Statutes of KKE

Prologue

These Statutes were adopted by the 15th Congress of the Communist Party of Greece which was held in May 1996. They were formulated to reflect the amendments and supplements to Statutes approved by the Party’s 9th, 10th and 13th Congresses. Experience from the distant and more recent past was also utilized in drafting them.

The Statutes determine the aims and nature of KKE, and the principles on which it is structured and operates. They define the rights, obligations, primary duties and rules of action by the Party’s members, organisations and bodies.

The great value and significance of the statutory principles and operating regulations of this new type of party have been fully confirmed during the approximately eight decades of the KKE’s existence and action, as well as by the rich experience of the international communist movement. To defend these principles in a conscientious and resolute way and to observe and apply them persistently and creatively constitutes the paramount duty of every Party member. This duty is identified with the defence of the Party’s very existence and of the main conditions which enable it to accomplish its historic mission.

The principles enshrined in the Statutes ensure the basic conditions necessary for the personal virtues, abilities and activities of every member to be manifested and developed freely, and to be harmoniously joined together with those of other members and to contribute as a whole to the decisive strengthening of the Party and its political influence, to the effective defence and promotion of the immediate and long-term interests of the working class and all working people and to advance the ideas and values of the Party.

Introduction

a. KKE is the party of the working class, its conscientious organised vanguard, its supreme form of organisation. It is a revolutionary organisation of like-minded volunteers which is struggling to overthrow capitalism and build the socialist-communist society in which all exploitation of man by man and all oppression will be abolished, and in which a higher standard of living, the rights of the people and equality of opportunities and rights will be assured, as will the all-round progress of the Greek people.

KKE aims to devote all its forces to building this better society, being fully aware that it will be the task of the working people themselves and of their substantial participation both in the struggle to win it, and in the process of building, safeguarding and consolidating it. In this struggle, KKE expresses the interests of all the working people in both towns and villages, of women and youth, and of all those who are suffering under the power of capital and whose interests lie in replacing this power. The working clas, bearer of socialist change, fighting in the front ranks of the struggle to overthrow capitalism, are striving not only for their own liberation, but for the liberation of all working people.

For these reasons, it is a historical necessity for KKE to exist and grow stronger in Greek society. In order to win its fight against daily capitalist oppression and to end man’s exploitation of man, the working class needs its own independent political oganisation, a mass revolutionary party capable of guiding the struggle for their vital interests and the building of a new society.

b. In its activities to realise these noble aims, KKE is guided by the ideology of Marxism-Leninism and by proletarian internationalism. It is inspired by the great October Socialist Revolution, and by the rich militant traditions of the Greek people. It utilises the positive and negative lessons learned from the building of socialism as we saw it.

KKE, supported by its world theory, has drawn up its programme and policy based on the analysis of the Greek and international situation, on the generalisation of experiences from social and political struggles and on the progress of knowledge in Greece and throughout the world.

c. The transition from the capitalist society, which is going through a profound crisis, to a socialist society presupposes the winning of political power by the working class, the socialisation of the main means of production and the liberation of the creative activity of the working people, the youth and the people in general. KKE is fighting with all its forces to make the working class and its allies aware of this need. To this end, it explores every opportunity in its daily struggles to improve the lives of the working people, to protect and extend their economic, political, trade union, and cultural rights and freedoms, to defend national independence and peace and to protect the environment. In this struggle it seeks to join all the working people together in a strong alliance against imperialism, against rampant exploitation, against activities by the economic oligarchy, domestic and foreign alike, and for substantial anti-imperialist, anti-monopoly, democratic changes.

d. The organisational structure and operation of KKE are in harmony with its aims and its revolutionary nature. Its fundamental principles are democratic centralism, collectivity, follow-up, criticism and self-criticism. The consistent, integrated and creative application of these principles, particularly that of democratic centralism, ensures unity of word and deed, collective and personal responsibility, democratic discussion and operation and at the same time it ensures united conscientious discipline in action. It contributes to the training of fighters with authority, ethics and a developed stance of criticism and self-criticism and to the continued broadening and strengthening of its links with the working class, the working people and the people as a whole.

The ideological, political and organisational unity of the Party is a necessary condition for it to achieve its goals.

e. KKE is founded on the principle of proletarian internationalism. It bases its internationalism on the common interests of the working class, and on the common dreams and goals of communists in all countries. It trains its members in the spirit of proletarian internationalism, international solidarity and cooperation with working people all over the world. It fulfils its internationalist obligations consistently and takes part in the struggle to rebuild, unite and strengthen the international communist and workers’ movement.

KKE associates internationalism dialectically with patriotism. It is the true and worthy inheritor of the national, democratic and revolutionary traditions of the Greek people. It fights against all manifestations of fascism, nationalism, chauvinism and racism.