Comrades,

First of all I’d like to express thanks from AKEL’s Central Committee for the invitation to participate in the international conference entitled «Communist parties under present conditions».

It is with particular pleasure that we are taking part in the present conference. First, because we consider that such forums provide a crucial opportunity for dialogue and an exchange of views. Second, because they constitute an occasion to confirm and reconfirm our faith in principles and values, in truths that recent developments have pushed to the back of millions of people’s minds. Permit me to take this opportunity to congratulate the CPG warmly for this initiative. We are linked to the CPG by fraternal bonds based on our common view of the class nature of the world, belief in the truth of the socialist ideology, but also by common historical and national bonds.

AKEL and its leadership, members and supporters hold the CPG in high esteem. The CPG is a shining example of a class approach to issues, of revolutionary spirit and of consistent militancy. Through the example of its struggles and sacrifices over the passing decades, it has provided many reasons for Greek working people and communists everywhere to feel proud.

Comrades of the CPG, you have every reason to feel proud. The years of the National Resistance alone, of which the CPG was the heart and soul, would be enough to ensure your place in history. Apart from this epic period, there are many more reasons that justify the title of honoured party. For 80 continuous years you have been nourishing the tree of freedom, of national dignity, of social, economic and cultural liberation. Congratulations and long may you live.

Comrades,

Our conference coincides with the 150^th anniversary of the Communist Manifesto. The spirit that Marx traced in his time, and which then took on a life of its own, has for the past few years found itself confined on narrow and underground paths. Pursued by enemies old and new. Today, if anything roams the world it is the demon of capitalist reaction, as primitive as it was 500-600 years ago and even more aggressive. It can change form and structure like the virus of contagious diseases. But in essence it remains as carnivorous and inhuman as ever, equally oppressive for society and the planet, for the workers and for each individual. One hundred and fifty years after the Communist Manifesto of human and social liberation, the basic truths it codified are still vital. Classes remain, the class struggle continues and is becoming more intense, the need for workers and peoples to organise is stronger than ever. Socialism remains today, as it was then, the only solution in a world which is reeling under the burden of its suffering and misery. In a world which the reactionary forces are seeking to drag back to the barbaric age.

Comrades,

It is our conviction that all the reasons that brought to the forefront the need for social change from a capitalist society to a socialist society continue to exist today, regardless of whether capitalism, for various reasons, has adjusted to a series of issues it faced thirty or forty years ago.

Observing the course of life and studying the development of human society, we believe that the social and other impasses that societies face today within the framework of capitalism are such that they cannot be overcome by this social system, and to go beyond just theorising, I should like to state some examples.

First, those who fight the idea of social change rest their arguments on the position that the basic views of Marxism-Leninism – the ideology which we see as a theory based on all that was positive before Marx and Lenin, and was enriched and developed by them but also by their successors – are now obsolete.

They come to this conclusion by observing developments in a very limited number of states in Europe, North America and Japan. However, today everyone agrees that the world must be judged as a whole. Certainly the capitalist world is a single world that has spread through North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.

But within this conceptual framework of the capitalist world, the basic insurmountable conflicts that were noted by Marxists continue to exist alongside new ones. For example, among the old conflicts that continue to exist today is the class conflict. In other words societies continue to be divided into classes; the middle class, which represents capital, continues to rule, irrespective of whether for various reasons, mainly the struggles of the working people, the latter have managed to win a good many political, financial and social gains. The relationship between these classes continues to be unequal, unfair and at the expense of the workers, and it will not cease to be so as long as there is no socialisation of the economic base and of the political superstructure.

Next, let us examine how the development of these societies is supported; I have already mentioned that capitalism has managed to adapt to new conditions. In philosophical terms this adaptability is due to the fact that it has managed, to one degree or another, to improve relations of production so as to minimise the conflict with the productive forces and as a result it has gone forward. However, on the one hand these relations continue to be unfair, and on the other we should look to see what this development rests on. First, in the developed capitalist countries it is based on the misery of about one third of the population. Second, it is based on the vast accumulation of human and capital resources for centuries at the expense of humanity, and on the virtually permanent inhumane exploitation of foreign workers in developed countries.

Third, it is based on the now familiar north-south divide, which constitutes, from one point of view, a new conflict between the exploiters and the exploited. However, if we must view the world as a single global level, then these great conflicts continue to apply in a modified form on a new geographical, if I may use the word, level. There is a predatory exploitation of poor countries by wealthy ones.

It is now a conflict between society as a whole and nature. In other words in the attempt to extract ever greater profits, ways and means have been used to exploit the environment to such an extent that this planet is on the point of destroying itself.

Comrades,

Today we are living through an unprecedented and unbelievable process of integration at all levels. The globalisation of development and the economy, and the globalisation of all economic and social processes are the fruit of the unprecedented technological and scientific development taking place all over the world which is sweeping away established structures and irreversibly overturning relations and ties of every type. At the same time, our world, the now unified world of planet Earth is more complicated than ever. Faced with this reality we have to admit that the class enemy has a significant head start. It is much more organised and co-ordinated. It stretches its greedy hands in every direction at an incredible rate. It improves, upgrades and spreads its organisation. Today the world is being pressured and squeezed by the tentacles of the US, the EU, Japan, NATO, the WEU, IMF and other agencies that organise and co-ordinate capitalist domination. These organisations naturally carry within them the seeds of their own destruction, as well as the seeds of confrontation among themselves. But what is foremost is their co-ordinated efforts to achieve their main goal which is to increase the exploitation of the workers.

Comrades,

I come from a small country in the eastern Mediterranean. A country whose suffering is as long as its eight thousand years of history. A country and a people who have bothered no one but who have been hit by all the imperialists in the history of the world. The country which is at the crossroads of the air and sea-lanes to the main sources of fuel. Oil, gas, and water pass over not only the geographical area of the Middle East, but over the bodies and hearts of the people of this area. Greeks, Turks, Kurds, Palestinians, Lebanese, Israelis and others have for decades now witnessed each other’s bitter and bloody history. To all these peoples we express our solidarity and support together with our gratitude for their support and help in the struggle of the Cypriot people.

Comrades,

The imperialists want to set up a defence zone in our area against all those who resist their plans. A defence chiefly against Russia. Even a capitalist Russia. And of course against every nation in the area that struggles and resists. Naturally their schemes also extend to the offensive level, which is well known to us all. It is within this framework that the co-operation agreement between Turkey and Israel was promoted and that pressure is being brought to bear for a NATO solution to the problems between Greece and Turkey and on the Cyprus issue.

The Cyprus issue, comrades, is at the most crucial stage of its history since the Turkish invasion of 1974. Today as never before, the Americans are pressuring Greece and Cyprus to make final concessions, essentially to accept partition under the guise of a two-state confederation. Unfortunately for us their efforts are made easier by the right wing and the far right government of Clerides. It is because of this that we ask for the greatest possible support to curb the irrational expansionist and, if you will permit me, fascist policies of Ankara in Cyprus and to thwart schemes to partition the island.

It would be negligent of me indeed if from this podium I did not express AKEL’s solidarity with every struggling people. With all peoples suffering under the yoke of the modern Rome and especially with the nation that is a symbol of resistance and dignity in face of the Roman emperors in Washington, I mean the heroic people of socialist Cuba.

Comrades,

I have tried to present a picture of the world as we in AKEL see it. However, what is most important in our opinion is no longer analysis and discussions, necessary as they are, but action. It is time our movement stopped lamenting what was lost and complaining about what was not done as it should have been. It is time for action. To act as nature and its character dictates. In a revolutionary way!

Unity of action is what we need today. To build our unity in practice and the unity of communists with other left wing and progressive forces based on our common goals against the imperialist and capitalist onslaught, for the national liberation of the peoples and economic and social liberation, and for the common and truly titanic struggle for socialism.

Let us strengthen our co-operation, our co-ordination, and keep each other informed, for joint political action.

Comrades,

The Marxist saying that «philosophers have explained the world in various ways, the problem is to change it» is still relevant today. The responsibility weighs heavily on all of us.

The potential has been created. The will exists. Let us throw ourselves into the common struggle.