The events of the 51^st festival of KNE – “Odigitis”, which had previously taken place in many cities across the country, culminated in Athens with a huge political rally. Dimitris Koutsoumbas, GS of the CC of the KKE was the main speaker.

For four days, tens of thousands of people visited the cultural and political events at the festival, where more than 400 artists performed and discussions were held on important issues and developments. Visitors to the festival could communicate directly with the more than 30 Communist Youth and Anti-imperialist Organizations present at the International City. There were also exhibitions, bookshops, and areas dedicated to children's activities. Thousands of KNE and KKE members worked to set up the festival, safeguard it and ensure it ran smoothly.

The keynote speech by the GS of the CC of the KKE was attended by the ambassadors of Cuba and Palestine, Aramis Fuente Hernández and Yussef Dorkhom respectively. Also in attendance were Pierpaolo Leonardi, a USB trade unionist from Italy; the communist mayors of Kaisariani, Petroupolis, Patras, Ikaria and Haidari, elected with the lists of the “People’s Rally”; Magda Fissa, mother of Pavlos Fissas, the musician who was murdered by the Nazi Golden Dawn party; and numerous artists, scientists and intellectuals.

Speaking from the festival’s central stage, the GS of the CC of the KKE  called on workers to participate en masse in the upcoming general strike. As he said, “On Wednesday 1 October, during the all-workers’ strike, machines must be shut down, offices must be emptied, shutters must be lowered and the streets must be flooded with people. The resounding ‘NO’ of the working class to modern slavery must be heard loud and clear!.”

D. Koutsoumbas described the Festival of KNE–“Odigitis” as “a powerful demonstration of solidarity with the heroic Palestinian people, who continue to resist and fight for their just cause. Armed with the strength of justice, Palestine still stands tall, refusing to be crushed beneath Israel’s murderous war machine, which now seeks to complete its atrocity by levelling and occupying Gaza. Tonight, the hearts of all who dare to call themselves human beat here —of all those whose conscience cannot bear the silence while a people and their children bleed and starve before our eyes, in a world that watches live.”

Referring to the country’s involvement in imperialist wars, he noted that: “Once again, we have been proven right —just as the KKE warned when everyone else voted together to increase military spending in the state budget: It’s the people who bleed to pay for armaments that only serve NATO and imperialist rivalries! Likewise, the myths about the so-called imperialist ‘peacemakers’ have been thoroughly debunked —the nonsense we heard in our own country about Trump from those pretending to be anti-systemic. What a joke. Today, it’s clear where things are heading, particularly in Europe. Towards serious escalation. Greece is being dragged deeper into dangerous waters under the New Democracy government, with the backing of the other parties of the system. In this struggle to disengage from the carnage of war and to defend the Palestinian people, the KKE and KNE have poured every ounce of their strength, alongside thousands of fellow militants.  We are proud of that. And we make this promise: We will continue down this path! Now is the moment for the greatest possible mobilization, the greatest possible pressure on the New Democracy government in order to stop any kind of cooperation between Greece and Israel. To finally move forward with real recognition of the Palestinian state, based on the unanimous parliamentary decision from 2015 — now, not ‘at the end of some road’, as those in power dare to claim, and not after some so-called ‘update’ to that decision, as PASOK suspiciously calls for.

We are talking about the real recognition of the Palestinian state:
 

• With the 1967 borders and East Jerusalem as its capital.
• One single state with territorial integrity, free from occupation and settlements.
• A state with all the powers and institutions of a fully sovereign nation.
• A truly independent state, free from foreign overlords, where it is the people —and not imperialists— who decide who governs, and where the people can, if they choose, take power into their own hands.

This is what we mean when we chant the slogan that has echoed across the country for the last two years: Free Palestine!.”

Speaking about the important struggles of workers and the people, the GS of the CC of the KKE noted that: “Particularly in today's era of overall unfavourable correlation of forces and major impasses in the system that cannot be remedied, the struggles of the people and the youth, however massive they may be, will remain incomplete and vulnerable to co-option by the system, if they are limited to specific demands and they do not sharpen the ideological front with the class opponent in the battle of ideas. The struggle against the monstrous 13-hour working day bill, for example, is also an ideological battle over what is contemporary and progressive today. In an era of great technological achievements and artificial intelligence, with an unprecedented increase in labour productivity, it is contemporary and entirely feasible for people to work seven hours a day, five days a week (35 hours in total), with collective labour agreements safeguarding all their rights. This would allow them to enjoy quality free time.  The only obstacle to this is the capitalist profit criterion, which determines everything in the current system and takes us back to the Middle Ages. It is a battle against the bourgeois ideological construct that cloaks every rollback of rights in favour of capital in the guise of ‘individual choice’, thereby detaching it from the social context and bringing it into conflict with social needs.” (…)

Workers in all countries have always lived below the potential. As the years go by, the gap between how we could live and how we actually live is widening.  This is the reality. (...)

That’s why the people’s and the youth’s answer to all those who keep calling on them to put a cap on their needs and demands can only be one: a mass, more organized and more militant participation in the struggle for the meeting of our needs, for the life that we deserve in the 21^st century! In order for our struggle to be victorious and go all the way to the end, it needs to turn its sights on the governments and all the parties of the system. More broadly, our struggle should target today’s hostile state and its anti-people institutions, the capitalist employers and the imperialist unions, such as NATO or the EU, that our country is a member of. In other words, it needs to target all those things that really constitute what we call ‘the system’.”

D. Koutsoumbas also criticized the fact that “the shameless Hellenic Train —the company that has been exploiting the railway thanks to the EU’s liberalization directives and the SYRIZA and New Democracy governments that sold it out— has the cheek to summon Nikos Tsaklidis —an elected trade unionist, a member of the CC of KNE and a relative of Agapi Tsaklidi, who lost her life in Tempe— under the charge of causing ‘service irregularities’?And for what reason? Because he did the obvious: he adhered to the safety measures, refusing to carry out all by himself a dangerous task that, according to the regulations, should be carried out by two persons! Enough of that! How far are they going to go in their quest for profit? However, the people and the youth, who keep demonstrating, shouting ‘it’s either their profits or our lives and standing by the victims’ relatives in their fight for vindication, are giving them a hard time. The great struggles waged by the people and the youth over the last years through the decisive contribution of the KKE and KNE highlight our Party’s responsibility so that, over the coming years, even more decisive steps will be taken towards the regroupment of the labour and trade union movement, towards the strengthening of its anti-capitalist orientation.  Towards building a nationwide, unified movement with common positions and goals of struggle in order to meet the workers’ contemporary needs, in clash with the monopolies and their power. (…) A movement that, through its internationalist action and solidarity, will prevent workers around the world from being divided and from taking sides with one thief or another over the wealth they produce. (…) The KKE is fully aware of its responsibilities and assumes them entirely. That is why, as we move toward our 22^nd Congress, we are making these issues the focus of our discussions. With a spirit of responsibility, pride, militant and realistic optimism about the just cause of our struggle, we welcome our Congress. For the just cause of our struggle today demands that our Party fully align itself with its revolutionary programme and statutes at a faster and more effective pace. It must be a ‘party ready for anything’, leading the struggle of our people, today and in the future, for socialism”, concluded the GS of the CC of the KKE.

30.09.2025