In a statement on the passing of Comrade Spiros Halvatzis, the CC of the KKEstates the following:
“The Central Committee of the KKE, with deep sorrow, bids farewell to Comrade Spiros Halvatzis, a communist who, for over six decades, devoted all his energy to the just cause of the KKE, the working class, and the struggle for socialism and communism.
He was born in 1947 in Kozani. He grew up in a family of militants. His father, a shoemaker, fought in the ELAS and was exiled to Makronissos. His mother was also an ELAS fighter and a member of the KKE. Comrade Spyros followed in their footsteps.
Following the establishment of the military dictatorship on 21 April , 1967, he was arrested for the first time and initially exiled to Gyaros, then to Lakki on Leros and Oropos. He returned to Gyaros and was released in October 1970.
In February 1968, Comrade Spyros supported the Resolutions of the 12th Plenary Session of the CC of the KKE and and fought alongside many other comrades to defend the party while exiled in Lakki, Leros.
In November 1973, one week after the Polytechnic uprising, he was arrested again and exiled to Gyaros. At the 10th Congress of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), he was elected a full member of the Central Committee, and at the 2nd Congress of the Communist Youth of Greece (KNE), he was elected Secretary of the Central Council, a position he held until 1986. In 1987, at the 12th Congress of the KKE, he was elected an alternate member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee.
The critical struggle of 1989–1991 played a significant role in his trajectory. Comrade Spiros was at the forefront of the struggle to defend the Party’s independent existence and revolutionary character against the opportunists’ attempt to dismantle the KKE. At the Party’s 13th Congress, where he was elected a member of the Central Committee and the Political Bureau, he fought to defend and preserve the revolutionary character of the KKE. He was re-elected as a member of the Central Committee and the Political Bureau at the 14th Congress, and again at the 15th, 16th and 17th Congresses. At the 18th Congress, he was elected to the Central Committee. He was subsequently entrusted with various duties, which he fulfilled with consistency. He served as president of the Association of Imprisoned and Exiled Resistance Fighters (SFEA) and was a member of its Executive Board until the present day.
He repeatedly served as a Member of Parliament for the Party from 2007 to 2014, was elected as a prefectural councilor and as a municipal councilor in Athens, and led the electoral lists supported by the KKE.
Comrade Spiros acted under conditions of illegality, he faced persecution, imprisonment and exile. He experienced great hopes, but also major overthrows, difficult turning points and challenges. He saw the certainties of an era being shattered. However, he never abandoned the great conviction of his life: that this world of exploitation is not eternal. He leaves this legacy of certainty to his comrades and especially to the younger generations of communists.
We will carry on, confident that the contribution of previous generations of communists was not in vain. Every imprisonment, every period of exile, every difficult struggle and every small or great act of resistance has formed a link in a chain that extends to the present day and continues to grow. This is the strength of the KKE: a great collective cause passed down from generation to generation; a just cause that became the life's purpose of thousands of people; a just cause that endured because, in the most difficult of times, there were communists who did not retreat. Comrade Spiros was one of them, which is why his life will remain inextricably linked to the history of the Party he served, the struggles he waged and the generations of communists who carry on and will continue to do so.
The Central Committee of the KKE extends its heartfelt condolences to his family, to our comrade and his partner in life and in the struggle, Marianthi, to his two children, Alekos and Panos, to his grandchildren, and to all his loved ones.”