The eighth congress

[August 1961]

The 8th Congress of KKE convened in August 1961 abroad. The 8th congress met under peculiar circumstances. The party was illegal but members and cadres of it were active in the ranks of the United Democratic Left. After the liquidating decision made at the 8th Plenary meeting of the CC in 1958 there were no party organisations in Greece. All these had an effect upon the composition of the congress, its resolutions and the composition of the leading bodies elected. The congress was called to examine the party’s action for a period of 16 years since the previous congress in 1945 and to define the duties if the party and the mass democratic movement, as well.

The congress assessed that «the armed intervention of the imperialists and the civil war they launched, halted the country’s democratic course, retarded the recovery of the destroyed from war and occupation economy and hindered its development as an independent economy benefiting the people and the country», that Greece was an underdeveloped capitalist country basically agricultural with comparatively low industrial development with some semi-feudal remnants and with substantial dependence on monopoly capital»; that the «dominant contradiction, nowadays, is a contradiction between imperialism and domestic oligarchy on one hand, and the rest of the social classes and groups on the other».

Based on these assertions, in the Program voted in the 8th congress, it was declared that «the forth-coming revolution in Greece will be anti-imperialist-democratic». The non-imperialist bourgeoisie which was considered «national bourgeoisie» was included among the moving forces of the anti-imperialist democratic revolution. This mistake led to opportunist deviation and to an unconditional policy of collaboration with United Centre. The congress worked on the Platform of National Democratic change and set as an immediate task for the party the «overthrow of the Right-wing Government» and the establishment of a democratic Government which would restore democratic normality, would follow an independent foreign policy and would take urgent measures for the working peoples’ financial relief».

«The Fundamental duties of the labour and democratic movement» were declared in the congress resolutions; tasks such as the struggle for peace, defence, the abolition of the foreign military bases and the prevention of the establishment of missile bases. It was also ascertained that «Greece will benefit if she keeps away from aggressive coalitions and follows a steady and consistent policy of neutrality». At the same time the congress considered the basic duty of the democratic movement to be «the struggle for the restoration of democratic normality ... the abolition of administrative exiles, the immediate liberation of exiles and political prisoners... the abolition of extraordinary measures and loyalty certificates, the liquidation of fascist organisations, the legalisation of the Communist Party, the repatriation of political refugees, the recognition of National Resistance, general political amnesty». Special notice was also made of the struggle to combat the monopoly attack on the working people and popular mass standard of living, the protection of agricultural as well as of small scale tradesmen’s income from monopoly, the cutbacks on war expenditure, as well as the cancellation of Greece’s joining the Common Market...». The congress took certain measures in order to improve the party’s condition (party supports) but it confirmed the fundamental erroneous decision of 1958 to liquidate the party organisation in Greece.