 million Venezuelans voted, out of an electoral registry of 20.5 million people.

Anticommunist hysteria in Poland: Police storms university conference on Marxism!

The Communist Party of Poland denounces political persecution launched by the Polish authorities expressed by the increasing attacks. 

The especially outrageous example happened on the 11th of May when police entered the conference about Marxism held in Szczecin University’s facilities in Pobierowo. The functionaries acting on demand of the prosecutor’s office were searching for evidence of “promoting totalitarian system”. This intrusion constituted a clear violation of the university’s autonomy and constitutional right for freedom of the scientific activity. Professor organizing the conference said that police intervention was “an attempt to intimidate the scientists and to entangle them into the political order that is entirely contradictory with values such as freedom of speech and scientific research”. He also stated that the basic citizen’s rights are endangered.

Greece: Communist-backed 'Panspoudastiki' retains 2nd position in student elections

PANSPOUDASTIKI is once again the second force in the universities (AEI) with 21,43 %and 9.516 votes and a powerful force in the Technological Educational Institutions (TEI) with 19,52 % and 2.800 votes.

The forces of PANSPOUDASTIKI, with new forces in the student unions, with thousands of votes nationwide and with determination, will continue to be in the frontline of the efforts to regroup the student movement, the day after the student elections, which took place in the majority of student unions on 16th of May 2018.

This year as well the student grouping that is supported by SYRIZA , "BLOKO", received a very low vote, 424 votes, 0.95% in the universities (AEI) and 142 votes 0,99% in the Technological Educational Institutions (TEI).

Joint Statement of Communist and Workers' Parties condemning the murderous attack of the Israeli army in Gaza [En, Es, Ar]

The Communist and Worker Parties decisively condemn the attack of the Israeli army in Palestine territories, in the Gaza Strip, that has caused a bloodbath, murdering in cold blood unarmed demonstrators, men, women, and children.

Tsipras' government: Accomplice to the murder of the Palestinian people in Gaza

The new massacre in Gaza, with the murder of over 60 people by the Israeli Armed Forces, bears the signature of two murderous governments: the one of Benjamin Netanyahu and the one of Donald Trump. Israel and the United States are the main culprits of this horrific crime.

However, there are accomplices to the crime. They are the so-called "allies" of the governments of Netanyahu and Trump. They can't hide their responsibilities for the slaughter of the Palestinian people. The European Union, for example, is trying to keep equal distances from both the predator and his victim by suggesting "self-restraint" to both sides. 

Communist Party of Israel: The massacre in Gaza will not halt the Palestinian people’s struggle for Freedom

The Communist Party of Israel (CPI) strongly condemns the crimes of the Israeli Occupation against the unarmed Palestinian protesters in the March of Return rally in Gaza; crimes that killed more than 50 person, including children and people with disabilities. This terrible massacre will not stop the legitimate struggle of the Palestinian people for its freedom, an ongoing struggle for the last 70 years.

Massacre in Gaza - Israeli forces kill at least 59 Palestinian protesters in Gaza, while the U.S. moves its embassy to Jerusalem

At least 59 Palestinians were killed on Monday, May 14, in the Gaza Strip and more than 2,400 others were wounded as the Israeli army fired live ammunition and tear gas at protesters assembled at five points along the border fence with Israel.

Monday’s demonstrations, held in the context of the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, were the latest in seven weeks of protests calling for the right of return for Palestinian refugees to the areas they were forcibly expelled from in 1948. Since the protests began on March 30, Israeli forces have killed at least 90 Palestinians in the coastal enclave and wounded close to 10,500.

KKE strongly condemns U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital

In a statement regarding the official transfer of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece points out the following:

"The decision of the Trump government to open its new embassy in Jerusalem thus recognizing the city as the "capital" of Israel, portends new negative developments against the Palestinian people and all the people of the region.

KKE: Marxism as a factor in the shaping of sociopolitical processes in Greece

Marxist Theory as a factor in the shaping of sociopolitical processes in Greece: Some Conclusions drawn from the action of the KKE.

International Conference on Karl Marx’s “Capital” and its Impact on the development of the World Moscow, May 11 - 12, 2018

By Giorgos Magganas, 

representative of the Ideological Committee of the CC of the KKE.

The central work of Marxism, “Capital” is the foundation, the pedestal of a radically new worldview – Dialectical Materialism -  that, having assimilated the totality of intellectual achievement, shattered the limitations of the interpretations of the world, creating the theoretical preconditions that make changing it not only timely but realistic.

Communist and workers' parties condemn Ukrainian state's repression, stand in solidarity with the Communist Party of Ukraine

Various Communist and Workers' Parties around the world have expressed their condemnation of the repressive methods exercised by the Ukrainian authorities against the country's Communist Party. 

A total of 33 parties have signed a joint statement in which they denounce the recent raid of Ukrainian police forces in the offices of the Communist Party of Ukraine and its First Secretary Petro Symonenko. The statement is the following: 

PAME condemns Israel's new missile attack on Syria

In a statement, the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) condemns Israel's new missile attack on Syria, on Thursday, May 10th.

Israeli bombings in Syria aim Iran and are a dangerous escalation of imperialist competitions in the region while they are increasing the risk of generalizing the conflict.

16 years of Erdogan's rule in Turkey: Profits for capitalists, poverty for workers

16 years under the rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's AKP government stand for poverty and occupational murders for working people as capitalists enjoy Erdoğan's 'resurrection' model, writes soL international in an interesting report. 

As Turkey is heading to the polls for presidential and parliamentary elections, statistical data contradicts President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan‘s electoral manifesto and the rhetoric of ‘resurrection’ considering Turkey’s 16 years under the rule of his AKP party government.

Statement of the CC of the KKE for the 73 years since the Great Antifascist Victory

The Press Bureau of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece published the following announcement for the 9th of May, day of the Anti-fascist Victory of the Peoples’:

“Every human being who loves freedom owes to the Red Army more than he will be able to pay in a lifetime!” (E. Hemingway).

We honor May 9th, recorded in the History as the day that the 2nd World War ended and as the day of the Great Anti-fascist Victory of the Peoples’, at the expense of all those that try to falsify history, so that the peoples and the younger generations in particular forget the Anti-fascist Victory and the historical teachings that are drawn from it.

World Federation of Trade Unions: Long Live the May 9th Epopee!

Statement by the Secretariat of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU)

On May 9, 1945, in occupied Berlin by the Red Army, the Nazis signed their surrender to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, putting an end to World War II or the Great Patriotic War.

KKE denounces Ukrainian police's raids against the Communist Party and its leader

Petro Symonenko, First Secretary of the CC of CP of Ukraine.

The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) decisively condemns the provocative and violent raid of the Police Forces of Ukraine in the Office of the 1st Secretary of the CC of the CP of Ukraine, Petro Symonenko, in the Party's premises in Kiev, as well as in his home.

It is an unacceptable action incorporated in the anticommunist campaign, in the orgy of persecution and repression that the reactionary government has unleashed at the expense of the Communists of Ukraine, a government that is supported also by fascist forces and has the full support of the EU, the USA and of NATO. The fact that the raid in the Premises of the CP of Ukraine was organized in the eve of the anniversary of the Great Anti-fascist Victory of the Peoples, of the anniversary of the defeat of Nazism-fascism acts as a further provocation.