Dear friends and comrades,

We are here again, as we have been every September for the last 50 years! In line with our mission to make history and change the world!

To meet, to discuss, to sing, to dance, to wave the red flag at the biggest political and cultural event of the year, at this glimpse of the future that has become an institution, at the  Festival of KNE-“Odigitis”.

In fact, this year’s Festival looks more beautiful than ever. We would even say 50 times more beautiful, because it is celebrating!

It is celebrating its 50^th anniversary and it glows as brightly as it did at Zografou neighbourhood in September '75, when it first started its beautiful journey.

In the Festival’s long journey through time, from the stadium of a working-class neighbourhood to this huge park in Western Athens, the desire for the transformation of society remains the same, as the same and unchanged remains the glow of revolutionary change, of the unyielding struggle for socialism!

This glow lights our path every year and makes it shine in the darkness of the system of exploitation and injustice.

This glow is the beacon and guide of our struggle. It is the source that fuels our struggle with strength, faith and endurance and makes the  Festival of KNE-“Odigitis”, every September, one of the most beautiful places on earth.

This is where hope springs up, this is where militant optimism flares up, this is where confidence grows that the working class will succeed, the peoples of the whole world will succeed, and they will emerge victorious!

The most beautiful days that we have dreamed of will come. The beautiful society we need will come.

It will be brought about by the countless downtrodden, those who may now seem helpless, but when they decide to move forward, they will stop at nothing, and they will finally break the shackles of exploitation once and for all.

Just like Zografou Stadium and the neighbourhoods of Kaisariani, Peristeri, Egaleo, and Ilisia, Tritsis Park is transformed under the magic touch of the children of KNE and makes the festival a microcosm of the future.

A snapshot of the endless motion of history, revealing what revolutionaries dream of.

Every year it offers a faint, but vivid glimmer of the new world longing to come to the fore.

That's why the KNE Festival is utterly beautiful, youthful, special and unique.

Because it is linked to our desires and to our daily struggle to live in a completely different, superior society.

It is linked to the concerns and dreams of the new generation for a different, more beautiful, more creative, more humane life!

And when desires and dreams meet with the revolutionary policy of the KKE, they become a storm that sweeps what’s old and rotten.

Then it will be ensured that they will not remain mere desires and dreams, but will become irreconcilable goals of our struggle.

They will become the reason we struggle, until they ultimately become the reason we will finally win!

In this celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the Festival, the older members of KNE from the 70s, 80s, and 90s are coming together with the younger generations of the 21^st century; the older ones are reliving a period of their youth marked as the “best times of their lives”, and the younger ones are living “the best times of their lives” to be!

They are indeed the best, not because they remind us of our youth, but because they are the times of great values and ideals, of the most unwavering and beautiful struggle, of the struggle for the youth of the world, for the bright future of humanity, for socialism-communism!

Thousands of young people today live the best times of their lives in the ranks of KNE, because, despite the slur and slander, the struggle for the youth of the world continues to be inspiring and fascinating.

Because the KKE held on, it kept hope alive, it strove hard and studied, and proceeded with new elaborations, proving that possibility can become reality, so that the working class, the people, and the youth can live as they deserve, according to the achievements of the contemporary era, without the barbarity of the exploitation of man by man.

The reason why, at the Festivals of KNE-“Odigitis”, there are always young people who gaze in awe and have their photo taken in front of the large painting of Lenin, the great revolutionary whom we honoured this year on the occasion of the centenary of his death, is that the KKE, armed with its revolutionary ideology, continues, despite the difficulties and the negative correlation of forces, to create the “best times” again and again with daring, knowledge, endurance and prospect!

Today, we are proud to say that we have a concrete plan, programme and political proposal that provides the solution for the meeting of the contemporary needs of the working class and the youth.

Which bourgeois party could honestly —and not for propaganda purposes— say the same thing to the younger generation? None of them.

Let’s make the present and the future the best times of our lives; now that the memories of generations and generations, the enthusiasm of the years of youth and the maturity of the later years of one’s life can lead to the realization that we are the ones who will write history, we will change the world!

Our future is socialism!

Dear friends,

Dear comrades,

From this mass rally taking place at the 50^th Festival, we would like to call on all those who seek answers for today and agonize over the future. We call on:

-     The workers, who see their wages run out halfway through the month, while they read that the companies listed on the stock exchange are to achieve new record profits this year, following last year’s record of 10.5 billion;

-     The self-employed toilers and the farmers, who constantly face extinction due to over-taxation, huge product costs, and encirclement by big business groups;

-     The school-students, who are packed like sardines in overcrowded classrooms, who are faced with school mergers —many of which were cancelled thanks to their joint mobilizations with their parents and teachers— and, in general, with a school system that exhausts them;

-     The university students, who want academic degrees that matter, while the excessive cost of the supposed free education weighs their parents down;

-     The women, who face many forms of violence; who, in the complete absence of the state, shoulder the responsibility of raising children and caring for the elderly while also trying to cope with their work;

-     The pensioners, who are given the “chance” to work to a ripe old age, since their pension is not enough;

-     All the people who experience first-hand the extreme conditions in critical sectors, such as healthcare, welfare and the access to medication, due to their commercialization;

-     All the people, especially in Eastern Attica, who suffered the consequences of the lack of fire and natural disaster prevention measures for yet another summer, since they represent a cost with no benefit for the capital and its state.

These and many others problems are not due to “exogenous factors”, “natural phenomena”, the alleged “lack of resources”, and the supposed “limited financial capacity”, as the New Democracy, with the support of SYRIZA, PASOK and other parties, dares to claim.

Who can talk about a lack of resources in a society where billionaires rent spaceships to get their photo taken in space?

Who can talk about a lack of technical capabilities in the era of Artificial Intelligence and of great technological and scientific achievements?

Of course, all these achievements are not being used to promote the prosperity of the working people, but to further exploit and enslave them, in many forms, to the values and needs of capital. Under capitalism, all these achievements are used to impose greater barbarism and destruction, instead of being put at the service of the people.

Besides, the biggest problem that those in power —the capital and its governments— have been trying to solve for years is not the lack of funds but precisely the abundance of such funds, which are stagnating because they cannot find a satisfactory outlet for investment.

Each of the temporary solutions given to this problem grants the capital and its governments a short respite, but, after a while, they do not work out as planned or they may even create yet more problems.

That is why we see governments, central banks, transnational organizations and all the learned technocrats who staff them switch from restrictive to expansionary fiscal policies when investments begin to fall, and vice versa when inflation soars.

And, of course, it is always the peoples who pay the price.

That is why we hear them talking about the supposed benefits of an outward-oriented economy, while at the same time admitting all the problems caused by excessive tourism, such as high rents and ferry fares, the alteration of the landscape of entire islands and the waste of natural resources such as water.

That is why we see them, on the one hand, putting their money on hydrocarbons and, on the other hand, demonizing them and praising renewable energy sources, only to “discover” later that the latter are not enough to do the job. For there is no sun at night —what a great discovery!— and the wind does not blow whenever the Minister of Energy wants it to.

They are just good-for-nothings, incapable of even arguing a point and just spouting nonsense for people to believe. Meanwhile, popular families have to dip into their pockets, while others hoard money and never apologize for the lies they tell.

That is why, on the one hand, they are singing the praises of electromobility and setting over-the-top goals, and, on the other hand, they are preparing to close down Volkswagen factories in Germany, saying that “there is no market” after all. And what they mean by that, of course, is that the profits are not as high as they expected!

How can they talk about limited fiscal capacity when billions are spent on military equipment, especially for the military needs of NATO?

Especially when military spending is set to soar in the coming years, as the infamous Mario Draghi plan calls for a shift to a war economy, if this succeeds in boosting investment again.

That is why, dear friends, we want to talk with all those people in our country who are worried about the developments on the war fronts around the world, especially in our neighbourhood.

Those who see that, while two and a half years ago they were discussing whether to send helmets and humanitarian aid to the Zelenskiy regime, then they moved on to bullets and ammunition, armoured vehicles, F-16 fighting jets, and now they have come to send long-range missiles that can strike deep into the Russian territory.

At the same time, analyses of the possibility of a nuclear war are becoming more and more frequent, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

As for those who were asking at the outbreak of war “where is the NATO involvement that the KKE is talking about?”, we won’t even bother to ask where they are hiding today… Probably somewhere where they always hide when their propaganda falls flat…

We want to talk with all those who cannot bear watching live coverage of a true genocide that has been going on for a year now — the slaughter of the Palestinian people by the terrorist state of Israel, which is setting the Middle East, the Red Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean on fire, with the support of the USA and the EU, in order to advance its plans in an area rich in natural resources and crossed by the most important energy and commodity transport routes.

And of course, we won’t bother to ask where all those TV inquisitors —those who previously demanded that anyone denouncing the genocide in Gaza should also condemn Hamas— are now that the massacre has spread to the West Bank, where there are no Hamas forces; that the fire of war has been lit in Lebanon and elsewhere; that Israel is using asymmetric threats and the practice of killing civilians, as in the case of Lebanon.

Whatever problem of our time we look at, no matter how big or small, we will see that behind it lie the pursuit of capitalist profit, which drives everything in this system; the great imperialist rivalries and contradictions, the division of the loot, the directives of the EU, and the anti-popular policies of all kinds of bourgeois governments. 

Behind the problems lie the governments and the political forces of all shades, their political choices, according to which, the quest for profits is a precondition to “reduce inequalities”, as the Prime Minister says. While in reality, the situation is exactly the opposite.

Behind the problems lie the dead ends of the obsolete capitalist system, which is turning more and more aggressive, which is preset to eliminate rights established for decades, to commercialize all aspects of human life, and which is leading the peoples to bloodshed when it cannot resolve its internal rivalries in any other way.

The issue is much deeper and, of course, it cannot be explained simply by talking about an “incompetent” government, the corruption of certain state officials, or “neoliberal obsessions”, as the other parties of a convenient opposition say.

Of course there are such instances, but if it were that simple, another more capable, more incorruptible, and more open-minded manager of the system would have been found to do a better job.

Such wannabe saviours have appeared, but they lead nowhere because the point is actually elsewhere, deeper.

We want to discuss with all those who feel progressive and that they belong to the Left, who are honest and draw conclusions, who are disgusted by the image of the sinful social democratic parties and most of all, SYRIZA and PASOK.

None of the intrigues, schemings and backstabbings have anything to do with what they used to call as “left”.

Of course, this is the expected and natural ending point of a course that began with something that now seems distant — surrendering to the system, abandoning the goal of overthrowing it, losing faith in the power of the people to take their lives into their own hands.

Such a course was marked by a willingness —not so long ago— to do the dirty work of the system when it was in trouble, when those who had been running it for decades found it difficult to pass measures that crush the people without serious consequences for the system itself.

Today, the dead ends of the system are translated into political dead ends, because the complete alignment of all the bourgeois parties with the main choices of the ruling class does not allow them to differentiate and convincingly manipulate and channel popular discontent, as they used to.

Each new “card” that appears, is “wasted” much sooner, if not wasted from the beginning.

In other European countries, there are similar dead ends. For example, in France, the notorious “New Popular Front” of social democracy kissed back to life Macron, who had found himself in a bind, by supporting his candidates; it whitewashed all his anti-people policy, presumably to “obstruct Le Pen” and now is weeping because Macron tossed it out like bad milk and appointed a Prime Minister with Le Pen’s consent.

Here in Greece as well, allthose who, just two months ago, were celebrating and accusing the KKE of not doing the same in Greece, have now disappeared, as usual, and have fallen silent.

The same happens in Germany, where the federal social-democratic government and the corresponding local governments, with the participation of the systemic “Die Linke”, by their policies and particularly by supporting Zelenskiy and their direct implication in the war in Ukraine, have paved the way for the boosting of reactionary forces, able to manipulate and take advantage of the justified popular discontent.

And what do they do now? It’s easy for them to adopt a dangerous agenda about the immigration issue, as in fact, it coincides with the repressive and xenophobic agenda of the EU that opens its borders, whenever it needs a cheap immigrant workforce and closes them when a new economic crisis arises, as now in Germany and elsewhere.

Dear friends,

Dear comrades,

All the above deeply concerns the staffs of the system and they don’t hide it.

That is why they speak about the “imbalance of the political system” and the “lack of opposition”, which has nothing to do with the genuine, workers’ and people’s opposition that the people need.

The system is always interested in the existence of at least two strong bourgeois poles, for one to govern and the other to absorb and take advantage of popular discontent with the anti-people government policies.

That is, to act as a system’s government alternative when the existing government ceases to play its role efficiently, to channel popular discontent.

And of course, they are looking for a pole able to provide consent and political legitimization to governmental decisions which, although entailing a high political cost, are necessary for the system.

We have seen it on a large scale during the period of the last capitalist crisis and the memoranda, and we may see it soon, with the possibility of a new crisis, the involvement in a more generalized war, or a shameful settlement in Greek-Turkish relations and the Cyprus Question.

It is obvious that the government of New Democracy and the other parties of the system do not want to and cannot offer a way out of these impasses, or provide solutions to the people’s problems.

During the last period, some of them have appeared saying or writing that “the KKE does not assume its responsibilities”.

But, who are they talking to?

Throughout its 100-year history, the KKE has always assumed its responsibilities.

It never hid, nor had second thoughts before throwing itself into the battle.

It has never been afraid to go against the grain in order to serve the purpose for which it was founded.

Communists never spared the effort and the sacrifices for the people, even the utmost sacrifice, and never asked for anything in return.

Let’s not go too far back. During the years 1989–1991, when “History was defaming us claiming we were finished”, when the world turned upside down and many were rushing to renounce ideas, ideals, and symbols, to safeguard their interests in the new situation that was shaping up, the KKE assumed its responsibility in its country and held the red flag high declaring on the front page of Rizospastis that “Hope lies in the struggle of the peoples”!

Later on, it assumed the responsibility and spoke the truth about the Maastricht Treaty, which all others were rushing to sign, saying that the EU is “the goose that lays the golden egg”. The same applies to the Eurozone, the Economic and Monetary Union, and others.

During the years 2012-2015, some forces were fostering false hopes and illusions that it is possible to abolish memoranda and anti-people laws, to stop the attack against the people so that the people can win, only with one vote, with a governmental change, without rupture with the EU and NATO and their directions, without rupture with the economic interests that hold the true power in our country and every country.

The KKE again assumed its responsibility, without regarding the high electoral cost, and warned that false hopes would shortly be proven wrong.

The KKE prepared the people for all the developments, standing on their side and not against them. It refused any sort of support or tolerance to any anti-peoples government, and could thus keep the vision and hope alive, while disappointment ruled.

During all these years of economic crisis and subsequent recovery, pandemic and wars, which party has been proven right and continues to be right thanks to its correct attitude?

Is it the KKE? Or all the others, now discredited in the eyes of the people, who without a trace of self-criticism, are rehashing the same old stories and declaring themselves as available once again?

The KKE assumes great responsibilities in the present day as well. It assumes the responsibility to be, along with the people struggling, the only true, workers’ and people’s opposition. The one that:

- directly confronts the Mitsotakis government on all fronts.

- fights against and exposes the policies that all the others, whoare licking their lips at the thought of getting a bit of power, agree on.

Everywhere — inside and outside the parliament, at the workplaces, the educational institutions, the hospitals, the neighbourhoods, wherever the vultures try to throw people’s families out of their homes, in the streets of struggle.

It takes on the responsibility to be at the forefront with its members and cadres in the struggle to save lives and properties, in the fires and floods where the selectively incompetent state is absent, making the slogan “only the people can save the people” a reality.

It takes on the responsibility for generating inside the consciousness of the people antibodies against the decay generously offered by the system, against extreme individualism, racism, sexism and every reactionary point of view that is presented as progress. It takes on responsibility for a huge cultural work, the peak of which is, of course, the Festival of KNE-“Odigitis”.

The KKE can and does all this because it has taken on an even greater responsibility.

Through the scientific and laborious study of its history, the experience of the international communist movement and the situation of the contemporary world, it has formulated a contemporary, elaborate programme of power, which it openly presents to the people and struggles every day to promote it.

The KKE is fully aware of its responsibilities. Together with the people, it is ready and capable of going all the way!

All the way to the revolutionary overthrow of the exploitative, capitalist system, to the establishment of a true worker’s–people’s power and government, which will lead in the construction of a new society in Greece, without exploitation of man by man; the society of socialism-communism.

We arealready fighting for it without wasting any time.

Because, in the words of the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, “the Commune is not a fairytale maiden to be dreamed of at night. Calculate, think well, aim well and take one step after the other, even on small matters”.

We are taking steps today for the future to come.

We are working, we are intervening everywhere to target the real enemy, the ruling class and its power, more and more resolutely, to challenge today its strategy and objectives, on which all the others agree.

That is why we can be present, leading and organizing every struggle of our people, and that is why the others cannot.

Because today, this strategy has to be disputed in practice, in order for the smallest achievement to come.

For the people to gain even a little, the capital must lose.

With a movement coordinated across the country, with the KKE at the forefront, we strengthen the real workers’ and peoples’ opposition to the dominant policy.

We strengthen the current of dispute against it, with an anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist content.

The cracks in the system do not scare us, nor do we rush to fix them. We are struggling to turn these cracks into great ruptures, into a total overthrow.

That is why we now take on the responsibility for rendering our Party capable, ready to respond to its role, to its mission under all conditions, at every sharp turn of the class struggle.

For “It chances in an hour, that happens not in seven years”. And then, as the song about our Party written by Dimitris Ravanis-Rentis and set to music by Thanos Mikroutsikos goes:

We must go straight ahead,

daughters and sons with pride

Our life changes, our thinking shifts

Smash the pomegranate on the windowsill

Mold sweat, blood, and soil

For the Party to rise and move forward

Look, we've grown in numbers

For a new struggle it calls upon us.

So let's go, with the momentum of the Festival’s 50-year course, to write a new page in history. We will succeed!