View source for Communist Organization of Greece

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{{Infobox political party
| name             = Communist Organization of Greece <br /> ''Kommounistikí Orgánosi Elládas''
| native_name      = Κομμουνιστική Οργάνωση Ελλάδας
| native_name_lang = el
| logo             = 
| flag             = Koe-simaia-02-02.jpg
| ideology         = {{ublist
 | [[Communism]]
 | '''Historical:'''
 | [[Marxism-Leninism]]
 | [[Maoism]]}}
| position         = [[Far-left politics|Far-left]]
| foundation       = January 2003
| national         = [[Coalition of Radical Left|SYRIZA]] <small>(2004-2015)</small>
| international    = ICMLPO (defunct)<br>ICOR<br>[[International League of Peoples' Struggle|ILPS]]
| european         = Conference of Communist and Workers' Parties of the Balkans
| newspaper        = ''{{lang|el|Δρόμος της Αριστεράς}} / Drómos tis Aristerás'' (''Road of the Left'')
| website          = {{URL|https://koel.gr|koel.gr}}
| colorcode        = red
| country          = Greece
}}

{{communist parties}}

[[File:KOE US Embassy Athens 2006.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The block of KOE marching in front of US Embassy in Athens during the demonstration organized by the 4th European Social Forum in 2006]]

The '''Communist Organization of Greece''' ({{Langx|el|Κομμουνιστική Οργάνωση Ελλάδας}}, ΚΟΕ, ''Kommounistikí Orgánosi Elládas'', '''KOE''') is a [[Greece|Greek]] political party. The KOE's ideology is revolutionary [[Marxism]] and [[Maoism]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=35 χρόνια από το θάνατο του Μάο Archives |url=https://koel.gr/category/ιστορία/35/ |access-date=2022-09-29 |website=Κομμουνιστική Οργάνωση Ελλάδας {{!}} Communist Organization of Greece |date=27 September 2011 |language=el}}</ref> supporting [[Marxism|Marxist]] ideology with all the historical experience of the [[World Communist Movement|communist movement]].

== Origins ==
The KOE has its origins in the [[Communist Party of Greece]] ({{lang|el|Κομμουνιστικό Κόμμα Ελλάδας}} / Kommounistikó Kómma Elládas, KKE). As a result of the KKE's [[Revisionism (Marxism)|revisionist]] turn in 1956, [[Nikos Zachariadis]] was expelled and many hard-line Stalinists were excluded from the party. A lot of former KKE members founded the [[Organisation of Marxists-Leninists of Greece]] (OMLE) in 1964, and published the ''Anagennissi'' (''Rebirth'') monthly review and the weekly ''Laïkós Drómos'' (''People's Road''). Many people who would eventually found the Communist Organization of Greece joined the OMLE.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://international.koel.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22:the-influence-of-the-chinese-revolution-on-the-communist-movement-of-greece-may-2006&catid=6:communist-movement&Itemid=6 |title=The influence of the Chinese Revolution on the Communist Movement of Greece |access-date=2012-01-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810235907/http://international.koel.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22:the-influence-of-the-chinese-revolution-on-the-communist-movement-of-greece-may-2006&catid=6:communist-movement&Itemid=6 |archive-date=2014-08-10 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1984, the future founders of the KOE established {{proper name|A/synechia}}, an effort aimed at rebuilding the communist movement, without revisionist or leftist trends, based on an analysis of the world development and the crisis that was shocking both western and eastern camps. The most prominent member of them was [[Yannis Hotzeas]], who was one of the founders of both the OMLE and the KKE and was also a member of [[National Liberation Front (Greece)|EAM]] and [[United Panhellenic Organization of Youth|EPON]].

== Ideology ==
The KOE supports revolutionary Marxism,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://international.koel.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=31&Itemid=14 |title=Link to KOE's International Section of "who we are" |access-date=2010-06-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607210127/http://international.koel.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=31&Itemid=14 |archive-date=2011-06-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref> following the teachings of [[Marx]] and [[Engels]] as well as the experience of communist movements around the world, including [[Leninism]] and [[Maoism]]. The KOE was also against Marxist revisionism and against viewing it as merely academic or theoretical instead of practical.

== Paper ==
[[File:Aristera t01 1996 02.jpg|thumb|left|The first issue of "Aristerá!" in 1996]]

The party paper was called ''Aristerá!'' ("Left!"). ''Aristerá!'' was first published in February 1996 as a monthly paper, eventually becoming biweekly. The last issue of the paper was published in January 2010.<ref>[http://koel.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&id=9&Itemid=163 Link to "Aristerá!" archive in the KOE's website]</ref>

Since February 2010, the KOE has published the newspaper ''Drómos tis Aristerás''<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.edromos.gr/ |title=Link to the homepage of "Dromos tis Aristeras" |access-date=2010-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510170549/http://www.edromos.gr/ |archive-date=2011-05-10 |url-status=dead }}</ref> ({{Langx|el|Δρόμος της αριστεράς}}, ''Road of the Left'') with another left party also affiliated to the [[Coalition of the Radical Left]] (SYRIZA), [[Movement for the Unity of Action of the Left|KEDA]]. The newspaper's publishing committee mostly consists of members who are unaffiliated with any Greek leftist party, and the newspaper's slogan is "from all the left, for all the left". People who collaborate with ''Drómos tis Aristerás'' include [[Mumia Abu-Jamal]], political cartoonist [[Carlos Latuff]], [[Communist Party of the Philippines]] leader [[Jose Maria Sison]], and American historian, author, and social activist [[Max Elbaum]].

== Elections ==
A/synecheia participated in the [[Local elections in Greece|municipal elections]] of [[1994 Greek local elections|1994]] and [[1998 Greek local elections|1998]], taking approximately 4% of the votes.{{citation needed|date=November 2011}} The party won approximately 9,800 votes in the [[1999 European Parliament election in Greece|1999 European parliamentary elections]]. The KOE supported the [[Coalition of the Radical Left]] in 2004, although it did not present its own candidates. The KOE also abstained from the [[2004 European Parliament election in Greece|2004 European parliamentary elections]].

The KOE affiliated itself with the SYRIZA on 20 June 2007. The best scores of the KOE's candidates on the joint ticket with SYRIZA in the [[2007 Greek legislative election]]s were in Aitoloakarnania (1st with 1,126 votes), Achaia (2nd with 2,628 votes), Thessaloniki (2nd with 2,165 votes), Larissa (3rd with 1,294 votes), Attica (3rd with 4,022 votes) and Piraeus (3rd with 1,958 votes).

In the last two, consecutive national parliamentary elections in May and June 2012, KOE elected 2 and 5 respectively of its members in the national parliament as a part of SYRIZA, which ended up as the second party. Following the June 2012 elections, 5 MPs from SYRIZA were members of KOE: Vasileios Hadjilamprou (Achaia), Dimitrios Kodelas (Argolida), Alexandros Meikopoulos (Magnisia), Vasileios Kiriakakis (Fthiotida) and Maria Triantafyllou (Aitoloakarnania).

As of 10 September 2015 KOE announced they would not run for the [[September 2015 Greek legislative election|snap election in September]] encouraging its voters to absent from the elections or vote for 'no one'.

{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background:#c9c9c9;"
! colspan="9"|'''Electoral tactics since 2000<br /><small>(year links to election page)</small>'''
|-
! style="width: 20px"|Year
! style="width: 150px"|Coalition
! style="width:140px"|Type of election
! style="width: 60px"|Votes
! style="width: 20px"|%
! style="width: 20px"|Seats
|-
! [[2000 Greek legislative election|2000]]
| {{center| Aristera! - [[Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Greece|M-L KKE]]}}
| {{center| Parliament}}
| {{center| 5,866}}
| {{center| 0,09%}}
| {{center| 0/300}}
|-
! [[2007 Greek legislative election|2007]]
| {{center| [[Coalition of the Radical Left]]}}
| {{center| Parliament}}
| {{center| 361,211}}
| {{center| 5,04%}}
| {{center| 14/300}}
|-
! [[2009 European Parliament election in Greece|2009]]
| {{center| [[Coalition of the Radical Left]]}}
| {{center| European Parliament}}
| {{center| 240,898}}
| {{center| 4,70%}}
| {{center| 1/22}}
|-
! [[2009 Greek legislative election|2009]]
| {{center| [[Coalition of the Radical Left]]}}
| {{center| Parliament}}
| {{center| 315,627}}
| {{center| 4,60%}}
| {{center| 13/300}}
|-
! [[May 2012 Greek legislative election|2012]]
| {{center| [[Coalition of the Radical Left]]}}
| {{center| Parliament}}
| {{center| 1,061,265}}
| {{center| 16.78%}}
| {{center| 52/300}}
|}

== Front organizations ==
The workers' front organization of the KOE is called the "Union of the Working People", the youth group of the KOE is simply called the "Youth of KOE" and its students are members of "Left Unity", which includes several leftist students' organizations supporting SYRIZA. Until 2008, its students led the Left Groups (Aristera Schimata), created in 1989.

== International relations ==
The Communist Organization of Greece is a member of the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations (ICMLPO),<ref>[http://www.icmlpo.de/us/8con/participant/participant.htm List of participants in the 8th ICMLPO]</ref> a founding member of the Conference of Communist and Workers' Parties of the Balkans (CCWPB)<ref>[http://www.balkanconference.net/english/pages/english/members.html List of participants in the CCWPB] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414235027/http://www.balkanconference.net/english/pages/english/members.html |date=2012-04-14 }}</ref> and a founding member of the Anti-Imperialist Space in the [[European Social Forum]].

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website|https://koel.gr}}
* [https://edromos.gr Drómos tis Aristerás]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130714155704/http://balkanconference.com CCWPB]

{{Greek political parties}}
{{European communist parties}}
{{Portal bar|Communism|Politics|Greece}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Communist Organization of Greece}}

[[Category:Communist parties in Greece]]
[[Category:Former components of Syriza]]
[[Category:International Conference of Marxist–Leninist Parties and Organizations (International Newsletter)]]
[[Category:International League of Peoples' Struggle]]
[[Category:International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organizations|Greece]]