The full speech of the General Secretary of the CC of KKE Dimitris Koutsoumbas at the 42nd KNE-Odigitis Festival, Saturday 24 September. Source: inter.kke.gr.
Dear friends,
Dear comrades,
The festival of KNE-Odigitis every year leaves its mark. With hundreds of events all around Greece and naturally with the actvities here, in the “Antonis Tritsis” park. If some people are wondering why the festival of KNE endured when all similar initiatives of other political organizations have unraveled over time, the answer lies in the content of the festival.
Every year, thousands of young people meet, are entertained and discuss their worries and their dreams. With the contribution of renowned artists from every field, by promoting amateur creativity, by getting to know the workers’- people’s culture and the artistic works of great communist and progressive creators that we have the responsibility to disseminate to the younger generations.
PORTUGUESE COMMUNIST PARTY (PCP) CENTRAL COMMITTEE RESOLUTION.
September 18, 2016.
The year 2017 marks the centennial of the October 1917 Socialist Revolution.
The October Revolution is the major event in the historical process of emancipation of the exploited, the oppressed, the workers and the peoples, a process which has been marked by important revolutionary events from the days of primitive society, through slavery, feudalism and capitalism.
After thousands of years of societies in which the socio-economic systems have been based on the exploitation of man by man, the October Revolution began a new epoch in the History of Humankind, the epoch of the transition from capitalism to socialism. It was the first revolution that, through far-reaching democratic transformations in the political, economic, social and cultural spheres, and by ensuring social progress and justice, and corresponding to the yearnings of the workers and the peoples, undertook the edification of a society without exploiters, nor exploited people.
Thousands of people attented a large political event during the third- and last- day of the 42nd KNE-Odigitis festival in Athens. The major speaker was the General Secretary of the CC of KKE Dimitris Koutsoumbas.
Other speakers included the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Sitaram Yetsury who delivered "red" revolutionary salutes on behalf of his country's communists and Nikos Abatielos, Secretary of the Central Council of KNE, who stressed that "our festival is a picture from the beautiful world for which our Party struggles".
In his speech, apart from the contemporary political, social and economic issues, the GS of the Communist Party of Greece Dimitris Koutsoumbas refered also to the Party's 100th anniversary in 1918. He said, among other things:
During his stay in Athens, the General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)Sitaram Yechury visited the KNE-Odigitis festival which takes place these days in Greece's capital.
Secretary Yechury paid a visit to the main exhibition of the festival- which is dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE)- where he was welcomed by Giorgos Marinos, member of the Political Bureau of the CC of the KKE.
The CPI (Marxist) leader also visited the international sector of the Festival.
BEIJING -- The Dalai Lama' s recent terrorist-sympathizing remarks have again shocked the world, and provided for those in the West who used to exchange backing him for selfish political gains a chance to see the monk's true colors.
The fugitive Tibetan religious leader is now in France for a six-day visit "to promote Tibetan culture, language and ecological protection," as he has claimed.
While traveling in the European country, he urged talks with the Islamic State extremists, saying talks are "the only way" to end bloodshed in Syria and Iraq without explaining how that is possible.
KEY REMARKS BY ARMY GENERAL RAUL CASTRO RUZ, PRESIDENT OF THE STATE COUNCIL AND THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA, AT THE 17TH SUMMIT OF THE NON-ALIGNED MOVEMENT
MARGARITA ISLAND, VENEZUELA, SEPTEMBER 17, 2016
Esteemed comrade Nicolás Maduro Moros, constitutional President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Heads of State and Government,
Photo from the large forest fire in northern Euboea, last August.
According
to the portal 902.gr, the European Union denied to use solidarity and
regional funds in order to compensate the- affected by extensive
forest fire- residents and retsina producers in northern Euboea,
Greece. Replying to a question by the EU Parliament delegation of the
Communist Party of Greece (KKE), the EU tries to downgrade the
importance of the damage created by the wildfires. Additionally, from
the answer of the EU becomes clear that the Greek government, which
bares huge responsibilities for cuts in public spending including in
firefighting
equipment and personnel,
didn't claim any compensation for the victims of the wildfire.
Below,
you can read the question submitted by the KKE MEP Konstantinos
Papadakis and the reply provided on behalf of the EU by commissioner
Ms.Corina Crețu.
Regarding the speech of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras at the 71st UN General Assembly- and his remarks on the refugee crisis- the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece issued the following statement:
"The Prime Minister not only didn't find a word to say about the real causes and those responsible for the wars and the refugee crisis in our region, but, furthermore, he justified the violation of the refugees' rights and of the Geneva Convention by adopting the arguments of the imperialist staffs about the "maintaining of social cohesion" and "public safety".
However, the refuge isn't a natural phenomenon; it is caused by the imperialist war, the antagonisms between the powerful ones, the poverty that capitalist exploitation creates.
During the night between September 14 and 15, Abdelssalam Eldanf was killed while he was on strike with other workers in front of the GLS logistic plant in Piacenza. He was crushed by a truck that was trying to force the picket line. According to the workers, the truck driver was ordered to break the picket line by the Chief of Staff at the plant.
A strike had been called against the company contracted to run the plant, the SEAM. The company had fired 37 temporary workers, as well as a group of workers organized with the USB base union, who were actively leading struggles on the workplace. SEAM had previously agreed to re-hire 13 of the workers, but it suddenly rejected the agreement. Therefore, the workers immediately went on strike and blocked the exit of trucks from the plant.
Marx explains this question most thoroughly in his Critique of the Gotha Programme (letter to Bracke, May 5, 1875, which was not published until 1891 when it was printed in Neue Zeit, vol. IX, 1, and which has appeared in Russian in a special edition). The polemical part of this remarkable work, which contains a criticism of Lassalleanism, has, so to speak, overshadowed its positive part, namely, the analysis of the connection between the development of communism and the withering away of the state.
1. Presentation of the Question by Marx
From a superficial comparison of Marx's letter to Bracke of May 5, 1875, with Engels' letter to Bebel of March 28, 1875, which we examined above, it might appear that Marx was much more of a "champion of the state" than Engels, and that the difference of opinion between the two writers on the question of the state was very considerable.
The General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Dimitris Koutsoumbas visited the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) on Wednesday and Thursday, where he attended a press conference. The General Secretary delivered an introductory speech and then he answered to the questions of the press.
In his speech c.Koutsoumbas accused the SYRIZA-ANEL government and the EU for their antipeople policies as well as the New Democracy opposition and the other bourgeois parties. The General Secretary refered to the contemporary political and socio-economic issues, from government's attack against labour rights to various racist, anti-refugee incidents in the country.
Here are some basic parts of c.Koutsoumbas speech:
It was on 17 September 1982 when one of the most talented Greek composers of his generation passed away. After suffering several strokes Manos Loizos died in a Moscow hospital. He was 45 years old. Loizos wasn't just an extraordinary songwriter and composer; he was a member of the Communist Party of Greece and an outspoken critic of the Greek military Junta.
A self-taught musician with an inherent talent, Manos Loizos was born on 22 October 1937 to Cypriot parents in Alexandria, Egypt. He moved to Athens at the age of 17 in order to study pharmacology but soon he gave up his studies- his passion was music. His first recordings were made in 1963 and by the mid-70s he was one of Greece's most popular composers. His songs touched the hearts of the working class people and many of them became symbols of the anti-dictatorship struggle in the 1970s.
Loizos collaborated with the most talented lyricists of his era, including his close lifelong friend Lefteris Papadopoulos, Fondas Ladis, Yannis Negrepontis, Manolis Rasoulis. Loizos' last disc was the "Letters to my wife" containing lyrics by the legendary Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet, translated in Greek language by the giant of Greek poetry, Yannis Ritsos.
Being a versatile musician, Manos Loizos wrote some of the most memorable Greek political songs, as well as some extaordinary melodies of the so-called "Laiko" (Greek popular songs) music genre. Some of the most significant Greek singers, being in their first steps as young performers, became broadly known through their collaboration with Manos Loizos, including Haris Alexiou, George Dalaras, Vasilis Papakonstantinou, Dimitra Galani, etc.
Below we choosed and present five of Manos Loizos' most memorable songs:
1. "Pagose i tsiminiera" (The chimney got cold). Lyrics: Fondas Ladis. Performed by George Dalaras, 1976. The song refers to workers' strike.
The chimney is cold
and outside the gate
the factory workers are debating
The day has grown bright,
with frostbitten lips
they take up the banners and set out
Five trucks they sent out,
at the waning of the moon,
and they came back full of strike breakers.
[Still] filled they went away again:
"Nobody will get through
we had better all go away as emigrants!"
A month has passed,
the machines are rusting
and the children suffer cold and hunger;
in the streets of Athens
workers are handing out fliers
asking for support.
2. "Che". Lyrics: Manos Loizos. Performed live by Manos Loizos. Song dedicated to the legendary Ernesto Che Guevara.
A photo of yours came also to me
A photo of yours, from abroad
One of those that students use to hold
One of those that the informer rips
One of those that students sling
In their heart
Che Guevara
Close the window
Lock the doors
I'm trembling of fear for the man
with the boots
What does he want and walking by the shadows
What does he want and asking for you
What does he want and looking towards our house
Every Night
Che Guevara
So many roses
burned by the snow
Ah, that Spring
bleeds me.
3. "The accordion". Lyrics: Yannis Negrepontis. Performed by Manos Loizos. An antifascist song.
In my old neighbourhood I had a friend
who knew and was playing the accordion
when he sang, he was like the sun
fires in his hands were ignited by the accordion
But one dark night, like every other night
he kept look-outs, playing the accordion
fascist vans stood next to the pen
and a gunfire stopped the accordion
The already started slogan always comes back to me
whenever I hear again an accordion
and it has, like a stamp, marked my life
'fascism will not pass!'
4. "Tritos Pagkosmios" (Third World War). Lyrics: Yannis Negrepontis. Performed by Vasilis Papakonstantinou. A masterpiece song describing in simple lyrics how monopoly capitalism works, showing the exploitation of the working class from the Capital.
Peter, Johan and Franz
they worked in a factory, making tanks
Peter, Johan and Franz
they became inseparable by making tanks
Peter, Johan and Franz
they worked for Brown, for Fisser for Kraft
Brown, Fisser and Kraft
they became inseparable by making trusts
Peter, Johan and Franz
they were unconcerned, always working in tanks
they never read Marx
they had no idea about trusts and crashes
Brown, Fisser and Kraft
seperated into Brown, Fisser and Kraft
Brown, Fisser and Kraft
they supposedly became enemies, they destroyed the trust
And before learning what Marx said
they were taken as soldiers, they went to fight
Peter, Johan and Franz
they fell like heroes, under the tanks
Brown, Fisser and Kraft
they thought and found that it's the fault of Marx
Brown, Fisser and Kraft
they joined again, they made a trust.
5. "Zeibekiko tis Evdokias" (Evdokia's zeibekiko). Famous instrumental written for the 1971 Greek film "Evdokias".
On the ocassion of the European Union Summit in Bratislava, Slovakia, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) issued the following statement:
"The contrasts within the EU do not concern the peoples' rights, but the fight about how every state will protect it's own monopolies, especially under conditions when the economic capitalist crisis hasn't been overcome and the forecasts about the economy in the EU and Eurozone are even more ominous.
Besides, while they are fighting about the management mixture (policy) and the future of the EU/Eurozone, they - both social democratic and neoliberal governments - jointly crush the working-peoples' rights and co-decide the more active EU involvement in wars and interventions, within the framework of her antagonism with other imperialist centers.
It was the night of September 17th, 2013, at the western Athens district of Keratsini, when antifascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas was fatally stabbed three times by the nazi 'Golden Dawn' member Giorgos Roupakias. On the ocassion of the three years since the murder of Fyssas (also known by the nickname "Killah P"), the Piraeus Sectoral Organization of KNE (Communist Youth of Greece) organises an antifascist event on Saturday 17th in Pasalimani. The General Secretary of the CC of KKE Dimitris Koutsoumbas will attend the event.
The major slogan of the concert is "We don't forget! We fight fascism and the system that gives birth to it". The concert of KNE will take place in Pasalimani, Piraeus on Saturday 17/9 at 9 pm. Among the performers is the band "Rebellion Connexion". In a statement, among other things, the Piraeus Sectoral Organization of KNE points out: "The Goldendawnists (Golden Dawn members) are criminals because they are fascists. Their rotten ideology, the poison of racism, nationalism, xenophobia, is the womb which gives birth to their criminal activity (...) They are supporters of the exploitation system (...) The struggle of the people and of the youth will uproot the nazi- racist poison".
On Saturday, 10th of September, 250 members and friends of the German Communist Party (DKP) demonstrated in Karlsruhe, seat of the Federal Constitutional Court, and demanded to lift the ban on the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). 60 years ago, the Constitutional Court had banned KPD because it organized resistance against the remilitarisation of the Federal Republic planned by chancellor Konrad Adenauer. At the demonstration, MP Karin Binder („Die Linke“) demanded to lift the ban on KPD. A representative of the persecuted Communist Party of Ukraine (KPU) participated in the demonstration.
Marx gave the fundamentals concerning the significance of the experience of the Commune. Engels returned to the same subject time and again, and explained Marx's analysis and conclusions, sometimes elucidating other aspects of the question with such power and vividness that it is necessary to deal with his explanations specially.
1. The Housing Question
In his work, The Housing Question (1872), Engels already took into account the experience of the Commune, and dealt several times with the tasks of the revolution in relation to the state. It is interesting to note that the treatment of this specific subject clearly revealed, on the one hand, points of similarity between the proletarian state and the present state--points that warrant speaking of the state in both cases--and, on the other hand, points of difference between them, or the transition to the destruction of the state.
In
a joint press conference held in Strasburg on Tuesday, the KKE
delegation in the European Parliament and the National
Union of Fighters of the National Resistance
and
the Democratic Army of Greece
(PEAEA–
DSE)
denounced the decision of the Europarliament's Petitions Committee to
reject, without any investigation, the report regarding the
German WWII reparations towards Greece.
The
annual KNE-Odigitis Festival consists one of Greece's most
significant political and cultural events. Following a tradition of
more than four decades, the Communist Youth of Greece (KNE) organises
her 42nd
Festival with a rich programme of political, cultural and sports
activities. After numerous successful festive events in all over the
country during the previous months, the KNE-Odigitis festival will
take place in Greece's two largest cities; in Thessaloniki on 15-17 September and in Athens on 22-24 September.
In
Thessaloniki the festival will be held at the former military camp
'Pavlos Melas' in Stavroupoli. The cultural programme includes
concerts from popular bands like Imam Baildi,Onirama and Kitrina
Podilata as well as famous singers like Glykeria, Filippos
Pliatsikas, Giorgos Margaritis and Melina Kana. A speech will be
delivered by the member of the Political Bureau of KKE Kostas
Paraskevas on Saturday 17 September.
The
major and final events of the 42nd
KNE-Odigitis festival will be held a few days later at 'Antonis
Tritsis Park' (Ilion) in Athens. Numerous popular artists, composers, singers
and bands, will participate in concerts including: Vasilis Lekkas,
Thanos Mikroutsikos, Yannis Markopoulos, Miltos Paschalidis, Manolis
Mitsias, Dimitris Basis, Natasa Bofiliou, Lakis Halkias, Giorgos Margaritis, Vangelis
Korakakis, Rebellion Connection, Yperastikoi, Glykeria, Rita
Antonopoulou, Imam Baildi, Onirama etc.
Santiago de Chile, 11 September 1973. With the active support of the US, a military coup under the leadership of General Augusto Pinochet overthrows the Salvador Allende's “Popular Unity” government. President Allende dies heroicly while defending the presidential palace. In the following years, more than 40,000 people are tortured and imprisoned. More than 3,000 people are officially dead, either executed or “vanished”. Thousands of citizens arrested. In October 1973, the popular songwriter Víctor Jara, and 70 other political killings were perpetrated by the death squad, Caravana de la Muerte. The Pinochet regime was ruthless and brutal.
WARNING:The videos you are going to watch depict parts of daily life in the "repressive dictatorship", the "living hell" of North Korea. It is highly advised for people suffering from pathological anticommunism to avoid watching the videos. Please proceed at your own discretion.
Attending a massive rally of PAME (All-Workers Militant Front) on the day of Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) inauguration, the General Secretary of KKE Dimitris Koutsoumbas made the following statement:
"The promises of Mr.Tsipras from TIF regarding development are only for a few monopoly groups of the big capital which will see again their profits soaring, by giving a pittance, a plate of food to the most extreme poverty.
For all the others, for the working class, for the popular strata- which will continue to be tormented- the antipeople measure will continue to exist, cuts in wages and pensions will continue, small businesses will continue closing down and being subject to foreclosures and auctions, the wild unbearable taxation will continue as well.
The situation can go no further; the SYRIZA-ANEL government continues to please the big capital, the EU, the quartet and continues to bleed our people. It continues the same policy of the previous governments of New Democracy and PASOK.
From left to right: French President Francois Hollande, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras and Spain's PM Mariano Rajoy. (Archive Photo).
The European Communist Initiative carried out an important intervention regarding the upcoming meeting of the heads of the states of the so-called “European South”, which the Greek government is organizing on the 9thof September in Athens.
The “European Communist Initiative” notes in this statement that the organizers of this meeting aim to utilize it to reinforce the illusions of the peoples of Europe about an “Alliance of the South”, which will allegedly “put an end to austerity” and calls on the peoples to strengthen their struggle to overturn the anti-people political line of the EU and the capitalist system which they serve.
The full statement of the Secretariat of “European Communist Initiative” can be found below:
“A conference of the leaders of the Mediterranean countries of the EU, of the so-called "South" of the EU, will be held in Athens on the 9th of September, at the initiative of the "left" SYRIZA-ANEL government of the new memoranda and the dozens of anti-worker measures, and will be focused on the developments in the EU, the refugee-immigrant question and the notorious issue of "development".
A large number of people honoured the immeasurable sacrifices of communists and other militants that suffered in the concentration camp of the island of Makronisos by taking part in the event-visit, organized on 6/9 by the Attica Party Organization of the KKE and the Attica Region Organization of KNE.
Makronisos "hosted" thousands of militants who experienced unspeakable tortures on its few hectares. Bourgeois power demonstrated its most revolting face on this dry and barren rock in the Aegean Sea as regards its treatment of the militants of the national resistance against the Nazis-i.e. the militants of the National Liberation Front (EAM), the fighters of the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS), defiant members and cadres of the KKE and other leading militants. There, it demonstrated all its inventiveness regarding the torture methods it used to break the morale of the communists.
