20th KKE Congress: The international communist movement praises the contribution of the KKE

By Nikos Mottas.

More than 100 are the communist and workers' parties which have sent letters of solidarity and greetings to the Cenral Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) on the occasion of the Party's 20th Congress. 

From Latin America to the Far East, communists highlight the significant contribution of the KKE in the efforts for the reconstruction and strengthening of the international communist and workers movement, as well as for the Party's internationalist solidarity. Here are some characteristic examples:

NIKOS BELOYANNIS, The Man with the Carnation: Always alive in the hearts and consciousness of the people

By Nikos Mottas.

It was in the dawn of Sunday 30th March 1952 when his heart stopped beating. The bullets of the firing squad gave an end to the lifes of the KKE Central Committee member Nikos Beloyannis and three of his comrades- Dimitris Batsis, Elias Argyriadis and Nikos Kaloumenos. The execution- murder- of Beloyannis was a crime of the then bourgeois Greek government of Nikolaos Plastiras and the U.S. imperialists.

Beloyannis, who is known as "the man with the carnation", was a cadre of the - then illegal- Communist Party of Greece (KKE). He and his comrades had waged an unwavering struggle against foreign imperialism and its local allies. For his political activity and ideological beliefs he was arrested, tried and executed.

“We believe in the most correct theory which has been conceived by the most progressive minds of humanity. And our effort, our struggle, is that this theory becomes a reality in Greece and the entire world (…) We love Greece and its people more than our accusers (…) Precisely because we struggle so that our country will see better days, without hunger and war (…) and when it is necessary, we sacrifice our lives.”  

- Nikos Belogiannis, abstract of his defense speech at the military tribunal.

The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) kicks off on Thursday in Athens

(Info from 'Rizospastis' / In Defense of Communism ©).

The 20th Congress of the KKE, which has as a major slogan "We strengthen the KKE. For powerful labour movement and social alliance. For the power, For Socialism", begins on Thursday 30th March at the Party's headquarters in Athens. Hundreds of representatives from Party organisations from all over Greece will gather at the KKE headquarters to participate in the works of the Congress which is held between 30th of March and 2nd of April 2017. 

The Congress' works will begin tomorrow at 10 am (local hour) with the presentation of the Central Committee's proposal by the Party's General Secretary Dimitris Koutsoumbas. The opening of the Congress and Koutsoumbas' introductory speech will be transmitted live by the 902.gr portal, the 902.gr webradio as well as from Party's radio station 90,4 FM in Thessaloniki.  

ITALY: Communist Party raises its voice against the EU with a large demonstration

Sotiris Zarianopoulos, KKE MEP, delivers his
speech at the event.

On the occasion of the 60 years since the Treaty of Rome the Communist Party of Italy (Partito Comunista) organised a large anti-EU demonstration in Rome. The event was attended by representatives of Communist and Workers Parties, such as the Workers Party of Austria, the Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE), the Communist-Revolutiony Party of France. 

The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) was represented by the KKE MEP Sotiris Zarianopoulos who delivered a greeting message.

Messages were also delivered by representatives of local labor unions and workers' associations. The event was concluded with speeches by the Secretary of the Front of the Communist Youth (Fronte della Gioventù Comunista) Lorenzo Lang and the General Secretary of Partito Comunista Marco Rizzo. 

Dimitris Koutsoumbas: Who has benefited from the EU, the people or the monopolies?

In his article published in the Greek newspaper "Naftemporiki", the General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Dimitris Koutsoumbas writes on the 60 years since the foundation of the EEC/EU (Treaty of Rome):

"The anniversary of the 60 years since the foundation of the EEC and later of the EU is celebrated by her founders, the capitalist member-states, the monopolies of the european states. Because the EU is their own creation for their own interests. It is not celebrated by the people of her member-states, because the EU has never been, is not nor can become people's EU. 

An apologist of Imperialism: Slavoj Žižek and NATO's war in Yugoslavia

By Nikos Mottas.

He is regarded by many as one of the most important living philosophers. Slavoj Žižek, the Slovenian psychoanalytical philosopher who poses himself as a Hegelian Marxist is the embodiment of pseudo-left intellectuality. A few months ago Žižek had endorsed billionaire Donald Trump for the U.S. presidential elections. A few years ago, the same intellectual charlatan was publicly defending and promoting the opportunist rhetoric of SYRIZA's Alexis Tsipras thus being a kind of "intellectual mentor" for the then leader of Greece's opposition party.

In 2015, Žižek had suggested that the antidote to the deadlock of global capitalism was... the militarization of society. More specifically he was writing: "Democratically motivated grassroots movements are seemingly doomed to failure, so perhaps it’s best to break global capitalism’s vicious cycle through ‘militarization,’ which means suspending the power of self-regulating economies.” (Slavoj Zizek: In the Wake of Paris Attacks the Left Must Embrace Its Radical Western Roots, Nov.16, 2015.)

KKE: Statement regarding the attack in London

In a statement, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) condemns the recent attack in London. More specifically the statement says:

"The KKE condemns the murderous attack in London, expresses its condolences to the families of the victims and its solidarity with the british people who must be vigilant- like the other people- regarding the role that various criminal mechanisms are playing, the actions of which are utilized for the strengthening of oppression measures, xenophobia and their intimidation".

Source: 902.gr / Translation: In Defense of Communism ©.

Vile anticommunism from SYRIZA's daily "Avgi"

The true face of social democracy's anticommunism is expressed through the pages of SYRIZA's daily newspaper, known as "I Avgi" (The Dawn). In a recent article, under the title "A tragic page of european history", the newspaper actually adopts the vile anticommunist-antisoviet imperialist propaganda regarding the so-called "Katyn massacre". 

Regarding this unhistorical and provocative article, KKE's daily "Rizospastis" points out that:

"The whole goebbelist propaganda about the murder of thousands of Polish officers by the Nazis at Katyn forest in 1941 (which was attributed to the USSR by the crumbling Nazi Germany in 1943) is, once again, adopted by "Avgi" and her known anticommunist "stalinologist" article writer Vlasis Agtzidis. The article reproduces one of the most characteristic products of History's counterfeiting during the counter-revolution period of Gorbachev and Yeltsin in the USSR, in 1991-92, when the notorious document of the 5th March 1940 appeared, according to which Stalin supposedly gave his permission for the slaughtering of the Polish officials.

KKE: Statement on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) issued the following statement:

"Fifty-one years after the proclamation by the UN, with the decisive contribution of the Soviet Union, of the 21^st of March as the International Day against Racial Discrimination, the capitalist world, in the USA, the EU, in Greece, is showing more and more clearly its inhuman character against refugees and immigrants, to the victims of imperialist wars and capitalist exploitation.

Karl Marx: The Man Who Changed The World Forever

Karl Marx: The Man Who Changed The World Forever

By Nikos Mottas*.

"On the 14th of March, at a quarter to three in the afternoon, the greatest living thinker ceased to think. He had been left alone for scarcely two minutes, and when we came back we found him in his armchair, peacefully gone to sleep-but forever”. With these words, Friedrich Engels had opened his speech during Karl Marx's funeral at London's Highgate cemetery. This year marks the 134^th anniversary since the death of the greatest thinker in the history of mankind; the man who tried not only to interpret the world but to change it. And, indeed, Marx's theoretical work became the basis for social change, highlighting the scientific perception of the class struggle as the driving force of History.

"The genius of Marx”, Lenin wrote, "lies in his having been the first to deduce from the lesson world history teaches and to apply that lesson consistently. The deduction he made is the doctribe of the class struggle” (V.I.Lenin, The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism). Marx's thought and work consists a milestone in the history of philosophy, political economy and social sciences. As Lenin wrote, the Marxist theory “is the legitimate successor to the best that man produced in the nineteenth century, as represented by German philosophy, English political economy and French socialism”.

KKE on Dutch Elections: "The peoples of Europe can escape from the vise of phony dilemmas"

On the occasion of the Dutch elections' results, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) issued the following statement:

"The so-called "eurosceptic" parties do not consist a solution to the antipeople policy which is getting stronger throughout the EU by all governments and which of course will be continued by the new government of the Netherlands. They are parties which express the interests of parts of the capital, of centers of the establishment, which are benefiting from the centrifugal tendencies in the EU and the eurozone and are seeking another version of capitalist exploitation.

The intervention of KNE at the 13th Meeting of European Communist Youth Organizations

Below is the full text of the intervention of the Communist Youth of Greece (KNE) at the 13th Meeting of European Communist Youth Organizations which was held in Istanbul, Turkey on 24-26 February 2017. 

Dear comrades,

We greet all the organizations participating in the 13th Meeting of European Communist Youth Organizations. We would especially like to thank our comrades from the Communist Youth of Turkey that gave their best to host this meeting, under the difficult conditions in which they fight in their country.

Communist Parties in India react on the electoral victory of BJP in Uttar Pradesh

The two major communist parties in India - the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M)- have issued statements regarding the victory of the right-wing BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), the governmental party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the state of Uttar Pradesh last week. 

The statements of the communist parties are the following:

COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MARXIST).

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

"Enough! It's time for uprising" - KKE calls for people's struggle against new measures

"Another agreement - Another looting. Enough is enough! It's time for an uprising!". With this slogan the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) organises a broad campaign within the country's working people thus calling them to organize their struggle against the new pack of measures that the SYRIZA-ANEL government is negotiating with the creditors. 

A KKE pamphlet writes among other things (translation from Greek):

"A WALL OF PEOPLE'S RESISTANCE AND COUNTER-ATTACK must be built against the new package of measures that the SYRIZA-ANEL government is negotiating with the EU and the IMF. 

The new agreement will escalate the attack against the working people, the self-employed people, the pensioners, against all people. 

Joint Statement by NCPN and TKP: To the working people of Netherlands and Turkey

Joint Statement by the New Communist Party of the Netherlands (NCPN) and the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP).

To the working people of Netherlands and Turkey.

A crisis is being practiced between the two countries reflecting the rude nature of the bourgeoisie politicians, so severe that we have not observed for many years. Now, they provoke and play with nationalistic emotions among the people and they try to benefit politically out of this tension being escalated.

However, we know that the politicians who are the heroes of this crisis resulting in the crisis reaching scandal dimension have been attacking their own working people and that they have put their signatures under policies extorting the rights of the proletariat. Both parts represent the bourgeoisie class and exploitative monopolies.

Turkey's Communist Party (TKP) unleashes new attack against Tayyip Erdogan

Photo credit: In Defense of Communism.

With a statement the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) bashes the AKP government of Tayip Erdogan. 

How much more will you humiliate this country? Get out of here!

Everyone is aware of the tensions between the AKP and several European countries. 

This international scandal is nothing but vileness done by a fundamentalist gang which considers its own interests, future, and destiny over the country’s destiny. 

Rare colour video from Stalin's Funeral in Moscow (1953)

Rare footage of Joseph Stalin's funeral recorded by U.S Army Major Martin Manhoff who served in the US embassy in Moscow from February 1952 until June 1954, when he was expelled from the USSR on charges of espionage. 

Pyongyang: "The U.S. is the worst human rights abuser"

KCNA (Korean Central News Agency) Commentary on U.S. Inveterate Repugnancy and Hostility toward DPRK.

Source: Solidnet.

Pyongyang, March 9 (KCNA) -- The U.S. State Department in "2016 country report on human rights" published on March 3 cited "data" on "human rights issue" in the DPRK and went so bully as to list the DPRK as an "authoritarian state".

The State Department made a flurry of rhetoric, let out by human scum-like "defectors from the north" who fled the country after committing crimes against their kinsmen and the nation, established facts in a bid to use them for tarnishing the dignity of a sovereign state. This is an expression of inveterate repugnancy and hostility toward the ideology and social system in the DPRK.

KKE 20th Congress: Read the Theses of the CC in 6 languages (English, Shqip, العربية, Français, Español, Pусский)

The countdown for the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), which will be held from the 30th of March to the 2nd of April 2017, has begun. Large banners with the slogan "We Strengthen the KKE" have been attached to the exteriors of the KKE headquarters building in Perissos, Athens, while members of the Party and its youth wing (KNE) voluntarily work so that everything will be ready for the big event. 

Within the framework of spreading the Theses of the Central Committee for the 20th Congress, the Party has published them in six languages, including English, Albanian, Spanish, French, Arabic and Russian. 

Capitalists and Jihadists: French-Swiss multinational admits indirect financing of ISIS

In our previous article "ISIS: A tool in the hands of Imperialism" we were writing among other things: "...the savage murderers of ISIS became part of an imperialist equation in Syria which serves the interests of the monopolies of the states involved in the war". The revelation of the numerous direct and indirect relations between large corporations and the jihadists was a matter of time. 

Such an interesting revelation came recently from London's "Financial Times" which expose the indirect financing of the Islamic State from LafargeHolcim, the French-Swiss multinational manufacturer of building materials.

Joseph Stalin's popularity among Russians continues to increase, reaching 16-year high

Sixty-four years after the death of Joseph Stalin, the popularity of the great Soviet leader in Russia continues to increase, reaching a 16-year high. 

More specifically, according to a recent survey by the independent Levada Center, the percentage of Russians who have a positive perception for the communist leader has been increased. Some 46 percent of respondents viewed Stalin positively, compared with 21 percent who said that they hated or feared the former leader. Another 22 percent described themselves as merely “indifferent.”

Most Russians — 32 percent — said that they looked upon Joseph Stalin “with respect.” Ten percent said that they had “sympathetic views,” while four percent said that they looked upon the leader with “admiration.” 

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNIST BULLETIN #4

KKE: Women's liberation is connected with the struggle for the overthrow of capitalism

With a political and cultural event held at the Party's headquarters in Perissos, Athens on Saturday evening, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) honoured the International Women's Day (8th March). 

Hundreds of women and men of all ages attended the event which had the slogan "With the KKE in the struggle for the equality and the contemporary needs of woman".

The major speaker at the event was the General Secretary of the CC of the KKE Dimitris Koutsoumbas. Secretary Koutsoumbas hailed the 8th of March as a "milestone day for the participation of women in the struggle for the equal rights between men and women in labour, education and social life". 

In his address, the KKE GS said that during the 100 years of the KKE there are numerous examples of communist women who have demonstrated extraordinary heroism in their activity. 

Solidarity with comrade Taly Nayandra of the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB)

With a statement, the Brazilian Communist Party (Partido Comunista Brasileiro) strongly denounces the brutality of the Brazilian Military Police against the PCB and Communist Youth Union's member Taly Nayandra Figueira dos Santos.

A indigenous activist and militant communist, Nayandra has been a candidate for vice-mayor in the city of Manaus, in the region of Amazonas.

According to the PCB, comrade Taly Nayandra was arrested by the local Military Police on Saturday 25th of February and suffered physical and psychological torture for more than an hour. 

Nayandra was placed in a room alone and was severely beaten by police officers with punches, face slaps and kicks, while she was also psychologically battered. After all this torture, she was left alone in a street of São Raimundo neighborhood in Manaus.

THIS IS CAPITALISM! Smartphones made by blood; child labour in Congo's cobalt mines

It's Capitalism, Stupid...

A Sky News investigation has found children as young as four working in Congolese mines where cobalt is extracted for smartphones.The mineral is an essential component of batteries for smartphones and laptops, making billions for multinationals such as Apple and Samsung, yet many of those working to extract it are earning as little as 8p a day in desperately dangerous conditions.

TESIS DEL CC PARA EL 20º CONGRESO DEL PARTIDO COMUNISTA DE GRECIA (KKE)

TESIS DEL CC PARA EL 20º CONGRESO DEL PARTIDO COMUNISTA DE GRECIA - PRÓLOGO

THESES OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE FOR THE 20th CONGRESS OF THE KKE (Full Text)

THESES OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE FOR THE 20th CONGRESS OF THE KKE

PROLOGUE

The Central Committee of the KKE publishes its Theses for the 20th Congress of the KKE, which will be held from the 30th of March to the 2nd of April 2017, four years after the 19th Congress, in line with our Statutes.

From the 19th Congress we have a new programme that expresses the elaborated strategy of the party for workers' power, socialism, and provides directions for the leading activity of the party under all conditions.

The Programme that was adopted by the 19th Congress of the KKE and the Congress decisions as a whole have met with  mass acceptance inside the party and KNE, and also amongst the supporters and friends of the party, more broadly amongst working class and popular forces in Greek society. This acceptance is borne out in practise by the significant activity developed by the Party and KNE on the basis of the decisions of the 19th Congress.

Despite all this, this deep agreement with our decisions, as well as the work developed in all the party's fields of activity in the framework of the efforts to implement these decisions, does not lead us to complacency, self-satisfaction, and even more so to a lack of concern about the weaknesses, deficiencies and about how and to what extent the Programme and Statutes have been understood and are best served by our activity.

Operation "Atlantic Resolve": How Greece's SYRIZA government facilitate the imperialists

Back in 1999, during the bombing of Yugoslavia by NATO's imperialists, the port of Thessaloniki in northern Greece had been a major gateway for U.S. army. The then Greek government of Kostas Simitis, leader of the social democratic PASOK party, had been proved a valuable ally of the U.S-led coalition thus providing the country's ports and bases to the imperialists. 

Today's Greek coalition SYRIZA-ANEL government, led by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, walks on the same path; it does anything in order to facilitate its imperialist "allies".