I. Party members: Obligations and rights

Article 1

Any man or woman 18 years of age and over can become a member of the CPG on condition that he or she accepts its Programme and Statutes, belongs to and works in one of its organisations and pays his or her dues regularly.

Article 2

• Workers, farmers, other working people, intellectuals and other persons who are in the vanguard of the people’s struggle can become members of the party.

• New members are accepted into the Party on an individual basis only. People who wish to become members of the Party must first become candidate members. This probationary period lasts for six months.

• A candidate member becomes a full Party member on the recommendation of two regular Party members who must have known the candidate for at least a year. The Party members who make the recommendations are responsible to the Party for their nominations.

• Members of the Communist Youth of Greece (KNE) who are of the reguired age, have been members of KNE for at least one (1) year and ask to become members of the Party, will be accepted as full members immediately upon the recommendation of two regular Party members and two Party members of the leading body of the relevant KNE organisation.

The length of a person’s Party life is calculated from the day on which the Party’s Base Organisation (BO) made the decision to admit him or her to the Party as a candidate member. Regarding Party members who have come up through KNE, their Party file records the length of time they were members of KNE before becoming CPG members as being time served in KNE.

Admission to the Party is decided by the BO assembly and the decision is ratified by the immediately higher leading both with two months at the latest.
Candidate members have all the obligations and rights of members, apart from the right to vote and stand for election. Their votes are advisory. The BO Bureau must provide every possible assistance to new members so that they may start their Party life in the right way, assimilating the principles of the Party’s organisation and operation creatively. The decision to promote a candidate to regular membership is made at the assembly of the Party’s Base Organisation. The decision is made upon a proposal of the Bureau of the BO in the presence of the person concerned. The decision is ratified by the immediately higher leading body within two months.

• Former members of other parties may be accepted as candidate members of the CPG, after recommendation by two Party members with two years of Party life. In such cases, ratification is required by the City Committee or the Prefectural Committee.

When leading cadres from another party are involved, a decision is required by the Central Committee. If a group of former members of another political party wish to apply for membership in the CPG, they may be accepted only following approval by the Central Committee. After this approval is obtained, the BO examines the application of each member of the group separately.

• KKE members who live in another country may transfer to the corresponding party in that country, upon approval by the Central Committee. Likewise, approval is required from the Central Committee for acceptance into the Party of a member from another Communist or Workers’ Party.

• A KKE' member cannot belong to any other party.

Article 3

KKE member represents the Party wherever he is, particularly in the workplace. The member is the Party’s link with the working people in his/her area, bringing their problems, opinions and dispositions to his or her organisation, and is responsible for disseminating and applying the policy, positions and decisions of the Party. KKE bases the success of its immediate and long-term goals, its authority and strength on the energy, initiative, capability and militancy of its members. From this relationship stem the following rights and obligations for all Party members.

Article 4

Party members have the following obligations:

• To participate in the assemblies of the BO to which they beleong. To take personal part in the discussions, decision-making and practical work of their organisation. To contribute to working out Party policy by voicing their thoughts and experience of practical action. To carry out the decisions of the BO and higher leading bodies irrespective of their own personal views. To make the Party’s policies and ideology known among the working people. To contribute to consolidating and widening its links with the workers and other working people, to informing and organising them. To see to increasing the circulation of Rizospastis and the Party’s other publications.
• To belong to their union shop, cooperative or other mass popular organisation in their workplace or district and to be in the vanguard in these organisations. To work actively to create mass organisations where none exist.
• To study Rizospastis and other Party publications in order to put forward its policy and defend it against distortions, slander and unjust criticism. To make sure they keep up their knowledge of Marxist-Leninist theory, and to upgrade their ideological, educational and political level, so that they will be in a position to fulfil their vanguard role consistently, to struggle firmly, and to fight resolutely and uncompromisingly against bourgeois ideology and against right or left deviations from the theory of Marxism-Leninism.
• To fight actively for the Party’s ideological, political and organisational unity, to comply with and defend the Statutes and the principles contained therein.
• To develop democracy within the Party and to fight against any violation of the operating regulations, any complacency, selfishness, nepotism or localism. To deal decisively with any attempt to obstruct criticism against anything that may damage the Party or stand in the way of the free expression of opinion and, regardless of the persons involved, to report this to the party bodies, up to and including the Central Committee.
• To draw new members to KKE, to contribute tirelessly to strengthening the Party organisationally and to keep trying to improve the methods used in Party work.
• To protect the Party from attacks by adversaries of all kinds, developing a revolutionary vigilance. To defend the Party’s ideals and aims everywhere, always and under any circumstances whatsoever, without concessions. To protect the Party in their practical work, under interrogation, in the courts and in prison and steadfastly to defend the values and noble title of member of the CPG.

In addition to their obligations, Party members are also obliged to exercise the rights deriving from the Party’s Statutes.

Article 5

Party members have the following rights:

• To participate in discussions held to shape Party policy at BO assemblies, in the bodies of which they are members, and at conferences and congresses to which they are elected delegates. To participate in discussions and dialogue assigned by the Central Committee through the Party press.
• To take part in the election of the Party’s leading bodies and to stand for office in them, if they meet the qualifications set out by the Statutes.
• To express their opinion freely and responsibly to the competent bodies and Conferences about the activity of any Party member or cadre of any leading body or organisation whatsoever.
• To demand responsible information from party bodies about party issues. To be informed as fully as possible about the ideological and political arguments for decisions which are to be put into effect, as well as about the activities of the bodies and cadres.
• To address themselves, on any party or personal issue, to the organisation they belong to, as well as to any higher leading body in the organisation including the CC and the Party congress. To demand to be given prompt, reasoned responses to proposals or questions and when the replies are considered unsatisfctory or when some new facts have come to light, they may raise the subject again. The BOs and the leading bodies are obliged to take seriously any issue arising to the detriment of a Party member and to make sure that the Member is promptly informed thereof.
• To take part in party assemblies and meetings of the bodies or committees to which they belong, when an issue is brought up with respect to actions of theirs.
• to demand the undeviating application of the operating regulations of the Party’s organisations and bodies.

Article 6

All Party members have the same rights and obligations. Communists cannot themselves possess nor can they tolerate the existence of privileges deriving from their membership in the Party. KKE members shall cultivate and develop comradeship in dealing with party issues and in relations with their comrades. They are distinguishable for their ethical stance towards their fellow humans, at work, in the family and in daily life in general.

Article 7

KKE, which is fighting for the equality of the sexes in the society, believes that promoting equality within its own ranks is a prerequisite for success in this regard. Recruiting women into the Party must be a permanent concern. All Party organisations must ensure permanent and firm action on women’s rights and their participation in social and political struggles.

Article 8

Members who move from one organisation into the range of another must notify their original organisation in good time, ensuring an unbroken link with the organisation to which they are going. For the transfer of cadres, approval is required from the responsible leading body.