The Workers’ Party has sent the following message of greetings and solidarity to the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) to mark the opening of the KKE’s 20th Congress in Athens today (March 30th)

GREETINGS FROM THE WORKERS PARTY OF IRELAND TO THE 20TH CONGRESS OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF GREECE (KKE)

Communist Party of Greece Headquarters, Athens prepares for 20th Congress

Dear comrades,

The Workers Party of Ireland sends warm comradely greetings and solidarity to the Communist Party of Greece in advance of the 20th Congress of the KKE which will be held from 30th March to 2nd April 2017.

The Theses for the 20th Congress prepares for the strengthening of the KKE, building and reinforcing the party organisations and extending the reach and influence of the party in its task of regrouping the labour movement and developing the social alliance in an anti- capitalist, anti-monopoly direction, in the struggle against imperialist war, for workers’ power. These tasks assume a particular importance in the year of the 100th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution which took place in Russia in 1917.

The Great October Socialist Revolution transferred power to the working class, broke down the machinery of the bourgeois state and established the world’s first workers’ state. At present, workers and their families are confronted by unemployment, by under- employment, and even when they are working by a culture of “long hours” or precarious employment through zero-hour contracts, agency work or unpaid internships and are deprived of labour rights, subjected to low pay and hazardous working conditions. In every aspect of social, economic, cultural and community life workers have been subjected to public expenditure cuts, marginalisation and exclusion.

After years of austerity imposed on the working class by capital, working people have suffered in terms of jobs, pensions, benefits, facilities and services. Particularly vulnerable people with long-term sickness or disability and with great reliance on both welfare benefits and key public services, such as health and social care, have suffered severe negative effects. Conditions of crisis are also used to whip up narrow nationalism, chauvinism, racism and xenophobia with a growth in ultra-right, populist, and neo-fascist groups across Europe. The political line of all the bourgeois parties, whether liberal or social-democratic, is a pro- capitalist political line. It offers no solution. Real, fundamental, transformative change requires a rupture with the present system to create a world where the working class controls its own destiny and which maximises human potential, dignity and development rather than a system driven by the relentless pursuit of profit for the benefit of the few.

Exploitation will only be ended under a radically different social, economic and political system where the capitalist system is abolished and where the working class controls its own destiny, socialism-communism. The KKE, through its concrete analysis, struggles and mass political work, and through the coordinated actions of PAME, PASEVE, PASY, OGE, MAS and KNE, has demonstrated its unswerving commitment to the interests of the Greek working class and the poor popular strata and its ability to lead major struggles. The KKE has made clear that no solution is to be found inside the framework of the EU, NATO and the capitalist development path. The KKE, consistent with the principles of Marxism- Leninism, has exposed the crass opportunism and reformism of SYRIZA and the so-called PEL.

The strong internationalist principles of the KKE has led it to play an invaluable role in the international communist movement and, in particular, through the International Communist Review and the European Communist Initiative.

The Workers’ Party of Ireland salutes the militants and supporters of the KKE. We wish you every success in your deliberations at the 20th Congress. We are confident that the outcome of the Congress will strengthen and consolidate the KKE and its organisations and advance the struggle for workers’-people’s power, for the overthrow of capitalism and the construction of the new socialist-communist society. Let us strengthen the strong bonds of comradeship between the KKE and the WPI!

With warm comradely greetings,

Michael Donnelly,

President

Gerry Grainger

International Secretary

On behalf of the Central Executive Committee Workers Party of Ireland