On 27/2/22, the CC of the KKE organized an event in the city of Lamia in honour of the 80 years of the Greek People’s Liberation Army (ELAS), which was the military wing of the National Liberation Front (EAM). Both EAM and ELAS were founded following a decision of the KKE and fought against the fascist triple foreign occupation (German, Italian, and Bulgarian) of Greece during the imperialist Second World War.

The event took place in Lamia, the native city of Aris Velouchiotis, leader of ELAS and cadre of the KKE.

The event included a speech by Dimitris Koutsoumbas, GS of the CC of the KKE, and a concert. A march to the statue of Aris Velouchiotis was held right after.

During his speech, the GS of the CC of the KKE referred to the imperialist war in Ukraine, highlighting the following:

“Here, from the city of Lamia, at this great celebration for the 80^th anniversary of the foundation of ELAS, we are shouting out loud: No to imperialist war! Any involvement of Greece must stop immediately! The bases must be immediately closed down!

This is the crucial issue for our people these moments when the sirens of war are being heard and Russia’s intervention and invasion of Ukraine is underway.

The sirens of war are heard for the second time on European soil, 30 years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the overthrow of socialism. The peoples futilely seek the “peaceful” and “safe” world that they were promised back then!

The only thing we are seeing now is permanent insecurity, poverty, and wars.

Europe now counts two wars. Let us remember Yugoslavia and the heroic pages written by our people’s struggle as well.

The military conflict in Ukraine is the result of the sharpening of competition between two warring camps. It is focused on spheres of influence, market shares, raw materials, energy plans, and routes of transport. This competition can no longer be resolved by diplomatic–political means and fragile compromises.

On the one hand, there is the USA, NATO, and the EU which installed and support the reactionary puppet government of Kyiv, the paramilitary mechanisms, and the fascist groups in Ukraine. The USA–NATO for years have been promoting their positions by expanding NATO,  aiming at the military encirclement of Russia.

On the other hand, there is today’s Russia, which is promoting its own plans for the capitalist unification of the former USSR countries and territories.

War, dear comrades and friends, is the continuation of the same policy with other, violent means. War, as well as the death and destruction it causes, inevitably stems from capitalist–imperialist competition.

We cannot forget that the peoples of Russia and Ukraine had been living in friendship and thriving in peace for decades under socialism. No matter how much anti-communist poison is spread by various mouthpieces of propaganda, they cannot erase this fact from people’s memory. Historical truth and reality cannot be erased.

On the contrary, each passing day proves that the way out can be found only in the conflict with the unjust capitalist system that gives rise to poverty and war. This is the alternative path that those and all peoples must follow today.

Greece is not innocent of the crime! It is actively participating in this imperialist competition aiming at the geostrategic enhancement of the Greek ruling class, that is its participation in the looting and the redistribution of the pie taking place through new crimes against the peoples.

The Greek governments of ND, PASOK, and SYRIZA, one after the other have backed NATO decisions and plans regarding its expansion, the encirclement of Russia, and other plans against the peoples. They initiated the installation of new US–NATO bases in our country, such as that of Alexandroupolis, which has become a hub for the transfer and deployment of military forces to Eastern Europe.

Thus, our country becomes a perpetrator against other peoples but at the same time, it can become easy prey. Greece is the one in danger and not the USA, which is situated on the other side of the world.

Greece and our people can become a target of retaliation, as Russia has already warned about Alexandroupolis and other military bases.

Greece and our people are bleeding due to high prices, rising fuel prices, energy poverty, and armaments.

Greece and our people will suffer a heavy toll as, among other things, the Turkish bourgeoisie’s appetite for its unacceptable claims on the Aegean for the revision of agreements and the dispute of borders as well as the Cyprus Issue has increased.

The response from the workers’–people’s and our country’s perspective lies in an independent line, away from all bourgeois and imperialist plans.

In the face of the new crime, the clear answer can only be one:

• No to imperialist war.
• Only the peoples can chart their course and choose their own path, away from the self-serving interests of the bourgeois classes and their governments, which are solely responsible for the massacre they are leading us to.
• Greece’s involvement must stop immediately.
• All military bases in our country must be immediately closed down.
• We strengthen the struggle for disengagement from imperialist unions, with the people masters in our land.”

D. Koutsoumbas also referred to the heroic activity of ELAS and the lessons that the KKE has drawn from its history, which are particularly useful for today. He concluded his speech by saying that “It is not progress for the people to live on crumbs so that a handful of parasites earn profit. Progress means that people move forward and improve their lives. Progress means that the new generations live better than the previous ones. Which policy can guarantee this? Only a government that will be the executive body of the working-class and popular majority and power can truly do that. Only the KKE talks about this government. Only the KKE is waging a struggle. And it is determined to take this struggle to the very end. It is this working-class and popular majority that will be at the forefront and build the new society, socialism! Socialism is the real progress today!”.

01.03.2022