Aleka Papariga-On "the unity of the Left" and the KKE alliance politics

Aleka Papariga

From "The Alliance Politics of the KKE and the Critique to 'Left Unity'"

In Contemporary Right-Wing Opportunism, Publication of the CC of the KKE, Synchroni Epohi, Athens 2008.

The purpose of this article is to encode, as much as possible, the objective differences between these two propositions for an alliance [the alliance politics of the KKE and the notion of "Left Unity"]. Alliances, it should be understood, are not based on agreement on terms and slogans or general ideas, but on issues of strategic importance and orientation, on the issue of alternative power.

For the KKE, alliance politics is a permanent, not a conjunctural policy. We struggle to make it materialize, to foreground it and to popularize it, independently of the existence of the subjective preconditions for its materialization at the political level. For the KKE, the creation of an alliance is an issue of struggle, of developments in the correlation of forces, of radical reorderings within political and social consciousness, such that they can bring changes to the composition of the political landscape. Ultimately, the level of the movement will play a determining role in this all-important issue. Of course, we are not simply waiting for possibilities to drop on our hands like overripe fruit. We take initiatives, and first of all we foster dialogue within the people, with radical popular forces, with social agents acting in a positive direction; we follow developments, we try to assist positive trends.

The Europarliament Group of the KKE on the dangerous developments in Ukraine

In a letter addressed to the President of the Europarliament, Martin Schulz, the Europarliament group of the KKE has condemned the adoption of a reactionary law imposing Mass Media censorship in Ukraine as well as the initiative of a Czech MEP, known for his anticommunist activity. The letter is as follows:

"With the present letter we would like, first of all, to denounce the new, reactionary law of the Ukrainian government, which imposes a regime of censorship on the Mass Media, publishing, films and every cultural and artistic creation, in the name of "protecting national security" and preventing the "fomenting ethnic hatred." This law constitutes another dangerous element of the politics of the forces that seized power after the intervention of the USA-EU-NATO in Ukraine, which took place in the midst of competition with Russia and the antipopular schemes of the Ukrainian bourgeoisie.

This is another strike of the Ukrainian government against the people; supported by fascist forces, the government continues to bomb Donbas and has banned the CP of Ukraine, while abductions, persecution and threats against communists and other workers and racist murderous attacks by fascist shock troops continue.

Comment of the KKE on the intensification of the phenomenon of migration and the government-EU measures

August 19, 2015

In its comment on the intensification of the phenomenon of migration and the government-EU measures, the Press Office of the CC of the KKE notes:

"The KKE had warned, in a timely fashion, that the drama of thousands of persecuted and entrapped refugees and migrants flooding the country, especially the islands of the Aegean, cannot be dealt with through the patched-up measures of the SYRIZA-ANEL government, which, like the previous governments, is looking for "solutions" within the path of the EU migration policy.

The KKE calls on the worker and popular movement to take the lead, intensify its solidarity, isolate racist manifestations and the phenomena of exploitation of refugee needs. The movement should demand: the abolition of the rules of the Dublin and Schengen Treaties, the obtainment of obstacle-free and secure transport of refugees to EU member states, which are their real destination, the immediate hiring of necessary personnel for the services of first reception and refuge, the creation of human reception and hospitality spaces, the abolition of the participation of our country in the imperialist plans of the US-NATO-EU, the non participation in imperialist intervention in other countries, the disengagement from Euro-Atlantic organizations."

902

Nicos Ploumbides: The letter, the body, the life

Ploumbides' letter, 14 March 1952

14 March, 1952. Nicos Belloyannis, Dimitris Batsis, Nicos Kaloumenos and Elias Argyriades have been sentenced to death as enemies of the state and Soviet spies. A letter arrives in the offices of the newspaper "Proodeftiki Allagi" [Progressive Change]. It is signed by member of the KKE CC and PB and director of the party's organizational structure in Athens and Piraeus, Nicos Ploumbides. He is in hiding from the revanchist post civil war Greek state. It is published two days later. The letter reads (transcription follows original notation):

Dear General Editor,

I am sending you a copy (handwritten) of a letter I have sent to the lawyers of my comrade, Nicos Belloyannis, and I beg you to publish it. I give you and the GREEK PEOPLE my promise to present myself and stand trial if the death sentence on Belloyannis is repealed.

Sincerely,
Nicos A. Ploumbides
Member of the CC of the KKE
Athens, 14 March 1952 

---

Comment of the KKE on the taxation of MP income

Using the government legislation [on taxing MP income] as an opportunity, the KKE reiterates its position for a drastic reduction of monetary compensation for Members of Parliament, for the abolition of a tax-free bracket for them, for the full abolition of MP pensions and other income related to the function of a Parliament member.

Instead of this, the government signs the slaughter of remaining labor rights and at the same time tries to dazzle and distract, by announcing a reduction of the wages of the MPs and other cadre of the government, while fully retaining parliamentary rights to monetary compensation, in an effort to make the new Memorandum more palatable.

902

Announcement of the KKE on the Third Memorandum the Government signed with the Institutions

The third Memorandum, agreed upon with the Institutions by the SYRIZA-ANEL government, and coming to the Parliament for approval, must face the greatest possible reaction on the part of workers and the entire people. It contains measures of such harshness and cruelty that no government in the past dared implement, fearing popular reaction. This is the great contribution of the SYRIZA government to the system. Using the fairytale of the "left government" and of the "Prime Minister who tried but was prevented", the government is moving ahead with the implementation of barbaric measures, that were permanent demands of big capital and of EU directives, and that demolish whatever was left standing of worker and people's rights.

The third Memorandum and its accompanying implementation laws include the continuation of all previous Memoranda and the commitment that anti-popular measures will be implemented to the letter. It contains new, painful measures on labor rights, insurance, the self-employed, small and middle farmers, making their survival even more difficult. At the same tie, it contains the implementation of measures aiming at the improvement of competitiveness and profitability of capital, the concentration of wealth into even fewer hands, through privatizations, OECD directives, the recapitalization of banks, the further liberalization of the energy market, the fund to which 50 billion euros worth of state property will be deposited.

Interview with Dimitris Koutsoumbas, GS of the KKE, 8/8/2015

Interview of Dimitris Koutsoumbas, GS of the KKE, with Tassos Pappas of "Newspaper of the Editors" (Efimerida ton Syntakton):

Q: - You say that whether on the drachma or on the euro and with Memoranda, the people will suffer under present conditions. Is it possible that this line demobilizes citizens since the prospect you offer does not seem to have contemporary relevance?

A:- You are grossly mistaken. The political proposal of the KKE is and remains contemporary. The other proposals, those of the current and the former governments, are the ones pointing to a "Neverland" of exit from the crisis in the interests of the people. Those are proposals that satisfy only big capital and its sectors. The proposals of the other parties refer either to new agreements of the Memorandum type or simply to a change of currency through Grexit. Both proposals, adopted for different reasons by the present government and other parties on the one hand, and by Golden Dawn and various extraparliamentary formations on the other, are mathematically calibrated to lead the people to total bankruptcy. The KKE proposal, conversely, is the only realistic and authentically pro-people proposal, since it links disengagement from the Eurozone and the EU to a comprehensive plan and program for the economy and society, including the socialization of the concentrated means of production, national central planning, abolition of the debt, with the people organized and determined, in the framework of an authentic worker-popular power. The people can move in this direction actively, utilizing the experience of what the KKE has been saying yesterday and says today, in plain language.

The KKE denounces the new crime in the West Bank

The KKE denounces the murder of a Palestinian infant, tragically killed in an arson by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. The Press Office of the CC notes in its comment: "This event is a result of the constantly rising aggression of the state of Israel in the region. Part of the share of the responsibility for the perpetual crime against the people of Palestine belongs to the EU, the USA, but also the Greek government, all sustaining and extending political, financial and military cooperation with the murderous state of Israel."

Rizospastis, 1 August 2015.

What would the KKE do if it were in SYRIZA's place?

What would the KKE do if it were in SYRIZA's place?

Rizospastis, 19 July 2015

We often hear the following, well-intentioned question: "What would you have done if you were in the place of the SYRIZA government"?

The question is not illogical. But we must place it in the right perspective.

If we, the KKE, were in the "place" of SYRIZA, meaning the place of bourgeois management, the place of defending capitalist interests, in search of winning back profits, seeking to use the advantages conferred on capital by membership in the EU, the EZ and Euroatlantic alliances and NATO; if we were in the "place" of taking up a government that is a tool of the power of monopolies; if we were in the "place" of negotiating on behalf of Greek capitalism by sitting in the roundtables of the EU, the EZ and other imperialist organizations;

The Proposition of the Parliamentary Team of the KKE on the content of the Referendum

The KKE calls on the Greek People to reject both proposals [Eurogroup's and government's] and to adopt the proposal of the Parliamentary team of the KKE which states:

"The government is proposing conducting a referendum with the question of whether the people approve or disapprove the proposal for an agreement submitted by the EU-IMF-ECB.

The Parliamentary team of the KKE believes that the issues that should be put to the people's judgment are the following:

NO to the EU-IMF-ECB and to the government's proposals.

Disengagement from the EU, Abolition of Memoranda and of all anti-popular implementation measures thereof."

The proposition, submitted by the Parliamentary Team of the KKE in quorum, was read in the Parliament by Thanasis Pafilis, member of the CC and Parliamentary Representative of the party, during his statement on the issue of the anti-constitutional character of the Referendum posed by Ev. Venizelos of PASOK.

902

Def Min P. Kamenos suggested creating a NATO base in the Aegean-Response of the KKE

Minister of Defense P. Kammenos announced that the SYRIZA-ANEL coalition government will propose the creation of a NATO base in the Aegean, a fact that involves the country even further in the dangerous imperialist plans of the wolf pack.

Speaking at an "Economist" conference, P. Kammenos noted that he will submit this proposal during his upcoming visit to the U.S.

Confirming that the elaboration of this proposal is at an advanced stage, he mentioned that there is a Ministry study that takes into account the Suda, Crete base and NATO needs. However, he did not reveal the island on which the proposed base will operate.

The excuse he gave for the creation of this new attack base in the NATO war machine was that with this base the "Alliance" will have direct knowledge of Turkey's behavior. Of course, through the previous years, the elevation of NATO to the status of an arbiter of Greek-Turkish differences not only did not prevent Turkish provocations, but legitimated Ankarra demands, as NATO does not recognize borders in the Aegean.

A Response to Dialogos Media on allegations against the KKE concerning mining in Halkidiki

In a dialogue with Dialogos media, a site associated, among other things, with truth-out.org (and, it unfortunately appears, with Dimitris Kazakis' chauvinist-nationalist and intensely anti-communist groupuscule EPAM), I pointed out that, mysteriously, Michael Nevradakis's otherwise commendable piece on SYRIZA seemed to suffer from the same amnesiac symptoms as The Guardian and Foreign Policy regarding the very existence, for the past 97 years, of a left party in Greece called KKE. Mr. Nevradakis had somewhat surrealistically limited alternatives to SYRIZA that are not Golden Dawn to EPAM, which did not even participate in the 2015 elections, ANTARSYA, which received 0.64% of the vote,  and "Den Plirono" (I won't pay), which also did not participate in the elections, and which is a single-cause movement rather than a party.

The reader can judge on their own the civilities I received as a response to my query on the motivations of such oblivion (I was subsequently blocked as a nuisance), but this piece concerns a particular such civility, which different "left" groupuscules in Greece have been trying to circulate abroad, namely, that in Dialogos' words, the KKE "supports destructive mining activities", and is in fact an ally of Eldorado Gold and its Greek affiliate, Hellenic Gold. I promised a response, which will restrict itself purely to the cataloguing of a number of facts -- as always, substantiated by the relevant documentation. Any more serious engagement has been unfortunately preempted by the very obvious anti-communist animus of the website, though this is an animus whose barely rational character those of us familiar with EPAM's chief, Kazakis, are quite familiar with.

The "legislative work" of the government and the stance of KKE

The legislative adjustments the government has so far submitted to parliament -- above all the two Acts of Legislative Content, one stipulating the looting of available public funds, the other the deletion of up to 100% of fines for tax violations, including those involved in smuggling, of the major corporate groups -- lie within the strict framework of fiscal austerity imposed by the EU and the IMF (i.e, the lenders), so that competitiveness and the profitability of monopoly groups, of big capital, are protected.

Through such legislation, the government maintains the entire anti-labor, anti-popular framework that has been set in place by the Memorandum-related implementation laws of previous governments.

These are legislative adjustments that lag behind even the electoral program announced by SYRIZA in Thessaloniki, hence cutting down even on the few breadcrumbs intended for those living in conditions of extreme poverty. Not only is there no relief for the people, but essentially, the people is told to forget recovering what it has lost. 

At the same time, the government continues to refuse to bring to Parliament the agreement it made with the lenders on February 20. It is obvious that on the one hand, it wishes to avoid the image that would be created were New Democracy and the other parties of the bourgeois political system to support the agreement, and on the other, to avoid having the people see the measures in store for them -- measures they 've already dubbed "mild austerity", in the interests of capitalist profit recovery.

Delegation of KKE joins May Day celebration in Kiev

On Thursday, 30 April 2015, a Delegation of the Central Committee of the KKE, composed of Giorgos Marinos, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of KKE, and Elissaios Vagenas, member of the Central Committee and Cordinator of the Department of International Relations of the CC of KKE, will depart for Kiev, after the invitation of the Communist Party of Ukraine.

The KKE Delegation will participate in Labor May Day activities organized in Kiev by the CP of Ukraine, a few days after the Parliament ratified the unacceptable law that equates communism and fascism and that forbids communist symbols and the propagation of communist ideology.

902, trans. Lenin Reloaded

KKE Parliamentary question on Ukraine statements by Min. Kotzias

KKE MPs Giorgos Marinos, Liana Kanelli and Thanasis Pafilis have submitted the following Parliamentary question:

«During his recent visit to the USA, Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Kotzias stated, after meeting with American counterpart John Kerry (Washington, D.C, 20/4/2015), that he informed his American colleague of the "aid we provide to Ukraine at present."

This statement comes at a moment when:

- The Ukrainian Parliament has approved an anti-historical law that equates fascism and communism and uses this as a basis to obstruct the activity of communists and the propagation of communist ideas.

- Historically legitimated local fascists, belonging to the so-called Ukraine Liberation Army, through another law.

- Dmitro Yarosh, head of the Nazi organization "Right Sector", is appointed as consultant to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

Letter of KKE GS Koutsoumbas to Ukraine President Poroshenko

Thursday, 16 April 2015

To the President of Ukraine Piotr Poroshenko

Mr. President,

On 9 April 2015, one month before the 70th anniversary of the antifascist victory, the Parliament of your country approved Law 2558, "on the condemnation of communist and nazi totalitarian regimes in Ukraine and the prohibition of their propaganda and symbols." On the same day, the Parliament of your country approved another law, which glamorizes the local Nazi collaborators.

These decisions are a provocation for those who fought against the fascist monster. They are blasphemy against the millions of people who gave their lives in the struggle against fascism during the Second Imperialist World War. They aim at the unacceptable equation of the Soviet Union to Nazi Germany, whilst the contribution of the USSR, under communist leadership, in bearing the principal burden of the war against fascism, is well known. These decisions are an insult against the communists of other countries, such as Greece, who stood at the forefront of the struggle against fascism and imperialism, for popular rights and freedoms.

From Nikos Beloyiannis' defense in his two trials

KKE Berlin honors the memory of Nikos Belogiannis, 29 March 2015

(First trial, November 1951)

The responsibility for the fact that the land of Greece is full of graves and ruins lies exclusively with the foreign imperialists and their Greek servants. [...] We love Greece and its people more than our accusers. We have shown it when its liberty, independence and integrity was at risk, and we have fought so our country can live through better days, without hunger and war. This is the purpose of our struggle, for which, when it is necessary, we lay down our lives. I believe that by trying us today you are trying the struggle for peace. You are trying Greece. [...] The organizers of this trial, Greeks and foreigners, have undertaken unprecedented efforts to slander the struggle of the KKE, without hesitating to distort well-known texts. [...] Yet it was proven despite all this that the KKE is a patriotic party, with national deeds no other party can present. Because it has offered tremendous hetacombs to the altar of Greek independence and freedom. [...] For this reason, the bullets of the execution squad will not murder us. They will murder the peace and honor of Greece.

(Second trial, February 1952)

This is the freedom of communists: this is the freedom to struggle in order to overthrow class slavery under any conditions. From this grows the strength and stamina of communists. This strength illustrates the values of our struggle, of disinterest in our daily and relentless contribution, whose only payback is the justification given by fulfilling one's duty: the fight against the system until its overthrow, so that a communist society can be built.

Aleka Papariga-The CP position of refusing to participate in bourgeois government (last part)

Pt. 1
Pt. 2

The tactic of the opportunists is to reintroduce the superseded and mistaken strategy of stages, indeed positing as a first stage the exit from the crisis in the path of capitalist development and the incorporation into the EU and NATO. The program that is promoted by them defends a capitalism that will not be too unjust, a capitalism without decay and parasitism, a "more humane" capitalism that will resolve international conflicts, that is to say intra-imperialist competition, through political negotiation and peaceful means!

The detachment of politics from the economy is a provocative aspect of the positions of opportunists. They argue that the bourgeois state can become a social state for all the people. What is also provocative is their interpretation of imperialism. To them, imperialism in Europe is simply Germany, in Latin America the USA. They reject the economic essence of imperialism, which is the export of capital, the concentration of capital in the form of capitalist stock property, and monopolies. And of course they don't see imperialism as monopoly capitalism, as the highest stage of capitalism. They mechanically transfer to contemporary circumstances the period of colonialism, arguing that Greece and all the countries in a middle and lower position in the imperialist system have turned into colonies [all these were "Left Platform" positions, primarily]. They accuse the bourgeoisie for not being patriotic enough, arguing that it is its cowardice that makes it surrender jurisdiction to decision centers like the EU Commission. They divide the bourgeoisie into a productive and a parasitic section,  into healthy and immoral capitalists. Their criticism of capitalism is primarily moralistic, they don't make the slightest reference to capitalist relations of production.

Aleka Papariga-The CP position of refusing to participate in bourgeois government (Pt. 2)

Pt. 1.

In conditions of rapid deterioration of the people's standard of living and while the workers' movement -- despite its important struggles, ones with a broader resonance in Europe -- still lags very much behind in terms of organization and impact, the bourgeoisie manages, despite its own dead-ends, its own difficulties in managing the crisis and in achieving a speedy economic recovery, to maintain the stability of its power. Indignation and rage may grow, yet class consciousness may well lag behind in such conditions. In these conditions, there are grounds for both radicalization and roll-back, decrease of demands. This second trend is currently powerful, whereas radicalization does occur, but in a slow pace and with setbacks.

In these conditions, the formation of a coalition government, based on the prestige of the KKE, appeared to be something positive or at least as a lesser evil.

Insult to injury: Jacobin Magazine's brand of political ethics

Costas Lapavitsas's (SYRIZA) interview "Greece: Phase Two", published by Jacobin has this to say on KKE:

So you dismiss the argument that said a minority government was possible? 

That’s just nonsense. In the circumstances, nothing else was feasible. The real blame lies with the Communist Party (KKE), of course. Which, once again, has not measured up to the demands of history, and has chosen a line of complete opposition and complete hostility to Syriza and what it stands for, and therefore it forced Syriza to make this government with ANEL.

In a staggeringly cynical and shameless move, Jacobin accompanies the article and the quote in question with an image (above) from the 28 March 2014 anti-NATO KKE rally held in Thessaloniki. The rally was convened at 7 p.m on the occasion of the 15 years from the imperialist war on Yugoslavia, an event during which SYRIZA had kept the usual "forked tongue" approach it always has in NATO interventions (the blog will provide evidence of this in the next few posts).

The image was taken from photographer Giannis Papanikos' website; the characteristic yellow lettering of KKE is visible on a couple of the flags, despite possible image manipulation.