Demosthenes Ligdopoulos, Greece's first communist hero

 By Nikos Mottas.

Demosthenes Ligdopoulos was born in Athens, Greece in 1898. At the age of 18, in 1916, he was enrolled at the University as a mathematics student. On the same year, alongside his co-students Sp. Komiotis, Fr. Tzoulatis and Tzoumas brothers, he founded the “Socialist Youth” of Athens. Since then, the socialist ideas and the labor movement became an inseparable part of his life. The Great October Socialist Revolution in 1917 was an event that ignited the flame of Ligdopoulos' revolutionary thinking and activity.

The imperialist intervention against Soviet Russia in 1919 and Greece's participation

By Nikos Mottas.

The First World War had not yet ended when the imperialists turned militarily against the then-young Soviet power which had been dominated in Russia through the Great October Socialist Revolution on November 7th (October 25th according to the Old Calendar) 1917. 

The first British, French and U.S. troops disembarked in the country in Spring 1918. After the defeat of Germany in November 1918, the intervention was intensified: 14 capitalist states participated in the imperialist campaign with a total force of approximately 300,000 men [1].

Secretary Koutsoumbas in Thessaloniki: "A strong KKE means power for the people"

Photo credit: Konstantinos Tsakalidis/SOOC.

In a large political and cultural event at Palais des Sports indoor arena in Greece's second largest city, Thessaloniki, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) honored the 100 years since its foundation. 

Thousands of people of every age, men and women, workers, students, pensioners, attended the event, while the General Secretary of the Party, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, delivered a major speech. 

Among other things, Koutsoumbas mentioned that the KKE celebrated its 100 years in Thessaloniki, the city which fairly has her own contribution to the history of the country's labour movement. 

100 YEARS OF KKE - We wrote History. We continue. We shall win!

"We wrote History. 

We continue. We shall win!"

Source: "Rizospastis", 

17-18 November 2018.

"At Hotel 'Piraeus', in the conference room of the union of steamboats engineers, the first socialist congress of Greece commenced yesterday at its first meeting, with the main purpose being the unification of all the existing in Greece socialist groups into a single party, uniformly governed and represented at the International...".

Political event for the 100 years of the KKE held in Piraeus: "Capitalism- imperialism are the past - the KKE fights for a new world"

"A century of struggle and sacrifice, the KKE in the vanguard". Under this slogan, hundreds of workers, self-employed people, pensioners, trade unionists, students, people of sports and arts participated in the political event held on Monday evening in Piraeus, in honor of the 100 years since the foundation of the Communist Party of Greece. 

The event, which was organised by the Party's Central Committee, took place at the Piraeus' Municipal Theatre, just a few metres from the historic building when, on November 1918, the founding congress of SEKE (Socialist Labour Party of Greece), later KKE, was held. 

The General Secretary of the CC of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, was the major speaker, presenting the Declaration of the Central Commitee for the Party's 100 years which was published on "Rizospastis" on Saturday 13th January. The event also included a magnificent cultural performance dedicated to the 100 years of the KKE's existence and activity.