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The Communist Party of Greece ( party of Greece . HISTORY The history of KKE is an integral part of Modern Greek History . Foundation The party was founded on , a Greek Jewish teacher and leading labor movement leader in Thessaloniki . The party was run by a five-member central committee which included N. Dimitratos, D. Ligdopoulos, M. Sideris, Arvanitis and Kokkinos. SEKE opposed the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) as being imperialistic, and called upon Greek soldiers to desert their ranks and turn their guns against the King . At the Second Congress of the SEKE in April 1920, the party decided to affiliate to the Third International . In addition, it extended its name to ''Socialist Labour Party of Greece-Communist'' (''SEKE-K''). A new central committee was elected, which included N. and P. Dimitratos, Y. Kordatos, G. Doumas and M. Sideris. At the Third Extraordinary Congress of the SEKE-K in November 1924 , the party was renamed the ''Communist Party of Greece'' and adopted the principles of Marxism-Leninism . Pandelis Pouliopoulos was elected as secretary general. The party has been functioning ever since on the basis of Democratic Centralism . In 1934 the KKE officially signed a document recognizing an independent Macedonia which negatively affected their popularity with the public. The party was banned in 1936 by the Metaxas dictatorship. Many of its members were imprisoned or exiled in isolated islands. WWII, Resistance and Civil War See Also: Greek Resistance Greek Civil War soldier.]] When World War II started, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact caused much confusion to KKE. Nikolaos Zachariadis , the general secretary of KKE, wrote while in prison,:
One month later a second letter was released by Zachariadis which accused Metaxas regime of waging an "imperialistic" war and appealed to from Greece After the German attack against the Soviet Union, the Greek Communists together with other parts of the Left formed the National People's Liberation Army (ELAS). They were joined by other, center-left or non-politicized Greek resistance fighters and by 1944 they controlled three-fifths of the country. As the outcome of the war was becoming inevitable, ELAS and other non-communist resistance groups, including the National Republican Greek League (EDES), fought increasingly bitter battles against each other to secure post-war dominance. It is important to state that most times "5/42 Evzonon Regiment 1941-1944", Hellenic Army General Staff, Athens, 1979 ELAS attacked other non-communist resistance groups (like 5/42 Regiment "Evzonon",killing almost 300 men and the commander of the group, Colonel D. Psarros). In a rare instance, ELAS and EDES joined forces on November 25 1942 , and blew up the Gorgopotamos bridge in Phokis . This action disrupted the German transportation of ammunition via Greece to Rommel . At the end of the war, fighting broke out between ELAS and the Greek government, after the refusal of ELAS to disarm its forces (despite the fact that 6 ministers of the newly established Greek government were communists)"The Greek tragedy, in three stages", K. Mbarmbis, Pelasgos, Athens, 2000". ELAS forces were backed by Greece's Communist neighbors (as they supported the annexation of Greek Macedonia to Yugoslavia), whereas the Greek government was backed by the British army. Following a cease fire agreement known as Varkiza pact, ELAS laid down a small portion of its arms"Civil War Archives", Hellenic Army General Staff, Athens, 1998. However, prosecutions of leftists after the Varkiza accord (due to past criminal action) and after terror acts against ELAS in Greek countryside (from the families of those that had been murdered by ELAS during the past)"The Greek tragedy, in three stages", K. Mbarmbis, Pelasgos, Athens, 2000" ELAS started fighting in 1946 against the legitimate Greek government. They formed a new army called Democratic Army Of Greece . The war was extremely violent, with heavy casualties on both sides. The Greek Civil War was to last until 1949 , with the defeat of the communist forces. Most historians attribute the final outcome of the war to two determining factors: on the one hand, the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine provided crucial support to the governmental side. On the other hand, Tito cut off all military support and training to ELAS after he broke-off relations with Stalin . One can also argue that by refusing to participate in the first post-war elections, the KKE precluded its voice from the democratic debate, leaving military operations as the most obvious alternative. At the end of WWII, similar condition of near civil war had existed in Italy, France and Belgium but there, the communist parties chose to become active in the democratic procedures and the reconstruction process. Post War Era After the Civil War, KKE was declared illegal and most of its prominent members had to leave Greece or go underground, to avoid prosecution for criminal action during the war. Those that chose to do neither were prosecuted, jailed or exiled. A notable member of KKE, Nikos Beloyannis , was executed in 1952 despite international appeals for clemency. Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos , later to become the leader of the Regime Of The Colonels was one of the three judge court martial that condemned Beloyannis to death. During this period of illegality, KKE critically supported the "Eniaia Dimokratiki Aristera" (''EDA'') party and scores of KKE members also enlisted with the EDA. Former King Constantine claims that in 1964 he proposed to George Papandreou (senior) that KKE be legalized. According to the former monarch, Papandreou refused to comply so as not to lose his party's left-wing supporters. 1 This allegation cannot be verified, as it was expressed after Papandreou's death. Moreover, Constantine's public statements regarding communism during the 1960s renders the veracity of this allegation questionable. During the Junta See Also: Greek military junta of 1967-1974 On April 21 1967 a group of right wing Colonels of the Greek Army , lead by Georgios Papadopoulos successfully carried out a Coup D'état on the pretext of imminent "communist threat", establishing what became known as the '' Regime Of The Colonels ''. All political parties (including EDA) were dissolved, and civil liberties were suppressed for all Greek citizens. KKE members were persecuted together with all opponents of the junta. In 1968 , during the junta, a crisis escalated between KKE's two main communist factions. The crisis was provoked by the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia that crushed the Prague Spring . The brutality of the event led many Greek communists to break with the Moscow-oriented KKE and to follow the nascent Eurocommunist line, which favoured national agendas and a more democratic road to socialism. A relatively large group split from KKE, forming what became known as '' KKE Interior '' ("ΚΚΕ εσωτερικού"). It later established new bonds with eurocommunist parties such as the Italian Communist Party . Supporters of '' KKE Interior '' called KKE ''KKE Exterior'' ("ΚΚΕ εξωτερικού") to evoke the belief that KKE's policies were dictated by the Politburo in the Soviet Union . Legalisation After the restoration of parliamentary democracy in : 9.48%). Participation in government In 1989 KKE and KKE esoterikou, along with other left parties and organisations, formed the '' to form a short lived government amidst a political spectrum shaken by accusations of economic scandals against the previous administration of PASOK 's Andreas Papandreou . The coalition ended when New Democracy won the next elections with a sufficient majority. In 1991 , KKE withdrew from the coalition. A portion of its members, however, left from the party and remained in '' Synaspismos Tis Aristeras Kai Tis Proodou '' which evolved into a separate left wing party. SPLITS There have been a series of splits throughout the party's history, the earliest one being the Trotskyist OKDE (Οργάνωση Κομμουνιστών Διεθνιστών Ελλάδας, Greek for "Organization of Communists and Internationalists of Greece"). In 1968, amidst the (PCI), following a Eurocommunist line ever since. In the early 90's, the KNE , KKE's youth wing split to form NAR , the "New Left Current". The majority of its youth in major cities, especially in Thessaloniki , left to NAR . Despite the loss of many of its members, though, the KNE was quickly reorganised with new members, and became a popular youth organisation. Its stance during the Yugoslav Wars and the fact that it organised massive demonstrations against the European Union and the USA , which attracted many young people made it rather popular among young people and many recruitments were made during that time. In 1989 KKE and KKE esoterikou, along with other left parties and organizations, formed the '' Synaspismos Tis Aristeras Kai Tis Proodou '', (''Coalition of the Left and Progress''). In 1991 , KKE withdrew from Synaspismos. A portion of its members, however, left from the party and remained in Synaspismos which evolved into a separate left wing party. In the early 2000s, a group of major party officials such as Mitsos Kostopoulos left the party and formed the KEDA (Κίνηση για την Ενότητα Δράσης της Αριστεράς, Movement for the United in Action Left). KEDA has cooperated with Synaspismos in the recent legislative election, in the Coalition Of The Radical Left . ORGANISATION See Also: Communist Youth of Greece logo.]] KKE's youth section is the ). KNE publishes a monthly journal ODIGITIS. Every year it organises festivals in most cities of Greece. The central festival is organised in Athens every September and lasts four days with the participation of thousands of young people, especially university students. This festival is named Festival KNE-ODIGITIS. The section of KNE in universities is the syspirosys Panspoudastikes Kiniseis Synergasias (PKS), which take part in student elections. The last years it has regained much of its strength in universities, gaining about 18% of votes in universities' elections. CURRENT ACTIVITIES The Communist Party stands in elections and has members in local government, national parliament and the European Parliament . In the European Parliament it is part of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left group and has 3 MEP. It publishes the daily newspaper, Rizospastis . It also publishes the political and theoretical journal, Komounistiki Epitheorisi (Communist Review) every 2 months and a journal with educational issues, Themata Paideias. LIST OF GENERAL SECRETARIES General Secretaries # Nikolaos Dimitratos (November 1918-) # Giannis Kordatos (February 1922-) # Nikolaos Sargologos (November 1922-) # Thomas Apostolidis (September 1923-) # Pandelis Pouliopoulos (December 1924-) # Pastias Giatsopoulos (September 1926-) # Andronikos Xaitas (March 1927-) # Nikolaos Zachariadis (1931/36) # Andreas Tsipas (July 1941-September 1941) # Georgios Siantos (January 1942-1945) # Nikolaos Zachariadis (1945-1956) # Apostolos Grozos (1956) # Konstantinos Koligiannis (1956-1972) # Charilaos Florakis (1972-1989) # Grigoris Farakos (1989-1991) # Aleka Papariga (1991-) PARTY'S ELECTORAL RESULTS SEE ALSO ENDNOTES #Thanassis Lalas, "Constantine Speaks About All", ''BHMAgazino'', June 3, 2001. EXTERNAL LINKS REFERENCES |
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