Communist Organization of Greece

Communist Organization of Greece Kommounistikì Orgànosi Ellàdas Κομμουνιστική Οργάνωση Ελλάδας
Founded	January 2003
Newspaper	Dromos tis aristeras (Road of the left)
Ideology	Communism
Political position	Far left
National affiliation	Coalition of the Radical Left
International affiliation	International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations
European affiliation	Conference of Communist and Workers' Parties of the Balkans
Website
KOE Homepage International Relations Department of KOE
Politics of Greece Political parties Elections

The Communist Organization of Greece (Greek: Κομμουνιστική Οργάνωση Ελλάδας, Kommounistikì Orgànosi Ellàdas, KOE) is a left-wing Greek political party of Maoist origins, founded in 2003. KOE's ideology is Revolutionary Marxism, which means the support of Marxist ideology with all the historical experience of the Communist Movement.

Origins

The KOE has its origins in the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). After the revisionist turn of the latter in 1956, which excluded the 85% of the (hard-line Stalinist) political refugees in the Soviet Union, sent its General Secretary Nikos Zachariades in exile in Siberia and closed down all its base organisation in Greece in 1958, it emerged a necessity to unite all those who were affiliated to the Leninist principles. Thus, the Organisation of Marxists-Leninists of Greece (OMLE) was founded in Greece in 1964, publishing the Anagennissi (Rebirth) monthly review and the weekly Laikos Dromos (Peoples Road).

The founding members of KOE participated in OMLE and, from 1976 on, in the Communist Party of Greece (Marxist-Leninist) (KKE (m-l), which experienced a major crisis and ended in the early 1980s. (KKE (m-l) that exists nowadays is a number of old members but is not the same party.^{[citation needed]})

In 1984, the people who later went on to found the KOE established A/synechia, an effort aiming at rebuilding the communist movement on a new basis, without revisionist as well as leftist trends, based on an analysis of the world development and the crisis that was shocking both Western and Eastern camps. The most prominent member of these people was Yannis Hotzeas (died on October 24, 1994), who was one of the founders of the OMLE and the KKE (m-l) and also a member of EAM and EPON.

Ideology

KOE is supporting, as theoretical basis, Revolutionary Marxism.^[1] Revolutionary Marxism founded by Marx and Engels and enriched by the experience of the World Communist Movement, such as Leninism and the works of Mao Zedong, against Marxism that has been "refound" for academic and theoretical purposes. First of all, Marxism was meant to aim to the action of the masses.

Paper

The first issue of "Aristera!" in 1996

The party paper was called Aristera! ("Left!"). Aristera! was first published in February 1996, as a monthly paper. Later on it became biweekly. The last issue of the paper was published in January 2010.^[2]
Since February 2010, KOE is publishing the newspaper Dromos tis aristeras^[3] (Greek: Δρόμος της αριστεράς, Road of the left) with another left party also affiliated to the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), KEDA (Greek: Κίνηση για την Ενότητα Δράσης της Αριστεράς, Movement for the United in Action Left), newspaper's Publishing Committee most members are not members in any left party in Greece as the slogan of the newspaper is "from all the left, for all the left". There are several people from all over the world that collaborate with Dromos tis aristeras, most notable of them are Mumia Abu-Jamal, the Political cartoonist Carlos Latuff, the leader of the Communist Party of the Philippines Jose Maria Sison and American historian, author, and social activist Max Elbaum.

Elections

A/synecheia participated in the municipal elections of 1994 and 1998, taking approximately 4% of the votes in these regions.^{[citation needed]} In the Europan Parliament Elections of 1999 gained approximately 9.800 votes. KOE supported Coalition of the Radical Left in 2004, without presenting candidates. In the European Parliament Elections of 2004 abstained. KOE affiliated itself to the SYRIZA on June 20, 2007. The best scores of KOE's candidates in SYRIZA joint ticket in the Greek legislative elections of 2007, have been marked in Aitoloakarnania (1st position, 1,126 votes), Achaia (2nd position, 2,628 votes), Thessaloniki (2nd position, 2,165 votes), Larissa (3rd position, 1,294 votes), Attica (3rd position, 4,022 votes) and Piraeus (3rd position, 1,958 votes).

Electoral tactics since 2000 (year links to election page)
Year	Coalition	Type of Election	Votes	%	Seats
2000	Aristera! - M-L KKE	Parliament	5,866	0,09%	0/300
2007	Coalition of the Radical Left	Parliament	361,211	5,04%	14/300
2009	Coalition of the Radical Left	European Parliament	240,898	4,70%	1/22
2009	Coalition of the Radical Left	Parliament	315,627	4,60%	13/300

Front organizations

The workers' front organization of KOE is called "Union of the Working People", the youth of KOE simply is called "Youth of KOE" and its students are members of "Left Unity", which regroups several left students' organizations supporting the line of the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA). Until 2008, its students were heading the Left Groups(Aristera Schimata), created in 1989.

International relations

The Communist Organization of Greece is member of the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations (ICMLPO),^[4] founding member of the Conference of Communist and Workers' Parties of the Balkans (CCWPB),^[5] founding member of the Anti-imperialist Space in the European Social Forum.

References

1. ^ Link to KOE's International Section of "who we are"
2. ^ Link to "Aristera!" archive in KOE's website
3. ^ Link to the homepage of "Dromos tis Aristeras"
4. ^ List of participants in the 8th ICMLPO
5. ^ List of participants in the CCWPB^{[dead link]}

External links

• KOE home page
• Dromos home page
• ICMLPO home page
• CCWPB home page