KKE General Secretary: The government must not dare send Greek officers and conscripts to the Persian Gulf
[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMY0OPjj1Ma8DUeNgV12xkINV4pH5G6P3-Y-dVwb7MKC2htMqktUwa9SDdT8p2B9uG18XpYFmnamB3DO_w0xJ-kzbWZ7mMKmqbAh0KKNg69thoF6jrh4vc9QskwQWl4CDDa4Mwg4ZoDsmG2brzb9TR1CG_KM_pNWl-ZLg6D282Ot2smXRMfVJbAa8TfawP/s960/koutsoumbas%20924.jpg)
The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), Dimitris Koutsoumbas,
addressed the mass political rally organized on Wednesday 6 May by the
Central Macedonia Organization of the KKE in Thessaloniki, commemorating
the workers’ uprising of May 1936.
At that time, the working class of Thessaloniki, led by tobacco
workers and guided by the KKE, launched major strikes and demonstrations
demanding better living conditions, effectively taking control of the
city for two days.
The bourgeois state responded with brutal repression,
killing 12 workers and injuring hundreds more. The funeral of the
victims turned into a mass demonstration attended by 150,000 workers and
residents of the city. These events, which marked a peak in the class
struggle in Greece during the interwar period, shook the government of
Ioannis Metaxas. A few months later, the dictatorship of 4 August 1936
was imposed.
The events of May 1936 inspired the renowned poem *Epitaph* by the great communist poet Yannis Ritsos, which was later set to music by Mikis Theodorakis.
In his speech, the GS of the KKE referred to the historical
conditions of the period, the influence of the Great October Socialist
Revolution on the development of the workers’ struggles, and the
subsequent formation of the Socialist Workers’ Party of Greece (SEKE),
the name of the KKE in its early years. He also highlighted the striking
similarities between the wartime conditions of that era and the
situation today. Referring in particular to current developments, he
stated, among other things:
“We repeat it here in Thessaloniki: your government, gentlemen of New
Democracy, has no mandate to drag the country and our people into the
slaughterhouse of war. Guided by the interests of capital, it also
signed the renewal of the agreement with the French government —an
agreement that has nothing to do with the needs and interests of our
people, but instead serves multiple anti-popular objectives, above all
the business interests and profits of French and Greek monopolies, while
drawing the country ever deeper into imperialist rivalries and wars.
Now is the time to intensify the struggle against any participation
or involvement of our country in the war! The government must not dare
send Greek officers and conscripts to the Persian Gulf or the wider
region. All personnel serving in imperialist missions abroad must return
immediately. The bases of death —targets for retaliation and a danger
to our people— must be closed now.
Especially here in Thessaloniki, the NATO Headquarters at the Third
Army Corps, located in the city centre, must shut down immediately!
There must be no further use of the port of Thessaloniki for the war
objectives of NATO and the US!
[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC7tnbD1IpewKFoLKU0iFCq5yjUQrEM2G_cZoIqDnnvY1nDJuk6LdAkJ3Ja7mWWMhad67V2qcozT4IEx5Mq5DL11AcQDq7q5sL1ZPp5FIdlHFJoopcnPg89ygwS9Kf7zEGVJWHCw9fdbsK2jKQnl4Xu6Puv4fJTXPZ8SG2eHjKCqcLz6ylvV85Y8hFkKBn/s960/sygkentrosi-kouts-thessaloniki-mais-36-20.jpg_1187143806.jpg)
(…)
We must now advance a solution with a view to tomorrow. This is not
the time to wait for developments. This is the moment for the broadest
possible popular mobilization and action. It is time for struggle and
demands, so that the people are not once again made to pay for their
profits and their wars! It is time to organize in workplaces,
neighbourhoods, and wherever young people live and study. It is time to
strengthen the working-class and popular opposition even further.
And today this can only be expressed through an even stronger
workers’ and people’s movement, through a much powerful KKE. Join your
forces with the KKE even further in the face of the difficult but also
significant challenges that lie ahead.”
Following the rally, a mass demonstration marched through the streets
of Thessaloniki, concluding at the monument to the tobacco worker,
where a wreath was laid by the GS of the CC of the KKE.
[inter.kke.gr](http://inter.kke.gr)
---
**From [In Defense of Communism](https://www.idcommunism.com/feeds/posts/default) via [This RSS Feed](https://www.idcommunism.com/feeds/posts/default).**
The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), Dimitris Koutsoumbas,
addressed the mass political rally organized on Wednesday 6 May by the
Central Macedonia Organization of the KKE in Thessaloniki, commemorating
the workers’ uprising of May 1936.
At that time, the working class of Thessaloniki, led by tobacco
workers and guided by the KKE, launched major strikes and demonstrations
demanding better living conditions, effectively taking control of the
city for two days.
The bourgeois state responded with brutal repression,
killing 12 workers and injuring hundreds more. The funeral of the
victims turned into a mass demonstration attended by 150,000 workers and
residents of the city. These events, which marked a peak in the class
struggle in Greece during the interwar period, shook the government of
Ioannis Metaxas. A few months later, the dictatorship of 4 August 1936
was imposed.
The events of May 1936 inspired the renowned poem *Epitaph* by the great communist poet Yannis Ritsos, which was later set to music by Mikis Theodorakis.
In his speech, the GS of the KKE referred to the historical
conditions of the period, the influence of the Great October Socialist
Revolution on the development of the workers’ struggles, and the
subsequent formation of the Socialist Workers’ Party of Greece (SEKE),
the name of the KKE in its early years. He also highlighted the striking
similarities between the wartime conditions of that era and the
situation today. Referring in particular to current developments, he
stated, among other things:
“We repeat it here in Thessaloniki: your government, gentlemen of New
Democracy, has no mandate to drag the country and our people into the
slaughterhouse of war. Guided by the interests of capital, it also
signed the renewal of the agreement with the French government —an
agreement that has nothing to do with the needs and interests of our
people, but instead serves multiple anti-popular objectives, above all
the business interests and profits of French and Greek monopolies, while
drawing the country ever deeper into imperialist rivalries and wars.
Now is the time to intensify the struggle against any participation
or involvement of our country in the war! The government must not dare
send Greek officers and conscripts to the Persian Gulf or the wider
region. All personnel serving in imperialist missions abroad must return
immediately. The bases of death —targets for retaliation and a danger
to our people— must be closed now.
Especially here in Thessaloniki, the NATO Headquarters at the Third
Army Corps, located in the city centre, must shut down immediately!
There must be no further use of the port of Thessaloniki for the war
objectives of NATO and the US!
[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC7tnbD1IpewKFoLKU0iFCq5yjUQrEM2G_cZoIqDnnvY1nDJuk6LdAkJ3Ja7mWWMhad67V2qcozT4IEx5Mq5DL11AcQDq7q5sL1ZPp5FIdlHFJoopcnPg89ygwS9Kf7zEGVJWHCw9fdbsK2jKQnl4Xu6Puv4fJTXPZ8SG2eHjKCqcLz6ylvV85Y8hFkKBn/s960/sygkentrosi-kouts-thessaloniki-mais-36-20.jpg_1187143806.jpg)
(…)
We must now advance a solution with a view to tomorrow. This is not
the time to wait for developments. This is the moment for the broadest
possible popular mobilization and action. It is time for struggle and
demands, so that the people are not once again made to pay for their
profits and their wars! It is time to organize in workplaces,
neighbourhoods, and wherever young people live and study. It is time to
strengthen the working-class and popular opposition even further.
And today this can only be expressed through an even stronger
workers’ and people’s movement, through a much powerful KKE. Join your
forces with the KKE even further in the face of the difficult but also
significant challenges that lie ahead.”
Following the rally, a mass demonstration marched through the streets
of Thessaloniki, concluding at the monument to the tobacco worker,
where a wreath was laid by the GS of the CC of the KKE.
[inter.kke.gr](http://inter.kke.gr)
---
**From [In Defense of Communism](https://www.idcommunism.com/feeds/posts/default) via [This RSS Feed](https://www.idcommunism.com/feeds/posts/default).**