"My beloved Fidel...": Greece's legendary composer Mikis Theodorakis farewells his friend, Fidel Castro

"My beloved Fidel, 

you left us 
and this is the first time 
I disagree with you".

- Mikis Theodorakis, 26/11/2016.

With the above laconic phrase published in his personal website the internationally-renowned Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis, 91, expressed his farewell to the emblematic Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro. 

Theodorakis, composer of numerous masterpieces such as Canto General (Poetry by Pablo Neruda), Axion Esti, Serpico and Zorba, whose musical genius made a decisive contribution to the cultural renaissance of postwar Greece, had the opportunity to meet with Fidel in Cuba and become a friend of the Cuban leader. 

"Hasta Siempre!" From Moscow to Mexico City, people across the world pay tribute to Comandante Fidel Castro

   

Pablo Neruda- Poem for Fidel Castro (Song of Protest)

Poem by Pablo Neruda- Song of Protest.

"Fidel Castro will always live in the historic memory and the collective consciousness of the people of the world"

During his speech in a political and cultural event in honor of the 98 years of the KKE in Athens, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece Dimitris Koutsoumbas referred to the death of Fidel Castro. Secretary Koutsoumbas expressed the condolences of the Central Committee of the KKE for the death of the legendary Cuban leader. The reference to the name of Fidel caused a generous applause from the audience.

KKE's General Secretary said:

"On behalf of the CC of the Party, from our today's event, we would like to publicly express our deep sadness for the death of the leader of the Cuban revolution, cde.Fidel Castro.

We deliver our condolences to the leadership and the members of the CP of Cuba, to the entire Cuban people.

We farewell a lenendary figure, not only of the Cuban people and Latin America, but of the international communist movement.

Communist Party of Greece (KKE): Statement on the death of the leader of the Cuban revolution Fidel Castro

STATEMENT OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE KKE.

In its statement on the death of the leader of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro, the Central Committee of the KKE noted:

«The CC of the KKE, with great sadness, bids farewell to the legendary figure of the international communist movement, the leader of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro.

We express our most sincere condolences to the President of Cuba, Raul Castro, the CC of the CP of Cuba and to the entire Cuban people.

Fidel Castro was born in Birán, Cuba, on the 13th of August 1926 and studied law at Havana University. As a student he began to participate in the revolutionary movement against the Batista dictatorship in Cuba, a dictatorship which was also openly supported by the USA.

Fidel Castro (1926-2016) "Hasta La Victoria Siempre!"

ADIOS COMANDANTE FIDEL CASTRO- Communist Parties react to the death of the legendary Cuban revolutionary

Fidel Castro, former president and leader of the Cuban revolution, died Friday night at age 90, Cuban state television confirmed.

Raul Castro, Cuba's President and Fidel Castro's brother, announced that Fidel would be cremated on Saturday. "The commander in chief of the Cuban revolution died 10:29pm tonight," said Castro.

Communist Parties from all over the world react to the death of Fidel / Source: International Communist Press - To be updated.

John Reed- Ten Days That Shook the World (1919) Chapter II "The Coming Storm"

Ten Days That Shook the World.

By John Reed.

CHAPTER II: THE COMING STORM.

In September General Kornilov marched on Petrograd to make himself military dictator of Russia. Behind him was suddenly revealed the mailed fist of the bourgeoisie, boldly attempting to crush the Revolution. Some of the Socialist Ministers were implicated; even Kerensky was under suspicion. (See App. II, Sect. 1) Savinkov, summoned to explain to the Central Committee of his party, the Socialist Revolutionaries, refused and was expelled. Kornilov was arrested by the Soldiers' Committees. Generals were dismissed, Ministers suspended from their functions, and the Cabinet fell.

Kerensky tried to form a new Government, including the Cadets, party of the bourgeoisie. His party, the Socialist Revolutionaries, ordered him to exclude the Cadets. Kerensky declined to obey, and threatened to resign from the Cabinet if the Socialists insisted. However, popular feeling ran so high that for the moment he did not dare oppose it, and a temporary Directorate of Five of the old Ministers, with Kerensky at the head, assumed the power until the question should be settled.

John Reed- Ten Days That Shook the World (1919) Preface & Chapter I "The Background"

Ten Days That Shook the World.

By John Reed.

PREFACE.

This book is a slice of intensified history—history as I saw it. It does not pretend to be anything but a detailed account of the November Revolution, when the Bolsheviki, at the head of the workers and soldiers, seized the state power of Russia and placed it in the hands of the Soviets.

Naturally most of it deals with “Red Petrograd,” the capital and heart of the insurrection. But the reader must realize that what took place in Petrograd was almost exactly duplicated, with greater or lesser intensity, at different intervals of time, all over Russia.

In this book, the first of several which I am writing, I must confine myself to a chronicle of those events which I myself observed and experienced, and those supported by reliable evidence; preceded by two chapters briefly outlining the background and causes of the November Revolution. I am aware that these two chapters make difficult reading, but they are essential to an understanding of what follows.

Reflections on Jack Rasmus’s "Looting Greece: A New Financial Imperialism Emerges"

Reflections on Jack Rasmus’s book Looting Greece: A New Financial Imperialism Emerges.

By Kostas Pateras* / Source: Marxism Leninism Today.

Looting Greece: A New Financial Imperialism Emerges by Jack Rasmus. Atlanta, Georgia: Clarity Press, 2016. $24.95. 312 pp.

The prolonged capitalist crisis in Greece, the intense labour-people's struggles, the dramatic negotiations and contradictions around the Greek debt (for which the Greek people are not responsible), the rise of SYRIZA have all attracted the interest, and this is only natural, of analysts, commentators, journalists, and, of course, ordinary workers from all over the world.

In the last two years in particular, a plethora of books have been published that attempt to analyze these developments and draw conclusions. One such effort is Looting Greece: A New Financial Imperialism Emerges, a recent book by Jack Rasmus, a professor of economics and politics at St. Mary’s College in California, and a writer for Z Magazine and Counterpunch.

THEORETICAL ISSUES REGARDING THE PROGRAMME OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF GREECE (KKE)

Theoretical Issues regarding the Programme of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE).

The struggle of the working class against the capitalist class in order to be complete, i.e. a struggle of class against class, must foremost be revolutionary.

The struggle should be against both individual capitalists and the capitalist class as a whole, and their power as well. The Communist Party, through its activity, organizes the workers and transforms the struggle against the exploiters into «whole class struggle, of a determined political party for definite political and socialist ideals»

Lenin argued: «….only the political party of the working class, the Communist Party can unite, educate and organize as the vanguard of the proletariat and the working class. This vanguard is capable alone to oppose the inevitable petty bourgeois' vacillations, the inevitable traditions and relapses of professional paucity or superstition within the proletariat and guide the action of the whole proletariat, namely to guide it politically and through the proletariat to lead the working masses»[1]

VIDEO: Large and militant rally by KKE in Athens honoring the 43rd anniversary of the Polytechnic Uprising

The demonstration in Athens was attended by the General Secretary of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumbas who made the following statements:

43 years since the 1973 Athens Polytechnic Uprising against the military Junta

Mass rallies have been scheduled for today in many Greek cities in order to commemorate and honour the 43rd anniversary of the students and workers uprising in Athens, which is historically known as the Polytechnic Uprising. The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and the Communist Youth (KNE) have organised a large demonstration-march to the U.S. embassy in downtown Athens, as well as other rallies in major cities, including Thessaloniki, Patra, Larisa, Iraklio etc. This year's anniversary of the 1973 Polytechnic Uprising against the military Junta coincides with the visit of U.S. President Obama (15-16 November) in Greece and the SYRIZA-ANEL policy which involves the country deeper in the imperialist plans. 

What follows is a brief historical review of the 1973 Polytechnic Uprising. 

On the night of the 20th to the 21st of April 1967, the reactionary military circles of the country, which were closely connected to the secret services of the USA and NATO, conducted a military coup. The operation of the surrender of power to the army had been developed at the staff of NATO, under the code name "Prometheus". Colonels G. Papadopoulos and N. Makarezos, who were actively involved in the preparation of the coup, became known as "the black colonels". 

Statements by KKE Gen. Secretary Dimitris Koutsoumbas after his meeting with the President of Cyprus N.Anastasiadis

After meeting the President of the Republic of Cyprus Nikos Anastasiadis, who is visiting Athens, the General Secretary of KKE Dimitris Koutsoumbas made the following statements:

"We expressed our big concern and, at the same time, our opposition to a dichotomous, confederal solution in the Cyprus Issue which will not unify but instead will divide the Cypriot people.

At the same time, we expressed the steady positions of the KKE for a just and viable solution in the Cyprus Issue, for a unified state, which means one and not two states, a common country of Greek-Cypriots, Turkish-Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians and Latins, without foreign military bases, neither British nor others, without guarantors and protectors, with a single sovereignty, a single citizenship, a single international personality, that actually means one state.

And from this point of view we expressed our solidarity to the Cypriot people in their just but difficult struggle they give this period, in order to become finally and actually the masters in their own place. 

OBAMA IN GREECE: Intensification of antipeople measures, deeper Greek involvement in NATO-EU imperialist plans

CONCLUSIONS OF A VISIT.

Comment on U.S. President Barack Obama's visit in Greece.

The bourgeois Greek media already celebrate the visit of Barack Obama in Greece, dedicating hymns to how- supposedly- valuable (for Greece) this visit was. The reality is different. The visit of Obama in Greece, during his last foreign trip as U.S. president, has two major conclusions: The first has to do about the continuation of the antipeople, antiworkers measures which the Greek government will continue imposing and the second is connected to Greece's deeper involvement in the dangerous US-NATO-EU warmongering plans in Eastern Mediterranean.

Massive rally against Obama's visit in Athens - People say a thunderous "NO" to US-NATO imperialist murderers

Under the slogans "Neither land nor water to the murderers of the people", "Get NATO out of the Aegean" and “The imperialists re-divide the world, they draw the borders with the blood of the peoples” thousands of people, workers, young men and women, participated in a massive rally in central Athens against the visit of U.S. President Barack Obama. The protesters condemn Obama's visit and the Greek government's participation in the Euroatlantic imperialist plans. 

Despotic and despicable decision by the SYRIZA government forbids demonstrations during Obama visit in Athens!

With a despicable decision which reminds authoritarian establishments, the Greek Police have banned demonstrations in Athens on Tuesday and Wednesday as part of security preparations for a visit to the Greek capital by outgoing US President Barack Obama. 

The despotic decision by the SYRIZA-ANEL coalition government was slammed by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) which issued the following statement / Source: 902.gr, Translation: In Defense of Communism.

"With a despicable and despotic decision by the Police, the SYRIZA-ANEL government essentialy forbids any demonstration against the visit of the U.S. President Barack Obama, thus following the policy of the previous New Democracy-PASOK governments which SYRIZA, being in the opposition then, was denouncing.

"Neither land nor water to the murderers of the people"- Statement by the KKE about President Obama's visit in Greece

Regarding the upcoming visit of the U.S. President Barack Obama in Greece on Tuesday 15 November, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece issued the following statement.

Source: 902.gr, 

Translation: In Defense of Communism.

"Neither land nor water to the murderers of the people".

The KKE calls the working people, the youth, all Greek people to give a militant "welcome" to the outgoing President of the USA, Barack Obama, who visits our country in a period when the offensive plans of NATO-US-EU are intensified, with Greece's active participation and with huge dangers for the Greek and other people of the region. They (the people) must participate massively to the demonstrations organised by the EEDYE*, PAME and the other bodies of the popular-labour movement, of the youth.

Erdogan shuts down the Peace Association of Turkey- Solidarity with the Turkish people and Barış Derneği!

Police raid to the Peace Association of Turkey.

As the AKP government urges to take the advantage of the state of emergency that was declared following the coup attempt on 15th July, statutory decrees are being put into action in order to impose anti-democratic decisions to increase the political oppression.

A new statutory decree that has been approved by the parliament requires 370 associations and non-governmental organisations in 40 cities to be unlawfully shut down under the pretext of “relations with terrorist groups that are harmful to the national security”, including leftist organisations such as the Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD).

Donald Trump: A choice of the capitalist establishment

EDITORIAL

The result of the U.S Presidential elections highlights the deep intensification of the contradictions within the bourgeois system of the United States. The victory of Donald Trump has been presented by many as an "anti-establishment" message of the American voters. There is a whole mechanism of media, both in the United States as well as in Europe, which tries to present Trump as the "epitomy of the American dream", as the successfull non-professional politician who is willing to clash with the U.S political establishment. 

KKE: The role of the Communist Party in the struggle for the equality and contemporary needs of women

The role of the ΚΚΕ in the struggle for women's equality and their contemporary needs.

Source: inter.kke.gr.

In the struggle for women's equality and the contemporary needs of women, in the unrelenting class struggle, leading women communists emerged as cadres of the global revolutionary labour movement. They gained their impetus from their understanding and deep conviction in the goal of their struggle for the abolition of the exploitation of man by man.

Their example highlights the need to prepare a vanguard of communist women, utilizing the practical example of the communist women in social, political activity, in the workplaces, universities, in the family. It reflects the need of the CP and the Communist Youth Organization to act as a vanguard everyday in the struggle for the needs of women today, from young girls to the elderly, for equality and social liberation, for the strengthening of women's participation in the class struggle and their promotion in the organs of the labour-people's movement, in the mass organizations.

The Berlin Wall and the bourgeois lies

By Nikos Mottas*

The 9^th of November consists a milestone for those who have turned anticommunist propaganda into profession. It is the day when, in 1989, the destruction of the so-called “Berlin Wall” began. 

Since then, every year, we observe smaller or larger fiestas about the "fall of the Wall" and the restoration of Capitalism in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). In these fiestas, the winners of the Cold War employ their anticommunist imagination in order to celebrate the “big event”- for example, in 2014, during the 25^th anniversary, among the official guests in Berlin was the miserable puppet of international imperialism called Mikhail Gorbachev.

For more than 26 years, within the framework of slanders against the actual existed Socialism, the bourgeois historiography, the bourgeois media as well as various opportunists engage in a war of distortions regarding the history of the Berlin Wall. They deliberately vilify the German Democratic Republic and the achievements of the socialist construction while they attempt to manipulate the European and international public opinion with the known, anti-scientific and anti-historical equation between Communism and Fascism.

Communist Party of Greece (KKE): Statement regarding the result of the U.S. Presidential Elections

On the occasion of the results of the U.S. Presidential elections the Press Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) issued the following statement:

"Both the political forces which today celebrate the victory of Trump as well as those which "cry" for the non-predominance of Clinton, hide that both the two nominations represented exclusively the interests of the american capital and will continue the reactionary, antipeople policy against the american people, as well as the dangerous warmongering policy against other people, especially in our region.

European Communist Initiative- Statement for the 99th Anniversary of the 1917 Great October Socialist Revolution

Statement of the Secretariat of the European Communist Initiative for the 99th Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution- Socialism is necessary and timely.

99 years ago, 7 November 1917, the Great October Socialist Revolution triumphed. We honor the memory of the Paris Commune. We honor and we are inspired by Marx, Engels, Lenin who guided the workers´ struggle for the socialist future documenting scientifically how to reach that goal.

What does the Great October mean for us, living in the 21st century?