STATEMENT OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE KKE:ON THE RESULTS OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS AND THE 1ST ROUND OF THE REGIONAL AND MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS, THE BATTLE OF THE 2ND ROUND AND THE PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN EARLY JULY

1.  The CC greets the thousands of members, supporters of the Party and the KNE, the cooperating forces, voters, who all waged the battle, joining forces with us, which contributed to the strengthening of the KKE. We would especially like to thank those who took this step for the first time, the young men and women who gave their very first vote to our Party.

The KKE will utilize the elected communists and other militants in the municipalities and regions, in the European Parliament, for the defense of people's interests, so that they constitute a stable and militant support for the working people, for the strengthening of the labor – popular movement in its counterattack against every anti-people governmental and European Union policy.

The votes for the KKE will be affirmed from today, everywhere, in every neighborhood, in schools, in the universities.

We call on the people to continue to resist the false dilemmas of "stabilization and recovery" or "destabilization and adventures", "backwards – forwards"; to resist the false expectations cultivated by ND, SYRIZA and other bourgeois political forces, since stability and recovery will concern big capital and not the people. All this will be strengthened in the run-up to the parliamentary elections in early July. The need for greater strengthening of the KKE in the national elections is even more imperative so that the working class and the popular strata can organize their counter-attack.

The dilemma faced by the people is whether it will continue to support the path that has brought us here, the path of capitalist development and the EU, with an intensification of exploitation, poverty, unemployment, or will it resolutely support resistance, counter-attack, the struggle for another path of development, with the people actually in power, to become the organizer and master of the wealth they produce, to satisfy people's contemporary needs.

2.  Already the justifiable popular dissatisfaction with the SYRIZA government has been demonstrated, which in recent years has implemented anti-people policies, continuing the work of the governments of ND and PASOK. It is not positive, however, that people are turning back to previously tried and failed options such as ND and PASOK / KINAL or other forces that are being supported and prepared to play the role of either a bulwark or a complement to an anti-people governmental management.

The electoral results record yet another anti-people alternation between SYRIZA and ND, that is, between the two biggest parties of capital, of the EU, of NATO.

Many working people choose the parties of new bipolarity with a heavy heart, without enthusiasm and most importantly, without expectations that something can change for the better in their lives, as whatever reformulation of the bourgeois political scene will not provide anything positive for the people.

The correlation of forces is still very negative, not only in Greece but also in Europe, The labor – popular movement has still not passed into a phase of dynamic and even more massive counter-attack. We are fully aware that within the broad sections of the working people, self-employed, and youth, reduced demands, defeatism, and fatalism prevail, as a result of demobilization and reduced participation in the movement. At the same time, we recognize that today, broader popular strata have a much more positive stance towards the KKE; they monitor its positions, are concerned, even though they still haven't been convinced to take a more decisive step. The need has arisen to strengthen the relations of the Party, from the Central Committee to each and every Base Organization, with all those workers who approach the KKE positively, many of whom chose to vote for it in one of these elections.

It is a positive fact that in these elections a certain trend of joining forces with the KKE was expressed, with people who have struggled with us in previous years in the workers' and farmers' movement, with people of art, culture, sports, the armed forces and security forces, some of whom had previously made other political choices.

This trend toward joining forces with the KKE has no relation to the jumping from one party to another that we have witnessed with the bourgeois parties over the recent period. It expresses positive processes within the movement, not behind the scenes in the Parliament.

We recognize that there are positive actions going on in workplaces, in neighborhoods, with the vanguard action of communists, against the governments of capital, the EU.

This trend must not diminish, not falter as we approach the parliamentary elections, under the weight of blackmail, terrorism and false dilemmas. The day after the elections we must encounter new forces on the path of counter-attack, on the path of political and mass struggle.

3. Overall, despite any positive processes, there is a tendency towards growing conservatism in Greek society. Those who are responsible for this phenomenon are the bourgeois political forces, either forces such as ND, which, with its positions, invested openly in conservatism, nationalism, in reactionary positions, or forces like SYRIZA, who have tried to disguise barbaric, anti-people policies in a mantle of "progress" and the deception of the "progressive alliance", ultimately denigrating the values of real progress, fueling extreme reactionary choices and, with its own economic policy, dashing the hopes of important sections of the people.

SYRIZA with its policies, allowed ND and PASOK to appear justified for their previous anti-people measures. In essence, it absolved them of any responsibility.

The retreat of Golden Dawn both in votes and in percentages, must continue even further as we lead up to the national elections so that the Greek people manage to kick the murderous Nazi rabble out of Parliament.

At the same time, a blow must be struck now, when the overall process of transforming the nationalist extremist space with the emergence and strengthening of new formations and parties is at the beginning.

The situation would certainly have been better if the other political forces did not tolerate such forces, their ideas and the poison they spew, if the Golden Dawn trial had been completed, and not been horribly delayed by the fault of the government. This tolerance does not only exist at the central political level, there is much more at the local level, with fascists included in other municipal political groupings and factions. The KKE is committed to taking more initiatives in the movement, workplaces, neighborhoods, youth, so as to isolate Golden Dawn and its offshoots, to reveal their role and character.

4. The KKE remains a consistent force for popular interests, with the trend of stabilizing its forces, under electoral conditions that resemble those of the national elections.

Confrontation, polarization, false promises, extortionary dilemmas, especially between the two parties of bipolarism, created such a climate that it had an effect on the popular strata who remain entrapped in the logic of reduced demands. They do not yet believe in their own strength, with their active participation in the labor - popular movement, the social alliance.

Under these circumstances, the vote for the KKE expresses a trend of liberation from the false dividing lines of bipolarism, from the fraudulent expectations of the supposedly post -memorandum era and the just character of whatever anemic capitalist upturn might occur. It also reflects, to a certain extent, the acceptance of the KKE's basic position that there can be no pro-people management within the walls of the rotten system of exploitation and the EU.

The overall election result in the EU countries is negative for the peoples. The developments highlight the great responsibilities of European social democracy and the so-called "renewed left" and reveal the delusions of the possibility of a people-friendly turn within the EU.

Within this reactionary context, the result recorded by the KKE sends a message of hope to Communist parties and militant forces in other countries who are struggling under difficult conditions to draw a radical line of recovery and regroupment of the Communist and labor movement across Europe, away from its deadly embrace with social democracy, the beautifying of the EU or the illusion of being able to reform it for the benefit of the people's interest and the policy of being integrated and participating in bourgeois anti-people management.

5.  This week we are waging the battle of the second round in the 5 municipalities where we had the majority in the previous five-year period, with new momentum in order to re-elect militant elected officials in Patras, Petroupolis, Kaisariani, Chaidari and Ikaria. In the other municipalities and regions where we are not in the second round and representatives of the new bipolarity and their cohorts have been elected, we will express our opposition in whatever way in the election box (white or invalid), making the statement that we will be confronting them in a position of powerful opposition to their anti-people choices; we are not going to give a blank check to anyone.

We are facing the struggle of the parliamentary elections in early July. We will wage this battle with optimism, against the dilemmas that will be further strengthened in the name of some slight differences that do not change the essence of the strategy of association between SYRIZA, ND and the other parties. The speeding up of the elections has, among other things, the objective not to stop the promotion of specific NATO, EU and Cypriot plans and other issues at the expense of the peoples.

The next day there will be the EU long-term memorandums, EU-wide anti-people commitments, constant monitoring and the goals of the recovery of capital, leading to greater bankruptcy for the people. SYRIZA and ND both have this policy, along with PASOK / KINAL, who are tried and true for their anti-people choices and seek to return to governance sharper and more aggressive.

We call upon those who in the European elections hesitated to take the step, who voted this time as well with a "heavy heart" to give a resounding message in the national elections , to make a real difference with a powerful KKE both in the popular movement and in the parliament.

We are aware of our responsibilities, to contribute more decisively to the rebuilding, militancy and massiveness of the labor - popular movement, to the organization of the daily struggle of the people, to the creation of a large popular alliance, with a powerful KKE everywhere: To block new measures. For the genuine relief of the workers, the unemployed, the popular households, the pensioners, the youth, all those who suffer. To satisfy people's contemporary needs. To ensure vigilance and readiness for the dangerous US-NATO designs and rivalries in the region, in which the SYRIZA government is actively involved, with the substantial agreement of ND, the other bourgeois parties.

For there to exist a genuine popular opposition among the people and in the parliament, against every anti-popular government that will arise, especially against the rise of ND but also for a real wall to be raised against fascism - Nazism, nationalism and racism, for us to lead the way, with the people as the leader of the developments.

No faltering. Now, everyone must join the battle to strengthen the KKE! This is the only winning vote for the people.

The Central Committee of the KKE
Monday 27 May 2019