THESES OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF GREECE FOR THE 19TH CONGRESS
THESES OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF
FOR THE 19TH CONGRESS
11-14 APRIL 2013
PROLOGUE
The KKE has travelled a long way, since 1918, when it held its Founding
Congress as the ripe fruit of the development of the labour movement in our
country which was merged with the theory of scientific socialism. The
foundation of the KKE was accelerated by the impact of the first socialist
revolution in history, the October revolution of
The KKE is the genuine and worthy heir of the national, democratic and
revolutionary traditions of the Greek people. It managed, in difficult
conditions, to preserve its revolutionary character, while it was never afraid
of recognising mistakes, deviations, of carrying out self-criticism openly in
front of the people. Its historical course vindicates the necessity of its
existence and activity in Greek society.
The KKE is the organized conscious vanguard segment of the working
class. It struggles for the overthrow of capitalism and the construction of
socialism-communism. It is faithful to the principle of proletarian
internationalism. It struggles for the regroupment of
the international communist movement after the setback and crisis which it
experienced, particularly after the victory of the counterrevolution in
1989-1991.
The capitalist system in
The 19th Congress will elaborate the
specific guidelines for the political tasks of the party and KNE, which will be
in force until the 20th Congress, based on the
report of work, the developments and the evaluation of the tendencies.
The basic task of the Congress is the contemporary
elaboration of the party’s Programme and of its Statutes, taking into account
the developments which have taken place and the requirements of today. A lot of
water has passed under the bridge since 1996, when the 15th Congress
formed the party’s Programme which is in force until today, regarding economic
developments, trends and changes in the international imperialist system, in
the EU, the position of
An integral element of the reformation of the
bourgeois political system is the greater turn to reaction, repression and
state-employer violence, the anti-communist and anti-socialist offensive which
is a problem that concerns the large majority of the people. The anti-communist
offensive seeks alternatively the following: to pressure the KKE, so that the
hopes are fulfilled regarding the adulteration of its character and its
transformation into a component of the “governmental left” or its isolation or
even to achieve the outlawing of its activity. This issue must be dealt with
decisively by the people, in order for exceptionally negative consequences for
the labour and people’s movement to be avoided. Consequently, new duties emerge
for the labour movement, the People’s
The Draft Programme incorporates the conclusions from
the construction of socialism in the USSR and the countries of socialist
construction more generally, the conclusions on the course of the international
communist movement, which were approved at the 18th Congress, as
well as the conclusions of the Nationwide Conference on the “History Essay of
the KKE, Volume II (1949-1968)” which are of strategic importance.
Finally, it is the fruit of a long collective process,
which continued after the 15th Congress in its entire course until
today, in the middle of struggles and tough class confrontations. The
experience of the party and the labour and people’s movement is valuable living
material which was utilised as far as possible in the elaboration of the
Theses, the report of work and the Draft Programme. The Draft Programme was
based on data and evaluations which emerge from the long term examination of
the developments in Greece and internationally, from the standpoint of the
working class and people’s interests, i.e. with Marxist-Leninist theory as a
compass, which constitutes the ideology of the KKE.
In the framework of the pre-congress discussion, the
CC publishes the Theses for the 19th Congress of the KKE, which are
comprised of three sections based on the agenda of the Congress.
The first section includes the report of work of the party from the 18th
Congress and the assessment of the CC which was elected at the 18th
Congress. It also includes the political tasks of the party, along general
lines, until the next 20th Congress.
The second section includes the Draft Programme of the KKE. The existing Programme of the
Party was adopted at the 15th Congress (22-26 May 1996). The Programme
was enriched, updated at the next congresses, the 16th (14-17
December 2000), the 17th (9-12 February 2005) and the 18th
(18-22 February 2009), based on the international and domestic developments.
The third section includes the draft Statutes, in which older and more recent experience
has been utilised.
The CC calls on the members of the Party and KNE to
study the text of the Theses, to contribute to their improvement with
reflection, proposals, recommendations, so that the final documents will be the
fruit of a collective process, to crystallise the rich experience accumulated
in recent years.
The pre-congress discussion also includes the
discussion of the Theses, with the aim of collecting opinions and comments from
the friends and supporters of the party, from every militant who -irrespective
of their particular views- understand that without a strong KKE with
scientifically elaborated positions, the recovery of the labour and people’s
movement is not possible, nor is its endurance in the face of the bends and
turns it will go through. Nor will be possible the people to defend themselves
against the barbaric offensive of capital,
and even more so to act aggressively for social and political overthrow.
THESES OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE
COMMUNIST PARTY OF
FOR THE 19TH CONGRESS
11-14 APRIL 2013
DEVELOPMENTS AND TENDENCIES IN THE INTERNATIONAL IMPERIALIST SYSTEM, IN
THE EU, IN
1. The outbreak of the generalized and synchronized
capitalist economic crisis brought to the forefront the historically outdated
and inhuman character of the contemporary capitalist system, the timeliness and
necessity of socialism, the need for the regroupment
of the international communist movement, for the emancipation of the labour and
people’s movement. It contributed to the sharpening of the unevenness and
inter-imperialist contradictions, to the change of the correlation of forces in
the international imperialist pyramid, to the fluidity of the alliances and the
ignition of old and new war flashpoints.
The
capitalist crisis dealt an overwhelming blow to the bourgeois theories, e.g.
regarding sustainable development. It very clearly highlighted the sharpening
of the contradictions and the difficulties of the bourgeois management and
generally the difficulties regarding the transition into a new cycle of
extended reproduction of social capital. Whatever recovery took place was
uneven, anaemic, while a new decline followed it in the Eurozone
and
2. The contemporary pro-monopoly political line, which
has a strategic character and aims at the rise in the rate of profit (cheaper
labour power, reactionary restructurings, privatizations etc.), began at the
beginning of the 1980s in the
3. The EU and the Eurozone are
bearing more of the brunt from the pressures of international competition,
while the internal contradictions are constantly being strengthened. The crisis has the effect of slowing down
countries which are still having high rates of capitalist development.
The
common goals of big capital -which determine the formation of the EU as an
inter-state imperialist alliance-
do not negate the uneven development inside it, and they do not negate the
nation-state organization on which the largest part of capitalist accumulation
is based on.
The
outbreak of the crisis reinforced the decline of the share of the
It is
characteristic that, as a sum total, the share of the economies of the G7, i.e.
the USA, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan which were the
strongest developed economies, on the terrain of the crisis, fell from 45.03%
of the World Product in 2005 to 37.75% according to predictions for 2012, with
the prospect of a continued further reduction in the years to follow.
In
contrast, today
Nevertheless
all the emerging capitalist economies continue to have a comparatively low
level of productivity, while the productivity of the
4. Based on the entirety of the economic indicators (GDP
growth rate, industrial production, productivity, current account balance,
fiscal situation) three categories can be discerned inside the Eurozone today. The strong group (
The
temporary compromise at the EU Summits led to the creation of a joint
supervisory mechanism of the financial sector of the member-states and the
possibility of the direct re-capitalization of the European banks by the
European Stability Mechanism.
For
this reason the German and French bourgeois classes face serious dilemmas in
relation to the future of the Eurozone. At the
Summits of 2011 and
The
dominant trend in the German bourgeoisie gives priority to the buttressing of
the Euro and monetary stability and doubts the advisability of
The
outbreak of a new economic crisis in the Eurozone in
2012 and the prevailing conditions in the international market demonstrate that
the working class in all the EU member-states of the EU will be at a
disadvantageous position, will be subject to continual sacrifices in order to
protect the competitiveness of the monopolies. Objectively, larger sections of
the working class will come into opposition with the bourgeois management
solutions which are trying to control the extent of capital depreciation and to
control the distribution of the losses amongst its various sections.
The Position of
5. In the framework of uneven development,
The
distance of
The
real reasons for
6. The struggle between the imperialist centres, in this
particular period, is focussed on the control of the energy resources and their
transport routes, the sources of water, the sea lanes for the transport of
commodities, with characteristic flashpoints of tension in the Caspian Sea, the
Eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, Africa, the South
China Sea and the Arctic. The danger of generalized regional conflicts is
increasing, and even of a general imperialist war. It is in this framework that
the imperialist axes are realigning for the control of markets and territories.
7. The strategy of Greek capitalism in the region has
resulted in the contradictory character of the competitive relations with
Turkey, as well as in the choice of strategic cooperation with Israel (military
cooperation, economic cooperation, particularly in the energy, tourist, and
agricultural sectors), while it is seeking a solution for the establishment of
sovereign rights within NATO’s framework. It has not declared a Greek Exclusive
Economic Zone (EEZ), according to the International Convention on the Law of
the Sea, which constitutes the first step for its demarcation, an issue which
has been subject to criticism from a bourgeois standpoint as well. At the same
time, it is promoting the exploration of energy deposits in the Ionian Sea and
8. The upgrading of
The
Turkish state seeks to utilise for its own benefit the inter-imperialist
contradictions between the Euro-Atlantic axis and the Russia-China-Iran axis in
the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as the existing contradictions inside each
axis (e.g. between the
The
developments in the region of the Balkans are characterised by the enlargement
of the EU and NATO and consequently their more direct involvement in the
imperialist plans and competition. The independence of Kosovo which was a part
of the plan for the dismemberment of Yugoslavia in 1999 is incorporated into
this framework, as well as the military agreement of Turkey with Albania, the
cancellation of the Greek-Albanian agreement for the demarcation of national
waters by the Albanian constitutional court, the strengthening of the US-NATO
intervention for the association and accession of FYROM to the EU and NATO. The
Expansionism and irredentism which are being developed by the leadership of
The
dangers are increasing in the wider region for a generalised imperialist war
and a direct involvement of
The Economic Crisis in
9. The deepest and lengthiest crisis of capital
over-accumulation since the 1950s has manifested itself in the Greek economy
from 2009 onwards. From the first moment, there began a systematic effort of
misinformation, obfuscation by the
bourgeois parties as well as by reformist, opportunist forces headed by SYRIZA
in order to conceal the real causes and factors of the crisis. Their goal is to
impede even a small step towards the emancipation of the labour and people’s
movement. Theories have been promoted about “Casino Capitalism”, about a crisis
which is exclusively and only caused by the financial system,
“over-consumption”, or the opposite of it “under-consumption”, which has
recently been developed after the 2010 Memorandum.
The
economic crisis in
10. The inflation of the state debt is due to:
§ The management policy in favour of the monopoly groups
which has been followed throughout the entire post-dictatorship period through
their funding, the reduction of taxation, the tax
exemptions. The spending on the public
works for the Olympic Games in 2004.
§ The enormous spending on armament programmes and
expeditions for the needs of NATO.
§ The consequences because of the expansion of the trade
deficit due to the rapid increase of imports from the EU.
§ The vicious circle of the reduction of the GDP-inflation
of the debt as a percentage of the GDP and measures for internal devaluation.
The
accession of
11. On the one hand, the unevenness inside the Eurozone
deepened in the conditions of the crisis, and on the other the contradictions
between the member-states over the management of the crisis sharpened further,
as well as over the control of the state debt, and even over the pre-conditions
for the maintenance of the common currency. Such contradictions were also
manifested at least inside the two strongest Eurozone
powers,
12. Greek capitalism, seeking to improve its position in the EU, in the
region and generally in the international imperialist pyramid, has as its
strategic goals: the promotion of Greece as a transport node for energy and
commodities from Asia to the EU; the joint exploitation of its rich energy
deposits (Aegean Sea - Ionian Sea, Southern Crete); the reinforcement of the
competitiveness of big capital and the bargaining position of Greece in the
Euro-Atlantic imperialist alliance. It also promotes the goal of developing
certain sectors and fields such as: tourism, the production of certain agricultural
products, certain industrial sectors with an export orientation.
The
other political parties that support the capitalist development path converge
on these strategic goals.
Basic trends in the social composition and
structure of employment and in the economy’s structure
13. Over the last decade, the overall
employment fell from 4.09 millions in 2001 to 3.7
millions in 2012, while there had been an increase until 2008 before the
outbreak of the crisis.
The
overall number of those employed in the agricultural- primary sector fell from
16.1% in 2001 to 13% in 2012. There has been an important reduction in the
secondary-industrial sector from 23% in 2001 to 16.1% in
The
number of salaried employees in 2012 is about the same as the number in 2001,
2.4 million, but this equivalence conceals an important increase in the number
of salaried workers before the outbreak of the crisis and their rapid reduction
afterwards. In 2001 their share in the total employment was 59.4% and in 2012
63,3%. Before the outbreak of
the crisis the rate of increase was higher.
The
number of self-employed as a percentage of the total appears to have a slight
increase, from 23.6% in 2001 to 24.3% in 2012, but the amount in numbers
remains relatively stable with small fluctuations at 950,000. However there was a course of reduction until
the outbreak of the crisis, while the apparent increase afterwards conceals a
level of under-employment which approaches unemployment.
A
significant trend has been recorded regarding the reduction of the number of
self-employed and salaried workers in manufacturing and construction. In
contrast, there has been an increase in the sectors of tourism-food,
telecommunications, the financial sector and scientific-technical services.
The
number of those employed in manufacturing has shrunk from
The
number of those employed in construction has seen a large reduction from
In the
retail sector, the number of those employed has seen an small almost
imperceptible fall from
In the
tourism-food sector, due to the intense seasonal nature of employment, we refer
to the period 2001-2011 where there is the possibility of inferring a yearly
average. The number of those employed in the sector increased from 269,000 to
The
number of those employed in the finance sector saw a small increase from
The
sector of scientific-technical services employs 221,000 workers, of whom 85,000
(39%) are salaried, 103,000 (47%) are self-employed and 30,000 (13%) are
employers. Based on the available data we can only assess that there has been a
trend for the sector to increase by 30% over the last decade.
Official
unemployment, in this period, rose sharply from 11.2% in 2001 to 25.4% in 2012,
but not as a uniform trend. The outbreak of the crisis led to a sudden reverse
of the course of its reduction which had been the case until 2008. The
unemployment rate is not homogenous across the entire population. Amongst
women, the rate of unemployment fell from 16.9% in 2001 to 12.3% in 2008, and
in 2012 it increased to 29%. Amongst
men, it fell from 7.5% in 2001 to 5.6% in 2008, and increased to 22.7% in 2012.
Amongst foreigners, unemployment rate fell from 11.7% in 2001 to 7.4% in 2008
and later increased to 30% in 2012. Based on these statistics, 180,000 out of
the 1.27 million unemployed in 2012 are foreigners.
Regarding
the educational level, amongst university graduates unemployment rate amounts
to 16.2%, amongst graduates of Technical Institutes 26%, High School graduates
26 %, amongst primary school graduates 22%, while it reaches 33% amongst people
who have not graduated from primary school. Regarding age groups, for young
people under the age of 24 unemployment rate is almost 60%, while in the 25-34
age group unemployment reached 32.9%. The rate of unemployment has exceeded 20%
in the 35-44 age group. A
result of the explosion of unemployment is the significant increase of adults
who live in a household without any employed person, from 8.1% in 2008 to 16.9%
in 2012, while it is estimated that 12.6% of children under 18 years of age live in a household without any
worker. In relation to the regional
variations, unemployment in Western Macedonia-Epirus amounts to 28.5% and in
Long-term
unemployment has also risen rapidly in the period 2008-2011 (those looking for
work for more than a year). From 3.2% for men and 7.9% for women in 2008, it
reached 11.7% for men and 16.9% for women in the 2nd quarter of
2012. The number of long-term unemployed now exceeds 680,000.
According
to Eurostat data, in 2011 there were 956,007
immigrants officially registered in
When
the bourgeois governments, as is the case in Greece, in the conditions of the
economic crisis and the swift increase of unemployment, cannot manage the
reserve army of labour, then, as collective representatives of the capitalists,
resort to the offensive to restrict and suppress immigration, they are closing
the door on the influx, using measures of mass persecutions and
deportations. The anti-immigration
policy with violence and repression reinforces the racist atmosphere.
The
immigrant population is also a fertile ground for the development of activity
by secret services and embassies, something that took place in the past amongst
the so-called émigrés. At the same time, there is a significant
rise of criminality by immigrants who are being led into petty crime or organized
criminal networks.
The
production of livestock products in comparison to 1981 (accession to the EEC)
saw a significant fall in meat, general stagnation in dairy production (with an
increase in fresh dairy products), a reduction in butter. In livestock
production we observe significant concentration, despite the fact that there
remain a large number of cultivations with a very limited amount of livestock.
In the
agricultural sector, the average area of an agricultural cultivation remains
very small up to the present day (at 25% of the EU average). The agricultural
cultivations with a Standard Gross Margin (SGM) over 48,000 euros
in 2007 constituted 12.9% of agricultural land as opposed to 3.94% in 1990. We
consider that cultivation with a SGM under 48,000 Euros does not safeguard a
generally extended reproduction of its capital.
The
secondary industrial sector as a share of Gross Added Value fell from 21.1% in
2001 to 17.1% in 2011. Based on the volume of production, production in 2011
was at 70% of the level of 2001. At the same time, there was a significant
reduction in manufacturing and construction.
The
tertiary sector as a percentage of the Gross Added Value increased from 75.2%
in 2001 to 78.8% in 2011. Bourgeois statistics includes in this sector the
industrial sector of shipping, the Gross Added Value of which is assessed to
have increased from 4.1 billion euros in 2001 to 7.8
billion euros in 2011 and the industrial sector of
telecommunications, the Gross Added Value of which has increased from 3.1
billion euros in 2011 to 6.2 billion euros in 2010.
Political developments, the correlation of
forces in the political system, processes regarding its reformation
15. The greatest weakness in the exercise of capitalist power manifested
itself in the irregular participation of the state in the international capital
market, due to the sudden inflation of the state debt and the shart rise of the market interest rates. So an inability to
repay the loan or to renew it via the market emerged, which led to its
borrowing from the IMF-EU mechanism.
Nevertheless,
these malfunctions did not take on the characteristics of a real shaking of
important institutions of the capitalist system in Greece, nor was it even
expressed by an inability of the bourgeois parliament to support governments
which brought to the parliament barbaric agreements-memoranda and anti-worker
laws. Conditions of a manifest weakness of the state mechanisms have not been
formed yet, the weakening and changes in the international alliances of the
capitalist power in
16. The bourgeois political system in the testing conditions created by the consequences of the crisis, as well as a
general tendency, irrespective of the crisis itself, is reinforced by new repressive
apparatuses, both state and para-state, by the
adoption of the most reactionary and authoritarian laws in order to break the
labour and people’s movement.
The
European repressive apparatuses and the institutional consolidation of
imperialist interventions are in the service of state repression-violence. The
functioning and role of the repressive apparatuses is being strengthened in
this direction, as well as the European police service (Europol), the European
unit of judicial cooperation (Eurojust), the European Agency for the Management of
Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the
European Union (Frontex). The connection between the
“civil protection apparatus” and the “mutual defense
and solidarity clause” is becoming stronger, the reactionary characteristics
and aggressiveness of the EU are being reinforced in relation to military
interventions in its member-states, with the pretext of “terrorism”,
“destruction of natural or human resources”, “cyber attacks” etc for the
breaking of the labour movement and the protection of the bourgeois political
system. The anti-people offensive is
escalating with the adoption of activity against “radicalism” and “extreme
ideologies”, with the pretext of “terrorism”. The ideology and political
activity which leads outside of the boundaries of the capitalist system is
being criminalized, anticommunism is intensifying and being transmitted through
the various channels of manipulation. The surveillance mechanisms have
multiplied as well as the collection of data against radical militants aided by
new technology, so that the traditional profiling pales into insignificance in
comparison to the contemporary forms.
The development of the current economic crisis
brought about cracks in the existing bourgeois political system, a certain
malfunctioning in the mechanisms of the capitalist states and agencies such as
the tax offices and the public hospitals, while the situation in the
social-security funds and in public education has deteriorated. That is to say,
in reality the means through which the capitalist state ensured its control
over working class and popular masses, through its direct participation in the
reproduction of labour power, were weakened.
The bourgeois governance adjusted itself in a new
form, that of the cooperation of bourgeois parties – despite their
contradictions- which for years had alternated in government (the government of
L. Papademos was supported by PASOK-ND and also
initially by LAOS, the A. Samaras government is supported by
ND-PASOK-Democratic Left after the June 17 elections 2012). The reformation of
the bourgeois political system has been initiated. This includes as well the
restoration of contemporary social-democracy, which was expressed by the sudden
electoral rise of SYRIZA which is supported by a large number of officials from
PASOK’s apparatus and gathers the largest part of PASOK’s losses.
17. The political contradictions between the parties which support the
pro-monopoly policy for the management of the crisis are manifested as
contradictions over the one or the other management formula, the monetary
fiscal one and the expansive one, masked as a confrontation between the liberal
and the reformist-opportunist formulae. Both management formulae have the common
characteristic of serving the monopolies, the recovery of capitalist
profitability, which objectively will lead to a new crisis cycle. The
alternation of both the liberal and Keynesian management model brought about
economic crisis cycles throughout the 20th century, sharpened the
inter-bourgeois and inter-imperialist contradictions and led to two World Wars.
On the basis of the alternation of the management
formula, the reformation of the bourgeois political system is being promoted,
so that it can provide more alternate governments through parties cooperating
with each other.
In
recent years, and especially during the two electoral battles, new political
parties which operate in the spectrum of nationalism, racism, anti-communism were given a more
discrete political presence on the political scene. The party of the
“Independent Greeks” adopts nationalist positions.
Golden Dawn is a national socialist, fascist
organization. National Socialism, at the level of ideology, constitutes a
merging of nationalism with petty bourgeois “socialist” views which have no
relationship with the theory of scientific socialism. It utilizes the existing
problems caused by the increase of the immigration current to
Golden Dawn is a section and party of the bourgeois
political system, an organization of the bourgeois class, of capital. It is a
vehicle for the infiltration of reactionary ideas into the working class and
popular strata, packaged in an alleged anti-plutocracy line and demagogy in the
conditions of crisis. It utilizes fascist demagogy and impersonates or reminds
us of the positions and practices of the Assault Division (Sturmabteilung),
particularly in the period before Hitler took power. It prioritizes the promotion of the Greek
nation above others, with the characteristic position “Greek blood above everything”.
It considers the immigrants to be the racial enemy, chiefly the “dark-skinned”,
“blacks”, gypsies, in the same way Hitler considered the Jews as enemies.
Processes are underway for the emergence of other
nationalist formations, with the transfer of forces between them.
The working class and its social allies, the
self-employed, the farmers, the radical women and youth organizations must and
can face Golden Dawn in the workplaces, neighbourhoods and rural areas.
19. The changes in the institution of local government with the “Kallikratis” law which was the continuation of the initial
“Kapodistrias” law and other institutional changes
which had preceded it, were an element of the adaptation of the bourgeois state
and the bourgeois political system to the needs of capital for cheaper labour
power and the reinforcement of the liberation of the markets.
“Kallikratis” in the two
years of its implementation has confirmed the position of the KKE that it
constitutes the necessary adaptation of the Greek capitalist state to the
contemporary conditions of capitalist development. A relative decentralization of central state
functions and responsibilities to local government is being carried out, with
as its basic goal the more direct implementation and escalation of the
pro-monopoly political line in a more extensive and intensive way. Local
government is an integral part of the capitalist state for the strengthening of
business activity and competitiveness, the drastic cuts in state social
spending on health-welfare, education, agriculture, live-stock farming, urban
transport, in combination with the increase of local taxation at the expense of
the working people. The regime of cheap flexible labour force, the abolition of
labour rights is being promoted through Kalikratis;
likewise the adaptation of education to the needs of the local businesses
through the “Flexible Zones” and the entrance of businessmen into the schools
as sponsors through the mediation of the municipalities. “Life-Long Learning” is being promoted which
aims at teaching the labour force whatever the businesses need.
In every municipality or neighbourhood, in every
village and city, a multitude of political forces operate, a multitude of old
and new party bosses who are connected with the mayors and regional prefects,
with the managers of businesses, hospitals schools principals, the church, with
the capital’s chambers of commerce, as
well as with the Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs). The NGOs are a labyrinthian network for manipulation and exploitation,
which is supported and promoted by the state, the business groups and the EU,
as an allegedly modern form of social organization and solidarity. They foster
hopes for job finding, while they come into opposition with the organized
labour and people’s movement.
REPORT
OF WORK OF THE PARTY FROM THE 18th TO THE 19TH CONGRESS
The KKE and its role in the development of the labour movement and the
People’s Alliance
21. The working class, that is to say the class which will carry out the
socialist revolution, and its allies, the popular strata, i.e. the
semi-proletarians and the poor intermediate strata -taking into account
contemporary conditions- experienced an unprecedented decline in the living
standards, and their labour and social rights, due to capital’s strategy and
the counterrevolutionary overthrow which took place in the 1980s and 1990s.
After the fall of the Junta and mainly in the first
half of the 1980s, the Greek capitalist state followed a selective policy of
providing higher benefits in various sectors and fields which created a large
protective shield for the prevailing political line. It became a pillar of
support for the most reactionary and anti-labour choices of capital in
The manifestation of the prolonged absolute
destitution occurred in
22. The farmers’ union and cooperative movement were subjugated and
degenerated by the choices of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), by
subsidies which bought off the farmers and in essence led to the abandonment of
agricultural production, to the replacement of vital cultivations by secondary
and supplementary ones, to the utilization of cooperative associations for the
concentration of capital. The negative consequences had already manifested
themselves from the middle of the 1990s onwards, which resulted in the
leaderships of the farmers’ movement (GESASE, SYDASE) becoming the objects of
disdain and to the emergence of farmers’ struggles with other organizational
centres. The National Union of Young
Farmers is being promoted (PENA), separating farmers on an age basis, fostering
entrepreneurship and competitiveness in the agricultural sector, i.e. the EU’s
CAP.
The situation in the movement of the self-employed
is even worse. Forces which express the interests of a section of the
intermediate strata seeking a satellite role in relation to the monopolies
dominate the third level bodies of GSEVEE, ESEE and the majority of the
Federations. They use the Centres of Professional Training (KEK) as a mechanism
for corrupting and buying off consciousness, systematically downgrading the
role of the trade unions. In certain
union bodies, especially in the professional chambers, representatives of the
monopolies are prevalent. They form positions which come into opposition with
the immediate and long-term interests of the poor self-employed.
23. With the exception of the section
of the labour and trade union movement which is rallied in PAME, of the
self-employed which rallied in PASEVE (Nationwide Antimonopoly Rally of the
Self-employed and the small Tradesmen) and that of the farmers which
is rallied in PASY (All Farmers’ Militant Rally), with the hard efforts of the
KKE, the working class and popular masses found themselves significantly
unprepared in the face of capital’s new offensive and the already major
material losses. In the new period of
reformism-opportunism, in conditions of a prolonged economic crisis they became
easy prey for practices such as: the flattery of the spontaneous in opposition
to the organised labour trade unionism and the struggle in the form of,
sectionalism, as well as bourgeois, petty bourgeois and church-based charity.
The doors were open for provocations and every form of intimidation by the
employers, state and para-state.
The labour movement was not prepared to
counterattack in a way which was in proportion with the scale of the offensive
unleashed against it in the new conditions. Despite all this, the compromised
leaderships carried out certain maneuvers, they were
dragged into repeated strike mobilizations, even if they did not essentially
support them, under the pressure of the sudden deterioration of the people’s
living standards, the militant initiatives and activity of its class-oriented
section. A sudden upsurge was expressed with the mass strike mobilizations of 5th
May 2012 and 19th October 2011, on the demonstration of
12th February 2012, as protests against the signing of the memoranda
between the government, EU and IMF.
Certain extended strikes were carried out. The most
characteristic example was the almost 9-month strike at “Greek Steelworks” and
the moral and material solidarity with the strikers which had a nationwide and
international dimension.
The trade union and labour movement has not been
essentially regrouped based on the sector, the business group and the
organization in the workplace, it has not acquired mass characteristics. It has
not become combative using the weapon of the mass and well-protected strike
against the capitalist, as well as against the state of the capitalists.
The labour and people’s movement in
The contribution of the KKE was important in
promoting the slogan of disobedience and defiance of the banning of strikes,
state and employer intimidation, the emergency taxes, head-taxes, in the
immediate drastic intervention to reconnect electricity to families from the
popular strata, for the abolition of the new heavy taxes in health, of the
charge on care, as an element for strengthening the movement and making it more
experienced. The working class, the popular strata learn through such
experiences not to be afraid of the law or punishment, the sacrifices that the
class struggle, the people’s struggle entail, to take their just cause into
their own hands. Such initiatives must be multiplied, as they educate, provide
experience for the conflicts which will intensify and become more demanding in
the future. The slogan of disobedience and defiance as an element of the
counterattack must be rooted above all in the workplaces, in the factories, in
the sectors, so that broader popular masses can be rallied and militantly
educated. The mass counterattack should be supported on the basis of the
individual’s responsibility regarding the uprising, the people’s intervention,
the concentration, rallying and cooperation in the political social struggle.
The People’s Committees in the neighbourhood are a
seed, a first form for the People’s
§ The participation and
mobilisation of broader popular forces on a social-class basis.
§ The formation of the People’s
Committee by trade unions and other organizations which belong to
PAME-PASEVE-MAS-OGE and are expressed at a local level.
§ The intervention everywhere
where popular forces are active in order to put forward correct demands.
§ The responsibility of every
component of the alliance for its area of responsibility, and the simultaneous
coordination between them.
§ The connection with local
organizations and groups of workers.
The forces of the KKE in the People’s Committees are
responsible for the development of this new form of organization and, at the
same time, for the maintenance of the independent
ideological-political-organizational presence and activity of the party.
25. The activity of various bourgeois “patriotic”, petty bourgeois
nationalist, fascist and as well as opportunist political currents and forms of
bourgeois institutions is a trap for the orientation of the struggle of the
working class and popular masses, in conditions of a prolonged economic crisis,
and even more so of a certain political instability.
In such conditions together with the development of
the mobility of the popular forces, the phenomena of disorienting this mobility
in various directions intensify: volunteer activity which replaces the struggle
to win things from the state, anarchist attacks and clashes with the forces of
repression, national socialist-racist-fascist activity etc.
The development of activities and “movements” for
the management of the sharpening problems of the people, the so-called
“movement without middlemen” etc was promoted, particularly in the recent
months with the contribution of forces of opportunism. This includes a large
variety of activities which are connected to the action of state institutions,
municipalities, the church, the NGOs, organizations etc. Their activity leads
to the formation of mechanisms for the assimilation and the demobilisation of
the poor popular strata, so that they become reconciled with poverty, with the
view that they must work together to manage poverty and the consequences of the
crisis, so that they give up on the resistance, the disobedience, the counterattack,
class solidarity.
There needs to be a stable orientation to mass forms
of organization of the working class in order to neutralize these misleading
interventions in the working class and popular masses, particularly in the most
inexperienced and destitute, the young unemployed, the immigrants, the school
students.
The so-called “movement of the indignant citizens”
and the “squares”, was supported and encouraged - if it was not indeed planned-
by mechanisms of the bourgeoisie, with the aim of manipulating, preventing
radicalization, by channelling sections of the labour aristocracy and petty
bourgeois strata. A section of the workers and unemployed was attracted to this
“movement”. Both right and left-wing opportunism allied in its ranks. The prevalent
slogans were reactionary, slogans of the petty bourgeois democracy, with the
aim of striking against the class-oriented movement. Particularly at the
beginning, popular masses were rallied which have not acquired the necessary
political experience, supporting another option for the management of the
system which allegedly would stop the downward spiral, would solve their
problems. This line for rallying disparate masses was also expressed later by
the voting criteria in the electoral battles of May and June 2012.
The well-known issue arises regarding which forces
will be at the head of and influence the movement of the masses. The working
class and its alliance in an anti-monopoly direction or petty bourgeois forces
which foster illusions about the potential of a pro-people solution without a
rupture with the capitalist relations of production.
This is why it is important to struggle for the
change of the correlation of forces and why the pre-conditions for the
strengthening of the class struggle are significant.
The activity of the party, the problems of immigrants
26. The KKE played an active role in exposing the causes of immigration and
refugee flows. It pointed out the real guilty: the imperialist wars and
imperialist interventions, the great poverty and unemployment brought about by
the counterrevolution, the capitalist development path which entails unevenness
and competition for the re-division of the markets. It made a particular effort to expose the
danger for working class unity, for the course of strengthening the people’s
movement posed by racism and nationalism. It contributed, as far as possible in
difficult circumstances, to creating conditions for the unified class-oriented
activity and unity among Greek and immigrant working men and women. It
elaborated a comprehensive framework of demands which deal with- as far as
possible in the specific circumstances and the situation as it has been formed-
the sharpening problems of the immigrants. At the same time it fought against
the cosmopolitanism of capital, the arguments of which aim at concealing the
basic contradiction between capital and labour. Proletarian internationalism,
as a communist principle, is related to the immigration question, and
consequently the KKE will continue its activity for the unity of Greek workers
and immigrants, to multiply the ranks of the labour movement with immigrant men
and women. The regroupment of the labour movement
will also be determined by the participation of immigrants into the trade
unions, into the class struggle. In the conditions of a revolutionary
situation, the immigrant working men and women must be mobilized together with
Greek workers. This issue will determine the entire course of the struggle.
The ideological-political confrontation
27. The party counterattacked in a combative way and developed systematic
activity on a series of ideological-political issues which were posed in the
confrontation inside the movement, in the general political struggle, in all
the electoral battles, regardless of the losses experienced in the two
electoral confrontations.
The KKE played an important role in revealing the
character of the crisis, the memoranda, the
agreement on the “haircut” of the debt, the significance of the difficulty of
the bourgeois political system and capitalism generally in managing the crisis,
in predicting the developments in the EU. In addition, it highlighted the two
development paths, the various recipes for the bourgeois management of the
crisis and the pro-worker pro-people way out of the crisis, the need to
disengage from the EU, to unilaterally cancel the debt, the need of the working
class-people’s power and its basic content. It highlighted the value of
international class solidarity with the victims of immigration, economic
immigrants and political refugees.
The ideological confrontation, where the voice of
the party could be heard, with various forms and ways on all the developments
in the period 2009-2012 centred on this question: management of the crisis or a
way out in favour of the people? In other words: reform or revolution?
The improvement of the intervention of the party
which was noted in the period 2009-2012 came up against the
ideological-political consequences which flow from relatively long term factors
as well as that of the period of the crisis, i.e. the multi-facetted
consequences of the overthrow of the socialist regimes and the inevitable
negative change in the correlation of forces.
28. Basic issues of the ideological-political struggle:
A)
The limits of the trade union struggle in the
current phase of capitalist development and especially in the conditions of
crisis have been highlighted.
When a workplace, a sector takes militant
initiatives without receiving the necessary and appropriate support, it finds
it difficult to handle the development of the struggle, as the employers show
their well-known class intransigence. It was demonstrated that particularly in
conditions of the capitalist economic crisis and especially in sectors which
are negatively affected, even a partial struggle will have difficulty in being
successful if the pre-conditions for conflict at the level of the business
group, sector, the total conflict with capital for the radical overthrow at the
level of political power have not been formed.
B)
A basic aspect of the realignment of the bourgeois
political system was the development of a well-studied attack against the KKE,
using classic or new methods, like the utilization of the internet.
The goal of the offensive is to isolate and
marginalise the KKE and even to transform it into an extra-parliamentary
political force, to the benefit of reformist, opportunist forces which seek to
participate in a government of bourgeois management. At the same time, it is
attempting to exert ideological pressure, so that the party is assimilated into
the bourgeois political system as a feature of its reformation and as a force
to support the change of the management formula.
The offensive against the KKE and the forces of the
class oriented trade union movement, which was systematically planned from 2007
onwards, when the KKE recorded an increase of its political influence expressed
in the election result in the same year, took on the following characteristics
in the previous period:
§ The vulgar anti-communism, the
slanderous anti-socialist propaganda which constitutes the official ideology of
the EU.
§ The attempt to present the KKE
as a “systemic” party, committed and subjugated to the
system. This slander is launched in combination with the dissemination of the
view that “they are all the same”.
§ The bourgeois political system
has implemented a planned attack on the moral standing of the party, focusing
on its finances. The provocation regarding the “Germanos”
company, the refusal of the party to publish the names of those who support it,
the dismissals at “Typoekdotiki” and “
§ The “friendly” attack, with
attempts to pull the KKE into an “anti-memorandum” line, to support the change
in the formula of bourgeois political management.
§ The strengthening of
anti-communist bourgeois political forces which can constitute a militant
strike against the labour movement.
C)
Reactionary trends in the people’s consciousness are
being strengthened by these political forces and organizations which promoted a
series of views, for instance strengthening racism and xenophobia, targeting sections
of the political personnel, “the politicians-thieves”, so as to conceal the
essence of the political problem and the class
character of the bourgeois state and the parties that support it. At the same
time, they prettify other sections of the bourgeois state (Army, Judiciary)
versus the political system etc.
D)
An
alternative version of the reformist line is being promoted by the forces of
opportunism which seek to come to a political agreement based on the so-called
“transitional political programme of struggle”.
Aims such as the rupture with the EU, when they are
put forward detached from the struggle for power, lose their class character,
they can – especially in today’s conditions when the EU is experiencing a
disturbance of its cohesion- be assimilated into the bourgeois aims. The goal
of the exit from the Eurozone or from the EU has a
class character on the part of a section of the bourgeoisie which poses the
issue of a reorientation of the country’s imperialist alliances.
The general anti-memorandum line leads the labour
movement essentially under the banner of a section of the bourgeois class,
serving the bourgeois interests.
E)
The parliamentary illusions and the expectation of a
pro-people way out via a bourgeois government remain prevalent amongst the
large majority of the people,
they are strong even amongst a section of the party’s voters.
Bourgeois power is made up of institutions, open and
hidden mechanisms, which operate regardless of which bourgeois party is in the
government or to how the parliamentary majority is formed.
If there is even the slightest possibility of such
working class and popular moods being expressed in parliament, it is certain
that the bourgeois power will not waver at all in negating such a possibility.
Through its systematic and multi-facetted activity,
the KKE must contribute so that the vote for the KKE by sections of workers and
poor popular strata expresses not only the desire to support a political force
which consistently struggles for the people’s problems, but also expresses the
class choice aimed at weakening the bourgeois political system, the bourgeois
governance, so that every crack will reinforce the direction for the overthrow
of bourgeois power and capitalist ownership.
F)
Sloganeering about the loss of
The character of contemporary patriotism is
identified with the overthrow of bourgeois power, the capitalist ownership of
the means of production, the withdrawal from every capitalist inter-state
coalition and imperialist alliance.
G)
Doubts are intensifying, due to the consequences of
This position is being systematically promoted by
the opportunist forces, not only in our country, but at a European and
international level, which, in the name of the regional or international
struggle, justifies a policy of tolerating the regional imperialist unions,
e.g. the EU. These views underestimate the relative independence of the
sharpening of the social contradictions at a national level. The struggle must
first of all be waged at a national level against the bourgeois class and its
power. As is written in the Communist Manifesto “the proletariat of each country must, of course, first of all settle matters with its own bourgeoisie”.
The uneven economic development is an absolute law of capitalism. On the
basis of this law, socialism can be victorious initially in a few or in only
one country, on its own.
Historical
experience has demonstrated that the sharpening of the class struggle in one
state is also connected to corresponding processes which take place in other
states, at least at a regional level.
The course of the party’s electoral strength
29. The party received increased percentage of votes in the elections for
the European Parliament (June 2009) as well as in the regional elections
(October 2010). The higher percentage of the party in the elections for the
European Parliament in relation to the parliamentary elections which took place
in the same year was not accompanied by an increase of votes, as the abstention
(which turned against the two big parties) influenced a section of our voters, who
if they had voted would have voted for the KKE. The same was apparent in the
regional elections. The party’s choice to appear with a unified list and
unified positions nationwide in the local and regional elections, as it had
done in the previous years in the prefectural elections, was correct. It was an
important step in dealing with the manoeuvres of the other parties and narrow localist views. The dynamism the party showed in the
regional elections was not expressed in the elections for the municipalities,
except from certain large municipalities where the percentage of the party
increased as the local elections took on a more general political character. We
bear responsibilities for this issue, because we do not combine the general
political struggle, the social demands, the ideological confrontation with the
role of local government and the elected officials. In this way Local
Government remained relatively out of the firing line. We underestimate the
fact that Local Government binds thousands of families in a web of ties through
public works, jobs, and multiple activities carried out in the field of culture
or medical centres etc. Now indeed, due to the crisis they have a much deeper
network of these types of activities. The decline of the bourgeois parties is
not extended to their local officials who support the general political line of
the system and work so that it is tolerated. The personality-centred system
also plays a role, as well as the fact that the lists on many occasions are
made up of candidates who belong to many different parties. The local elections
are used as a testing ground for new political formations, new figures, for
formations-obstacles, which particularly in the last elections sprouted like
mushrooms.
The first
symptoms of the contradictions caused in the working class and people’s
consciousness by the economic capitalist crisis appeared in the national
elections in October
The total
sum of PASOK’s and ND’s votes, in combination with the reduced electoral
strength of the KKE (in comparison to the parliamentary elections of 2007), the
major abstention from the ballot box of discontented popular strata was a
negative result for the people’s movement.
The two
electoral battles of 2012, apart from the complex objective conditions -which
were unprecedented to a certain extent- highlighted the long-term weaknesses
and delays in the work of the party, and above all the CC, for the regroupment of the labour movement, the strengthening of
the social alliance, the party building in conditions of crisis where there are
difficulties in the organization of the masses, so that all the possibilities
which flow from the objective developments are exhausted.
Regardless
of the objective factors which determined the electoral reduction, weaknesses
and deficiencies of a subjective character were notable in the pre-election
period. The CC did not focus its attention on the fact that for the first time,
in comparison with previous elections, the sorely-tested people had to choose
between a government based on ND or PASOK on the one hand and a government of
the so-called “left cooperation” on the other.
The CC
should have determined the framework of the first elections in the same vein
with its elaborations immediately after May 6th, should have sounded
the alarm in the first pre-election period about the danger of the party losing
forces, and the systematic attempt by the system’s forces to promote the
weakening of the party. This does not
mean, of course, that the elaboration of suitable tactics in the election
period would have made the reversal of the reformist current in favour of a
government to manage the crisis possible. Its development has an objective basis, it corresponds to the needs
of the bourgeois power. However, it is quite likely that the losses would have
been relatively more limited and chiefly an atmosphere of disappointment would
have been prevented, which was justifiably created by the election result
especially among the supporters and the friends of the party.
The
refusal of the party to participate in a government for the bourgeois
management of the crisis is an important legacy for the labour and people’s
movement.
The course of party building
30. After the Nationwide Conference
of March 2010, for the regroupment of the labour
movement and the Extended Plenum of the CC on party building in July 2010,
significant efforts in the field of redeployment of forces and the new
structure of the party were made. This
does not constitute a narrow organizational measure, but is a measure for the
orientation of the activity based on the character and the strategy of the
party. The redeployment as a form and content of activity is one of the basic
pre-conditions for party building in the workplaces, in the sectors, for the regroupment of the labour movement, the promotion of the
social alliance.
The
redeployment brought even more clearly to the surface difficulties for the
orientation of the organizations to work in the working class and social
alliance. There remain strong remnants of mistaken views which were fostered in
the long period during which the main bulk of the party’s forces had an
orientation of activity with geographical criteria and not with combined
social-class criteria. Amongst other things, the view was prevalent that the
activity of the party for its electoral strengthening, for the widening of its
circle of influence is facilitated by the criterion of the place of residency,
taking into account the difficulties which have increased in recent years in
approaching the workers-employees in the workplace. Difficulties which flow
from the consequences of the crisis (closure of factories, transfer of
factories a long way from the place of residency, the fear of dismissal, the
employer and state intimidation etc), which nevertheless demand even more
focussed work, without a sprit of retreat and
compromise in the name of existing objective obstacles.
31. The party building demands a full plan of action amongst the broad
working masses, chiefly those that suffer more due to the capitalist crisis, a
plan of action which faces – as far as it depends on the subjective factor- the
factors which restrict recruitment, and also fully exhausts the possibilities
which the dynamic activity of the party and its strategy include. The weapons
which the party has at its disposal today are:
§ The ideological weapons, the elaborations, the party
publications which are a support and a resource for multi-facetted stable and
permanent planned work, in order to generalize experience and propagate it
amongst the widest possible working class masses. These weapons, to the level
which they are utilised by all the party forces, can deal with mistaken views
and ideological-political aspects which are posed by the enemy and impede
activity. They form the suitable atmosphere and “incentive”. Even more planned
work is needed which is addressed to the young age groups, to the women of a
working class background.
§ The political and cultural activity which fosters the class consciousness,
the combativeness and contribution, selflessness and readiness for sacrifice,
contributes to the rise in the political and cultural education and development
which constitutes an important front against the bourgeois ideology in all its
versions, against opportunism.
§ The multi-facetted preparation and education of the workers through all the
forms of struggle and their understanding of the timeliness and necessity of
socialism. The bonds of communication and relations with the working men and
women are developed on the terrain of the class
struggle and the rallying over the sharpening problems. But this relationship
is not enough for the voluntary acquisition of the honoured title of member of
the KKE, without the existence of a level of preparation and awareness about
the revolutionary character of the party and the strategy for
socialism-communism.
§ The systematic penetration in the working class popular masses, through
propaganda and work in the movement, so that it can bear results over time.
Elements of such a plan are:
§ The activity around the sharpening problems everywhere
and the formation of the organs of struggle. Systematic activity on the
problems of unemployment in combination with the mobilization of the unemployed
themselves and their families.
§ The specialized work in each sector, area, category of
worker and by age-group and gender.
§ The proper study and knowledge of the area.
§ The acquirement of a wider understanding of the problems
of the workers in our contacts with them.
§ The mobilization of all forces.
§ The engagement with allied strata and their organization.
Particular
aspects are:
§ The assimilation of the new recruits who objectively have
not acquired the necessary political experience, the vigilance and strict
monitoring of those who want to rejoin.
§ Responsible work with the transfer of members from one party organization
to another.
The social composition of the party as an element in the course of party
building
32. There has not been substantial
progress regarding the social working class composition of the party and the
leading organs, which a crucial issue for the safeguarding of the KKE’s
character. Consequently, the radical change and improvement of the situation is
an immediate issue. The objective developments must not be ignored regarding
the structuring of the economy and employment, as well as the consequences of
the economic crisis, dismissals and the dominance of employer intimidation, the
hiring regime and the labour relations in the employment sectors. The issue is
not only related to objective factors. The weaknesses and deficiencies of the
party are reflected in the attempt to create substantial ideological-political
bonds with the working class and its movement, and in the work with the youth,
its class education.
The ability of the CC regarding political guidance
was not equal to the demands. This is also true of the political guidance work
of the party organs and cadres as a whole. The following are particular areas
of weakness:
§ The care and assistance particularly for young working class cadres, so
that they can overcome their limited experience, so that they do not reproduce practicalism, the alienation of organizational work from
its ideological-political content, but so that they contribute to the correct
planning for the escalation of the struggle. The same weakness and delays are
related to the promotion of young men and women, who work and study, and
graduate from the various professional training schools.
§ The decisive improvement of political guidance, so that
the party organs function and responsibly guide all the work in their area of
responsibility, so that the cadres and members of the party and KNE actively
participate in their trade unions. This means that must have a wide knowledge
of their area of responsibility, the developments for example in the sector,
the wider region, so that they have the ability to specialise the directions,
and provide substantial assistance to the Party Base Organizations (PBOs) and
the party groups, so that they develop creative initiatives. The PBOs and party
groups must adapt to the sectoral, local needs and at
the same time support in a coordinated way the central activities of the Party.
The content of the PBOs must become more specific, according to their area of
responsibility and the duties of every party member.
§ Despite the important steps that have been taken, through
multi-facetted party activities, discussions of documents, militant events for
anniversaries, there was not a sufficient and substantial focus on the
observance of the principles of the formation and functioning of the party and
on the treatment of the related issues in an educational, persuasive and
decisive way. The tolerance due to underestimation, friendship or whatever
spirit of subjectivism is a phenomenon which undermines -regardless of
intentions- collectivity, effectiveness and
combativeness. Especially in today’s
conditions, the treatment of these issues is a condition for party building,
the development of the ranks of the party, its readiness and ability, its
revolutionary physiognomy.
33. Because the social composition of the organs and organizations continues
to be unsatisfactory, as we had no significant change and improvement, the following
goals remain to be fulfilled:
· The increase of the percentage of industrial workers
and the number of the Party’s Base Organizations (PBOs) in large companies of
strategic significance.
· The strengthening of the percentage of the working
class in the party.
· The increase in the recruitment of poor self-employed
and farmers.
· The increase in the ages from 18 to 40. The direction
must be understood, to be planned and to be transformed into systematic
practical work based on the developments which have been witnessed over the
last 20 years and especially in the conditions of the crisis. According to these developments the number of
unemployed, workers with flexible labour relations, of workers who frequently
change jobs etc is increasing rapidly.
· The increase of the recruitment of women for the
strengthening their percentage in the organizations and also in the party
organs.
Regarding the party organs and cadres
34. The extent to which the phase of the redeployment of the Party
Organizations has been completed and stabilized must be constantly monitored by
the CC and all the leading organs. This will enable them to respond to the main
duties which are the organization of the class struggle, the party building in
the companies, in the sectors, the promotion of the people’s alliance from the
bottom up, so that it can be reinforced from above. One-sidedness in the
orientation of sectoral and geographically-based
organizations must be dealt with in cases it survives and is being reproduced.
The same is true for the difficulty of a planned specialization of cadres in
areas of responsibility which demand specific knowledge and correct orientation
for dealing with this particular field from our strategic standpoint.
A new deployment of cadres and members based on the
developments in the sectors and regions must be decided on by the organs in a
planned way and without any hesitations. The plan for promoting and developing
cadres, their utilization in a planned way must overcome the negative
phenomenon which exists i.e. cadres having multiple assignments, which makes
the quality of work difficult to achieve,
and impedes the main and basic orientation towards the work in the working class and poor
popular masses.
A section of cadres was not able to adapt to the
contemporary demands of the struggle, to the new conditions which emerged,
after the negative change in the correlation of forces, the consequences of the
crisis, and this resulted in their development coming to a halt and the
emergence of elements of retreat. This problem is related to the collective and
individual assistance they receive, but is also related to the individual
responsibility of the cadres to adapt to the new conditions, so that they do
not get stuck in a rut, that they continuously improve, of course in line with
their individual capabilities.
The general elaborations of the party, of the
sections of the CC must be utilised. At the same time, the Regional
Organizations must be in a position to assist in the specialization of the
general study and to organize an examination of specific problems in their area
of responsibility as far as possible in a scientific way. They must carry out
at least a first attempt to study, so that they can provide material for the
more general elaborations of the party.
35. The leading organs, starting with the collective and personal example of
the members of the CC, must ensure the suitable atmosphere, so that a combative
spirit is fostered in order to face difficulties. The combative spirit does not
just require general slogans of enthusiasm but the adequate elaboration of the
directions and decisions in general; their preparation for the sudden change in
the developments, the assistance so that they do not submit to the rationale of
the negative correlation of forces. They
must exhaust every possibility to think hard about the improvement of the
activity of the subjective factor, to utilize every possibility that exists even the most underground
one.
What is required is the promotion of many cadres
from the working class, with a background from the working class and popular
strata, with assistance so that they acquire multi-facetted abilities and a
good level of specialization in the areas they can, a good
ideological-political level, capability regarding issues related to political
guidance, orientation to the regroupment of the
labour movement, to the development of the People’s Alliance. At the same time, members of the party who
are scientists and artists must be utilised, so that they place their scientific
endeavour and artistic creation in the service of the working class. This duty
depends on the timely preparation of forces from KNE, their location, the
planning of their development.
The cadres who are responsible for the political
guidance of PBOs, and BOs of KNE need special assistance.
The cadres must acquire the ability to generalize
experience by constantly drawing conclusions from the organs and ensuring the
imparting of collective experience.
The eradication of practicalism
which appears mainly in mass and organizational work is a serious issue, while
the ideological work is endangered by routinism and
standardization.
The assignment of the cadres to work in the
political guidance of organizations, in the ideological field, in the ranks and
organs of the mass movement must not lead to a one-sidedness of experience and orientation. All
the cadres must have direct personal experience in propaganda and
enlightenment, in the communication with the workers, in the struggles inside
the ranks of the trade unions and other mass organizations, so that they can in
a lively and specific way elaborate and specialize
the tasks of the PBOs in the movement, in the ideological-political
confrontation.
37. The issue of the periphery of the PBOs and BOs cannot be left to chance
and spontaneity or for supporters, friends and allies of the party only to be
utilized during the period of trade union elections and national, local
elections. Usually the periphery means all our known voters (which is a much
smaller number than those who have periodically voted for the KKE), people who
have been friends and supporters for many years. Our view regarding the periphery must be
broadened to include all those who we come into contact with in the workplaces
and the struggles, with all those each PBO has listed, orienting its activity
above all in the factories, supermarkets, all the shops, regardless of whether
they vote for us not. Active militants can become a force for our work, as well
as friends, supporters and voters and some of them indeed over the course of
time can acquire the title of party member.
There is a need for the periphery around the party
to be consolidated in a planned way, with as a criterion the regroupment of the labour movement and party building,
without placing obstacles in way of the communication with wider working class
and popular strata. Because through such a periphery, new blood will enter the
party, new forces will emerge for the vanguard of the movement in the conditions
of crisis, a renewal will take place through the recruitment of younger working
men and women. The issue of widening and
renewing the periphery, utilizing it next to the party, is a permanent duty.
Today it acquires even more significance, as the developments in the capitalist
economy, in the structure of employment impose the need for planned work above
all in the working class, the young age groups, in strata which are becoming
impoverished, so that the periphery corresponds as much as possible to the character
of the party and its strategy, its policy of alliances.
We must rid ourselves of out-dated, mistaken habits
and practices of working with friends and supporters only regarding current
political issues or treating them only as voters.
It is an obligation for all the PBOs to have as a
goal the systematic ideological-political work with and the briefing of friends
and supporters, and also to study their opinions, so as to protect them from
the work of the opponents who seek to utilise them as a vehicle of exerting
pressure on the party.
The Communist Youth of
38. KNE as the revolutionary communist youth of the KKE stood next to the
party in the struggles, the general political activity, in the confrontations,
over the 4 year period and made a serious effort to specialize the strategy of
the party in places where the youth is concentrated, both as workers and
students. It actively participated, with the responsibility and assistance of
the party, in the discussion of its decisions and documents, and contributed to
the enriching of its political and mass activity. Today a new generation of
cadres of KNE has emerged. The
maturation of these cadres enables them to be tested in more complex tasks by
passing into the party work. It is a generation
which has been militantly educated, as it has improved its political education
and its experience from the major confrontations to a relative extent. A
significant number of party members who were elevated in the organs of KNE have
passed into the party and have renewed and improved the age composition of the
organs. The promotion of young cadres from KNE to the party and the ranks of
the movement is a permanent continuous process and must acquire a more intense
rate through a process of promoting and developing cadres in the youth
communist organization.
39. From 18th Congress onwards, even more serious work has been carried out
by the CC and the City and Regional Committees regarding the
ideological-political guidance of the organs of KNE, while there is an even
closer cooperation of the PBOs-BOs than ever before. Nevertheless, however
important this ideological-political assistance is, it is not enough. It must be completed through the assistance
concerning the specialization of the strategy of the party not only in relation
to the demands, the framework of activity, but also in relation to the
specialization of the forms and ways of organizing and rallying the youth, as
well as the tactical development of the struggles.
40. The Communist Youth of Greece is the organization of the youth of the
KKE. It is established at the side of the party with a discrete organizational
structure. It is guided ideologically, politically and organizationally from
the Central Council to the Base Organization (BO) by the corresponding organs
of the party, as the youth due to its very nature cannot have its own strategy
and its own programme for the conquest of power. The relation between the
character of KNE as the youth of the KKE and its organizational independence
must be correctly implemented so that contradictions do not emerge.
It must not be considered that KNE has the exclusive
responsibility of operating in the youth and its movement, with the party
merely providing ideological-political guidance. The party itself, due to its
character, programme and strategy has a direct responsibility to address itself
to and develop its bonds with the youth. At the same time, it assists and
supports KNE to specialise its strategy and decisions amongst younger age
groups. This task today takes centre stage, as it constitutes an integral
element for the regroupment of the labour movement,
the Social Alliance, the renewal of the ranks and the cadres of the Party with
new blood from the working class and the poor popular strata.
The party’s assistance to KNE includes the building
of KNE, the communist education, the preparation for recruiting members of KNE
to the party, the attraction of younger age groups to the labour movement and
its allies and the strengthening of the People’s
41. The developments in the working conditions of the youth, in their lives
as a whole, have brought about such and so many changes which increase the
responsibility of the party to develop ideological-political and organizational
bonds with the younger age groups. Even people over the age of 30 maintain
certain characteristics and a way of living which usually are associated with
younger or even much younger age-groups, as they find it difficult to find
work, to start their own family, with the result that they continue to be
supported by their parents.
The ages of young couples who take on obligations
and responsibilities for work, as well as the raising and education of
children, have increased. An important section of young people are unemployed,
have not yet found work, or were dismissed after a few months of employment in
various sectors or in a disguised
employment relationship etc. As a result they have not acquired ties with a
specific sector and do not understand the need for trade union organization, so
there are no direct channels of communication with the work of the party in the
working class and its movement. It is to an extent easier to have contact with
them in the place of residence, where there are schools, places of
entertainment, sports, to the extent which they can have access to such
facilities.
In reality, the party and KNE address themselves to
the same social strata, which is
also true in regards to the younger age groups whether they belong to the
working class, the unemployed, the self-employed and farmers. The cooperation,
the planning, the coordination must be in absolute harmony between the organs
of the party and organizations of KNE, so that they can enrich each other. The
party building amongst young workers is also a common goal with KNE’s goal to
recruit on the basis of specific class criteria.
The activity
in the schools, vocational education, in the whole network of training centres
has more particularities. These are
constantly being set up by the system, businessmen and self-employed as they
provide even cheaper and easier to manipulate labour power, with even less
economic and institutional rights. A similar specificity is characteristic of
the activity in the universities and the Technical Institutes. In these places,
due to their composition, KNE addresses itself to more forces, since the number
of young people who study is far greater in comparison to the teaching and
auxiliary staff, and consequently it possesses a greater number of organized
forces than the party. The responsibility of the party in these places remains
integral, while there must be a much more organized coordination and
cooperation, so that the organizations of the party and KNE can act in joint
way and specialize the directions etc.
Consequently, there must be certain changes which
improve and make the cooperation of the organs of the party and KNE more
substantial, so that they work jointly in the labour movement and its allies
and in the places of education and training.
It is proposed that this issue should be better
studied at a Nationwide Party Conference and after a relevant discussion in the
organs of KNE.
42. Today in KNE, despite the progress that has been made in the elaboration
of criteria for recruitment and testing out before they join the party, there
are still problems such as a relatively delayed rate of recruitment in relation
to the needs especially in the workplaces which employ younger age-groups, as
well as in schools, technical schools, training centres, Technical Institutes,
Universities. There continue to be delays in the assimilation of new members or
even haphazard recruitment. These problems are the source for the haemorrhaging
of forces under the pressure of sharpening difficulties which most young people
experience.
These are generations which are experiencing major
losses and shortages regarding their needs and feel on the one hand disgust
with the bourgeois political system in its various forms, but at the same time are influenced by the atmosphere of
the counterrevolution.
Regardless of the necessary adjustments, it is the
responsibility of the CC and the leading organs of the party to face urgent
issues such as:
§ The deployment of party
cadres in the leading party organs, who have acquired the ability or have the potential to acquire
the specific ability to assist the
organs and cadres of KNE, the orientation of the BOs. The care and planning in
the promotion of leading cadres suitable for the various party organizations
which work with younger age groups, who have the necessary special
characteristics and knowledge of the problems and needs of the youth, their
tendencies and orientations.
§ Assignment of responsibility to
members of the party who can also assist the specialization of the party and
KNE’s work amongst young age groups, according to the place and their needs.
§ The decisive improvement of the
cooperation and assistance of the organs of the party and mainly of the PBOs in
relation to the organs and members of KNE so as to prepare and assist the
members of KNE as future members of the party, once they have passed though the
special period of preparation and testing in the organizations of KNE.
§ The stabilization of the
General Assemblies of the BOs, the safeguarding of the atmosphere and
assistance, so that the contribution of the members can be developed in the
elaboration and implementation of the decisions, the study of the experience of
activity amongst young age groups, the orientation of activity in the places
where young people are found, the rallying in the struggle and in the
ideological-political struggle. Problems regarding the reduced vigilance and
the protection of the organization must be dealt with.
The International Communist Movement-The
activity of the party
43. The party continued its efforts to deal with the crucial and major
problems inherited from the victory of the counterrevolution, with the struggle
against opportunism being the most basic element. The results are limited
though this issue does not depend on the KKE but on the general situation of
many communist parties in all continents and indeed of the parties in the
powerful capitalist countries.
The
class confrontations in
Thanks
to the initiative of our party, as well as of other Communist Parties, the
International Meetings of Communist and Workers’ Parties take place every year.
In these meetings there is an ideological struggle against opportunism,
reformism and various currents. In addition, there are Regional and Thematic
Meetings of Communist Parties taking place and joint statements are being
issued on current issues. A website of the Communist Parties (www.solidnet.org) is also functioning which has an incorporated system
for the rapid exchange of information among them. There is also the publication
of the “Information Bulletin” that contains the materials of the Meetings of
the Communist Parties.
Nevertheless,
these steps in the coordination cannot alter the main issue: the communist
movement remains organizationally and ideologically fragmented. It is
experiencing a situation of a long-term ideological-political crisis that coexists
with the corrosive activity of the strong opportunist current and the
weaknesses of the Communist Parties that struggle on the basis of
Marxism-Leninism. In the conditions of the crisis, of the new requirements for
the communist movement, signs are emerging regarding a new retreat from
treating the relevant problems from a class viewpoint.
44. There are CPs which under difficult conditions maintain a correct
orientation in general, they fight against bourgeois ideology and opportunism
and make efforts to work in the labour movement while facing serious
weaknesses.
The
developments in
Our
party defends the gains of the Cuban revolution that have demonstrated the
advantages of socialism, achieving in the difficult conditions of the
imperialist aggressiveness the solution of the basic problems that remain
unsolved and torment the working class and the broad popular strata in other
countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The
KKE, in the framework of proletarian internationalism, develops a constructive
dialogue with the Communist Party of Cuba on the socio-economic changes which
have been promoted over recent years, it expresses its concern about the
implementation of measures that reinforce the presence of capital and weaken
socialist ownership, the socialist relations of production.
In the
countries which claim to be constructing socialism the KKE examines the developments
according to the criteria of the laws of socialist construction, the working
class power, the socialization of the means of production and central planning,
the workers’ and social control. From this point of view, the KKE expresses
both its concern about the strengthening of the capitalist relations of
production in
In
today’s
Some
Communist Parties, which have distanced themselves from Marxism-Leninism,
present
45. The KKE, without giving up on the existing forms of cooperation and
coordination of the Communist Parties, is oriented to the effort to form a
communist pole among the communist parties which defend Marxism-Leninism, the
existence of the socialist construction and its contribution, but also
recognize its fundamental mistakes that led to its overthrow, the necessity of
the struggle for the overthrow of capitalism and the construction of socialism.
The
journal “International Communist Review” (ICR) was founded in this direction on
the basis of a framework of common principles –starting from a first discussion
in
The KKE
considers as its duty and obligation the development of the ideological and
political struggle, at an international level as well, against the opportunist
forces (European Left Party- left “networks”), the forces of social democracy, the Trotskyite forces, which exert
an ideological and political impact on the international communist movement.
46. Certain crucial issues that concern the confrontation inside the
communist movement:
§ The character of the revolution, the logic of stages. The participation of communist parties in bourgeois governments on the terrain of capitalist society. The international communist movement and opportunism.
§
The distancing from the Leninist concept of
imperialism.
§
The stance towards imperialist unions and interstate
organizations, the stance towards Russia-China etc.
§
The stance towards social-democracy and the
centre-left. The stance towards the possibility of utilizing all forms of
struggle in order to confront successfully the violence of the capitalists, the
imperialist intervention.
§
The parliamentary illusions as well as the retreat
from the utilization of the battle of elections.
§
The stance
towards the capitalist crisis.
§
The issue of the environment detached from the issue
of the character of ownership and power.
§
The lack of a revolutionary line in the labour
movement.
§
The mistaken view that the struggle at a national
level has become outdated.
§
The stance towards the socialism which we knew.
§
The mistaken view about “models” of socialism and the
“socialism of the 21st century”.
§ The proletarian Internationalism.
Internationalist Solidarity
The KKE
expresses its solidarity with the working class and the popular strata of
It
supports the struggle of the Palestinian people against the Israeli occupation,
for the resolution of the Palestinian issue; for an independent, viable and
sovereign Palestinian state with the borders of 1967 and
The KKE
supports the struggle of the Cypriot people for a unified
A general conclusion from the Party’s report
of work
48. The general conclusion is that despite the efforts and the progress
which was made regarding the particular duties which were set by the 18th
Congress (regroupment and focus on the work in the
working class and its movement, strengthening of the activity of the People’s
Alliance, sharpening of the ideological struggle, formation of a common
framework of the struggle of the working class and its allies, elaboration of
the Second Volume of the Essay on the History of the Party, systematic
ideological- political work for the understanding and the propagation of the
positions of the party on socialist construction) the KKE has not met the
increasing and complicated requirements that arise from the correlation of
forces, the requirements and the dangers-possibilities that the phase of the
crisis contains.
The
main problem related to the political guidance is that we did not concentrate
in good time, particularly over the last 10 years i.e. before the 18th
Congress, all the forces we had in the main front of struggle, on which the
general progress depends, namely in the workplaces and the sectors. That is to
say in the field that determines the progress of class struggle, the
development of political consciousness and militancy, the communist education,
the spirit of contribution and self-sacrifice.
Of course there was the negative impact of the objective difficulties,
the new problems that arose due to the capitalist restructurings and
subsequently the crisis. Nevertheless, the problem has also a subjective aspect, that is to say that the
hesitations, the mistaken views which did not understand the importance of
regrouping the forces were not dealt with.
The CC
bears the primary responsibility due to its position and its role as the
highest leading organ of the party between the Congresses.
A second problem is that the confirmation of
the correctness of the party’s strategy created a spirit of complacency from
top to bottom and it was not accompanied, to the required extent, by the
acquisition of the necessary competence of the party regarding political
guidance so as to play a vanguard role and rally working class and popular
masses, in difficult and complicated conditions. The assimilation of significant
collective documents and analyses of the party, first and foremost the
Conclusions from the Construction of Socialism and the Essay on the History of
the KKE Second Volume (1949-1968) required a longer period, than that between
the 18th and 19th Congress. It is a process that requires
time, in order to study and assimilate these kinds of documents.
The required competence in political guidance
was not achieved so as to deal with both existing dangers: either in the name
of correct strategy underestimating aspects of the creative adjustment and specialization (and convey the general positions with slogans) or
in the name of specialization to foster a
disjointed and selective attitude in the realization of the complicated
and multifaceted duties, to disperse activities, to submit to spontaneity, to
what is considered to be feasible in the name of objective factors that arise
from the negative correlation of forces. In the name of generalizing the
assessments and the experience to miss partial but important aspects and
problems in the organization, the rallying and the class education of the
masses taking into account the activity of the multi-tentacled
enemy.
Although
the orientation of the activity of the party was improved with the redeployment
of forces and the progress in the Social Alliance, this was not translated into
a unified plan of action elaborated and controlled from the level of the CC to
the Party Base Organizations. Of course, the unified plan of action must not be
understood as a decision of the CC that includes all the details of the plan in
a unified and unvarying way for each PBO or for all PBOs. The unified plan must
contribute to the development of the ability to specialize in each field, of
the ability to take initiatives, to generalize the experience of the PBOs, to
enrich and improve the general planning of the CC.
The
party has not attained the ability -and this is a problem of political
guidance- to act in conditions where popular masses enter the struggle
spontaneously and the enemy has the potential to assimilate them with the
immense means it has at its disposal. It has not attained, to a satisfactory
level, the ability to intervene in a militant and convincing way in fields
where other forces develop activities that seek to disorient the movement, to
isolate the KKE. There is also the opposite problem: to lose the vanguard
communist role in conditions that the struggle embraces for the first time
sections of the working class and petty bourgeois strata that suddenly lost
their gains and turn to struggles only in order to save their gains at a sectoral and local level, in the narrow sense, and those
which were granted in order to buy them off and assimilate them.
50. Despite the weaknesses, the deficiencies and the delays that appeared in
the party, and without having any intention of underestimating them, the
activity of the party as a whole provides positive experience and it is
possible to become a factor that will lead to the recovery of the party, to its
strengthening, to the achievement of competence and endurance in view of the
coming battles, so as to prevent developments that constitute a setback with
tragic consequences for the people, so as to utilize the possibilities that
might exist or emerge, so as to pave the way for the radical change. Of course
this requires the drawing of objective and instructive conclusions without
nihilism and definitely with a spirit of self- criticism.
At the
same time, it should be taken seriously into account that the negative
international correlation of forces, the fact that the international labour
movement has retreated due to the counterrevolution and the widespread
expansion of opportunism in its ranks exert a decisive and negative influence
on the activity and the effectiveness of the party. The situation in the labour
movement in Europe, the corrosion which has been caused by the participation of
Communist Parties in bourgeois governments, the line of assimilation that they
support, their nihilist stance, based on bourgeois criteria, towards the
construction of socialism and the possibility of socialist construction
constitute particularly negative factors.
Assessment of the performance of the CC
51. The CC which was elected by the 18th Congress acted according
to the position that the Political Resolution of the Congress and the
Conclusions from the socialist construction constitute a unified and
indivisible totality. It had to face new problems, those of the severe and
prolonged economic capitalist crisis, as the question regarding what is the
way-out of the crisis in favour of the people arises objectively and at the
same time the conditions are created for the working class and its movement to
be trapped into the two bourgeois poles of the social democratic or opportunist
line of management.
The
central task and the criterion for the performance of the CC is its political
guidance with the aim of:
§ accelerating the activity for the regroupment of the
labour movement and the formation of a common framework of action for the
Social Alliance. The development of party building in workplaces and sectors is
a central issue.
§ The targeted, combined ideological-political and mass
activity in the industrial sectors and especially in the new ones which are
being developed according to the structure of the Greek capitalist economy,
among the young people and the women, taking into account the new labour relations.
52. The CC prepared and carried out the Nationwide Party Conference on the regroupment of the labour movement, the Extended Plenum of
the CC on the party building. It elaborated the guidelines and the specific
measures for the intervention of the party in the labour and people’s movement
in conditions of the crisis. It carried out the Nationwide Conference that
elaborated the Essay on the History of the KKE Second Volume (1949-1968). It
organized the discussion about the Essay and the Resolution of the 18th
Congress on the Conclusions from the construction of socialism and the
programmatic perception of the KKE throughout the party and in the system of
party schools. In addition, it organized discussions and lectures throughout
the party, aiming at providing information and facilitating the contribution of
the members of the party to the elaboration of issues of the ideological
political struggle and activity.
53. Despite the deficiencies and the partial weaknesses, the CC as the
highest leading organ was equal to the main task in the most difficult moments
of this four-year period, such as the two recent electoral battles: it vigorously resisted the pressure exerted
on the party in order to give in and make a fundamental mistake of tolerating
or participating in a coalition government.
Nevertheless,
it was apparent that there are issues that constitute a permanent feature of
the ideological-political work which have not been dealt with in a timely way
i.e. the issue of revealing the character and the functioning of the bourgeois
parliament on the basis of the experience from our participation in it.
54. The CC contributed to the improvement -compared to the past- of the
guidance of the PBOs, based on a combined programme of action regarding their contribution
and participation in workers’, people’s struggles, in the ideological-political
work, with their independent political activity. It made efforts so that the
strategy of the party is popularised
among broader masses, enriched with the developments of the crisis and the
class struggle, the international developments, especially in the Eurozone, so that the strategy of the party responds to the
workers’ and people’s experience.
The
results of the political guidance and the responsibility of the CC do not
correspond to the efforts it made and above all to the current requirements, to
the complicated character of the objective developments.
The CC
fell short in the guidance of the Organisations and hence of the PBOs regarding
the main duty, i.e. the manner and the forms of the party’s work, the content
and above all the organizational measures to the level of the PBOs so that the
effort concerning the regroupment of the labour
movement and the party building with a special emphasis on the younger people
enters a more stable and effective phase. There has been a certain progress:
several measures were taken for the redeployment and the concentration of
forces, there has been an intense activity of the party both independently and
in the ranks of the movement. But still these duties have been fulfilled to a
low degree
It has
been borne out that it is not enough for the CC as the highest leading organ to
play a positive role in the elaboration of positions, issues of the ideological
struggle generally of the strategy of the party. What is required is an
increased consistency as regards the main goal for the regroupment
of the labour movement, for the party building in the workplaces and the
sectors, for a stable development of the competence in political guidance so as
to translate the guidelines and the decisions into a comprehensive general plan
of action. This plan should enable the leading organs of the Regional
Organizations to specialize
the guidelines and orient the PBOs, to meet the requirements in their field of
responsibility, integrating their own activities to the general framework of
activity, enriching it with the experience of the every-day practical work.
The
problem constitutes a problem of political guidance and practical
ideological-political education so that each cadre and member of the party
emerges and is recognized in practice as having vanguard characteristics in
terms of militancy, selflessness, competence, knowledge. The CC fell short in
the development of bonds with young people, especially in the workplaces and
the new sectors as well as with younger people who are in the process of
education and the unemployed youth. The assistance and support of KNE was
improved but it continues to be extremely weak at the level of the PBO-BO.
55. The CC took several steps to reinforce its staff i.e. the auxiliary
committees and sections but it did not manage to complete the efforts in all
these auxiliary bodies. In certain cases it did not manage to provide
substantial support to these bodies in order for them to meet the new
requirements.
The
general assessment is that the “Communist Review”, “Rizospastis”,
the media of the party, the auxiliary bodies of the CC improved their
performance, contributed to the formation of positions, demands, goals of
struggle, to the ideological-political struggle. There has been an improvement in the
cooperation among the sections in order to deal with complicated issues,
problems of the movement, for the development of the Social Alliance. A
particular delay is observed in the sector of propaganda in all media and in
all its forms with the responsibility of the CC. There has also been a delay in
the utilization of the internet and dealing with it as an ideological means of
the class enemy and a means of factionalism. The creation of the portal
[http://902.gr] in place of the 902 TV channel , the
closure of which was dictated by financial reasons, can contribute to the
fields of information and propagation of the positions and the proposals of the
KKE, especially among the younger people.
The
publications of the party have been improved. KNE has also made a positive
effort while there has been a relative progress in the circulation of political
books which nevertheless remains low compared to the needs and the existing
interest despite the fact that the economic crisis makes their purchase more
difficult.
Over
the four year period there has been an improvement in the work of the CC with
the assistance of its Sections, mainly through the realization of the important
scientific conferences on the work of Yiannis Ritsos and Costas Varnalis while
a similar conference on the work of Bertolt Brecht is
being prepared. A seminar was organized on the international economic crisis,
the elaboration of issues that shed light on the character of the crisis and
the bourgeois management, on the uneven outbreak of the crisis in the Eurozone was continued with articles in the Communist
Review and the organization of events. The political and cultural content of
the festivals of KNE was also enhanced. Furthermore, there has been an advance
in the section of Sports and Physical Education with the elaboration of
positions and the support of the initiatives of KNE in this field.
Nevertheless, we have a long way to go to meet the requirements in the fields
of Culture and Sports.
56. The Political Bureau and the Secretariat have a particular share of
responsibility in the framework of the collective work of the organ for the
delay in the decisive orientation of the party’s activity to the regroupment of the labour movement , the party building, the work for the
preparation and the promotion of cadres for the strengthening of the auxiliary
bodies of the party.
The finances of the Party
57. The unwavering stance of the KKE in the previous period provoked the
rage of economic and political centers which
escalated their slanderous attacks and provocations precisely around the
finances of the party. Their aim is to create confusion and doubts about the
integrity of the party, to reinforce the view that the KKE is no different from
the other parties. The attack regarding the finances of the party and generally
anticommunism have been prevalent all these years.
It is
expected that state financing will be used as a means to exert pressure for compromises
and retreats. In the name of transparency, of combating bribery and the buying
off of politicians they are considering taking the measure of the exclusive
financing of the parties by the state. This measure is part of the general
framework of the reactionary provisions which are promoted in the framework of
the EU aimed at the complete manipulation and control of the functioning of the
parties.
The KKE
will not accept any control of its relations with its members and friends, any
intervention in its functioning and activity or the manipulation of its
political line in the name of receiving financing from the state.
The
state funding cannot be the main source of the revenues of a revolutionary
party. The issue of the financial independence of the KKE is a crucial issue.
It is related to the ability of the party to cope with the most difficult
conditions.
Since
its foundation the KKE has suffered persecutions for many years and it is
absolutely reasonable for it to be vigilant especially in today’s conditions
when the class struggle is sharpening.
In the
years after the 18th Congress we have faced serious financial
difficulties, mainly in the field of our propaganda and as a result “Tipoekdotiki” [the party’s printing house] was included in
the regulation of article 99 of the Bankruptcy Code and the 902 TV-channel
ceased its operation.
The new
conditions demand a better organization and monitoring of the economic activity
of the Organizations in order to collect all the dues by the party members, the
contributions of friends and supporters. Even more persistence and decisiveness
is necessary to tidy up our finances, to reduce flexible operational costs, to
regularly and substantially monitor the revenues of the organizations.
The
increase of the circulation of “Rizospastis”, of the
Communist Review and the books of “Synchroni Epochi” publishing house, apart from its particular
importance for our ideological and political intervention, makes a significant
contribution to the reinforcement of the finances of the party.
We went
through a particularly difficult period for the working class and the people of
our country and this will continue. It is a period where the attack against the
workers’ rights and achievements is on the increase while the consequences from
the sharpening of the economic crisis are becoming torrent that drowns the
popular strata.
Nevertheless,
experience shows that in these conditions new opportunities are created for
more working people to support the party from their meager
income even with smaller sums than before.
The
financial support of the KKE for 94 years constitutes a kind of political
relationship between the working people and the party. It is an element that
shows the development and the consolidation of the bonds of each PBO with the
supporters and the friends of the party.
The
attack of the class enemy must meet our preparedness, competence and
self-reliance regarding the financial means for a multi-faceted political,
ideological and publishing activity that will provide an effective response. We
are confident that the party as a whole will meet the requirements of our
period.
THE BASIC DUTIES OF THE PARTY UP TO THE 20TH
CONGRESS
The only way-out in favour of the people
58. The uneven manifestation of a new
crisis in the Eurozone/EU and the possibility of a
new synchronized crisis in the USA-EU-Japan combined with the depth of the
crisis in Greece and the difficulty of the bourgeois policy in managing it show
that the crisis will continue in 2013 and reinforce the prediction that in the
next three years the GDP is not expected to increase to the level it was before
2008. The insufficient depreciation of capital during the crisis, the loss of
the competitive position of Greek industrial production, the significant loss of
fiscal flexibility and the sharpening of competition in the wider region
(Balkans,
On this
terrain the intra-bourgeois struggle over the choice of restrictive or
expansive management as well as over the priorities at the level of imperialist
alliances will continue. As the contradictions within the Eurozone
and
These
contradictions do not negate the agreement in the direction of the bourgeois
policy to utilize the deep crisis as a launching pad in order to accelerate and
extend the restructurings, to increase the rate of exploitation, to accelerate
the centralization of capital, to eliminate small businesses and poor farmers,
to expand capitalist enterprises. The escalation of the anti-people attack is
dictated by the strategic need of the monopolies to safeguard their
competitiveness and manage the crisis at the expense of the popular strata.
These
developments will be accompanied by the increase of destitution in relative and
absolute terms as well as by the maintenance of the immense rate of
unemployment, the proletarisation, the poverty of
self-employed owners of small businesses in urban and rural areas. Objectively
the difficulty for the bourgeois class in building solid social alliances is on
the increase while the conditions are being created for the promotion of the
building of the social alliance of the working class on a better basis and with
an improved orientation. The development of the capitalist economic crisis with
the prospect of the further deterioration of the life of the workers and the
popular strata as well as the possibility of an anemic
recovery will definitely have an impact on the development of the class
struggle in
The two
poles, the centre-right with ND at its core and the centre-left with SYRIZA, is
a relatively realistic scenario for the bourgeois class. It may have a
transitional character, as processes are underway for the creation of new
parties in order to trap the workers’ and people’s conscience.
Today
SYRIZA is developing into contemporary social democracy, which will be more
conservative compared to the social democracy in the post-dictatorship
period. Significant sections of the
labour and governmental bureaucracy, sections of the intermediate strata that
enjoyed immunity as allies of the bourgeois class and its parties, with
benefits, tax evasion, with participation into the management of EU funds are
seeking and finding their political expression in SYRIZA. Its particularity is
that it consists of opportunist forces that broke away from the communist
movement, maintains several slogans, methods, ways of work, so as to present itself as a left party
that rallies in its ranks various forces, from the social-democrats of “3rd
September” [the founding declaration of PASOK] to the communists of “renewal”.
Its strategy, as regards the issue of power, the EU is clearly
social-democratic, pro-monopoly. In the
instance that SYRIZA becomes a substitute for the defeated social-democracy it
is not impossible that centrifugal forces
from it and some extra-parliamentary forces will form a new obstacle of the
so-called left or communist renewal. The bourgeois class will do everything in
order to stem the rise of the class struggle and the KKE. It wants to achieve
what it did not manage in 1989-1991, either to dissolve or marginalize the KKE
or to transform it into a component of contemporary social-democracy so as to
stem the rise of the class struggle.
60. The labour movement must find itself in a state of readiness so as to be
able to utilize the prospect of the rise of the class struggle, to take
advantage of conditions of a significant change in the correlation of forces.
The labour movement must be also prepared for the possibility of a negative
development, for the possibility of a retreat in the class struggle and a
setback so as to be able to prepare itself in accordance with the new
conditions for the new rise that will definitely occur within a reasonable period
of time.
The
labour movement and its allies will have to achieve readiness and the ability
to act so as to deal with the increasing violence and repression of the state, para-state and the employers, and the activity of the new
government-led trade unionism that SYRIZA is trying to form. In addition, they
will have to deal with the activity of the reactionary forces, of
national-socialist, fascist tendencies in the ranks of the movement which
intend to suppress it, to impede the rise of the class struggle.
The
inter-imperialist contradictions in the region increase the dangers for local
military conflicts that will take on a more general character since a conflict
between imperialist centres and imperialist forces is taking place in the wider
region and indeed in conditions of subsequent crises that are affecting the
hard core of the imperialist pyramid. Such an instance, in the current
conditions, with the active participation of
Amongst
the possibilities regarding the stance of the Greek bourgeois class, of a
section of its political representatives is the possibility of it seeking to
take part at the side of the one or the other imperialist power even seeking to
transform the defensive war into an aggressive war according to the conditions.
If
Greece is attacked by a neighbouring country or by another country in the
region or if it attacks first, whether in the framework of an alliance or not,
the party in any case must lead the independent organization of the workers and
people’s resistance and link the resistance with the struggle for the complete
defeat of the bourgeois class, both of the domestic one and the foreign one as
an invader. A workers’ and people’s front with all forms of struggle must be
formed on the basis of the initiative and the guidance of the party. This front
will have the following slogan: the people will give freedom and the way-out
from the capitalist system which as long as it prevails brings war and “peace”
with the gun to the people’s head.
The objective basis of the alliance of the
popular forces with the working class
61. The People’s
The
strength of the People’s
The
poor farmers, the self-employed in retail and crafts, in restaurants and
tourism, in repairs, in cleaning services, in the service sector of the beauty
industry etc. those who at times work for 10 and 12 hours a day together with
the other members of their families, although they own land or certain other
scattered means of production, have a sole interest in the abolition of the
monopolies, in the final analysis in the abolition of capitalist ownership, and
the overthrow of its power.
Contemporary
capitalism is the monopolies in industry and trade, the banks, the taxation of
their state which altogether remove the largest part of their production from
the majority of the self-employed, squeeze their income. It is the capitalist
system that sooner or later will eliminate and destroy them as independent
producers and workers and will drag them to unemployment or to underemployment
in the best case. Even if they maintain their position for a period of time
their living conditions will deteriorate, their working time will increase;
their terms of retirement will deteriorate, as will the conditions in the
education of their children, in the prevention and rehabilitation in
healthcare, in free time and generally there will be a deterioration in their
quality of life and that of their families.
The
prolonged and deep crisis brought about a sudden change even in sectors that
self-employment survived on better terms, in professions that had to do with
construction, repairs.
The
prospect of the self-employed scientists is similar even if they have a better
income and mainly less restrictions than the salaried workers. They will
increasingly be subjected as salaried workers to the large capitalist
enterprises which extend to the legal, accounting and technical professions, to
professions which have to do with the prevention of diseases and the
rehabilitation of health, maternity, safety in the workplaces, public health,
culture and sports.
Objectively
their medium-term interest lies in the path of conflict with and overthrow of
the monopolies, the capitalist ownership, at the side of the working class for
the conquest of power.
The
only way for their interests to be realized is the joint struggle with the
salaried workers, their dissociation from the organizations that serve the
capitalist interests with the label of the “single scientific organization”.
Their interest is the working class state to provide them with all the
conditions in order to carry out their scientific work for the benefit of
social prosperity.
It is
inevitable for the organization of the most advanced sections of poor farmers
and of the self-employed in the urban centers to be
separated from the capitalists, to dissociate themselves from the
inter-imperialist rivalries and wars for the markets of raw materials and the
routes of energy transport, for other natural resources etc. It is inevitable
for the most advanced sections of the self-employed to coordinate their
struggles with the struggles of the working class against the monopolies,
against their imperialist alliances (EU, NATO, Schengen,
etc), their parties and their governments in the final analysis against the
state of capitalists.
It is
inevitable for them to side either with the capitalist path of production which
entails the violent destruction of the biggest part of them or with the path of
development which is based on the social (people’s) ownership, on central
planning in favour of social prosperity. This path of development requires the
rupture with and overthrow of the economic dominance and political power of the
monopolies and the full disengagement from the EU, NATO and every imperialist
union, the abolition of all foreign military bases. It is in the interest of
the working class to win these strata, with the working class-people’s power or
to ensure that they will not side with the reaction of the capitalist class.
For that reason, it can and must express with its revolutionary programme their
needs for satisfactory living conditions and chiefly their planned gradual
integration into the socialist production and the socialist services.
The character of the People’s Alliance
62. The People’s
The People’s
63. The people’s alliance gathers its forces in each city, centred on the
monopoly groups, factories, shopping centres, hospitals, Health Centres,
electric power plants, telecommunications, public transportation etc. It
guarantees the common activity of these forces on the basis of each sector and
generally with the unemployed, the self-employed farmers and other people in
the cities who struggle to make ends meet. It has an enhanced course as a
process of maturation of the political consciousness and the organization.
In these
given conditions it is organized and coordinated for the resistance,
solidarity, for survival, for the defence of workers’ and people’s income:
salaries and collective bargaining agreements, pensions, workers’ and people’s
rights, the prices at which producers sell agricultural products, the
protection of the farmers, self employed, unemployed and people’s housing from
the profiteering of the banks and the taxation. It defends the right to free
public education, healthcare-welfare, to cheap high-quality mass consumption
products, infrastructure for culture and sports. It struggles against drugs,
for women’s emancipation and equality, for the protection of the unemployed,
for transportation, lodging and meals for school students and students, for the
immediate needs of the young couples, against drug addiction, alcoholism. It
demands measures for the protection against earthquakes and floods, public
works for infrastructure that improve the living conditions, the balanced
intervention of people into the environment. It highlights the development
potential of the country from the viewpoint of the existence of raw materials,
of the concentration of means of production, the skills of the labour force,
the scientific-technological achievements.
The
People’s
It
adopts the socialization of the monopolies, of all the concentrated means of
production, central planning, workers’-social
control. It agrees with the disengagement of
The
notions democracy, people’s sovereignty, imperialism and imperialist war have a
deeper, class content for the people’s alliance. They are based on the
abolition of class exploitation, on the socialization of the concentrated means
of production combined with the organization of the small farmers in
cooperatives. They are founded on the participation in the workers’ assemblies
and people’s committees etc.
64. The Peoples Alliance seeks and achieves to
attract constantly into its ranks new trade union organizations and generally
mass organizations of the working class and its allies so that the bourgeois,
reformist and opportunist trade union forces that prevail in the highest trade
union bodies but also in Labour Centres and federations are steadily and
effectively weakened according to the development of the balance of forces at a
social and political level.
The
strength and the effectiveness of the activity of the People’s Alliance in the
change of the correlation of forces and its reversal, in its ability to
confront the hard class enemy and its international supports depends on the
extent of the workers’ and people’s organization and participation from the
bottom up in the workplaces and the sectors, in the workers’ neighbourhoods, in
districts populated by farmers and popular strata.
Over
the course of the development of its activity it will gather workers’ and
people’s forces with a low level political experience which to the one or the
other extent will be under the influence
of the ideological-political views of the bourgeois parties, reformism and
opportunism. They will waver regarding the realistic and necessary character of
the struggle for working class power as the only alternative power against the
power of the monopolies.
The
activity of the People’s Alliance contributes to the active effort to reinforce
the internal life of the trade unions and the mass organizations, so as to
attract even more people to the assemblies organized by the trade unions, the
organizations of the self-employed, the farmers, the students, the school
students, the women’s organizations that constitute the basis of the
Alliance, in order for them to
participate in the organization of the mobilizations, in decision making, in
the electoral procedures for the representation from the bottom up, in the
multifaceted activities that embrace the full spectrum of problems. Through
these processes the political experience will increase and fears, hesitation
and wavering will be overcome and even more militants will be stabilized on the
path of the class struggle, of the people’s alliance for the solution of the
problem of power.
The
People’s
The KKE and the People’s Alliance
The
tasks of the party include the prediction of the development of the correlation
of forces so that the labour movement above all and consequently the People’s
Alliance do not to lose sight of the goal of
power and are not trapped in governments on the terrain of capitalism.
The
struggle for the solution of the problem of power requires constant and stable
efforts for the scientific analysis of the economic and political situation in
the country, in its wider region and internationally. It requires a
scientifically planned activity. Therefore, the party can and must ensure
independently the preconditions of the class-oriented scientific research.
The
competence of the communist party is determined by its ability and readiness to
struggle against opportunism, which emerges in the form of new political
formations often as a split from old ones, occasionally invoking communist
slogans (e.g. declarations in favour Marxism-Leninism, recognition of socialist
revolution, of the leading role of the working class in social progress) while
at the same time they bring back the strategy of the stages.
The
leading role of the KKE as a revolutionary political vanguard and the leading
role of the working class will be achieved and recognized in practice; they do
not depend on political agreements, they are not guaranteed by the official
recognition of its vanguard role by the People’s
The KKE
with its international activity and its cooperation with other communist
parties supports and contributes to the internationalization of the activity of
the People’s
66. Today the People’s
The
course of the political struggle includes the possibility of the emergence of
political forces that express positions of petty bourgeois strata, that agree in one way or another with the
anti-capitalist, anti-monopoly character of the social –political struggle,
with the necessity of its direction towards the working class and people’s
power and economy. The KKE, maintaining its independence, will seek the joint
action with these forces in supporting the People’s
The KKE
maintains its independence in the bourgeois elections as well, though, its lists may also include
individuals who cooperate with the party.
The People’s Alliance as an alliance of the most radical politicized
sections of the labour- trade union movement and its allies, of the
organizations of the youth and the women, as an alliance that acts in the ranks
of the movement, with the aim of bringing about the broadest possible rallying
of new masses, does not take part in national and local elections, in elections
for the European Parliament, in referendums.
68. The CC proposes that the 19th Congress decide on the following activities:
1.
Extended
Plenum of the CC with the aim of examining the decisions of the Nationwide
Conference of March 2010 and of the Extended Plenum of June 2010 for our work
in the labour movement and party building.
2.
The
realization of a Nationwide Conference on the activity in the youth and the
support of KNE.
3.
To
organize a study on the self-employed in the cities. To hold
a Nationwide Conference for the work of the party among the poor self-employed
and their movement.
4.
To
improve the system of enlightenment and propaganda with all the means that the
party has at its disposal and utilizes. The new CC must form a special detailed
resolution that will be discussed throughout the party.
5.
To
continue the historical research of the party concerning the period 1968-1974,
to publish a new edition of the Essay on the history of the Party in the period
1918-1949. To attempt to start the historical research
concerning the period 1974-1991.
6.
To
elaborate the preparation of the multifaceted events of the party for the 100th
anniversary of its foundation.
7.
To
improve “Rizospastis” and increase its circulation. To
increase the circulation of the “Communist Review” (KOMEP), the theoretical,
political books so as to develop a kind of a “movement”, an educational current
in the party and KNE, and more broadly in the circle of friends and supporters.
The new CC must elaborate a new concrete programme.
8.
To form
a comprehensive material-technical and human infrastructure for the scientific
research of the party and on this basis to substantiate its elaborations and
studies.
9.
To
create along with KNE a material-technical and human infrastructure so as to
support the activity of the party in the section of Culture and Sports, in the movement
against drug addiction, in the realization of events in the framework of the
KNE festival during the year.
The priorities of the KKE at an
international level
69. The activities for the regroupment of the international communist movement must
take on many aspects and forms:
a.
Continuation
of the efforts for the formation of the Communist Pole, utilizing the steps
which are being taken with the “International Communist Review”.
b.
Participation
in international, thematic and regional Meeting of the Communist Parties,
trying to preserve the communist characteristics of the International Meetings,
countering plans to widen them with the so called left forces.
c.
Independent ideological intervention of the
party for the propagation of its positions, its analyses and their scientific
substantiation.
d.
Development
of the bilateral relations as well as of the joint activity with the Communist
Parties of our region (Balkans, Middle East, Europe) as well as with the
Communist Parties from other regions.
e.
Strengthening
of the international activity of KNE for the regroupment
of the Communist Youth Organizations and their joint activity, the
intensification of the struggle against the bourgeois and opportunist views
that affect the ranks of the youth communist and anti-imperialist movement.
f.
Mobilization and activity for the condemnation
of the imperialist interventions, the imperialist war and the imperialist
conditions of “peace”. Contribution to the strengthening and the expansion of
the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) with new class-oriented
organizations, confrontation with the current of reformism, of the employer and
government-led trade unionism at a global level. Support for the international
anti-imperialist organizations, of the World Peace Council (WPC), for the World
Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) of the Women’s International Democratic
Federation (WIDF).
PROLOGUE
The KKE
was founded in 1918, as the mature product of the development of the labour
movement in our country, and also under the impact of the Great October Socialist
Revolution of
The KKE
is the conscious, organized, vanguard section of the working class and has as
its strategic goal the overthrow of capitalism and the construction of
socialism-communism.
The
many years of positive and negative experience of the international communist
movement and the KKE have confirmed that the working class cannot fulfil its
historic mission, unless it has its own robust, well-organized and
theoretically equipped party, the communist party.
It is
guided by the revolutionary worldview of Marxism-Leninism. It attempts to
interpret the developments in a dialectical-materialist way, systematically
following the new developments in science and technology, to generalise the
experience of the labour and people’s movement with the communist ideology as a
foundation and with the need for the liberation of the working class from
exploitation as its criterion. It fought against the reactionary theories, such
as
From
the time of its foundation, the KKE steadfastly defended the socialist
construction in the
It is
faithful to the principle of proletarian internationalism and struggles for the
regroupment of the International Communist Movement
after the retreat and crisis it experienced and is still undergoing today,
particularly after the victory of the counterrevolution in 1989-1991.
From
the time it was founded, KKE has stood by youth of our country. It has always
concerned itself with the youth and taken care of their problems and their
future. It continues to trust young generation and their abilities to
contribute to the construction of the socialist future.
Its
entire historical course vindicates the need for its existence in Greek
society. The KKE never lost its historical continuity. It fought against opportunism
and liquidationism in its ranks and was able to draw
conclusions from its 95 years of activity. It was able to maintain its
revolutionary character in difficult conditions, while it was never afraid to
recognize mistakes, deviations and to carry out self-criticism openly in front
of the people.
The KKE
over its 95-year history demonstrated a stable commitment to the fundamental
principles of a revolutionary workers’ communist party: the recognition of the
leading role of the working class in social development and of Marxist-Leninist
ideology as revolutionary theory for revolutionary political activity. It never
renounced the class struggle, the socialist revolution, the dictatorship of the
proletariat.
The KKE
withstood the turbulence of the victory of counterrevolution in the Soviet
Union and the other states of the socialist construction in Europe and
From
1918 onwards the KKE has given a political content to the workers’ struggles
against the capitalist exploitation and paid the price with many deaths,
tortures and persecutions. It was at the forefront of the armed struggle against the occupation by the three Axis powers
through the Resistance of EAM-ELAS. On two occasions, in December of 1944 and
in the three year struggle (1946-1949) of the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE),
the labour movement, headed by the KKE, and the allied farmers’ movement came
into armed conflict with the bourgeois power, which was supported by the direct
imperialist military intervention of Great Britain initially and later the of
USA.
Over
its 95-year course it fought against the notion that the exploited should
collaborate with the exploiters, that
they should not submit to the exploiters, and defended the gains of the working
class and people.
The
deep historical roots of the KKE explain why it managed in previous crises
(1968) and especially in the crisis of 1991 to safeguard its historical
continuity, despite the departure of a large section of its forces.
The KKE
has regrouped organizationally, ideologically and programmatically over the
entire new period in its history, based on the 5 intervening Congresses. A
product of this course is the Draft Programme which has been submitted by the
CC to the pre-congress discussion for the 19th Congress, which
develops the overall strategy of the KKE for socialism and the basic duties of
the class struggle.
The contemporary world and the position of
70. The counterrevolutionary overthrows of the last 30
years do not change the character of our era. The current historical period of
the major retreat of the international labour movement, is a temporary one. We
live in the era of the historical necessity for the transition from capitalism
to socialism, as the material pre-conditions are mature for the socialist
organization of production and society.
The
historical setback in the development of the class struggle is accompanied by
the mass influx of cheap labour force into the international capitalist market
(from Asia, Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe etc.), resulting in the
devaluation of the labour force in the most advanced capitalist countries (OECD
countries), the emergence in these countries of the generalized absolute
destitution of the working class, the intensification of capital’s offensive at
an international level.
The
tendency for important changes in the correlation of forces among the
capitalist states became more apparent with the deep crisis of capital
over-accumulation in 2008-2009 which in several capitalist economies has in
reality not been overcome. This process occurs under the impact of the law of uneven
capitalist development. This tendency
concerns the higher levels of the imperialist pyramid as well.
The
The
inter-imperialist contradictions, which in the past led to dozens of local,
regional wars and to two World Wars, will continue to lead to tough economic,
political and military confrontations, irrespective of the composition or recomposition, the changes in the structure and the
framework of goals of the international imperialist unions, their so-called new
“architecture”. In any case, “war is the continuation of politics by other
means”, especially in the conditions of a deep crisis of over-accumulation and
important changes in the correlation of forces of the international imperialist
system, in which the re-division of the markets rarely occurs without
bloodshed.
71. The periodical outbreak of the crises of
over-accumulation tests the cohesion of the Eurozone,
as a monetary union of the economies of member-states with deep unevenness in
the development and structure of industrial production, in productivity and
their position in the EU and international market.
The
tendency for the strengthening of the interdependence of the economies of the
states in the international imperialist system does not lead to a decline of
the role of the bourgeois state, as many theoretical variations of
“globalization” claim.
In any
case, the future of the EU and the eurozone is not
only determined by the imperialist plans, because the contradictions have their
own dynamics. Whatever choice is made by the bourgeois management, it will come
into conflict with the working class and people’s interests in all the
member-states of the Eurozone.
The
crisis highlighted even more intensely the historical limits of the capitalist
system. The contradictions are sharpening, as well as the difficulties
regarding the bourgeois political management of the crisis and the difficulty
in passing into a new cycle of expanded reproduction of social capital in
general.
72. Greek
capitalism is in the imperialist stage of its development, in an intermediate
position in the international imperialist system, with strong dependencies on
the
The
adaptation of the Greek market to the western-European one began with its
accession to the EEC at the beginning of the 1980s. Later on, with its accession to the EU in 1991 and more
particularly to the eurozone
in 2001. The Greek capitalist state was more organically
integrated into the international imperialist system, through its participation
in the restructuring of NATO and other imperialist inter-state alliances.
Greek
capitalism initially benefited from the counterrevolutionary overthrows in the
neighbouring Balkan countries and from joining the EU; it achieved significant
capital exports in the form of direct investments which contributed to the
profitability and accumulation of Greek businesses and consortia.
The
capital exports also expanded to
In the
decade which preceded the latest outbreak of the crisis, the Greek economy
maintained a significantly higher annual rate of GDP growth than the corresponding
level of the EU and the Eurozone, without
substantially changing its position within it. However, it enhanced its
position in the Balkans.
After
the outbreak of the crisis, the position of Greek capitalism deteriorated in
the framework of the eurozone and the EU and the
international imperialist pyramid in general, something which does negate the
fact that the accession of
The
participation of Greece in NATO -hence the bonds- the economic-political and
political-military dependencies on the EU and the USA limit the negotiating
strength of the Greek bourgeois class and its room for manoeuvre, as all the
alliance relations of capital are governed by
competition, unevenness and consequently the advantageous position of the
strongest, as relations of uneven interdependence are formed.
The
intra-bourgeois contradictions up to this point do not negate the strategic
framework of accession to NATO and the EU. The intra-bourgeois contradictions
are related to the priorities at the level of imperialist alliances. Even if
the trend for remaining inside the eurozone continues
to be strong, at the same time the trend for the strengthening of relations
with
The
dangers in the wider region are increasing, from the Balkans to the Middle
East, for a generalized imperialist war and the involvement of
The
struggle for the defence of the borders, the sovereign rights of
The material basis of the necessity of
socialism in Greece
73. The Greek people will be liberated from the bonds of
capitalist exploitation and the imperialist unions when the working class
together with its allies carries out the socialist revolution and moves
forwards to construct socialism-communism.
The
KKE’s strategic goal is the conquest of revolutionary working-class power, that
is to say the dictatorship of the proletariat, for the socialist construction
as the immature phase of the communist society.
The
revolutionary change in
The
driving forces of the socialist revolution will be the working class as the
leading force, the semi-proletarians (i.e. those who have their main income
from waged labour and not from some kind of ownership of the means of
production), the oppressed popular strata of the urban self-employed, the poor farmers.
74. Over recent
years, the material pre-conditions for socialism in
The
economically active population has increased over the last 15 years, a tendency
which was halted after the outbreak of the crisis.
Over
the decade wage labour increased significantly as a percentage of employment as
a whole, while the number of self-employed remained stable, as the reduction of
a section of the self-employed was accompanied by their increase in the service
sector.
Since
2008 the Greek capitalist economy has entered a new crisis cycle, resulting in
its cumulative reduction of 20% by the end of 2012.
An even
larger reduction was witnessed in industrial production, which is less than 80%
of 2005 production levels. The rapid increase of unemployment and absolute
destitution-extreme poverty, the increase of the number of homeless people are
results of the deepening of the crisis and of the bourgeois political
management of it. Youth and long-term unemployment have become an explosive
problem.
The
distance between the contemporary needs of the people and the working class and
their satisfaction increased sharply. The parasitism and decay of monopoly
capitalism have been manifested in all the sectors of production, retail, in
the circulation of money capital, in all the structures for the organization of
capitalist society, in all the institutions of the system: financial
over-speculation, fraud, embezzlement, corruption, disasters such as pollution
in general and in the food production chain, in water, in the atmosphere, in
the forests and coasts. The most parasitic profiteering has expanded, such as
the drug trade, the organized prostitution of women and children etc. The
connections between the centres which illegally bribe MPs and ministers and the
organs of power became apparent as well as the connections between organized
crime networks and the criminal prosecution authorities.
At the
same time, the changes in the structure, the content and the extent of the
sectors of the bourgeois state which serve strategic needs for the reproduction
of capital create difficulties for the policy of social alliances of the ruling
class as well as the sharpening of the basic contradiction between capital and
labour.
The
acceleration of the restructurings reduces the stratum of the labour
aristocracy and the state employees and obstructs the effort of the bourgeois
policy to manipulate the labour movement and to assimilate large sections of
wage labour.
The
contradiction between the social character of labour and the private capitalist
appropriation of the largest part of its results, due to the capitalist
ownership of the concentrated means of production is being highlighted
intensely in every aspect of economic and social life. The need for social
ownership, Central Planning with working class power is emerging as an urgent
necessity. Socialism is more necessary
and timely than ever from the standpoint of the material conditions.
In
The duties of the KKE for the socialist
revolution
75. The KKE
operates in the direction of preparing the subjective factor for the prospect
of the socialist revolution, despite the fact that the time period of its
emergence is determined by objective pre-conditions, the revolutionary
situation.
The
activity of the KKE in a non-revolutionary situation decisively contributes to
the preparation of the subjective factor (party, working class, alliances) for
revolutionary conditions, for the realization of its strategic duties:
§ The rallying of the large majority of the working class
with the KKE, determined for the revolution.
§ The alliance of the working class with the popular strata
oppressed under capitalism, some to be drawn more or less actively into the
revolutionary struggle, others to be rendered neutral.
§ The support for the people engaged in the revolution by
the broadest possible forces which are detached from the army.
§ The ensuring of the overwhelming superiority of the
revolutionary forces rallied with the KKE against the reactionary bourgeois and
wavering petty bourgeois at the decisive moment and in the decisive areas. This
is an important political and at the same time organizational issue.
These
duties are implemented only in a revolutionary situation; their implementation
will develop simultaneously, and interact with the main and decisive task of
rallying the majority of the working class with the party.
More specifically on the revolutionary
situation
76. The
revolutionary situation is a factor which is created on an objective basis,
that is to say it combines a sudden weakness in the functioning of the
bourgeois power (“those above can no longer govern as before”) and a sudden
upsurge in the mood and activity of the popular masses (“those below”) who no
longer wish to live as they used to, subjugated to the exploiting power. It
includes the sudden mass upsurge in the mood of the working class as well as
the questioning of power by the people and the tendency for an uprising. In
these conditions, the role of the organizational and political readiness of the
vanguard of the labour movement, the communist party, is decisive for the
rallying and revolutionary orientation of the majority of the working class,
especially of the industrial proletariat, and the winning over of leading
sections of the popular strata.
It is
not possible to predict in advance the factors which will lead to the
revolutionary situation. The deepening of the economic crisis, the sharpening
of the inter-imperialist contradictions, which can even turn into military
conflicts, can create such conditions in
In the
instance of Greece’s involvement in an imperialist war, either in a defensive
or aggressive war, the party must lead the independent organization of the
workers’-people’s struggle in all its forms, so that this is linked with the
struggle for the complete defeat of the bourgeois class, both the domestic one
and the foreign invader, and with the conquest of power in a practical way. A workers’ and people’s front, using all forms of
struggle, must be formed on the basis of the initiative and the guidance of the
party. This front will have the following slogan: the people will provide the
liberation and the way-out from the capitalist system, which as long as it
prevails brings war and “peace” with the gun to the people’s head.
During
the revolutionary process, the working class together with its allies creates
the germs of the organs of working class power.
The
economic crisis and the imperialist wars are common threats for the working
class and popular strata of every capitalist society. This constitutes the
objective potential for the revolutionary movement in one country to be
supported by the activity of the revolutionary movement in another country,
especially in neighboring ones, in the wider region. What flows from this is the need for planned
and coordinated joint action against every imperialist alliance which aims to
suppress the revolution in one country, as well as the potential to form the
conditions for the victory of socialism in a group of countries.
More specifically on the revolutionary
worker’s and people’s front
77. The rallying of the majority of the working class with
the KKE and the attraction of leading sections of the popular strata will pass
through various phases. The fronts of struggle – above all the labour front- and the forms of the People’s Alliance with
anti-monopoly and anti-capitalist goals, with the vanguard activity of the
KKE’s forces in non-revolutionary conditions, constitute the first form for the
creation of the revolutionary workers’ and people’s front in revolutionary
conditions. The working class and popular masses, through the experience of
their participation in the organization of the struggle in a direction of
confrontation with capital’s strategy, will be persuaded of the need for their
organization to have a character which is in a full and multi-facetted
confrontation with the economic and political dominance of capital.
In the
conditions of the revolutionary situation, the revolutionary workers’ and
people’s front, using all forms of activity, can become the centre of the
popular uprising against capitalist power. It must prevail in the basic
regions, particularly in the industrial-trade-transport centres,
communications and energy centres, so that the full
demobilization of the mechanisms of bourgeois power is possible as well as
their neutralization, and so that revolutionary institutions created by the
people can emerge and prevail. These revolutionary institutions will undertake
the new organization of society, the overthrow of the dictatorship of the
bourgeoisie, the establishment of revolutionary working class power.
There
will be the constant impact of opportunist and reformist positions in the
revolutionary process, and consequently the need to struggle against them and
to marginalize them inside the workers’ and people’s front.
In the
conditions of the revolutionary situation, the workers’ and peoples
front will create committees to protect the strikes and other forms of the
uprising. It will acquire the ability and means to protect the revolution in
all its phases, to impose the workers’ control in the factories, banks,
agricultural production together with the poor farmers, to feed the people, to
deal with the various mechanisms of reaction.
The
revolutionary workers’ front will acquire the ability to oppose the violence of
capital with its own violence, the ability to have a paralyzing effect on the
staff of the class enemy, to neutralize its counterrevolutionary plans, to cut
it off from the active support of people who come from the working class and
popular strata. It will have the ability to express the poor sections of the
farmers, the popular sections of the urban self-employed, the
semi-proletarians, the masses of unemployed and immigrants and integrate them
in this direction of struggle.
78. Historical
experience demonstrates that the socialist revolutions of the 21st
century, compared to the bourgeois revolutions of the 19th century
and even to the socialist revolutions of the 20th century, will have
to face a much more organized repressive machine, more technologically
developed means of information and mass destruction. They will have to deal
with the mechanisms of the capitalist state’s violence which are integrated
into inter-state structures, like NATO, the Euro-army, the Schengen Agreement etc.
Despite
all this the human being does not cease to be the decisive factor in using and
dealing with technology. On this basis, the workers’ and people’s activity has
the potential to neutralize these means or to use them in favour
of the revolutionary movement.
The
conquest of working class power in one country contributes to the development
of the international revolutionary labour movement,
to the conciliation of the working class, popular forces, irrespective of
ethnic background, language, cultural and religious heritage, and to the
coordination of the class struggle at a regional and international level, to
the formation of revolutionary alliances, and even for the defense of each
socialist revolution against the international capitalist counterrevolutionary
activity.
The leading role of the Party in the
revolution
79. The KKE emerges actually as the leading force inside
the revolutionary process as long as it safeguards the revolutionary line and
its competence and has organizations in large units of production, in fields
and services which play a decisive role in the overthrow of bourgeois power.
The
organizational, ideological and political independence of the KKE holds true in
all conditions and in every instance, regardless of the forms of mass
organization of the working class engaged in the revolution and its alliance
with the poor farmers and other self-employed taking part in the uprising.
The
existence of strong organizations of the party and KNE ensures the formation of
party members and members of KNE capable of propagating the ideological and
political positions of the party, mainly in the large workplaces and the places
of vocational training, as well as in the mass organizations; of inspiring
trust; of setting the example of vanguard, selfless activity with
self-sacrifice; of utilizing the initiative of forces taking part in activity,
fighting against reformism-opportunism and national socialist-fascist activity.
The
party fights for the unity of the working class in
The
readiness, the material and ideological equipment, the continuous confrontation
with opportunism are the pre-conditions for the effective guidance of the
confrontation against the mechanisms of bourgeois power at every level.
80. The leading
role of the party in the concentration of forces for the revolution will not be
a “one-act play” or a process which will unfold smoothly. It will have upward
and downward phases; it will be influenced and determined by the correlation of
forces between the bourgeoisie and the working class, by the consciousness of
the majority of the industrial proletariat, by the detaching of the
semi-proletarians, poor farmers and other self-employed from the bourgeois
class and petty bourgeois and opportunist influence. It is impossible to
predict all the phases of this process, and all the factors which will
accelerate or slow down the developments, the exact condition of each class and
social group, the correlation of forces inside the forces of the working class
and the popular strata engaged in the struggle. Nevertheless, the role of the
KKE and its ability to assess the developments in a timely and objective way
and to intervene accordingly will be decisive.
The
leading role of the party exists, in practice and not just at the level of
proclamations, after the overthrow of the power of capital as the first act of
the transition of the revolutionary process into a new period of the class struggle.
This is related to the abolition of capitalist relations and the creation of
new socialist relations, as well as to dealing with the domestic and foreign
re-organization of capitalist violence.
The
party aims for the revolutionary working class power to be supported by the
revolutionary and people’s movements of neighbouring
and other countries against the capitalist states which seek its overthrow. It
aims to form a joint revolutionary centre at least amongst neighbouring
countries, as long as similar conditions exist.
The
party, stably committed to proletarian internationalism, practically expresses
its support for the revolutionary movements of other countries.
It fulfils its revolutionary duty without canceling it in the
name of the difficulties created for the class struggle by the international
correlation of forces, without considering the international correlation of
forces as still and immobile.
Socialism as the first, lowest phase of
communism
81. Socialism is the first phase of the communist
socio-economic formation; it is not an independent formation. It is an immature
communism. The basic law of the communist mode of production is valid: “planned
production for the extended satisfaction of social needs.”
The
development potential of the country will be placed at the service of the
people and their needs through the Central Planning. This is also true of
whatever has been created by human activity in science, technology and culture.
This will endure a higher standard of living and intellectual development.
Unemployment and labour insecurity will be eradicated, free time will be
increased, so that the working people will be able to actively participate and
exercise workers’ control in order to safeguard the character of working class
power.
82. Socialist
construction is a single process which starts with the conquest of power by the
working class. In the beginning, the new mode of production is formed, which basically prevails through the
complete abolition of capitalist relations, of the capital-wage labour
relation.
§ The socialisation of the means of production in
industry, energy-water supply, telecommunications, construction, repair, public
transport, wholesale and retail trade and import-export trade, the concentrated
tourist – restaurant infrastructure, the capitalist agricultural cultivations.
§ The socialization of land and the capitalist agricultural
cultivations. State production units will be created for the production and
processing of agricultural products as raw materials or consumer products. The
Greek reality does not require the redistribution of land. Those who do not own
land will work in the socialist agricultural and livestock units. The measure
of the socialization of land ends the possibility of land being concentrated,
the change of its use and its commodification by
individual or cooperative agricultural producers.
§ The abolition of private ownership and economic activity
in education, health-welfare, culture and sports, in the mass media. They are completely and exclusively organized
as social services.
§ The abolition of the use of alien labour,
i.e. wage labour, by those who still possess isolated
means of production in sectors that have not been compulsorily socialized, e.g.
in crafts, agricultural production, tourism-restaurants, in certain auxiliary
services.
§ Means of production, raw materials and other industrial
materials and resources, and labour force will be
used in production and the organization of social and administrative services
via Central Planning.
§ Industry and the largest part of agricultural production will
be carried out with relations of social ownership, Central Planning, workers’
control over the whole spectrum of management and administration.
83. Agricultural productive cooperatives will be promoted,
which will have the right to utilize the socialized land as a means of
production. The integration of small farmers will be carried out on a voluntary
basis. The incentives for cooperativization are: the
reduction of the cost of production through collective cultivation work and
collection of agricultural produce; the protection of agricultural production
from natural phenomena through the state infrastructure and scientific and
technical support; the concentration of agricultural produce via the state
retail sector; the even distribution of labour time on a year basis though the
extension of mechanization and central coordination to deal with unforeseen
weather hazards. The reformation of the village with urban features regarding
unified education, fully equipped health centres connected with hospitals in
the nearest urban centres, cultural infrastructure, transport etc.
To the
extent which labour is socialized through producer cooperatives and the use of
mechanized means of production and collective infrastructure, the
pre-conditions will be created for direct integration into social ownership and
full integration into the central plan.
In this direction the contradiction between the city and countryside,
industrial and agricultural production, will be eliminated. The improvement of
their working and living conditions will be the benefit for those who
previously worked in the cooperatives.
84. The division of labour in the socialized means of
production is based on the central plan that organizes production and social
services and determines its proportions, with the aim of satisfying the expanded
social needs, and the distribution of products (use values). It is a centrally
planned division of social labour and directly integrates - not via the market
- individual labour, as part of the total social labour.
Central Planning consciously outlines the objective
proportions of production and distribution, as well as the effort to develop
the productive forces in an all-sided way.
It prioritizes the production of means of
production. The development of productive capability as a whole and the technological
equipping of the social services depend on this. In the final analysis, the
ability of the expanded reproduction and the rise of social prosperity are
dependent on this.
The scientific laws of Central Planning are not
identified with each specific plan, which approaches to a greater of lesser
extent the objective proportions of the expanded socialist accumulation and
social prosperity.
Central
Planning aims, in the medium and long term, to develop in a generalized way the
ability to perform specialised labour, as well as shifts in the technical
division of labour, to achieve the all-round development of labour productivity
and the reduction of labour time, for the prospect of eliminating the
differences between executive and supervisory labour, between manual and
intellectual labour.
Cooperative
production is subordinated to some extent to Central Planning, which determines
the part of the production that is allocated to the state and sets the state
prices, at which the produce is collected by the state, as well as the prices,
the produce is sold at in the state-organized popular markets.
85. Central Planning will be organised by sector, through a unified state
authority, with regional and industry-level branches. Planning will be based on
a totality of goals and criteria such as:
·
In
Energy:
Development of infrastructure for the reduction of the level of energy dependence
of
·
In
Transport:
Priority
will be given to mass rather than private transport, to rail transport on the
mainland of the country and to ferry services with modern vessels for coastal
regions and islands. Planning will be carried out based on the criterion of
having all forms of transport operate in an interlinked and complementary way
and with the goals of cheap and fast transport of people and goods, the saving
of energy, the balanced human intervention in the environment, the planned
development for the eradication of uneven regional development, the full
control of defence and national security of the socialist state. This requires
also the planning of the relevant infrastructure -ports, airports, railway
stations, roads and of an industry for the production of means of
transportation.
·
In
manufacturing and mining industry:
Priority
will be given to the production of means of production through the utilisation
of the mining industry combined with the development of the respective sectors
of manufacturing, by means of supporting national scientific research.
The
mining of mineral resources will be combined with their industrial processing
(e.g. production of aluminium and of relevant aluminium components), with the
development of metal and petrochemical industry, the production
of machines and means of transport aiming at the reduction of the dependence on
foreign trade; similarly in sectors of
manufacturing, such as the chemical industry.
The
Central Planning will promote the proportional harmonized relation between
agricultural production and industry for significant and necessary raw materials in the sectors of food
industry, textile, leather and clothing industry and generally in the industry
of consumer goods. Accordingly agricultural production will be based on domestic industrial production of fertilizers,
pesticides, fodder, seeds etc. agricultural machines, irrigation
infrastructure.
·
In
telecommunications:
Cheap,
rapid, safe and universal access to communication, information, entertainment
as well as the utilisation of technological
capabilities for the enhancement of scientific central planning and workers’
control, for equal utilisation of the corresponding applications
of the
scientific central planning and workers’ control in industry, in
administration, as well as in social services (tele-medicine,
tele-teaching etc). Priority is given to the
construction and enhancement of the respective infrastructure works for the
development of the domestic industrial production of telecommunication
equipment.
·
Spatial planning- construction:
Spatial
planning on the basis of the results of research concerning the definition of
new needs, the elaboration of regulations and standards as well as on the basis
of a national plan for the management of wastes, for the comprehensive
management of the water resources for their protection and utilisation
according to the criterion of people’s prosperity and the construction of
cities that will be people-friendly.
Even
development of construction in order to cover the needs for housing, for public
infrastructure works, for supporting agricultural production, industry, social
services. Industrial production can cover the needs of the sector of
construction in cement and building materials.
Safe,
modern standards for people’s housing combined with the reshaping of cities,
operational infrastructure for quick safe transportation, protection against
floods, fires, earthquakes, sufficient green spaces combined with zones for
sports, culture and entertainment.
86. Scientific research will be organised through state institutions, universities, institutes, etc. and will serve the protection and
promotion of health, Central Planning, the administration of social production
and social services, in order to develop social prosperity.
State
social infrastructure will be created which will provide high-quality social
services in order to meet needs which today are being tackled by individual or
family households (e.g. restaurants in workplaces, in schools, facilities for
leisure. In addition, welfare institutions and high-level facilities will be
created in order to protect, take care of and ensure the dignity of people who
cannot help themselves due to their age (children, elderly) or due to illness
(people with special needs).
All
children will be provided with free and public pre-school education,
exclusively public, free of charge, general 12-year education through schools
with a unified structure, programme, administration and operation, technical
equipment, specialised staff educated in a unified system. The systems of
evaluation aim at the consolidation of knowledge, at the development of a
dialectic-materialist way of thinking, self discipline and collectivity.
Through a unified system of free public higher education, scientific personnel
will be formed, capable of teaching in universities and of providing the
specialised staff in areas of research, socialised production and state
services.
An
exclusively public and free health and welfare system will be established. A
particular emphasis is given to the prevention of diseases and services which
are necessary for physical and psychological well-being, for the
intellectual and cultural development of every individual, for ensuring the
environmental and social conditions that affect public health, social activity
and the ability to work.
87. The role and the function of the Central Bank will change. The
regulation of the function of money as a means of commodity circulation will be
restricted to the exchange between socialist production and the production
of agricultural cooperatives, in general with the commodity production of that
portion of consumer goods that are not produced by the socialist production
units, until the final eradication of every form of private ownership over
means of production and of the existence of commodity production. On this
basis, the respective functions of certain specialised state credit
institutions for agricultural cooperatives and certain small commodity
producers will be controlled by the Central Bank.
The
development of Central Planning and the extension of social ownership in all
areas make money gradually superfluous, both in terms of content and form.
The
Central Bank, as a department of Central Planning, controls international
transactions (inter-state, trade, tourism) as long as capitalist states exist
on earth. These transactions are carried out exclusively by state authorities.
It will also regulate gold reserves or reserves of other commodities which
operate as world money or any other general reserve. The Central Bank will play
a role in the exercise of general social accounting and it will be connected to
the organs and goals of Central Planning.
88. Socialist construction is incompatible with the participation of the
country in imperialist unions, such as the EU and NATO, IMF, OECD with the
existence of USA-NATO military bases. The new power, depending on the
international and regional situation, will seek to develop inter-state
relations of mutual benefit between
The
socialist state will seek cooperation with states and peoples who objectively
have a direct interest in resisting the economic, political and military
centres of imperialism, first and foremost with the peoples who are
constructing socialism in their countries. It will seek to utilize every
available “rupture” which might occur in the imperialist “front” due to
inter-imperialist contradictions, in order to defend and strengthen the
revolution and socialism. A socialist
The satisfaction of the social needs
89. Social needs are determined according to the level of development of the
productive forces which has been achieved in the given historical period.
Basic
social needs (education-health- welfare) are provided to all for free according
to the needs while another part of them is covered by a relatively small part
of the money-income acquired through labour (housing, energy, water, heating,
transport, nutrition).
A
characteristic of the first phase of communist relations, i.e. of the socialist
relations, is the distribution of one part of the products “according to
labour”. The distribution of a part of socialist production “according to
labour”, which resembles commodity exchange only in terms of its form, is a
result of capitalist inheritance. The new mode of production has not managed to
discard it yet, because it has not developed all of the necessary human
productive power and all the means of production to the necessary dimensions,
through the widest use of new technology. Labour productivity does not yet
allow a decisively large reduction of labour time, the abolition of heavy and
one-sided labour, so that the social need for compulsory labour can be
eradicated.
The
planned distribution of labour force and of the means of production entails the
planned distribution of the social product. This is a fundamental difference
compared to the distribution of the social product through the market, based on
the laws and categories of commodity exchange.
90. Labour time in socialism is not the “socially necessary labour time”
that constitutes the measure of value for the exchange of commodities in
commodity production. It is the measure of the individual contribution to
social labour for the production of the total product. It operates as a measure
for the distribution of these products of individual consumption which are still distributed “according to
labour”.
Access
to that part of the social product that is distributed “according to labour” is determined by the individual labour
contribution of each person in the totality of social labour, without
distinguishing between complex and simple labour, manual or otherwise. The
measure of individual contribution is the labour time which is determined by
the plan based on the total needs of social production, the material conditions
of the production process in which “individual” labour is included. The special
needs of social production for the concentration of the labour force in certain
areas, branches, etc., as well as other special social needs, such as
maternity, individuals with special needs, etc. are taken into account in the
determination of the labour time.
The
personal stance of each individual vis-a-vis the organization and the realisation of the productive
process plays a decisive role
in the productivity of labour, in the evolution of labour time, in material
saving, in the application of more productive technologies, the more rational
organisation of labour, the exercise of workers’ control in
administration-management.
91. Incentives will be formed for the development of a vanguard communist
attitude vis-a-vis the
organization and execution of labour in the production unit or social service,
as a result of the combination of various specific types of labour. The
incentives will aim at the reduction of purely unskilled and manual labour, at
the reduction of labour time, in parallel with access to educational
programmes, leisure and cultural services, participation in workers’ control.
We reject the monetary form of incentives.
The
planned development of the productive forces in the communist mode of
production should increasingly free up more time from work, which should then
be used to raise the educational-cultural level of working people; to allow for
workers’ participation in the realisation of their duties regarding workers’
power and administration of production, etc. The all-round development of man as the productive force in the
building of the new type of society, of the communist relations and the
communist attitude towards directly social labour, is a two-way relationship.
Depending on the historical phase, either the one or the other side will take
precedence.
The struggle of the new against the old. The necessity of the conscious and planned eradication of the elements
of immaturity
92. The overcoming of the elements of immaturity that characterize the lower
phase of communism, that is socialism, is a precondition in order for the laws
of communism to fully prevail.
In
socialism the vestiges of the previous modes of production have not yet been
eradicated and the material conditions of the socialist mode of production have
not matured so as to fully take on its communist character, so that the
principle “from each according to his ability to each according to his need”
enters completely into force.
Initially
there remain forms of individual and group ownership that constitute the basis
for the existence of commodity-money relations.
On the
basis of its economic immaturity, there still continue to exist social inequalities, social stratification,
significant differences or even contradictions, such as those between city and
country, between intellectual and manual workers, between specialized and
unskilled workers. All of these inequalities must be completely eradicated,
gradually and in a planned way.
During
the construction of socialism, the working class acquires progressively, not in
a uniform fashion, the ability to have an overview of the different parts of
the productive process, of supervisory work, a substantive role in the
organization of labour. As a result of the difficulties in this process, it is
still possible that workers with a managerial role in production, workers
engaged in intellectual labour and possessing a high scientific specialization,
would tend to isolate the individual interest and the group interest from the
social interest, or would tend to lay claim to a larger share of the total
social product, since the “communist attitude” towards labour has not yet
prevailed.
93. The social revolution is not
restricted only to the conquest of power and the formation of the economic base
for the socialist development, but is extended during the entire course of
socialism; it includes the development of socialism for the attainment of the
higher communist phase.
Subsequently,
the new relations will be extended and deepened, communist relations and the
new type of man will develop to a higher level that guarantees their
irreversible supremacy, provided that capitalist relations have been abolished
on a global scale or at least in the developed and influential countries of the
imperialist system.
The
socialist course contains the possibility of a reversal and a retreat backwards
to capitalism, as the experience from the counterrevolutionary overthrow in the
The
leap that takes place during the period of socialist construction, i.e. during
the revolutionary period of the transition from capitalism to developed
communism, is qualitatively superior to any previous one, since communist
relations, which are not of an exploitative nature, are not shaped within the
framework of capitalism. A struggle of the “seeds” of the new system against
the “vestiges” of the old one takes place in all spheres of social life. It is
a struggle for the radical change of all economic relations and, therefore, of
all social relations, into communist relations.
94. During this long-term transition from the capitalist society to the
developed communist one, the policies of the revolutionary working class power,
with the Communist Party as the leading force, give priority to the formation,
extension and deepening of the new social relations, to their complete and
irreversible prevalence, not in a voluntarist manner,
but based on the laws of the communist mode of production.
There
will be an ongoing battle for the eradication of every form of group and
individual ownership over the means and results of production and of the
petit-bourgeois consciousness that has deep historical roots. It is a struggle
for the formation of a communist consciousness and attitude towards the direct
socialised labour.
The
socialist accumulation which will be achieved, will lead to a new level of
social prosperity. This new level makes the gradual extension of new relations
in that area of productive forces possible which previously were not mature
enough to be included in the directly social production. There is a constant
expansion of the material prerequisites for the abolition of any
differentiation in the distribution of the social product among the workers, in
the directly social production; for the continuous reduction of the necessary
labour time; for the constant educational-cultural development and the
technological-scientific specialisation of
man; for the eradication of reactionary and anachronistic views, customs
and attitudes regarding a series of social issues such as the women’s question.
In
accordance with the universal social law of the correspondence of the relations
of production with the level of development of the productive forces, each
historically new level of development of productive forces that is initially
achieved by socialist construction, demands a further “revolutionization”
of relations of production and of all economic relations, in the direction of
their complete transformation into communist relations, by means of
revolutionary policies.
The
development of the communist mode of production in its first phase, socialism,
is a process through which the distribution of the social product in monetary
form will be eradicated. Communist production – even in its immature stage – is
directly social production.
Fundamental principles of the formation of
the socialist power
95. The socialist power is the revolutionary power of the working class, the
dictatorship of the proletariat. The revolutionary working class power requires
a high level of organisation with all means available. It requires workers’
control in the exercise of the administration of the industrial units in the
sectors of strategic importance. In that way the working class power carries
out its creative, social-economic and cultural work under all conditions -war
communism, a relatively more peaceful period of socialist construction- it makes possible the supremacy of the workers’ and people’s
majority against the organised domestic and foreign resistance of capital, its
counterrevolutionary activity after the loss of its power.
This
requires preparation and the ability to mobilise as quickly as possible the
socialised means of production, the entire labour force through Central
Planning so as to rapidly restore the losses that will occur in the period of
nationwide crisis that will have preceded, the losses caused by the resistance of capitalists but also of the upper
intermediate strata, by the external economic blockade, the imperialist
interventions and wars etc.
96. The fundamental principles of the revolutionary working class power
arise from the objective position of the working class in the socialised
production process as well as by the fact that the working class as a whole has
not achieved a unified consciousness of its social role. The fundamental
principles of the new power are in total opposition to the old, bourgeois
power. This arises from the fact that the socialised labour renders the private
ownership over the means of production obsolete.
The
extent and the forms that the revolutionary working class power uses for the
repression of the counterrevolutionary activity depend on the stance of the
political and social organisations towards the two conflicting forces, the
working class and the capitalist class.
The organisation
of the new power is a matter for the working class as a whole. The
participation of other social forces
97. The socialist state as an organ of class struggle, which continues with
other forms and under new conditions, does not have merely a
defensive-repressive organisational function. It also has a creative, economic,
cultural, educational function under the leadership of its ideological
–political vanguard, namely its party. It expresses a higher form of democracy
whose chief characteristic is the active participation of the working class and
generally of the people. The people are
educated on the basis of moral incentives that arise from the higher mode of
production and democracy, during the formation of the socialist society, during
the resolution of the old contradictions and social inequalities, during the
control of the management of the productive units, of the social and
administrative services of all the organs of power from the bottom up. The
exercise of workers’ and social control will be institutionalised and
safeguarded in practice, as will the unhindered criticism of decisions and
practices which obstruct socialist construction, the unhindered denunciation of
subjective arbitrariness and bureaucratic behaviour of officials, and other
negative phenomena and deviations from socialist-communist principles.
The
foundation of workers’ power is the productive unit, the social services, the administrative unit, the
producer cooperatives where the working people exercise their rights: to elect
and recall the representatives of the unit; to be elected in the lowest level
of the working class power, in the Workers’ Council or the Cooperative Council; to elect and recall the representatives to
the immediately higher organ of power.
The
direct and indirect working class democracy, the principle of control, of
accountability and the right of recall, which is extended to the members of the
management, is based on the Assembly of the working people.
The
Assembly in the production units, the social services, the administrative
units, the producer cooperatives is the Body that safeguards the substantial
participation of all workers, men and women, irrespective of their educational
level and specialisation, irrespective of their linguistic, cultural religious
heritage.
The
voting right is safeguarded through the obligation of every man and woman, who
are capable
of working, to work while the working class state guarantees the corresponding job through
Central Planning. The exclusion from the election right takes place on the
basis of the criminal-disciplinary system.
The
working class power will seek to integrate the women who are able to work and
are below retirement age (18-55 years) into the direct social labour. This
integration can take place gradually depending on the range of the problems
that the working class power inherits and resolves.
The
adults who do not work i.e. students will participate through the respective
educational unit that is comprised of university professors and other workers.
The
pensioners form a special social group, as they are characterised by class
differentiation. For that reason pensioners will participate in the procedures
of their last workplace.
The
retired cooperative farmers will participate through their cooperative
organisation. The self-employed will participate with their representatives.
The
disabled, depending on their degree of disability, will either be incorporated
into pensioners or will work under more favourable conditions, or into special
educational-productive units.
The so
called “minorities”, the sections of the working class who speak a different
language, the immigrants inherited by capitalism, the political refugees will
be treated according to these very principles. The socialist power ensures the
preservation of the language and cultural traditions, their acquaintance with
their historical roots by means of a special programme integrated in the
cultural and educational system, without separate settlements, providing for
their participation in the highest bodies.
Special
committees for the needs of women, the young people, the people with special needs may arise from the
organizations that took part in the revolution. These committees will be
incorporated into the structure of the working class power.
The
appointment of economic managers and managers of production –at least in units
of a considerable size- will be related to the division of the specialized
labour force which will be dealt with by Central Planning. The managers will be
appointed as salaried employees without any special economic privileges. The
organs of power will have the obligation to create the preconditions so that
the unit can cover the needs for its administration on its own.
The
management of the productive unit or the social service or the administrative
unit will be comprised of many persons. The Workers’ Council will not be merely
represented in the management but the management will participate in the
Workers’ Council.
All the
respective Bodies and Organs can pose the issue of controlling and recalling
the management.
The
socialist power inherits from capitalism a large number of salaried employees
that come from the administrative services of capitalism (state employees,
employees from the administrative mechanism of the businesses). The working
class power seeks their political and cultural adaptation and their incorporation
into the socialist productive units and the social services.
The
working class character of the state power will be reflected in the composition
of the people’s organs.
The
socialist state will express the alliance of the working class with the self-employed,
whose economic activity will continue to exist for a transitional period. It
determines the conditions (obligations and rights) for sections the scattered
self-employed and the cooperative farmers which constitute a transitional form
and prepares them for their integration into direct social production.
In any
case cooperatives are a transitional form of ownership. Therefore the Council
of the Cooperative which is elected by its members is a self-administration
organ with a transitional form.
Certain guidelines for the formation of the
organs of power
98. The basis of the workers’ participation is the Assembly of the socialist
productive unit, of the social or administrative service through which the
lowest organ of power is elected, i.e. the Workers’ Council. The structure of
the organs of power includes:
The Workers’ Council, the Regional Council and the
Highest Organ of Working Class Power.
The
Highest Organ of the Working Class Power is responsible for Central Planning,
for the creative work in economy and in all social relations, for the
protection of the socialist construction, the interstate relations. It has full
authority, legislative, executive, judicial which are organized respectively in
supervisory structures.
All
three levels of the organs of power, according to hierarchy, are responsible
for the organization of the protection of the revolution, for the people’s
judiciary, the control mechanism.
The
organs for defence and the protection of the revolution are based on workers’
and people’s participation as well as on permanent and specialized personnel.
All
organs are characterized by the principle of democratic centralism which
ensures the unified character of Central Planning and the specialization of its
implementation.
A state
organ which has particular importance is the Highest Administration of Central
Planning that embraces committees for special issues e.g. women’s equality and
women’s rights, committees that operate within the framework of the Highest
Organ of Working Class Power.
The
possibility of being recalled, the regulation of working-time in the workplace
for the specific period of election according to the obligations in the organs,
the exclusion of participation in more than two organs, and the exclusion of
any economic privilege applies for all those who participate in the state
organs of all levels.
A
revolutionary constitution and revolutionary legislation will be formed, which
will be in accordance with the new social relations-social ownership, Central
Planning, workers’ control- and which will defend revolutionary legality.
Labour Law, Family Law and all the legal consolidation of the new social
relations will be shaped accordingly. The new judiciary will be uner the direct
responsonsibility of the organs of power. The judiciary will be made up of
elected and recallable lay judges, as well as of permanent staff, answerable to
the institutions of working class state power.
New
institutions will be created in place of the bourgeois army and repressive
organs-which will be completely dissolved-based on the revolutionary struggle
for the defeat of the resistance of the exploiters and for the defence of the
Revolution. Their cadre will be shaped on the basis of their stance
vis-à-vis the Revolution.
Gradually,
via new military schools, a new corps will be created, chosen mainly from the
youth with a working class background. It will be educated
according to the principles of the new state-power. The positive experience of
socialist construction, where the duties for the defence of the revolutionary
achievements were carried out not only by the specialized permanent bodies, but
also via the responsibility of the people through workers’ committees on a
shift basis etc, will be utilised.
The
working class power will utilise all new technical means, the new
organisational forms based on technology in order to acquire an effective
defence against international imperialism, in organisation and control as well
as in order to restrict administrative acts to the necessary ones, to reduce
the number of the working people in administrative-non productive labour to the
minimum necessary degree.
The relationship of the KKE with the working
class power
99. The KKE, as the ideological-political organised vanguard of the working
class, will constitute the leading force of the revolutionary working class
power, the dictatorship of the proletariat. It will vindicate its revolutionary
leading role as long as it expresses the general interests of the working class
and the scientific laws of the socialist-communist construction in practice.
The working class even when revolutionary will not have achieved a unified
communist consciousness, a communist stance towards the direct social labour,
social ownership, it will not
have overcome the differentiation among its sections as they develop in
capitalism. The members and the cadre of the KKE and its Youth will participate
in all forms of society’s organisation and will exercise their role as
ideological-political leaders, with self-sacrifice, selflessness and without
any economic privilege or any other privileges.
The
members of the Youth of the KKE, of KNE, will act accordingly among the
students and the school students under the political guidance of the organs and
the forces of the party e.g. in education, in the workers’ army, in the groups
for the protection of the revolution etc.
The
role of the members and the cadre of the KKE is constantly being judged
–confirmed or negated- in practice. This requires them to achieve a higher
level of theoretical, scientific, technical knowledge so as to contribute to
the ideological and political maturation of the working class for its new role
as the leading power of the socialist –communist construction.
The KKE
is the political force that introduces in all organs of the working class power
the ability to carry out scientific predictions, to organize the activity in a
planned way, to elaborate political plans for the formation of the socialist
economic basis , of the new socialist relations of production and distribution,
of all the new socialist-communist relations that characterize all the levels
of the society’s organisation, education, culture, the relations between the
two genders, the eradication of the long-term influence of the metaphysical dogmas
etc.
The
party through its members in each field –and KNE correspondingly in education-
expresses its opinion on all issues (e.g. candidacies in organs, for the
planning, the report of work etc).
100.
The
recognition and the realization of the leading role of the party, the
acquisition of the corresponding social consciousness not only by the working
class masses but generally by the majority of the people is the result of its
revolutionary ideological political and organizational formation which is
constantly judged in life. The dialectical relation between the revolutionary
theory and the revolutionary practice is constantly being judged. This
relationship entails:
§ A party that will be essentially committed to the
revolutionary communist ideology, on Marxism-Leninism from which it will
acquire the ability to interpret the new phenomena and guide the class struggle
according to the need to develop and consolidate the new mode of production; to
consolidate socialism as the lowest phase of communism, as the decisive victory
of the social ownership against every form of private ownership and the final
victory of communism.
§ A party with working class composition throughout its
structure, members and cadres. Particularly in conditions of relative
stabilization of the revolutionary power, the expansion of the forces of the
party and its rejuvenation should not reverse the majority of the workers from
the productive sections of industry.
§ The working class composition of the party is combined
with the collective responsibility so that all members of the party have a high
level of Marxist education, the ability to protect the party and especially its
highest organs from the penetration of bourgeois ideological constructs,
revisionist tendencies and opportunist choices.
§ A party that will be capable of producing-educating
communist scientists, hence a party that will be at the frontline for the
development of science, for the acquisition of new knowledge as well as for the
extensive utilization of its results in favour
of the irreversible victory of communism. Leading organs capable of ensuring
the unity of the class and scientific character which is a precondition in
order for the party perform its revolutionary vanguard role.
§ A party that will be capable of expanding and renewing
its revolutionary bonds with the working class, the creator of the social
wealth, in new conditions, in the new turns of the class struggle, in every
shift–negative or positive- of the correlation of forces in the country and
internationally with an unwavering orientation regarding the basic social
contradiction, that between capital and labour. With the vanguard stance of its
members and cadres it will contribute practically to the development of a communist
stance in labour.
The KKE
has travelled a long way and has a long way to go because “the cause of the
proletariat, communism, is the deepest, broadest, most universally human.”
THE
CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE KKE
4th
December 2012
DRAFT STATUTES OF THE KKE
PROLOGUE
These Statutes are proposed for adoption at the 19th
Congress of the Communist Party of Greece which will be held in April 2013.
They
were formulated to by amending and supplementing the Statutes approved by the
Party’s 15th Congress. Experience from the distant and more recent
past was also utilized in drafting them.
The
Statutes determine the aims and character of the KKE, and the principles on
which it is structured and operates.
They
define the rights, obligations, primary duties and rules of activity for the
Party’s members, Organisations and organs.
The
great value and significance of the statutory principles and operating
regulations of the KKE, as a revolutionary Party of a new type, have been
judged and tested during the approximately 100 years of the KKE’s existence and
activity, as well as by the rich experience of the international communist
movement.
To defend these principles
in a conscious and resolute way and to observe and apply them strictly and
constitutes a 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 lead the working class to accomplish
its historic mission, the revolutionary conquest of working class power for the
socialist construction.
INTRODUCTION
a. KKE is the Party of the working class, its conscious organised
ideological political vanguard, its highest 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, every form of private ownership of the means of
production 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 social progress in Greece.
The
strategic goal of the KKE is the conquest of revolutionary working class power,
the dictatorship of the proletariat, for socialist construction. The KKE aims
to devote all its forces to building this superior society, being fully aware
that it will be the task of the working class itself, at the head of all those
who suffer from capital’s power, and of
its substantial participation both in the struggle to win it, and in the
process of safeguarding and consolidating it.
The
working class, the vehicle of socialist change, fighting in the front ranks of
the struggle to overthrow capitalism, is striving not only for its own
liberation, but for the liberation of all working people.
For
these reasons, it is a historical necessity for the KKE to exist and grow
stronger in Greek society. In order to win its fight against daily capitalist
oppression and to end exploitation of man by man, the working class needs its
own independent political organisation, a revolutionary Party capable of
guiding its struggle for their vital interests and the construction of a new
higher society, the socialist-communist one.
b. In its organization, functioning and activity to
realise these noble aims, the KKE is guided by the ideology of Marxism-Leninism
and the proletarian internationalism. It is inspired by the first attempt in
history at working class power, the Paris Commune (1871), and even more so by
the first victorious socialist revolution in Russia in October 1917. It
utilises the positive and negative lessons learned from the construction of
socialism in the 20th century, above all in the
The
KKE, based on its worldview and with the aim of developing it, studies the
socio-economic and political developments in
c. The transition from the capitalist society, which is
going through a profound crisis, to a socialist society presupposes the
conquest of political power by the working class, the socialisation of the
concentrated means of production, the creation of producer cooperatives in the
non-concentrated means of production, the central scientific planning of social
production and services, workers’ control, which will liberate the creative
activity of the workers, the youth. The KKE is struggling with all its strength
to make the working class and its allies aware of this need. In this framework,
it exhausts 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.
In this
struggle it seeks the unity of the working class, regardless of specialty,
educational level, nationality, cultural and linguistic traditions or gender.
It seeks the alliance of the working class with the poor farmers and
self-employed in a people’s antimonopoly anti-capitalist alliance of struggle
for working class power.
d. The organisational structure and operation of the KKE
are determined by its aims and its revolutionary nature. Its fundamental
principle is democratic centralism.
The consistent application of democratic
centralism, in all its aspects, is necessary for the ideological, political and
organizational unity of the Party, a necessary condition for it to achieve its
goals.
e. The 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 necessity and goal for socialism-communism in
every capitalist country. It educates
its members in the spirit of proletarian internationalism, international
solidarity and cooperation with workers all over the world. It fulfils its
internationalist obligations consistently and participates in the struggle for
the regroupment, ideological and strategic unity and
the strengthening of the international communist movement.
The KKE
struggles against all manifestations of fascism, nationalism, chauvinism,
racism and identifies patriotism with the class struggle.
CHAPTER 1
ORGANISING PRINCIPLES AND RULES FOR THE
CONSTITUTION, OPERATION AND ACTIVITY OF THE KKE
ARTICLE 1
The structure and operation of the KKE is based on the
principle of democratic centralism, which is an irreplaceable component of its
revolutionary character.
Democratic centralism means inner-Party democracy,
centralised leadership, unified
action in the implementation of decisions with conscious discipline.
Based on democratic centralism, the creation and
activity of organised groups within the Party is not permitted. This would undermine
its ideological political organisational unity, its democratic operation and
its effective action.
The main components of democratic centralism are:
A) Bringing the operation and activity of all Party organisations under
one single leading centre, the Central Committee, which is the highest leading
organ during the period between congresses.
B) That decisions made by higher leading organs must be implemented by
lower organs, Party organisations and Party members.
C) Conscious Party discipline where the minority submits to the will of
the majority. In the event of disagreement, those who disagree are obliged to
unconditionally implement the decision made by the majority.
D)The election and right to recall regarding leading organs
or members of these organs. Regular and
extraordinary accountability to the organisations and the bodies that elected
them. Systematic provision of information to the Party
organisations about their decisions
E) Collectivity as the highest principle of the
Party’s leadership, an essential condition for the unity, the unified and
effective activity of the Party and all its organizations, the correct
education, the development of the activity and initiative of the Party members.
Decisions taken by only one individual substituting the collective decisions of
the organs cannot exist in the Party.
In the framework of collectivity,
the personality and contribution of every Party member develops.
F) Equality of all Party members with respect to their rights and
obligations.
G)The monitoring, the criticism and self-criticism as necessary elements
for the implementation of decisions and the development of activity, the
generalization of experience, dealing with weaknesses and the correction of
mistakes, the education and strengthening of conscious Party discipline.
Criticism and self-criticism is only exercised through
the responsible organs and PBOs of the Party.
ARTICLE 2
a) Party Base Organizations (PBOs) are created in the workplaces, above
all in the industrial businesses and sectors, in other enterprises,
institutions and services, as well as amongst the self-employed. In addition,
PBOs are created in the places of residency, the cities and villages.
The Party members, who work in industrial or other
enterprises, institutions and services
belong compulsorily to the organizations in their workplace or sectors.
Exceptions are decided on by the Regional Committees and Sectoral
Committees.
Party organizations are created on the decision of the
Central Committee in countries where Greek immigrants and students live.
b)The PBOs are joined together in Sectoral
Organizations and the Sectoral Organizations in
Regional Organizations. If the CC decides, where there is a need, Area
Committees which will unite a number of Sectoral
Committees can be created.
In special instances, the Central Committee can create
PBOs and Sectoral Organizations which are directly
guided by it.
ARTICLE 3
Leading organs, Secretaries and their Bureaus, as well
as representatives to Conferences, are elected by secret ballot, according to
the procedure set out in the regulations.
Persons who receive 50% + 1 of the votes cast by those
present are elected. If, after the first ballot, the number of those elected is
not filled a second final ballot is held that included the candidates who did
not receive 50% + 1 of the votes. In the second ballot they are elected
according to the number of votes received.
All other decisions on other issues are taken by open
ballot and a relative majority.
ARTICLE 4
In conditions of prohibitions of the Party’s activity,
democratic centralism is applied with forms that safeguard the continuity of
its single leadership and activity.
CHAPTER II
PARTY
MEMBERS: OBLIGATIONS AND RIGHTS
ARTICLE 5
Any man or woman over the age of 18 who accepts its ideology,
Programme and Statutes, belongs to and works in one of its organisations and
pays their dues regularly is a member of the KKE.
ARTICLE 6
Members of the KKE are primarily workers. Also,
leading working people from the popular strata, as well as students,
housewives, who actively participate in the class struggle.
a) 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 one year.
b) The accession of someone as a candidate member requires the
recommendation of two full Party members who must have known the candidate for
at least one year. The Party members who make the recommendations are
responsible to the Party for their proposal. The accession to the Party is
decided on by the assembly of the PBO and is ratified by the immediately higher
organ within 2 months.
Members of the Communist Youth of Greece (KNE) who are
of the required age, have been members of KNE for at least one (1) year, can
join the Party directly as full members upon the recommendation of two full
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 (PBO) made the decision to admit
them 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 KKE members as being time served in KNE.
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 PBO 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. Candidate members must compulsorily pass through a
self-education course. The decision to promote a candidate to full 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.
c) Former Party members who were expelled from or left the Party can be
readmitted, as long as the Regional Committee approves the beginning of the
procedure; there follows a special examination and decision of the General
Assembly of the PBO with an increased majority of 4/5 of the members present
and the final ratification by the higher organ with a similar majority.
d) Former members of other parties may be accepted as candidate members of
the KKE, with a probationary term of two years, after recommendation by two
Party members with three years of Party life. In such cases, ratification is
required by the Regional Committee.
When leading cadres from another Party are involved,
approval of the Central Committee is required for the procedure to start. The
PBO examines the application as is determined by paragraph C and afterwards the
final decision of the Central Committee is required.
A group accession of former members of other political
parties and organizations cannot occur. What is required is the first approval
of the Central Committee for the procedure for the individual application of
each member of this group to begin and then the General Assembly of the PBO
follows, based on the aforementioned provisions.
f) 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, provided that they have
ceased their previous organizational relationship.
g) A KKE member cannot belong to any other Party, political organization,
political initiative or grouping.
h) Party Members who move from one organisation into the range of activity
of another organisation must notify their original organisation in good time,
ensuring the transfer to the organisation to which they are going. The transfer
of Party members is accompanied by a note with the opinion of the leading organ
regarding their activity in the organization they used to belong to. The
transfer of cadres requires the approval of the corresponding leading organ.
The completion of the transfer procedure is monitored by the leading organs and
the Secretariat of the CC, within the space of 2 months.
i) The Party can carry out a reregistering of its
members, if decided on by Congress. The time and procedure are determined by
the CC.
ARTICLE 7
The KKE member represents the Party wherever they are,
particularly in the workplace. They are distinguished by the militant stance, class
solidarity with colleagues, for their character and responsible stance at work,
in the family, and in their lives as a whole.
The member of the KKE cannot have him/herself
privileges from participation in the Party nor can they tolerate the existence
of such privileges. All Party members have the same rights and obligations.
ARTICLE 8
Party members have the following obligations:
· To participate in the
Assemblies of the PBOs to which they belong and pay their dues to. To take personal part in the discussions, decision-making and
practical work of their organisation. To contribute to
the elaboration of the Party policy by voicing their thoughts and experience of
practical action. To carry out the decisions of the
PBO and higher leading organs 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 their enlightening and organisation in the workplaces and neighbourhoods.
· To belong to their union, or
other mass popular organisation and to be in the vanguard in these
organisations based on the political line of the Party.
· To study and distribute Rizospastis, KOMEP and other Party publications in order to
put forward its policy and ideology and defend it against distortions, slander,
snticommunism and unjust criticism. To make sure they
keep up their knowledge of the Marxist-Leninist worldview, and to enhance their
ideological, educational and political level, so that they will be in a
position to fulfil their vanguard role consistently; to struggle firmly; to
fight resolutely and uncompromisingly against bourgeois ideology and political
line, and against right or left deviations from the theory of Marxism-Leninism,
against opportunism.
· 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 the inner-party
democracy and to fight against any violation of the operating bylaws, 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 organs, up to and including the
Central Committee.
· To draw new members to the KKE, to contribute tirelessly to
strengthening the Party organisationally, especially in the large factories and
other workplaces, 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 KKE.
ARTICLE 9
Party members have the following rights:
· To participate in
discussions held to shape Party policy at PBO Assemblies, in the organs of
which they are members, and at conferences and congresses to which they are
elected delegates. To participate in discussions and dialogue determined by the
Central Committee through the Party press.
· To take part in the election
of the Party’s leading organs 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 organs about the activity of any Party
member or cadre of any leading organ or organisation whatsoever.
· To demand responsible
information from Party organs about Party issues. To be informed as fully as
possible about the ideological and political basis for decisions which are to
be put into effect, as well as about the activities of the organs and cadres.
· To address themselves, on
any Party or personal issue, to the organisation they belong to, as well as to any
higher leading organ in the organisation including the CC and the Party
congress. To demand to be given prompt, reasoned responses to proposals or
questions. PBOs or the leading organs are obliged to responsible deal with any
issue arising to the detriment of a Party member and to make sure that the
member is promptly informed there of.
· 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 their activity.
· To demand the undeviating
application of the operating regulations of the Party’s organisations and
organs.
ARTICLE 10
The recruitment of women from the working class and
other popular strata to the Party must be the permanent concern of the Party
members. All the Party organizations must develop permanent and stable activity
for the rights, equality and emancipation of women, their participation in the
social and political struggles.
CHAPTER III
THE LEADING ORGANS OF THE KKE
ARTICLE 11
The Congress is the Party’s highest leading body. A
regular congress is convened by the Central Committee every four years. An
extraordinary congress may be convened, if decided by the Central Committee, or
upon a proposal by a Regional Committee, if it is approved by the other
regional committees representing 50% of the Party members. This proposal must
be submitted to the Central Committee. The Central Committee is obliged to
submit it to the judgement of the other regional committees within three
months, at the latest, from its date of submission. The Central Committee is
obliged to hold a congress within at least two months. In both cases, an
extraordinary congress cannot be convened on the same issues before one year
has elapsed.
ARTICLE 13
The decision to hold a regular congress and the issues
to be discussed at it are announced by the Central Committee at least three
months before it is to take place.
The congress is in quorum when the number of delegates
present constitutes the majority of the delegates elected.
The delegates to the congress are elected in a uniform
ratio which the Central Committee lays down, by regional conferences and
organisations under the direct guidance of the Central Committee. Members of
the Central Committee and the Central Audit Committee who have not been elected
delegates may take part in the congress with the right to speak.
ARTICLE 13
The Party Congress:
§ Discusses and judges the report of the Central Committee and the Central Audit
committee. It determines the duties of the Party until the next Congress.
§ Votes on or amends the Party’s Programme and Statutes.
§ Elects the Central Committee and the Central Audit Committee.
§ For a person to be elected to these bodies, he or she must have at least
seven years of Party life.
The number of members of the Central Committee and the
Central Audit Committee is determined by the congress.
ARTICLE 14
The Central Committee is the Party’s leading organ
between congresses:
a) It guides the Party’s entire ideological, political
and organisational activity.
b) It regularly examines the Political Bureau’s report
of its activities.
c) It sets out the Party’s
policy and relations with other parties or organisations on the basis of the
directions laid down by the congress.
d) It appoints the persons to be responsible for the
Party’s main mass media, both press and electronic media.
e) It decides on the
creation, content and composition of auxiliary sections and committees of the
Central Committee and appoints persons to head them.
f) It ratifies the number and composition of the professional cadres in
the Party, after a proposal by the Political Bureau and Secretariat.
g) It decides on the candidates for public elected
offices of broader or national importance.
h) It decides to recall Party members occupying public
elected national offices.
i) It determines the percentage of revenues which must be handed over by
the Party organisations to its central Treasury. It manages the Party’s
finances and all its property.
ARTICLE 15
The Central Committee elects the General Secretary and
Political Bureau. The Political Bureau is responsible for leading the Party
between sessions of the Central Committee on the basis of the latter’s
decisions. The number of its members is determined by the Central Committee.
Between Central Committee sessions, the Political Bureau briefs its members
about Party matters. The Political Bureau, in all its actions and operations,
must reinforce the leading role and responsibility of the Central Committee.
The Central Committee elects a Secretariat from among
its members. The Secretariat is engaged in guidance the organisations, in
monitoring the implementation of decisions and in dealing with on-going Central
Committee and Political Bureau matters.
The number of members of the Secretariat and its
precise responsibilities are determined by the Central Committee.
The Central Committee elects the Party Control
Committee (PCC) and appoints its chairperson. The PCC examines charges brought
by Party organisations and members against members, organs and organisations
with respect to violations of Party discipline, of the Statutes; it also
examines objections against decisions to expel members from the Party or to
impose other penalties. A report is drafted containing proposals to be sent to
the Central Committee for final decisions.
It examines applications for the reinstatement of
Party members who have for various reasons lost their Party membership, and
determines the number of years of their Party life.
ARTICLE 16
The Central Committee meets in regular sessions every
three months and extraordinarily on decision of the Political Bureau, when a
particular issue arises.
The members of the Central Audit Committee take part
in Central Committee sessions with the right to speak and cast an advisory
vote.
In special cases, the Central Committee may convene an
extended session in which other Party cadres, decided by the CC, may take part.
ARTICLE 17
The Central Audit Committee (CAC) monitors the
treasury, audits the management of the Party’s finances, and informs the
Central Committee thereof regularly. The CAC assists the financial committees
of the organizations and where necessary monitors the finances of the
organizations themselves.
The Central Audit Committee elects a chairman from
among its members.
ARTICLE 18
During the period between congresses, the Central
Committee of KKE may call a Nationwide Party Conference:
Obligatorily, if there has been a decision by a
previous congress to examine a particular issue. In addition, if it considers
that a serious matter based on the socio-economic developments, the class
struggle, or that there is an extremely serious need to discuss problems which
concern the Party.
The following will take part in such a conference: the
members of the Central Committee, the members of the Central Audit Committee,
delegates from Party organisations elected by the regional committees. The
Central Committee will decide on the number of delegates to be elected in a
uniform ratio. The conference can made decisions within the framework of the
Party’s Programme and Statutes and may fill in up to 1/10 of the members of the
Central Committee.
The Central Committee will set the agenda for the
conference and announce it at least one (1) month before the conference is to
be held.
ARTICLE 19
The highest organ among Party organisations on the sectoral, area and regional level is the corresponding
Party conference and for PBOs it is the general assembly of its members.
Between Party conferences, it is the relevant sectoral, area and regional committee.
ARTICLE 20
The regular conference of the sectoral,
area and regional Party organizations is convened by the relevant committees
every two years.
Extraordinary conferences are convened: a) on decision
of the relevant leading organs and on approval by the immediately higher organ.
b) on decision of the higher
organ. c) When requested by the leading organ or the PBOs of the organisation
in question representing 1/3 of its members.
ARTICLE 21
Delegates to the conferences of the relevant
organisations are elected in a uniform ratio determined by the leading organs
in question in accordance with Central Committee regulations.
The conferences of Party organisations discuss and
decide on the report of the leading organs and audit committees, discuss and
decide on matters related to Party work in their field, and elect the leading
organ and audit committee. For members to be elected to the Sectoral
or Area Committee and corresponding Audit Committee, they must have two years
of Party life, five years for the Regional Committee and corresponding audit
committee.
ARTICLE 22
The leading organs for sectors, areas and regions
elect a Secretary or a Bureau.
The Bureau leads all the work between committee
meetings. The election of committee members, the Secretary and the Bureau are
ratified by the higher leading organ.
Regional committees meet in a regular session every
two months; area and sectoral Committees every month.
They meet extraordinarily by decision of the committee Bureaus or by decision
of the higher leading organ.
The Audit Committees, at least every 3 months,
supervise financial activity, the treasuries and the regular collection of dues
and the management of the finances of the relevant organisations down to and
including PBOs. They take part in the meetings of the relevant organs with the
right to speak and an advisory vote.
ARTICLE 23
For a cadre to be selected and promoted to the leading
bodies, they must have a heightened sense of Party responsibility. It is the
responsibility of the leading organs at every level to take all the necessary
ideological and political measures for the harmonious promotion and succession
of cadres. The collective assessment of the cadres’ performance and the
essential procedures for their election must be ensured in compliance with the
relevant regulations.
Particular care and attention must be shown in the
composition of the leading organs, to reflect and reinforce its character as
the Party of the working class. The aim is for the Central Committee and
Regional Committee to have a majority of workers and employees as members,
while in the organs there must be care of the election of self-employed, poor
farmers. There must be constant care to elect women to all leading organs, and
to ensure a harmonious blend of older and younger cadres.
The Central Committee and the other leading organs are
obliged to provide for the alternation
of cadres on leading organs, as well as in elected positions in the
institutions of the bourgeois state (Parliament, European Parliament, regions,
municipalities), as well as in the trade
union movement, especially at the secondary and tertiary level.
ARTICLE 24
Positions which may become vacant on the Central
Committee between congresses are filled by the election of new members at a
nationwide conference, if the CC deems necessary. For other leading organs
between conferences, new members may be co-opted if judged necessary, on the
responsibility of the corresponding leading organ. Co-opting a new member
requires the consenting opinion of 2/3 of the members of the organ in question
and approval by the higher leading organ. The number of new members must not
exceed 2/10 of the existing members of the organ in question.
ARTICLE 25
The leading organs from the CC to the Bureau of the
BO, in the middle and at the end of their term, assess the work of the organ as
a whole and brief the lower organs and PBOs. In addition, the leading organs
evaluate the individual work of its members.
These assessments are made available for the
information during the procedure of the discussion of the election of new
organs in the relevant conferences and for the CC at the congress.
ARTICLE 26
Procedural issues related to holding election
assemblies and conferences are determined in a regulation decided upon by the
CC.
ARTICLE 27
In order improve the study and elaboration of various
issues and to facilitate the practical application of the Party’s decisions,
special auxiliary sections, Party groups and committees may be created
alongside the leading organs. The CC and the other leading organs must take
care so that members of auxiliary sections, committees and Party groups are
sufficiently tested through their participation in leading organs.
When decisions are being made about the cadres who are
to participate in the auxiliary sections, Party groups and committees, the
opinion of the PBO and organisations to which the cadres belong is necessarily
requested.
ARTICLE 28
The leading organs call regular meetings of the cadres
in every organisation. These meetings are of an advisory nature.
ARTICLE 29
Before taking decisions of general significance, and
if circumstances permit, the leading organs have the obligation to seek the
opinion of the lower Party organs and Party members.
ARTICLE 30
The KKE has the following mass media and means of
enlightenment:
Rizospastis, organ
of the KKE’s Central Committee, is the Party’s daily newspaper, organizer and
guide of the masses. The Central Committee is responsible for publishing it and
for its general directions, and appoints its management and editorial board.
Rizospastis promotes
and defends the ideology and policy of the KKE. It publicises and defends the
interests of the working class, the working people, and people’s movement in
general. It provides full information on developments in
Communist Review (KOMEP) is the Party’s theoretical
and political journal, organ of the Central Committee. It is directed by an
editorial board appointed by the Central Committee.
KKE may create or participate in other central or
regional print and electronic -radio/TV and internet- media. The Central
Committee sets out the terms, framework and aims of KKE in each particular
case. It appoints those responsible, the management and editorial boards of
these media.
CHAPTER IV
PARTY
BASE ORGANISATION
ARTICLE 31
The Party Base Organisation (PBO) is the foundation of the Party, the Party in its field of
activity.
PBOs are created with the approval of the higher body,
in places determined by Article 2 of these Statutes, provided that there are at
least 3 Party members.
In places where no PBOs exist, they can be created
upon the responsibility of the higher body, with Party members who come from
other Organisations.
PBOs which do not fulfill their purpose are dissolved
by decision of the higher body and with the approval of the Central Committee.
ARTICLE 32
Once a year, the PBO meets in a general
account-and-election assembly to elect the Secretary and Bureau that are
accountable to the PBO.
In PBOs with up to 10 members, one secretary is
elected together with one deputy secretary. PBOs with ten and more members
elect a Secretary and Bureau. The number of its members is determined by the
assembly of the PBO, in proportion to the number of PBO members.
ARTICLE
33
PBOs can create sections or working groups in the
framework of the PBO and Party groups in mass organisations in order to improve their operation and in order to meet the
requirements in their field of responsibility in a comprehensive way.
The Bureau of the PBO appoints the responsible persons
for the sections, the working groups and the Party groups in the mass
organizations. They meet in order to elaborate the specific application the
decisions of the PB and monitor their implementation by the members in their
area of activity and are accountable to the assembly of the PBO.
ARTICLE 34
The PBO assembly is convened regularly, once a month.
The assembly is convened at the decision of the PBO Bureau or of the higher
organ. The comprehensive and timely notification of all its members is required
in order to call an assembly. The assembly is in quorum when 50% +1 of its
members are present.
The assembly of the PBO approves the agenda that
includes the issues proposed by the Bureau or the ones that the assembly
decides to discuss.
The report to the assembly is presented by the PBO
Bureau, the higher leading organs and Party members, with the approval of the
Bureau. The assembly states its position on the report, it takes concrete decisions and practical
measures and assigns responsibilities for the implementation of the decisions
of the PBO and the higher organs. At every assembly, and during the period
between two assemblies, systematic control is organised as to the implementation of decisions and the mobilisation of members, on the responsibility of the PBO Bureau and of all the
members.
ARTICLE 35
The main responsibilities of the PBO are:
a) With its planning and its stable activity It provides
for the accession of new members into the Party and the corresponding
organizations of KNE .
b) It participates responsibly and actively in the
elaboration of the Party’s policy and decisions. It popularizes, applies and
elaborates the specific application of the Party’s policy and the decisions of
the leading organs in its field of responsibility.
c) it
works for the class orientation of the activity of the trade unions and the
other mass popular organizations in its field of responsibility. It plays a
leading role in the creation of class oriented rallies and forms of people’s
organization. It seeks the development of the struggle in the direction of the
political goals of the Party, it elaborates the goals of struggle in the
framework of the policy of the Party, it
plays a leading role in the organization of the working class, the other
popular strata.
d) It organises ideological work among its members, the friends and
supporters of the Party and generally among working people and youth.
e) It provides for the daily
dissemination and study of “Rizospastis” the
Communist Review, the publications and the other printed materials of the
Party.
f) It is responsible for the collection and development
of the Party’s financial resources.
g) It is in contact with and directly linked with the supporters, friends
and voters of the Party, it
utilizes them and asks their opinion about the policy, the decisions and the
activity of the Party.
It carries out a broad activity among the masses in
its field of responsibility based on social and class criteria. It permanently and steadily strives to extend
its bonds with all the leading elements in its area of responsibility; it
provides for their systematic political information.
h)It
discusses the problems of the youth; it takes initiatives about them and
struggles in order to rally the youth around the policy of the Party. It makes
efforts to establish a Base Organisation of KNE in its area of
responsibility and takes care for its political guidance along with the leading
organs of KNE. Thus it fulfills at the level of the PBO the respective articles
of the Statutes which are included in the chapter about the organization of the
Youth of the KKE, KNE.
ARTICLE 36
All the members of the PBO undertake specific duties
and work to accomplish them. They give an account for these, they monitor and are monitored with respect to
their action and to the activity of the PBO. Party cadres, regardless of the
leading organ they may belong to, participate in their PBO, are given duties by
the PBO and contribute to its activity.
ARTICLE 37
A PBO may address itself to the leading organs and to
the CC to request information and suggest issues to be solved. The leading organs , within a short period of
time, must provide or convey responsible answers to the PBO assembly in the
presence of a member of this leading organ.
CHAPTER V
THE
COMMUNISTS IN THE MASS ORGANISATIONS
ARTICLE 38
The KKE pays particular attention to the development
and to the class orientation of the mass movement, and above all of the labour trade union movement.
The leading Party organs create Party groups that act
under their guidance for the specialization and the promotion of the goals of
the Party in order for the Party be more effective in fulfilling its mission in
the mass worker’s and people’s organisations, these groups are
comprised of members elected to their committees as well as of other members.
In case there are no elected Party members, a small Party group is formed of
members belonging to and working actively in the particular organisation.
Party groups, with the consent of the Party organisations, may hold meetings of Party members and supporters
belonging to and acting in these fields.
Party groups discuss the problems in their field of
activity on the basis of the Party’s general positions and the guidelines of
the corresponding leading organs.
CHAPTER VI
THE
COMMUNISTS IN THE INSTITUTIONS OF THE
ARTICLE 39
The members of the Party who are elected or appointed
upon a decision of the Party to legislative bodies, representative or other
elected ones, and to the institutions of
the bourgeois state in general, implement the policy and the decisions of the
Party, are dedicated to the cause of the working class and consistently defend the people’s interests in general.
The proposal of Party members to undertake duties in
these positions requires taking into account the opinion of the PBOS and the
organs to which they belong to.
This position is at the disposal of the Party. The
leading organs of the Party can appoint them to another area of work according
to the needs of the Party.
The salaries, the compensations, the pensions or any
other economic benefits that flow from their position are given to the Party
according to a decision of the CC.
ARTICLE 40
The members of the parliament and the members of the
European parliament who are members of the Party constitute the Parliamentary
Group.
The Central Committee is responsible for the formation
of the lists of the Party according to the proposals of the leading organs. It
decides on the composition of the Parliamentary Group.
The parliamentary activity of the Party is
subordinated to the goals and the needs of the class struggle.
The operation of the parliamentary group is specified
by the Central Committee of the Party.
CHAPTER VII
KNE-
THE YOUTH ORGANISATION OF THE KKE
ARTICLE 41
Throughout its history, the KKE has always paid
special attention to the ideological and political intervention among the young
people of the working class and the poor popular strata.
a) The Communist Youth of Greece (KNE) was founded by
the KKE. It is the revolutionary youth organization of the KKE which adopts its
worldview, Marxism-Leninism, the Programme of the KKE and promotes its strategy.
b) KNE is organized at the side of the Party with a
distinct organizational structure. It is guided by the respective organs of the
Party ideologically, politically and organizationally at all levels, from the
Central Council to the Base Organisation. The
Party devotes its members and cadres who are members of KNE to the guidance of
KNE.
c) The Party is consistently providing for the revolutionary education of
the members of KNE, their acquaintance with its history and their preparation
in order to join the ranks of the KKE.
The Party is responsible for providing to the organizations of KNE any
possible political and ideological assistance in order to extend its influence
among the youth, in order to rally, to mobilize and militantly educate the
young people of the working class and the poor popular strata.
d) The respective organizations of KNE are represented
at the Party congress, at its nationwide conferences and at its PBO conferences
by a delegation that has the right to speak.
CHAPTER VIII
THE PARTY'S FINANCES
ARTICLE 42
The Party’s financial resources come from the members’
dues, their fund-raising activity, from fund-raising campaigns, voluntary
contributions, donations or bequests.
In addition, from the salaries, the pensions and the
compensations that the members elected or delegated by the Party to
institutions of the bourgeois state receive, as well as from state financing.
The Party can develop business economic activity in
order to safeguard its ability to inform the people about its positions,
ideologically and politically, to develop its mass political enlightening
activity in the framework of the promotion of its political line.
ARTICLE 43
The Central Committee stipulates the level of the
members’ monthly dues which should be at least 1% of their monthly income.
The contribution of the new member for their accession
to the Party is equal to one month’s dues.
The Central Committee can readjust the level of the
monthly dues of the Party membership according to the conditions and the needs
of the Party.
It also stipulates the percentage of the fundraising
activity of the organizations which must be handed over to the CC and decides
on the fundraising campaigns of the Party.
It is a duty for all the leading organs and the
members of the Party to seek the constant improvement of the Party finances so
as to ensure its financial independence which is an essential condition for its
existence and activity, for the fulfillment of its goals.
ARTICLE 44
The budget of the Party is approved by the Central
Committee. The budget of each organization is being approved by the respective
leading organs.
The Audit Committees present to the bodies that elect
them, conferences or the congress, a
report on the financial situation and management.
The Central Committee manages the Party’s finances and
property and provides regular briefings to Party members about the general
state of the finances.
It appoints a Finance Committee which monitors and
directs the sectors in question.
ARTICLE 45
The financial management carried out by the Party organisations is audited on a permanent, continuous basis by the
relevant audit committees.
Audit is carried out regularly throughout the Party
concerning the records of revenues and payments as well as concerning the
advisability of the expenses.
ARTICLE 46
The professional cadres of the Party receive a
financial support which must not exceed the average salary of the working
people in private sector.
The same holds true for the members of the Party who
work in the technical or auxiliary apparatus of the Party, in “Rizospastis”, in Communist Review, in other Party media, in
the publishing house of the Party.
CHAPTER IX
MEASURES
FOR THE OBSERVANCE AND THE DEFENSE OF THE STATUTES
ARTICLE 47
Every member, organisation and organ of the KKE is obliged to and responsible for the observation
and the defense of the provisions of the Statutes.
Party members, cadres, PBOs and organs which violate
the Statutes are subject to the following disciplinary penalties, according to
the offence:
§ Admonition
§ Censure
§ Warning of expulsion
§ Expulsion from the Party.
In case of serious offences by cadres in leading
organs the respective organ itself may impose the penalty of removal from
office. In this instance their PBO is informed as well as the PBOs which are
included in the spectrum of the activity of the organ that imposed the penalty.
ARTICLE 48
Undermining Party unity, attempting to create
platforms or groupings, and violating the rules for the Party’s protection, the
non-implementation of the decisions of the Party as well as other actions that
may harm the Party and violate Party discipline shall result in Party penalties
which may, according to the seriousness of the actions involved, include
expulsion.
Members whose actions are not compatible with
membership in the Party must certainly be expelled, in particular members who
betray the Party to the class enemy under interrogation, in the courts; members
who misappropriate funds or property belonging to the Party or to other organisations in which they represent the Party, as well as members
whose behaviour and conduct is
incompatible with the requirements of Party loyalty and ethics.
ARTICLE 49
The organizational relationship of a member of the
Party is cut short either in case of withdrawal from the Party or in case of a
constant absence without due reason from Party activities for more than six
months, despite the recommendations. The organizational relationship between
the member and the Party is also cut short in case a member does not pay their
dues for more than six months in succession despite the reminders.
In these cases the leading organ removes this member
from the membership. The assembly of the PBO is informed and ratifies the
decision that removes this member from the Party membership.
ARTICLE 50
The PBOs and all Party organs have the right to impose
penalties.
The expulsion from the Party is decided on by the
assembly of the PBO and is ratified by the higher organ.
If necessary, the expulsion decision may be published
in the Party press.
The higher organs can submit proposals for expulsions
to the PBOs. In exceptional cases, the Central Committee may decide to expel a
Party member. This right is used for serious reasons in the case of Party
members whose field of responsibility extends beyond the limits of the PBO to
which they belong to.
When the Statutes are violated by an entire organisation or a leading organ, then the penalty imposed by the
higher Party bodies may include dissolution of that Party organisation or organ, to be followed by its reconstitution. For
such a decision to be implemented the approval by the Central Committee is
required.
ARTICLE 51
The decision to impose any penalty whatsoever, and
particularly that of expulsion from the Party, must be taken with the greatest
care and attention, and there must be verification of whether the charges laid
are in fact well grounded, the reasons for the charges must be formulated in a
concrete way.
No penalty can be imposed on any member, if they have
not been informed of the charges against them and have not been called to the
organization or the organ which they belong to in order to express and support
their view.
No Party member will face repercussions for personal
views expressed within the framework of the Statutes.
ARTICLE 52
Every Party member who considers that the penalty
imposed on them is unjust or excessive has the right to register an objection
to the higher Party organs, up to the Central Committee, the Party Control
Committee and the Party congress.
The penalties may be re-examined by the organs that
imposed them, or by the higher organs and the Central Committee.
CENTRAL
COMMITTEE OF THE KKE
December
4 2012
e-mail:cpg@int.kke.gr