View source for Communist Party of Greece

{{Short description|Political party in Greece}}
{{Redirect|KKE}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox political party
| logo_size        = 150
| colorcode        = {{Political party data|color}}
| name             = Communist Party of Greece
| native_name      = Κομμουνιστικό Κόμμα Ελλάδας
| native_name_lang = el
| abbreviation     = KKE
| logo             = Kke.svg
| leader1_title    = General Secretary
| leader1_name     = [[Dimitris Koutsoumpas]]
| foundation       = {{OldStyleDateNY|17 November 1918|4 November}} as "SEKE"
| founders         = {{Collapsible list|[[Demosthenes Ligdopoulos]]<br />Stamatis Kokkinos<br />Michael Sideris<br />Nikos Demetratos<br />Nikos Giannios<br />[[Avraam Benaroya]]<br />Michael Oikonomou<br />Spyros Komiotis <br />Giorgos Pispinis<br />Aristos Arvanitis<ref>{{Cite news |last=ΔΕΝΕΖΑΚΗΣ |first=ΑΝΔΡΕΑΣ |date=2021-11-16 |title=17 Νοέμβρη 1918 – Η ίδρυση του ΚΚΕ (του Ανδρέα Δενεζάκη) |url=https://www.imerodromos.gr/17-noemvri-1918-i-idrysi-toy-kke/ |access-date=2022-09-14 |website=Ημεροδρόμος |archive-date=2 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220202195512/https://www.imerodromos.gr/17-noemvri-1918-i-idrysi-toy-kke/ |url-status=live}}</ref>}}
| banned           = {{Start date and age|1936|df=y}}
| legalised        = {{Start date and age|1974|df=y}}
| headquarters     = 145 Leof. Irakliou, 142 31 [[Athens]] ([[Nea Ionia]])
| newspaper        = {{lang|el-Latn|[[Rizospastis]]}}
| student_wing     = {{lang|el-Latn|[[Panspoudastiki]]}}
| youth_wing       = [[Communist Youth of Greece]]
| wing1_title      = Trade union wing
| wing1            = [[All-Workers Militant Front]]
| ideology         = {{nowrap|[[Communism]]{{refn|<ref name="auto">{{cite web |last=Sam |first=Bollier |title=A guide to Greece's political parties |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2012/5/1/a-guide-to-greeces-political-parties |accessdate= 2014-12-25 |date=2012-05-01}}</ref><ref name=Nordsieck>{{cite web|url=http://parties-and-elections.eu/greece.html|title=Greece|last=Nordsieck|first=Wolfram|date=2019|website=Parties and Elections in Europe|access-date=22 April 2018|archive-date=26 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180126022304/http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/greece.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="santana">{{cite journal |title=Electoral support for left wing populist parties in Europe: addressing the globalization cleavage |first1=Andrés |last1=Santana |first2=José |last2=Rama |year=2018 |journal=European Politics and Society |doi=10.1080/23745118.2018.1482848 |volume=19 |issue=5 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23745118.2018.1482848 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |page=13 |quote="Finally, although some authors posit that KKE in Greece has assumed a populist discourse, for others, the KKE is a communist party with a clear Leninist-Marxist discourse."|url-access=subscription }}</ref>}}<br />[[Marxism-Leninism]]<ref>{{bulleted list|{{cite web |last=Sam |first=Bollier |title=A guide to Greece's political parties |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2012/5/1/a-guide-to-greeces-political-parties |accessdate= 2014-12-25 |date=2012-05-01}}|{{cite web|url=http://parties-and-elections.eu/greece.html|title=Greece|last=Nordsieck|first=Wolfram|date=2019|website=Parties and Elections in Europe|access-date=22 April 2018|archive-date=26 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180126022304/http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/greece.html|url-status=live}}|{{cite web|url=https://vouliwatch.gr/parties/k-k-e|title=KKE|website=VouliWatch|access-date=22 April 2024}}|{{cite journal |title=Electoral support for left wing populist parties in Europe: addressing the globalization cleavage |first1=Andrés |last1=Santana |first2=José |last2=Rama |year=2018 |journal=European Politics and Society |doi=10.1080/23745118.2018.1482848 |volume=19 |issue=5 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23745118.2018.1482848 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |page=13 |quote="Finally, although some authors posit that KKE in Greece has assumed a populist discourse, for others, the KKE is a communist party with a clear Leninist-Marxist discourse."|url-access=subscription }}|{{cite journal |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/394167 |title=After the Storm: Party Systems in Southern Europe in the Wake of the Eurocrisis |journal=Suvremeni Mediteran |volume=1 |issue=1 |year=2022 |first=Višeslav |last=Raos |doi=10.17818/SM/2021/1.2 |publisher=[[:hr:Hrčak (portal)|Hrčak]] |page=28 |quote="The rather unusual far-right outliers for the Greek party system in the 2000s pertain to the Greek Communist Party (KKE), an orthodox Marxist-Leninist party with underpinnings of social conservatism."}}}}</ref><br />[[Social conservatism]]<ref name="all_ze_cons">{{bulleted list|{{cite book |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Radical Left Parties in Europe |editor1=Fabien Escalona |year=2023 |isbn=978-1-137-56264-7 |doi=10.1057/978-1-137-56264-7 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |chapter=Conclusion |first1=Daniel |last1=Keith |first2=Luke |last2=March |author-link2=:es:Luke March |page=703 |quote=However, most of the parties from these subgroups promote conservative social policies e.g. regarding the teaching of national history. For example, the KKE opposed same-sex civil partnerships (Polenta, 2016). Criticisms of the EU can also be anchored in nationalism (e.g. PCP). As Luke March shows in Chapter 20, in ECE, RLPs often promote nationalist, sexist and homophobic positions.}}|{{cite web |url=https://gay45.eu/gay-greece/ |title=The Cradle of Queer Civilisation? Why Gays Still Love Greece |date=23 February 2024 |first=Danny |last=Tye |quote="NPR reported that political opposition to the bill was present within the Hellenic Parliament, though limited to small far-right parties and the socially conservative Communist Party." |website=[[Gay 45]]}}|{{cite journal |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/394167 |title=After the Storm: Party Systems in Southern Europe in the Wake of the Eurocrisis |journal=Suvremeni Mediteran |volume=1 |issue=1 |year=2022 |first=Višeslav |last=Raos |doi=10.17818/SM/2021/1.2 |publisher=[[:hr:Hrčak (portal)|Hrčak]] |page=28 |quote="The rather unusual far-right outliers for the Greek party system in the 2000s pertain to the Greek Communist Party (KKE), an orthodox Marxist-Leninist party with underpinnings of social conservatism."}}|{{cite web |url=https://www.semafor.com/article/11/22/2024/conservative-leftists-want-to-upset-the-political-spectrum |title='Conservative leftists' want to upset the political spectrum |date=22 November 2024 |first=Brad |last=Glasser |website=[[Semafor (website)|Semafor]] |quote="BSW has been placed in a tradition of “Old Left” parties that retain the social conservatism of the Soviet era. Communist and social democratic parties across Europe fall into this vein, like the Communist Party of Greece, which has campaigned against same-sex marriage in the country."}}|{{cite web |title=Why the left failed |first=Michael |last=Chessum |website=[[The New World (British newspaper)|The New World]] |date=16 February 2025 |url=https://www.thenewworld.co.uk/michael-chessum-why-the-left-failed/ |quote="The Greek Communist Party (KKE), for instance, has long combined strong leftist economic policies with socially conservative views, including opposition to gay marriage."}}|{{cite web |url=https://carta-politica.webnode.page/l/%28re%29-elecciones-griegas%3A-%C2%BFotra-mayoria-absoluta-para-la-derecha/ |title=(Re) Elecciones Griegas: ¿Otra mayoría absoluta para la derecha? |date=24 June 2023 |language=es |website=Carta Política |quote="Asimismo, la presencia del KKE, el cual no solo es socialmente conservador, sino también pro - ruso, rompe casi todas las posibilidades de esta unidad, pues muchos dirigentes de este partido prefieren la continuación de ND antes que un gobierno progresista." |trans-quote="Furthermore, the presence of the KKE, which is not only socially conservative but also pro-Russian, undermines almost all possibilities for this unity, as many leaders of this party prefer the continuation of ND to a progressive government."}}|{{cite journal |title=Índice del Populismo Autoritario |date=April 2024 |first1=Andreas Johansson |last1=Heinö |author-link1=:sv:Andreas Johansson Heinö |language=es |journal=Timbro |url=https://www.epicenternetwork.eu/publications/timbro-authoritarian-populism-index-2024/ |publisher=Swedish Free Enterprise Foundation |page=169 |quote="Además de estar muy a la izquierda en cuestiones económicas, el KKE está en contra de la pertenencia de Grecia a la OTAN y a la UE, y adopta posturas conservadoras en cuestiones sociales." |trans-quote="In addition to being far to the left on economic issues, the KKE is against the Greek membership in NATO and the EU and takes conservative positions on social issues."}}|{{cite thesis |title=O marxismo-leninismo e a crise económica e financeira de 2008: oportunidades e desafios em análise |url=https://repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt/bitstream/1822/61136/1/Jose_%2BPedro%2BMartins%2BLopes.pdf |language=pt |first=José Pedro |last=Martins Lopes |publisher=Universidade do Minho |degree=Mestrado em Ciência Política |page=90 |date=April 2019 |quote="Demonstra-se nesta dissertação que a crise trouxe um aumento do ceticismo face à integração europeia para ambos os partidos, que o KKE se tornou mais autoritário no pós-crise e o PCP mais nacionalista. Os comunistas gregos mantêm-se mais à esquerda e mais eurocéticos do que os portugueses. PCP e KKE radicalizaram ligeiramente o seu posicionamento na dimensão esquerda-direita económica e não só se tornaram um pouco mais céticos face à integração europeia, como aumentaram a saliência desta dimensão nas suas posições políticas. O posicionamento de ambos face às new politics não registou alterações significativas, especialmente no que toca ao conservadorismo social." |trans-quote="This dissertation demonstrates that the crisis has led to increased scepticism towards European integration for both parties, with the KKE becoming more authoritarian in the post-crisis period and the PCP becoming more nationalist. The Greek communists remain further to the left and more Eurosceptic than their Portuguese counterparts. The PCP and KKE have slightly radicalised their position on the economic left-right dimension and have not only become a little more sceptical about European integration, but have also increased the prominence of this dimension in their political positions. The position of both parties on new politics has not changed significantly, especially with regard to their social conservatism."}}}}The party is also considered [[cultural conservatism|culturally conservative]]:<br>{{bulleted list|{{cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of Modern Greek Politics |chapter=The Communists |first=Giorgos |last=Charalambous |date=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-882510-4 |edition=1st |editor1=Kevin Featherstone |editor2=Dimitri A. Sotiropoulos |page=324 |quote="Moreover, Greek communism is pervaded by a cultural conservatism, most evident in the KKE’s adamantly negative position on soft drugs and its recent intervention concerning the (SYRIZA) Government’s proposed legislation on same-sex marriage (the Co-habitation Agreement)."}}|{{cite journal |url=https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/athen/21157.pdf |title=The Greek Party Landscape in 2023 |journal=Democracy and Human Rights Policy Brief |publisher=Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung |quote="By looking at the distribution of KKE voters’ answers on each of the 30 issues included in the What2Vote questionnaire, we are able to identify the main sources of party–voter incongruence. On the cultural axis, much of the incongruence results from the party’s conservative stances on issues." |first=Emmanouil |last=Tsatsanis |editor1=Lamprini Rori |editor2=Vasiliki Georgiadou |editor3=Dimitri A. Sotiropoulos |editor4=Eftychia Teperoglou |editor5=Yannis Tsirbas |editor6=Lamprini Rori |year=2024 |page=11}}|{{cite thesis |title=The Missing Quadrant: Left-conservative parties and voters in Western Europe |degree=Master in Political Science |first=Michael |last=Souer |publisher=Universiteit Leiden |url=https://studenttheses.universiteitleiden.nl/handle/1887/3160270 |year=2020 |page=14 |quote="In 2006, before these developments, Greece had two parties positioned in the leftconservative quadrant; the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and the Democratic Social Movement (DIKKI), a split-off of PASOK, both combined a far-left economic position with a mildly culturally conservative position. While DIKKI has since descended into obscurity, Figure 4 reveals that the KKE has in fact moved further right on the sociocultural dimension, from a 6.1 to a 7."}}|{{cite thesis |title='What do you want the world to be like in the future?' Utopian ethnography in the crisis-ordinary of late 2010s Pátra, Greece |year=2020 |first=Judy |last=Thorne |degree=Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities |publisher=University of Manchester |quote="Cóstas point blank refused to attend the party’s summer cultural festival, at which the ageing Greek rockstar Vasilis Papakonstantinou headlined, to an enormous crowd of people who my KKE informants pointed out to me were not communists but who had just showed up for the free concert. Cóstas told me that this kind of crowd-pleasing was how the party justified its cultural conservatism." |url=https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/what-do-you-want-the-world-to-be-like-in-the-future-utopian-ethno}}}}</ref><br>[[Hard Euroscepticism]]{{refn|<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{cite book |title=Crisis Elections, New Contenders and Government Formation: Breaking the Mould in Southern Europe |editor1=Anna Bosco |editor2=Susannah Verney |isbn=978-1-138-57243-0 |year=2018 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |chapter=SYRIZA’s Electoral Rise in Greece: Protest, Trust and the Art of Political Manipulation |first=Myrto |last=Tsakatika |page=215 |quote="SYRIZA could be argued to have been in a better position than both the hard eurosceptic KKE and the ‘uncritically’ pro-European DIMAR and The River to benefit from this upsurge."}}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis |title=O marxismo-leninismo e a crise económica e financeira de 2008: oportunidades e desafios em análise |url=https://repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt/bitstream/1822/61136/1/Jose_%2BPedro%2BMartins%2BLopes.pdf |language=pt |first=José Pedro |last=Martins Lopes |publisher=Universidade do Minho |degree=Mestrado em Ciência Política |page=11 |date=April 2019 |quote="O autor demonstra que a maioria dos PER são soft eurosceptics (por exemplo, Partido Comunista Espanhol, Die Linke e Rifondazione); contudo, comprova também a existência hard eurosceptics (por exemplo, KKE e PCP)." |trans-quote="The author demonstrates that most PERs are soft Eurosceptics (e.g., Spanish Communist Party, Die Linke, and Rifondazione); however, he also proves the existence of hard Eurosceptics (e.g., KKE and PCP)."}}</ref>}}}}
| position         = [[Far-left politics|Far-left]]{{refn|<ref name="Conti2013">{{cite book|author=Nicolò Conti|title=Party Attitudes Towards the EU in the Member States: Parties for Europe, Parties Against Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1lpKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA155|date=4 December 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-93656-5|page=155|access-date=30 September 2016|archive-date=25 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231225223722/https://books.google.com/books?id=1lpKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA155#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Steen2014">{{cite book|author=Bart van der Steen|title=The City Is Ours: Squatting and Autonomous Movements in Europe from the 1970s to the Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Se0uBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA75|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729154642/https://books.google.com/books?id=Se0uBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA75|url-status=dead|archive-date=29 July 2020|date=1 September 2014|publisher=PM Press|isbn=978-1-60486-683-4|page=75}}</ref><ref name="SandersMagalhaes2012">{{cite book|author1=David Sanders|author2=Pedro Magalhaes|author3=Gabor Toka|title=Citizens and the European Polity: Mass Attitudes Towards the European and National Polities|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jpINN-2H-rEC&pg=PA86|date=26 July 2012|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-960233-9|page=86|access-date=30 September 2016|archive-date=25 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231225223727/https://books.google.com/books?id=jpINN-2H-rEC&pg=PA86#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=March |first=Luke |title=Contemporary Far Left Parties in Europe: From Marxism to the Mainstream? |url=https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/id/ipa/05818.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612140330/http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/id/ipa/05818.pdf |archive-date=2018-06-12 |url-status=live |journal=IPG |volume=1 |date=2009 |pages=126–143 |via=[[Friedrich Ebert Foundation]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Escalona |first1=Fabien |last2=Keith |first2=Daniel |last3=March |first3=Luke |date=2023-04-17 |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Radical Left Parties in Europe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wTu6EAAAQBAJ |publisher=[[Springer Nature]] |page=263 |isbn=978-1137562647 |quote=There were also two parties of the radical left ranging from 10 to 15 per cent of the vote. Before the 1990s, these were the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and the Communist Party of Greece (interior) (KKE [es]). After the 1990s, these were the KKE and Synaspismós (Coalition of Left and Progress/Coalition of Left of Movements and Ecology), which later transformed into Syriza (Coalition of Radical Left). |access-date=2025-08-15}}</ref>}}{{cref|A}}
| national         = [[National Liberation Front (Greece)|National Liberation Front]] (1941–1946)<br>[[Synaspismos|Coalition of the Left and Progress]] (1989–1991)
| international    = [[International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties]] (IMCWP){{efn|The party was formerly part of the [[Communist International]] (Comintern; 1920–1943).}}
| european         = [[European Communist Action]] (2023–present)<ref>{{Cite web |title=European Communist Action {{!}} Founding Declaration |url=http://www.eurcomact.org/documents/founding-declaration/ |access-date=2023-12-17 |website=www.eurcomact.org}}</ref><br>'''Historical:'''<br>[[Initiative of Communist and Workers' Parties|INITIATIVE]] (2013–2023)
| europarl         = [[Non-Inscrits]]<ref name="stance">{{Cite web|url=https://inter.kke.gr/en/articles/Statement-of-the-Central-Committee-of-the-KKE-on-the-stance-of-the-KKE-in-the-EU-parliament/|title=Communist Party of Greece – Statement of the Central Committee of the KKE on the stance of the KKE in the EU parliament|website=inter.kke.gr|accessdate=18 December 2022|archive-date=22 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522045040/https://inter.kke.gr/en/articles/Statement-of-the-Central-Committee-of-the-KKE-on-the-stance-of-the-KKE-in-the-EU-parliament/|url-status=live}}</ref>
| slogan           = ''Προλετάριοι όλων των χωρών, ενωθείτε!''<br>('[[Workers of the world, unite!|Proletarians of all countries, unite]]')
<!-- Values obtained from Wikidata; to edit, see https://www.wikidata.org/ -->| seats1_title     = [[Hellenic Parliament|Parliament]]
| seats1           = {{Political party data|seat composition bar|ms-lower-house}}
| seats2_title     = [[European Parliament]]
| seats2           = {{Political party data|seat composition bar|EP}}
| anthem           = [[The Internationale]]
| symbol           = [[File:Election symbol of the Communist Party of Greece.svg{{!}}class=skin-invert|125px]]
| flag             = [[File:KKE Flag.png|125px]]
| country          = Greece
| website          = {{Political party data|website}}
| footnotes        = {{cnote|A|The party is also described as [[Left-conservatism|left-conservative]],<ref name="left_con">{{bulleted list|{{cite thesis |title=The Missing Quadrant: Left-conservative parties and voters in Western Europe |degree=Master in Political Science |first=Michael |last=Souer |publisher=Universiteit Leiden |url=https://studenttheses.universiteitleiden.nl/handle/1887/3160270 |year=2020 |page=14 |quote="In 2006, before these developments, Greece had two parties positioned in the leftconservative quadrant; the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and the Democratic Social Movement (DIKKI), a split-off of PASOK, both combined a far-left economic position with a mildly culturally conservative position. While DIKKI has since descended into obscurity, Figure 4 reveals that the KKE has in fact moved further right on the sociocultural dimension, from a 6.1 to a 7."}}|{{cite web |url=https://www.pressenza.com/2023/06/national-elections-in-greece-conservatism-and-the-far-rightwin/ |title=National elections in Greece: Conservatism and the far right win |date=28 June 2023 |website=Pressenza Athens |location=Athens |quote="Only the conservative left, expressed by the KKE, emerged stronger, while MeRA25 was left out of parliament."}}|{{cite thesis |title=Far-Left Party Family in Europe: The socioeconomic factors of far-left voting |location=Athens |year=2020 |first=Maria |last=Kostopoulou |publisher=Athens University of Economics and Business |degree=Bachelor |page=15 |quote="The Communist Party of Greece* (KKE) classified as a conservative extremist far-left party and the Syriza classified as a radical far-left party until 2015."}}}}</ref> or left-authoritarian,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW): Left-Wing Authoritarian—and Populist? An Empirical Analysis |first=Jan Philipp |last=Thomeczek |year=2024 |journal=Politische Vierteljahresschrift |volume=65 |issue=1 |page=552 |publisher=Springer |doi=10.1007/s11615-024-00544-z |quote="According to the Chapel Hill Expert Survey (Bakker et al. 2019), there are several parties with a similar left-authoritarian profile in Europe. Examples are the Social Democratic Party in Romania (PSD), the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), and far-left parties such as the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM). Furthermore, a similar profile is found in the Law and Justice Party (PiS) in Poland (Hillen and Steiner 2020, p. 344), which led the government for almost 20 years."|hdl=10419/315570 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> given its conservative stances on social issues.<ref name="all_ze_cons"/>}}
}}
{{Communist Party of Greece}}
The '''Communist Party of Greece''' ({{langx|el|Κομμουνιστικό Κόμμα Ελλάδας|Kommounistikó Kómma Elládas}}, '''KKE''') is a [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] [[List of political parties in Greece|political party in Greece]].<ref name=Nordsieck>{{cite web|url=http://parties-and-elections.eu/greece.html|title=Greece|last=Nordsieck|first=Wolfram|date=2019|website=Parties and Elections in Europe|access-date=22 April 2018|archive-date=26 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180126022304/http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/greece.html|url-status=live}}</ref> It was founded in 1918 as the '''Socialist Workers' Party of Greece''' ('''SEKE'''){{efn|Greek: Σοσιαλιστικό Εργατικό Κόμμα Ελλάδος – '''''S'''osialistikó '''E'''rgatikó '''K'''ómma '''E'''lládos''. After the party's admission to the Communist International in 1920, it changed its full name to '''Socialist Workers' Party of Greece (Communist)''' ('''SEKE (K)''').}} and adopted its current name in November 1924.<ref name="newsbeast">{{Cite web|last=Kyrkos|first=Vaggelis|date=3 November 2018|title=Ποιοι ήταν αυτοί που ίδρυσαν το ΚΚΕ [Who were founders of the KKE]|url=https://www.newsbeast.gr/weekend/arthro/4157041/poioi-itan-aytoi-poy-idrysan-to-kke|url-status=live|access-date=|website=Newsbeast|language=el|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181104004301/https://www.newsbeast.gr/weekend/arthro/4157041/poioi-itan-aytoi-poy-idrysan-to-kke |archive-date=4 November 2018}}</ref> It is the oldest [[political party]] in modern [[Politics of Greece|Greek politics]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bollier |first=Sam |date=1 May 2012 |title=A guide to Greece's political parties |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2012/5/1/a-guide-to-greeces-political-parties |url-status=live |access-date=|website= [[Al Jazeera English|Al Jazeera]] |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709181927/https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2012/5/1/a-guide-to-greeces-political-parties |archive-date=9 July 2021}}</ref>

The party was banned in 1936, but played a significant role in the [[Greek resistance]] and the [[Greek Civil War]], and its membership peaked in the mid-1940s. Legalization of the KKE was restored following the fall of the [[Greek Junta]] in 1974. The party has achieved appointing [[Hellenic Parliament|MPs]] in all elections since its restoration in 1974, and took part in a coalition government in 1989 when it got more than 13% of the vote.

The KKE participates in the [[International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties]] (IMCWP) and the [[European Communist Action]] (ECA).<ref>{{cite web |date=27 November 2023 |title=European Communist Action's Founding Declaration |url=https://www.idcommunism.com/2023/11/european-communist-actions-founding-declaration.html?m=1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202090141/https://www.idcommunism.com/2023/11/european-communist-actions-founding-declaration.html?m=1 |archive-date=2 December 2023 |access-date=1 December 2023}}</ref>

The KKE describes itself as a revolutionary party that wants to build a socialist-communist society through the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Καταστατικό |url=https://www.kke.gr/arxes-stoxoi/katastatiko/index.html |access-date=2025-06-21 |website=www.kke.gr |language=el}}</ref> In addition to being a [[Communism|communist]] party, it has also been described as [[Stalinist]],<ref name="stalinist"/> [[Nationalism|nationalist]] or [[Left-wing nationalism|left-wing nationalist]],<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Halikiopoulou |first1=Daphne |last2=Vasilopoulou |first2=Sofia |last3=Nanou |first3=Kyriaki |date=19 July 2010 |title=The Paradox of Nationalism: The Common Denominator of Radical Left and Radical Right Euroscepticism |url=https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1643722 |website=SSRN |ssrn=1643722 |quote=α) «Although KKE is not an anti-immigrant party (KKE, 2009: 14), it is still a party whose rhetoric is strongly nationalistic.» β) «Similarly to the KKE, this radical left nationalism can be understood as anti-imperialist, anti-collaborationist, anti-Western and economically isolationist.}}</ref> [[Economic nationalism|economic nationalist]],<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Halikiopoulou |first1=Daphne |last2=Vasilopoulou |first2=Sofia |last3=Nanou |first3=Kyriaki |date=19 July 2010 |title=The Paradox of Nationalism: The Common Denominator of Radical Left and Radical Right Euroscepticism |url=https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1643722 |website=SSRN |ssrn=1643722 |quote=α) The party suggests that the only economic route for Greece is one of self-sustenance which would entail complete nationalisation of the means of production and a return to more traditional means of economic development such as agriculture of specifically Greek products (KKE, 2007: 12). β)) «KKE's economic nationalism equates the EU with globalisation and globalisation with capitalism. The party suggests that the only economic route for Greece is one of self-sustenance which would entail complete nationalisation of the means of production and a return to more traditional means of economic development such as agriculture of specifically Greek products (KKE, 2007: 12).»}}</ref> [[socially conservative]],<ref name="soc_con"/> [[culturally conservative]],<ref name="cult_con"/> and [[Anti-imperialism|anti-imperialist]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Political parties of Greece |url=https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/index2.php?url=https://www.fes-athens.org/projekte/political-parties-of-greece/#federation=archive.wikiwix.com&tab=url |access-date=2025-06-21 |website=archive.wikiwix.com |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Eleftheriou |first=Costas |date=2015-01-01 |title=Greek anti-imperialism: contemporary era |url=https://www.academia.edu/43084048 |journal=Cope, Z. And I. Ness (Eds), Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism, Basingstoke: Palgrave/Macmillan, Pp. 341-346}}</ref>

== History ==
=== Foundation ===
[[File:Kke plaque 1st seke congress.jpg|thumb|160px|Plaque at the building of [[Piraeus]], where the first congress and foundation of the party was held]]
[[File:1918 SEKE congress building.jpg|thumb|View of the Piraeus building]]

The [[October Revolution]] of the [[Bolsheviks]] in Russia in 1917 gave impetus for the foundation of [[Communist party|communist parties]] in many countries globally. The KKE was founded on 17 November 1918 by [[Aristos Arvanitis]], [[Demosthenes Ligdopoulos]], [[Stamatis Kokkinos]], [[Michael Sideris]], {{ill|Nikos Dimitratos|el|Νίκος Δημητράτος}}, and others.<ref name="newsbeast" /> The party was run by a five-member Central Committee which initially consisted of Dimitratos, Ligdopoulos, Sideris, Arvanitis and Kokkinos, and had a three-member Audit Committee initially including [[George Pispinis]], [[Spyros Koumiotis]], and [[Avraam Benaroya]].<ref name="newsbeast" /> Ligdopoulos was elected director of the party's official newspaper, ''Ergatikos Agon''.<ref name="newsbeast" />

The background of the KKE has roots in more than 60 years of small [[Socialism|socialist]], [[Anarchism|anarchist]], and [[Communism|communist]] groups, mainly in [[Industrialisation|industrialized]] areas. Following the example of the [[Paris Commune]] and the 1892 Chicago workers' movement for the [[Eight-hour day|eight-hour working day]], these groups had as immediate political goals the unification of Greek workers into [[trade union]]s, the implementation of an eight-hour day in Greece and better salaries for workers. Inspired by the Paris Commune and the communist revolutionary efforts in the [[United States]], the [[German Empire]], and [[Russian Empire|Imperial Russia]] at the beginning of the century and the destruction that almost 20 years of wars had brought upon the Greek workers, a unified social-communist party was founded in Greece.<ref>Οι ρίζες του Ελληνικού Κομμουνιστικού Κινήματος – Roots of the Greek Communist Movement.</ref>

At the Second Congress of the SEKE in April 1920, the party decided to affiliate with the [[Communist International|Comintern]], an international communist organization founded in [[Moscow]] in 1919. It changed its name to the '''Socialist Workers' Party of Greece (Communist)''' ('''SEKE(K)'''). A new Central Committee was elected, which included Nikos and [[Panaghis Dimitratos]], [[Yanis Kordatos]], G. Doumas, and M. Sideris.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}} At the Third Extraordinary Congress of the SEKE(K) in November 1924, the party was renamed the Communist Party of Greece and adopted the principles of [[Marxism–Leninism]]. [[Pandelis Pouliopoulos]] was elected as general-secretary. Ever since, the party has functioned on the basis of [[democratic centralism]].

=== KKE between the two World Wars ===
KKE strongly opposed the military and political involvement of the [[Kingdom of Greece]] in the [[Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)|Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922]], which it considered an imperialistic scheme to control the market of [[Asia Minor]] given the new political situation after the [[Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire|defeat and collapse of the Ottoman Empire]]. KKE members propagated this position both on the front—which provoked accusations of treason from the Greek government—as well as in the mainland. KKE collaborated with the Soviet ambassador to persuade [[Eleftherios Venizelos|Venizelos]]’ administration to withdraw its troops from Asia Minor and to persuade the [[Soviet Union]] to exert political pressure on [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]] to allow autonomy for Greek cities in Asia Minor.<ref name="Andrew L. Zapantis 1983">Andrew L. Zapantis, ''Greek Soviet Relations 1917–1941'', 1983.</ref>

KKE played a prominent role in strikes, anti-war demonstrations, foundation of trade unions and worker associations. KKE and other leftist political forces fostered the creation of labor unions in all sectors, including the General Greek Workers Confederation (ΓΣΕΕ), which shared common goals with KKE.<ref>Δοκίμιο Ιστορίας του ΚΚΕ-Study on the history of CPG</ref><ref>KKE, Επίσημα Κείμενα, τ1, τ2 – CPG, Official Documents v1, v2</ref>

These activities met by opposition from the Mid-War governments. In 1929, as minister of Education in the government of [[Eleftherios Venizelos]], [[Georgios Papandreou]] passed legislation against organised communist teachers, known as [[Idionymon]]. Such legislation was often used to prosecute KKE members and other leftist activists.<ref>S. Seferiadis, 'The Coercive Impulse: Policing Labour in Interwar Greece', ''Journal of Contemporary History'', January 2005.</ref> Under the Idionymon all members of the Communist Party of Greece, being considered dangers to the state, were to be removed from public service or put in exile.

The first prison camps for left-wing citizens and communists were founded in that era. KKE and its organisations, although small in numbers, continue operating in all Greek major cities, especially industrial areas such as [[Athens]], [[Piraeus]], [[Patras|Patra]], [[Thessaly]] and [[Volos]], [[Thessaloniki]], [[Kavala]], and elsewhere.<ref>Δοκίμιο Ιστορίας του ΚΚΕ – Study in the History of CPG</ref>

The KKE collaborated with other newly founded Communist Parties to oppose the rise of the [[Fascism in Europe|Fascist movements in Europe]]. In 1934, the [[Communist International|Comintern]] decreed that anti-fascist fronts be formed internationally. KKE responded by creating the People's Front, which was the largest Marxist anti-fascist organisation in Greece prior to the [[4th of August Regime|dictatorship]] of [[Ioannis Metaxas]]. The party was banned in 1936 by the dictatorial regime of Metaxas and brutally persecuted by his security chief, [[Konstantinos Maniadakis]]. Many KKE members were imprisoned or [[internal exile in Greece|exiled]] on isolated [[Aegean Islands]].

KKE members volunteered to fight on the side of the [[Second Spanish Republic|republican government of Spain]] during the [[Spanish Civil War]] of 1936–1939. About 440 Greeks joined the ranks of the [[International Brigades]], especially brigades such as the [[XV International Brigade]] and the [[Dimitrov Battalion]], many of whom were high-ranking KKE members.

==== The KKE and the Macedonian issue ====
After the [[Balkan Wars]], [[World War I]] and the [[Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)|Greco-Turkish War]], there were diplomatic approaches from the superpowers of that era regarding the re-drawing of Greek borders, based on the territorial claims of the [[Kingdom of Bulgaria]] and [[Turkey–United States relations|diplomatic relations between Turkey and the United States]] pressing for more territory to improve trade routes with the [[British Empire]]. The ruling parties were simultaneously trying to move parts of [[Northern Greece]] ([[Macedonia (Greece)|Macedonia]] and [[Western Thrace|Thrace]]) to Bulgaria and Turkey; and to win the return of islands in the Aegean and parts of Macedonian territory to the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia]]. This policy was repeated several times throughout the pre-war era.<ref>''Rizospastis'', 27 January 1925.</ref><ref>''Rizospastis'', 1 March 1925.</ref>

The main impetus for their demand was the ethnic and religious minorities then living inside Greek borders in Northern Greece. The KKE opposed any geo-strategic game in the area which would use minorities to start a new imperialistic war in the region. At its Third Party Congress in 1924, KKE announced its policy for the self-determination of minorities, pointing out the minorities in Macedonia.<ref>Ireneusz A. Ślupkov, ''The Communist Party of Greece and the Macedonian National Problem 1918–1940'', Szczecin, Poland, 2006, pp. 31–48</ref> Its policy was dictated by each [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist theory]], that stated any minorities should be self-determined under a common socialist state and it had its roots in the example of the newly founded Soviet Union.<ref>For The Issue of Self-Determination of the People, V.I.Lenin</ref>

In 1924, the KKE expressed the official position of the [[Communist International|Third International]] for "independent Macedonia and Thrace". Some members disagreed with this, but it remained the official position of the party and caused expulsions of communists by the Greek state.<ref>Α.&nbsp;Δάγκας&nbsp;- Γ.&nbsp;Λεοντιάδης, Κομιντέρν και Μακεδονικό ζήτημα: το ελληνικό παρασκήνιο, 1924, Τροχαλία, σελ.&nbsp;91.</ref> KKE was seen by many as a party whose policy was "the detachment of large areas of northern Greece". According to Richard Clogg, "this was dictated by Comintern and hurt the popularity of Communism at the time".<ref>Richard Clogg, ''A Concise History of Greece'', Cambridge University Press, 1992, pp. 106, 141.</ref>

In 1934, the KKE changed its view and expressed its intent to "fight for the national self-determination, under a People's Republic where all nations will found their self-determination and will build the common state of the workers".<ref>KKE, ''Πέντε Χρόνια Αγώνες 1931–1936'', Athens, 2nd ed., 1946.</ref>

[[Nikos Zachariadis]], [[General Secretary of the Communist Party|General Secretary]] of the Central Committee of the party, officially renounced KKE's policy of secession in 1945.<ref>''Rizospastis'', 24 October 1945.</ref> Anti-KKE propaganda up-to-day added on this quote the will to collaborate for this goal with the [[Bulgarians|Bulgarian]] organizations of the [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (United)|Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization]] and the [[Internal Thracian Revolutionary Organisation|Thracian Revolutionary Organisation]]. This is not mentioned on any of KKE official documents. The quote is referenced as KKE's policy for "giving Greek soil to the northern enemies of the country", a fact that can not be crossed referenced with any of KKE referenced literature of that era.

During the [[Greek Civil War|civil war]] (1946–1949), an article written by [[Nikos Zachariadis]] expressed the KKE's strategy after the envisioned victory of the [[Democratic Army of Greece]] regarding what was then known as the "Macedonian Issue": "The Macedonian people will acquire an independent, united state with a coequal position within the family of free peoples' republics within the Balkans, within the family of Peoples' Republics to which the Greek people will belong. The Macedonian people are today fighting for this independent united state with a coequal position and is helping the DSE with all its soul".<ref>''Δημοκρατικός Στρατός'' magazine, edited by Ριζοσπάστης, 1996, vol. I, pp. 408–412.</ref> The policy of self-determination for Macedonia within a People's Republic was reiterated during the 5th KKE Central Committee meeting held in January 1949, which declared that the "Macedonian people participating in the liberation struggle would find their full national re-establishment as they want giving their blood for this acquisition [...] Macedonian Communists should pay great attentions to foreign chauvinist and counteractive elements that want to break the unity between the Greek and Macedonian people. This will only serve the monarcho-fascists and [[British Empire|British imperialism]]".<ref>KKE, ''Official Documents'', vol. 6, pp. 356, 338.</ref>

In order for KKE to clear up its position on the "Macedonian subject", the 6th Congress of its Central Committee was called a few months later, during which was clearly stated that KKE was fighting for a free Greece and for a common future for Greeks and Macedonians under the same state.<ref>''Επίσημα Κείμενα ΚΚΕ'', vol. 6</ref>

The issue was ended by Central Committee in 1954 with the withdrawal of the position of self-determination of minorities. In 1988, the General Secretary of KKE, [[Charilaos Florakis]], once again presented KKE's political position on the matter in a speech to the Greek Parliament.

=== The KKE during World War II ===
==== 1940 ====
By 1940, the KKE had almost collapsed after Metaxas' dictatorship had imprisoned many of its leadership and members. By October, half of the party's two thousand members were in prison or in exile. The Security Police proved successful in dismantling the party structure; not only had it imprisoned the leadership, but it created a fake series of ''[[Rizospastis]]'', the Central Committee newspaper. This generated confusion among the remaining scattered underground members.<ref>KKE, ''History of the Communist Party of Greece.''</ref><ref>Aggelos Elefantis, ''The Promise of the Impossible Revolution, Greek Communist Party self-meditation and the bourgeois during the inter-war Period'', Themelio, 3rd edition, 1999.</ref>

A small group of old party officials formed the "Old Central Committee" and two of them were elected by the 6th Conference.<ref>KKE, ''Official Documents'', vol. 5, 1940–1945, p. 11.</ref> In his memoirs for the Greek Civil war, [[Montague Woodhouse, 5th Baron Terrington|C. M. Woodhouse]] (the [[United Kingdom|British]] liaison with Greek resistance groups during World War II) wrote: "The 'Old Central Committee' interpreted a directive issued by [[Communist International|Comintern]] as indicating collaboration with the German and Italian dictatorships, given the Hitler-Stalin alliance".<ref name="C.M. Woodhouse, 1976, p. 16">C. M. Woodhouse, ''The Struggle for Greece'', Hurst & Company, 1976, p. 16</ref> On the other hand, Woodhouse argues that [[Georgios Siantos]], who had escaped from prison; and [[Nikos Zachariadis]], who was still incarcerated, took the opposite view that KKE must support Metaxas in his fight against [[Benito Mussolini|Mussolini]].<ref name="C.M. Woodhouse, 1976, p. 16"/> The archives of KKE<ref>KKE, Official Documents, vol 5, 1940–1945</ref> also address the confusion between different KKE cadres as the "Old Committee" interpreted the politics of [[Nazi Germany]] and [[Kingdom of Italy#Fascist regime (1922–1943)|Fascist Italy]] as part of the "imperialistic game between the [[Axis powers|Axis]] forces and the British". This faction of KKE felt that the Metaxas regime was a "pawn of British imperialism in the region"<ref>KKE, Official Documents, vol4, vol5</ref> and therefore the "Old Committee" viewed any war between the Axis forces and the British as an "imperialistic war that the people of any of the countries involved should not participate in". According to KKE's account, this position was criticised by Comintern in 1939 (a few months after the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]]), which had instructed KKE to fight against Italy in the event of an invasion of Greece.<ref name="National Resistance 1945">History of the National Resistance, 1940–1945, vol1</ref><ref>Study in the History of KKE</ref>

Nikos Zachariadis, KKE General Secretary, wrote from prison on 2 November 1940: "Today the Greek people are waging a war of national liberation against Mussolini's fascism. In this war we must follow the Metaxas government and turn every city, every village and every house of Greece into a stronghold of the National Liberation Fight... On this war conducted by Metaxas government all of us should give all our forces without reservation. The working people's and the crowning achievement for today's fight should be and shall be a new Greece based on work, freedom, and liberated from any foreign imperialist dependence, with a truly pan-popular culture".<ref>KKE, ''Official Documents'', vol. 5, 1940–1945, p. 9.</ref><ref>Aggelos Elefantis, ''The Promise of the Impossible Revolution, Greek Communist Party self-meditation and the bourgeois during the inter-war Period'', Themelio, 3rd edition, 1999, pp. 300–301.</ref>

Several party members, including [[Nikos Ploumpidis]] of the "Old Central Committee", denounced this letter as a forgery produced by the Metaxas regime.<ref name="C.M. Woodhouse, 1976, p. 17">C. M. Woodhouse, ''The Struggle for Greece'', Hurst & Company, 1976, p. 17.</ref><ref>''Ριζοσπάστης'', 17 June 1941</ref> Zachariadis was even accused of writing it to win the favour of [[Konstantinos Maniadakis]], the [[Ministry of Citizen Protection (Greece)|Minister for Public Order]], to win his release from prison.<ref name="Andrew L. Zapantis 1983"/> According to one source, when drafting this letter Zachariadis was unaware of the German–Soviet Non-aggression Pact and was castigated by the Comintern for an anti-Soviet stance.<ref name=marinos>{{cite news|url=http://tovima.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=B&f=14902&m=B57&aa=1|publisher=[[To Vima]]|author=Giannis Marinos|title=Ένα παράθυρο στην αλήθεια|date=29 October 2006|access-date=2 October 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071223140116/http://tovima.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=B&f=14902&m=B57&aa=1|archive-date=23 December 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>

According to KKE's archives, the "Old Central Committee" had been denounced for its stance on the war issue and today KKE claims that the majority of the party membership had not followed the decision of being neutral in case of an invasion.<ref>KKE, ''Official Documents'', vol. 5, 1940–1945.</ref><ref name="Study of the History of the KKE">Study of the History of the KKE.</ref> On 16 November 1940, Zachariadis repudiated the line of his first letter in a second letter where he accused the [[Hellenic Army|Greek Army]] of waging a "fascist" and "imperialistic war" and appealed to the Soviet Union for peaceful intervention,<ref name="blackbook">[[Stéphane Courtois|Courtois, Stéphane]], et al. ''[[The Black Book of Communism|The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression]]''. Cambridge: [[Harvard University Press]], 1999, p. 326.</ref><ref>KKE Central Committee, 7 December 1940.</ref> thus aligning his position with that of the "Old Central Committee".<ref name="C.M. Woodhouse, 1976, p. 17"/>

On 7 December 1940, the "Old Central Committee" issued a manifesto addressed "to all the workers and public servants, to all soldiers, sailors and airmen, to patriot officers, to the mothers, fathers, wives and children of the fighters and the workers of all neighboring countries", in which it describes the war as a game of the imperialist powers, headed by the British. According to KKE, the "Old Central Committee" based this opinion on the belief that Mussolini's Italy would not dare to attack a country that had a cooperation agreement with the Soviet Union. The main political line of this manifesto was the call to the soldiers on the front not to go beyond Greek borders, but after securing them to try seek a peace agreement with the enemy.<ref>KKE, ''Official Documents'', vol. 5, 1940–1945, p. 15.</ref>

Zachariadis may have issued a third letter on 17 January 1941, in which he explained the motives for his first letter and wrote: "Metaxas remains the principal enemy of the people and the country. His overthrowing is in the most immediate and vital interest of our people ... the peoples and soldiers of Greece and Italy are not enemies but brothers, and their solidarity will stop the war waged by capitalist exploiters".''<ref name=marinos /> ''

According to KKE archives, Zachariadis had issued no further letters and the third letter may have been in fact the statement of the "Old Central Committee" on 18 March 1941.<ref name="KKE, Official Documents, vol.6">KKE, Official Documents, vol.6</ref> In any case, Zachariadis himself referred in his public statements after liberation almost exclusively to his first letter as proof of the patriotic character of KKE and its role as an inspiration to the Greek resistance movement during the war.

On 22 June 1941, the very same day that Hitler attacked the Soviet Union, KKE ordered its militants to organize "the struggle to defend the Soviet Union and the overthrow of the foreign fascist yoke".<ref name="C.M. Woodhouse, 1976, p. 17"/><ref name="blackbook"/>

==== 1941: German invasion and beginning of the Resistance ====
[[File:Battle_of_Greece_WWII_1941_map-en.svg|thumb|The [[German invasion of Greece]]]]

On 6 April 1941, the [[Axis occupation of Greece|German invasion and occupation]] was launched and Athens was occupied on 27 April following an unconditional surrender of the Greek forces by General [[Georgios Tsolakoglou]], who was later appointed Prime Minister by the Nazis. Confusion remained among many Greek Communists as to what the Moscow-sanctioned position was. In his memoirs, KKE leader Ioannis Ioannidis wrote about a regional communist cadre who proclaimed the following as Greece was being bombed by the Axis: "The Germans will not bomb us. The mustached-one [Stalin] will not let them".<ref>Γιάννης Ιωαννίδης, ''ΑΝΑΜΝΗΣΕΙΣ'' p. 63</ref>  Ioannis Ioannidis was purged by Nikos  Zachariadis, leader of the KKE in exile in 1953, and was stripped of his party offices.<ref>Biographical Dictionary of The Comintern, by Branko Lazitch and Milorad Drachkovitch, The Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, 1986, p.192.</ref>  The article in the reference just cited ends with just the fact of his "Purge" and being "stripped of his Party offices", so it is unclear whether he was physically Purged (executed), as many Communists still were in 1953.

A large number of KKE members were already in prison before the Nazi invasion. The pro-Nazi occupation government handed some of them over to the Nazis fearing that they—following the pro-Soviet party line—would resort to sabotage in Greece following Hitler's attack on the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941.<ref>History of the National Resistance 1940–1945</ref><ref>The Civil War in Peloponissos , A. Kamarinos</ref><ref>Experiences of Armed Struggles, 1940–1949, Papageorgiou</ref><ref>Charilaos Florakis, The People's Leader</ref> There were many occasions that police officers released Communist prisoners, especially the ones who were in exile in Aegean islands. In 1941, several KKE members managed to escape prison. One of many stories includes the 20 communists held as political prisoners in [[Heraklion]], [[Crete]], who demanded to be released to fight against the invading Germans. The Greek government, which had left mainland Greece by then and was en route to [[Egypt]], had no power to release them. They eventually escaped after their jail was damaged by German bombs and joined the British and Greek forces defending the Heraklion harbor. After the fall of Crete, many officers of the Greek Army joined forces with ELAS and became commanders in ELAS's corps of partisan units.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www1.rizospastis.gr/wwwengine/page.do?id=8622&publDate=27%2F5%2F2007&direction=&pageNo=9|title=Εφημερίδα "Ριζοσπάστης" – "Rizospastis" newspaper : ΠΟΛΙΤΙΚΗ|access-date=24 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120215072521/http://www1.rizospastis.gr/wwwengine/page.do?id=8622&publDate=27%2F5%2F2007&direction=&pageNo=9|archive-date=15 February 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www1.rizospastis.gr/wwwengine/page.do?id=8622&publDate=27%2F5%2F2007&direction=&pageNo=11|title=Εφημερίδα "Ριζοσπάστης" – "Rizospastis" newspaper : ΠΟΛΙΤΙΚΗ|access-date=24 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120215072609/http://www1.rizospastis.gr/wwwengine/page.do?id=8622&publDate=27%2F5%2F2007&direction=&pageNo=11|archive-date=15 February 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

It became German policy—especially after it became obvious to them that they were losing the war—to execute civilians in retaliation for attacks against them by communist or non-communist partisans. Approximately 200 communists, delivered to the Germans on 1941, were [[1 May 1944 Kaisariani executions|executed at the Kaisariani Shooting Range]] on 1 May 1944.<ref>History of the National Resistance 1940–1945, vol 1</ref>

Although the KKE was suffering from a lack of central political leadership since its leader Nikos  Zachariadis had been taken by the Germans to the [[Dachau concentration camp]], its members succeeded in maintaining communication with each other. The 6th Meeting of KKE Central Committee was held in Athens from 1–3 July 1941, which decided on strategy for an armed liberation struggle against the Axis invaders. At the same time, the "Old Central Committee" submitted to the authority of the new Central Committee.<ref>KKE, ''Official Documents''.</ref> The first united resistance organization was founded in the regions of Macedonia and Thrace on 15 May 1941.<ref name="National Resistance 1945"/> In [[Thessaloniki]], the Macedonian Bureau of KKE established the ''Eleftheri'' (Liberty) Organization, along with the [[Socialist Party of Greece|Socialist Party]], the [[Agrarian Party of Greece|Agrarian Party]], the [[Democratic Union (Greece)|Democratic Union]] and [[Dimitrios Psarros|Colonel Dimitrios Psarros]] (who later founded the [[National and Social Liberation|EKKA]]).

The Macedonian Bureau of KKE organised the first two partisan units at the end of June 1941. The first was based in [[Kilkis]] and was named ''Athanasios Diakos'', the second was based in [[Nigrita]] and was named ''Odysseas Androutsos''. These small partisan units blew up bridges, attacked police stations and eventually organized into larger combat units of more than 300 men each.<ref>V. Georgiou, ''History of the National Resistance 1940–1945'', vol. 1, Aylos, 1979, pp. 188, 248–249.</ref> In several other places and in major cities, small armed groups of KKE members and non-communists began to emerge, protecting people from looters, the Germans, or collaborators.<ref>History of the National Resistance 1940-145</ref> On 27 September 1941, Greek communists together with five other leftist parties formed the [[National Liberation Front (Greece)|National Liberation Front (EAM)]] in [[Kallithea]], Athens and began forming partisan militia units.

==== 1942 to Liberation ====
{{see also|National Liberation Front (Greece)|Greek People's Liberation Army|Political Committee of National Liberation}}
[[File:IPPIKO-ELAS-1.jpg|thumb|Cavalry of [[ELAS]]]]

On 16 February 1942, the [[ELAS|Greek People's Liberation Army]] (ELAS) was founded in a small kiosk in [[Phthiotis]] and by 1943 it consisted of 50,000 members, both men and women, with 30,000 as reserve units in major cities. The KKE played a prominent role in the organisation. By the end of the war, some 200,000 Greek citizens, both workers and peasants, had joined the ranks of KKE. KKE maintained its alliances with the EAM. Its main stated aim at this time was to form a united government with all parties that wanted to see Greece liberated from foreign powers.<ref>P. Papastratis, 'From the "Great Idea" to Balkan Union', in M. Sarafis and M. Eve (eds.), ''Background to Contemporary Greece'', Rowman & Littlefield, 1990.</ref>

ELAS conflicted finally with the rest of the resistance organizations and armies (especially [[EDES]] and [[National and Social Liberation|EKKA]]), accusing most of them of being traitors and collaborators of the [[Nazism|Nazis]]. These were the first conflicts of the coming [[Greek Civil War|civil war]].

Nikos Zachariadis was imprisoned in [[Dachau concentration camp|Dachau]]; he was released in 1945 and returned to Greece as the elected general secretary of the KKE. During his imprisonment, [[Andreas Tsipas]] and [[Georgios Siantos]] served as party general secretaries.

=== KKE and the Greek Civil War ===
{{main|Dekemvriana|Greek Civil War}}
{{see also|Democratic Army of Greece}}

[[File:Nikos Zachariadis.jpg|thumb|left|[[Nikos Zachariadis]]]]

After the liberation of Greece from German occupational forces, the government of National Unity, led by G. Papandreou, landed in Athens in October 1944. The government was formed after the Treaty of Cazerta and its main purpose was to form the new Greek state, try accused political and military personnel of collaboration with the Germans and to hold a referendum for the government and the constitution. After several weeks, it became obvious to the KKE and EAM that the returning Greek government and their British allies were hostile to the significant amount of control that they exerted in Greece. Papandreou demanded the disarmament of ELAS and the trials of the collaborators were stalled. Meanwhile, British-led Allied forces together with Greek troops were landing in all major Greek cities and EAM was welcoming them as liberators.{{fact|date=July 2024}}

In mid-November 1944, the situation escalated dramatically; KKE criticised the interference of General [[Ronald Scobie]] in Greek affairs, and EAM refused to disarm ELAS and ELAN as demanded by Scobie.<ref>K. Barbis, ''The Greek tragedy, in three stages'', Pelasgos, Athens, 2000.</ref> Six ministers of the EAM, resigned from their positions in the government of [[Georgios Papandreou]] in November 1944. Fighting broke out in Athens on 3 December 1944 during a demonstration organised by EAM and involving more than 100,000 people. During the demonstration, Greek gendarmes opened on the crowd.<ref>Kessel Album, ''Athens 1944''.</ref><ref>Spyros Kotsakis, Captain in ELAS First Army, ''December 1944 in Athens'', Athens, 1986.</ref> More than 28 demonstrators were killed and 148 injured. According to other accounts, it is uncertain if the first shots were fired by the gendarmes or the demonstrators.<ref>C. M. Woodhouse, ''Modern Greece'', Faber and Faber, 1991, p. 253.</ref> A member of the pro-monarchists Nikos Farmakis, in one of his interviews revealed that they had a direct order to fire at will when the demonstrators reach the court of the Palace.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9km1I5tuaY {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531073041/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9km1I5tuaY |date=31 May 2019}}, 4:38</ref> This incident was the beginning of the 37‑day Battle of Athens (''Dekemvriana''). Following a ceasefire agreement called the [[Treaty of Varkiza]], ELAS laid down the majority of its weapons and dissolved all of its units. Right-wing groups, including elements which had collaborated with the Germans, seized this opportunity to persecute many KKE members.<ref>Stavrianos, L. S., and Panagopoulos, E. P. "Present-Day Greece." The Journal of Modern History. Vol. 20, no. 2, (June 1948), pp. 149–158.</ref>

According to EAM figures, in the few months after the Treaty of Varkiza the anticommunist violence on the Greek mainland had resulted in the imprisonment or exile of 100,000 ELAS partisans and EAM members, the deaths of 3,000 EAM officials and members, the rape of between 200 and 500 women, the burning of houses and other acts of violence.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.topontiki.gr/Pontiki/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=455&Itemid=62|title=To Pontiki, ''Civil War: 60 Years Later''.|access-date=16 October 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004225946/http://www.topontiki.gr/Pontiki/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=455&Itemid=62|archive-date=4 October 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> The KKE Central Committee issued a directive to all party forces not to engage in any armed conflict, but to try to prevent attacks by other means. This caused confusion among the majority of its supporters and served to weaken the party organisation across the country.<ref>A. Kamarinos, ''The Civil War in the Peloponessus'', Athens, 2000.</ref>

[[File:Partizani na DAG.jpg|thumb|left|Fighters of DSE]]
[[File:DSE badge.svg|thumb|120px|Badge of the DSE in which the letter [[Delta (letter)|Delta]] stands for ''Demokratia'', meaning both "Democracy" and "Republic" (in [[Greek language]] these words are one and the same)]]

Large groups had returned to their partisan hideouts in the mountains and gradually formed smaller partisan units. As most of the ELAS armoury had been surrendered under the terms of the Varkiza treaty, these units armed themselves with weapons seized from attacks on militia units that had been provided arms by the police as well as attacking police stations. By mid-1946, these units forced the KKE leadership to change its neutral position and to plan the formation of a partisan army with the officers and fighters that were still free. On 26 October 1946, KKE militia units attacked the police station in [[Litochoro]], armed their forces and founded the [[Central Greece (geographic region)|Central Greece]] Command of the [[Democratic Army of Greece|Democratic Army of Greece (DSE)]]. After this successful operation, the remaining scattered groups reorganized the pre-Varkiza Treaty ELAS formations all over the country. KKE's political influence and organization structure helped form units in the [[Aegean Islands]] of as [[Mytilene]], [[Chios]], [[Icaria]], [[Samos]] and [[Crete]].<ref name="Study of the History of the KKE"/><ref>''Δημοκρατικός Στρατός'' magazine, edited by Ριζοσπάστης, 1996.</ref>

The Civil War involved two sides. On the one side was the British and American-backed Greek government, led by [[Konstantinos Tsaldaris]] and later [[Themistoklis Sofoulis]], which was elected in the [[1946 Greek legislative election|1946 elections]] which the KKE had boycotted. On the other side was the [[Democratic Army of Greece]], of which the KKE was the only major political force, backed by the [[National Liberation Front (Macedonia)|NOF]], [[Bulgaria]], [[Yugoslavia]] and [[Albania]].

In December 1947, the KKE and its allies that participated in the Civil War formed the [[Provisional Democratic Government]] ("Mountain Government") under the premiership of [[Markos Vafeiadis]]. After this, the KKE (still legal due to the Treaty of Varkiza) turned illegal.

On 29 January 1949, the Greek National Army appointed General [[Alexandros Papagos]] Commander-in-Chief. In August 1949, Papagos launched a major counter-offensive against DSE forces in northern Greece, code-named "Operation Torch". The plan was for the Greek National Army to gain control of the border with [[Albania]] in order to surround and defeat the DSE forces, numbering 8,500 fighters. The DSE suffered heavy losses from the operation, but managed to retreat its units to Albania.<ref>Thrasimvoulos Tsakalotos 40 years soldier of Greece</ref>

[[Charilaos Florakis]], whose ''nom de guerre'' was [[Captain (armed forces)|Kapetan]] Yiotis, was a DSE-appointed Brigadier General during this battle. Florakis was ordered by the DSE High Command to re-enter Greece with his battalion via the [[Gramos|Gramos Mountains]] and try to establish connection with all the DSE forces that remained within Greece. The battalion indeed reached small DSE units south of Gramos down to Evritania and retreated thereafter back to Albania. Floriakis later served as General Secretary of KKE from 1972 to 1989.

On 28 August 1949, the Civil War in Greece ended with the DSE forces defeated militarily and politically and KKE entered a new phase in its history.<ref>Charilaos Florakis, The Peoples Leader</ref>

=== Post-war era ===
After the Civil War, the KKE was outlawed and most of its prominent members had to flee Greece, go underground or provide a signed declaration that they renounced communism to avoid prosecution as under Law 504, issued in 1948, a large number of KKE members were either prosecuted, jailed or exiled. Prominent members of the KKE were tried and executed, including [[Nikos Beloyannis]] in 1952 and [[Nikos Ploumpidis]] in 1954. The execution of Ploumpidis was the last such execution by the post-Civil War governments. The fear of widespread reaction from left-wing citizens curbed further executions and eventually led to the gradual release of most political prisoners. In 1955, there were 4,498 political prisoners and 898 exiles while in 1962 there were 1,359 prisoners and 296 exiles.<ref>Polymeris Voglis, ''Becoming a Subject: Political Prisoners During the Greek Civil War'', Berghahn Books, 2002, p. 223.</ref> However, under the prevailing anticommunist rules the communists and KKE sympathizers were barred from the public sector and lived under a repressive anticommunist surveillance system.<ref>Minas Samatas, "Greek McCarthyism: A Comparative Assessment of Greek Post-Civil War Repressive Anticommunism and the US Truman-McCarthy Era", ''Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora''.</ref> Such discrimination against communists was partially relieved with the legalization of KKE in 1974 and the discrimination ended in the 1980s.

During this period of illegality, the KKE supported the [[United Democratic Left|United Democratic Left (EDA)]] Party. EDA functioned as the legal political expression of the outlawed KKE. It was not openly communist and attracted moderate voters reaching 70,000 members in the early 60s. Moreover, EDA had a very active youth wing. Historians have argued that the two parties operated parallel paths, something that contributed to the 1968 split between KKE and KKE Esoterikou.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Kalyvas |first1= Stathis |last2= Marantzidis |first2= Nikos |date= 2002 |title= Greek Communism, 1968–2001 |url= https://stathiskalyvas.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/greek_communism.pdf |journal= East European Politics and Societies |volume= 16 |issue= 3 |pages= 665–690 here 666–667 |access-date= 19 August 2019 |archive-date= 19 August 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190819171647/https://stathiskalyvas.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/greek_communism.pdf |url-status= live}}</ref>

[[Constantine II of Greece|Former king Constantine II]] claims that in 1964 he proposed to [[Georgios Papandreou|George Papandreou]] that the KKE be legalized. According to the former monarch, Papandreou refused to comply so as not to lose his party's left-wing supporters.<ref>Thanassis Lalas, "Constantine Speaks About All", ''BHMAgazino'', 3 June 2001.</ref> This allegation cannot be verified as it was expressed after Papandreou's death. Moreover, Constantine's public statements regarding communism during the 1960s renders the veracity of this allegation questionable.

=== During the junta ===
{{main|Greek military junta of 1967–74}}
{{more citations needed section|date=January 2010}}

On 21 April 1967, a group of right-wing [[Hellenic Army|Greek Army]] [[Colonel|colonels]] led by [[Georgios Papadopoulos]] successfully carried out a [[coup d'état]] on the pretext of imminent "communist threat", establishing what became known as the [[Greek junta|Regime of the Colonels]]. All political parties, including EDA, were dissolved and civil liberties were suppressed for all Greek citizens. KKE members were persecuted along with other opponents of the junta.

In 1968, a crisis escalated between KKE's two main factions. The crisis was already festering during the 12th plenum of the party's central committee held in Budapest between 5 and 15 February 1968 in which three members of the politbureau (M. Partsalidis, Z. Zografos and P. Dimitriu) were expelled for fractionist activity and was further triggered by the [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia|Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia]]. This event led a number of Greek communists who were ideologically leaning with the so-called opportunist faction to break with KKE that was loyal to the Socialist Republic's policy and to follow the nascent [[Eurocommunism|Eurocommunist]] line, which favored a more pluralistic approach to socialism. A relatively large group split from KKE, forming what became the [[Communist Party of Greece (Interior)]]. The spin-off party forged bonds with Eurocommunist parties such as the [[Italian Communist Party]] as well as with [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]]'s [[Romanian Communist Party]]. Its supporters referred to KKE as the KKE (Exterior) ("ΚΚΕ εξωτερικού"), inferring that KKE's policies were dictated by the Politburo of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]].

Despite the difficulties resulting from the split, KKE continued its opposition to the Greek Junta throughout the next six years. Its political fighting against the regime took the form of labour disruptions and strikes and small demonstrations all over the country.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.kne.gr/polytechneio1973|title=KNE, ''Our History''.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071223042730/http://www.kne.gr/polytechneio1973|archive-date=23 December 2007}}</ref><ref>"ΕΚΘΕΣΗ ΚΑΙ ΣΥΜΠΕΡΑΣΜΑΤΑ ΓΙΑ ΤΑ ΓΕΓΟΝΟΤΑ ΤΟΥ ΝΟΕΜΒΡΗ 1973" KE, Ιούλιος 1976, http://www.kne.gr/179.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150128114035/http://www.kne.gr/179.html |date=28 January 2015}}</ref> Its power was rising inside the Universities where the newly founded [[Communist Youth of Greece|Communist Youth of Greece (KNE)]] began working underground. KKE underground forces continued to work closely with other political groups of the center and left within Greece and abroad. In many European capitals anti-Junta committees were founded to support the struggle in Greece.

=== Legalisation ===
After the [[Metapolitefsi|restoration of parliamentary democracy]] in 1974, [[Konstantinos Karamanlis]] legalised the KKE hoping to reclaim "a vital part of [[national memory]]".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Carabott |first1=Philip |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VvocAAAAYAAJ |title=The Greek Civil War: Essays on a Conflict of Exceptionalism and Silences |last2=Sfikas |first2=Thanasis D. |date=2004 |publisher=Ashgate |isbn=978-0-7546-4132-2 |language=en}}</ref> In the [[1974 Greek legislative election|1974 elections]], the KKE participated with the KKE Interior and the EDA under the name of the [[United Left (Greece)|United Left]], receiving 9.36 per cent of the vote. In the elections from 1977 to 1989, the KKE participated on its own.

In 1989, the political consequences of the Civil War were finally lifted. The war was named "Civil War" instead of "War against the gangs" ("συμμοριτοπόλεμος"), that was the official state name for that era up until that point and DSE fighters were named "DSE fighters" instead of "Communist Gangfighters" ("κουμουνιστοσυμμορίτες").{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}

=== Participation in government ===
In 1944, following the [[Liberation of greece|Liberation of Greece]], KKE participated in the national unity government of [[Georgios Papandreou|George Papandreou]], holding the positions of Minister of Finance, Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Labor, Minister of National Economy and Public Works and Deputy Minister of Finance. KKE members retained their portfolios until December 2nd (one day before the onset of the [[Dekemvriana]]).

In 1988, KKE and [[Greek Left]] (Greek EAP; the former [[KKE Interior]]), along with other left-wing parties and organisations, formed the [[Synaspismos|Coalition of the Left and Progress]] (Synaspismos). In the [[June 1989 Greek legislative election|June 1989 elections]], Synaspismos gained 13.1 per cent of votes and joined a coalition with [[New Democracy (Greece)|New Democracy]] to form a short-lived government amidst a political spectrum shaken by accusations of economic scandals against the previous administration of [[Andreas Papandreou]]'s [[PASOK|Panhellenic Socialist Movement]]. In November of the same year, Synaspismos participated in the "[[Ecumenical government]]" with New Democracy and Panhellenic Socialist Movement which appointed [[Xenophon Zolotas]] as prime minister for three months. In 1991, KKE withdrew from Synaspismos. Some KKE members left the party and remained in [[Synaspismos]], which evolved into a separate left-wing party that is now an alliance of Synaspismos with other leftist groups called the [[Syriza|Coalition of the Radical Left]].

=== 21st century ===
[[File:Edra KKE Perissos.jpg|thumb|KKE central building in [[Athens]]]]
[[File:Aleka Papariga 2009 (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Aleka Papariga]], the longest serving general secretary of KKE (1991–2013)]]
[[File:Dimitris Koutsoumpas in 2023.jpg|thumb|[[Dimitris Koutsoumpas]], the incumbent general secretary of KKE since 2013]]

KKE actively participated in the [[Anti-austerity movement in Greece|anti-austerity protests]] beginning in 2010<ref>{{cite news|last1=Lubin|first1=Gus|title=How The Greek Communist Party Plans To Solve The Crisis|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-the-greek-communist-party-plans-to-solve-the-crisis-2010-5|work=[[Business Insider]]|date=17 May 2010|access-date=6 January 2015|archive-date=6 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150106215409/http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-the-greek-communist-party-plans-to-solve-the-crisis-2010-5|url-status=live}}</ref>
and also supported Greek steel worker's strikes.<ref>https://nonomnismoriarfilm.weebly.com/tauomicron-nutauomicronkappaiotamualphanutauepsilonrho.htmls {{Dead link|date=February 2022}}</ref>

In the [[May 2012 Greek legislative election|first 2012 legislative election]] held on 6 May, the party got 8.5% of the vote and increased its parliamentary seats by five for a total of 26 seats. However, in the [[June 2012 Greek legislative election|second 2012 legislative election]] held a month later, on 17 June 2012, the party's support halved, resulting in a loss of 4 percentage points and 14 MPs.

On 3 June 2014, following the [[2014 European Parliament election in Greece|2014 European elections]], the Central Committee of the KKE announced that it would no longer continue the party's affiliation with the [[The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL|European United Left–Nordic Green Left]] (GUE/NGL) group in the European parliament.<ref>{{cite web |title=Communist Party of Greece – Statement of the Central Committee of the KKE on the stance of the KKE in the EU parliament |url=http://inter.kke.gr/en/articles/Statement-of-the-Central-Committee-of-the-KKE-on-the-stance-of-the-KKE-in-the-EU-parliament/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140607145233/http://inter.kke.gr/en/articles/Statement-of-the-Central-Committee-of-the-KKE-on-the-stance-of-the-KKE-in-the-EU-parliament |archive-date=7 June 2014 |access-date=24 February 2015}}</ref>

After the failure of the [[Hellenic Parliament]] to elect a new [[President of Greece|President of State]] in late 2014, the parliament was dissolved and a snap [[January 2015 Greek legislative election|legislative election]] was scheduled for 25 January 2015, where the party increased its support by one percentage point to 5.5%. At the fresh [[September 2015 Greek legislative election|election]]s later that year, the party got a slight increase of 0.1 percentage points, reaching 5.6% of the vote. Since the 2015 election, the party saw a further increase in its support in [[Opinion polling for the 2019 Greek legislative election|opinion polls]], overtaking the former major party [[PASOK]] to reach 4th place.

Although KKE was again overtaken by PASOK (now called [[PASOK – Movement for Change|Movement for Change]] – KINAL) in the [[2019 Greek legislative election|2019 election]], it nonetheless managed to maintain a fourth-place in the polls, due to the decline of far-right party [[Golden Dawn (Greece)|Golden Dawn]].

In the [[May 2023 Greek legislative election|2023 Greek legislative election]], KKE won in [[Icaria]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Πρώτο κόμμα το ΚΚΕ στην Ικαρία |url=https://www.stonisi.gr/post/57483/prwto-komma-to-kke-sthn-ikaria |access-date=2023-05-22 |website=StoNisi.gr |archive-date=22 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522115939/https://www.stonisi.gr/post/57483/prwto-komma-to-kke-sthn-ikaria |url-status=live}}</ref>

== Policies ==
{{Communist parties}}
{{Anchor|Social policy}}
=== Drug reform ===
KKE opposes decriminalization of drug consumption and drug trafficking. It opposes the division of drugs on more and less harmful, considering harm reduction legislation as "dominant bourgeois policy".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Δήλωση του Δημήτρη Κουτσούμπα για την Παγκόσμια Ημέρα Κατά των Ναρκωτικών |url=https://www.kke.gr/article/Dilosi-toy-Dimitri-Koytsoympa-gia-tin-Pagkosmia-Imera-Kata-ton-Narkotikon/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210314235607/https://www.kke.gr/article/Dilosi-toy-Dimitri-Koytsoympa-gia-tin-Pagkosmia-Imera-Kata-ton-Narkotikon/ |archive-date=14 March 2021 |access-date=24 September 2020 |website=www.kke.gr |language=el}}</ref> It also opposes substitution rehabilitation programs (and endorses "[[cold turkey]]" programs) as it believes drug substitutes replace one addiction for another.

KKE positions on drug reform are summed up, among other texts, in an article on one of their websites:<ref>{{Cite news |date=13 May 2010 |title=Whole life, not in doses |url=https://www.rizospastis.gr/story.do?id=5646817 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315022101/http://rizospastis.gr/story.do?id=5646817 |archive-date=15 March 2015 |access-date=26 September 2021 |newspaper=[[Rizospastis|Ριζοσπάστης]]}}</ref><blockquote>(KKE).. is opposed both to the current repressive policy that imprisons users and frees traders and to the problem management policies as well as to the efforts to privatize the existing detoxification and prevention services. KKE believes in tackling the drug problem effectively. It supports the only realistic solution which is to strengthen the prevention – treatment – reintegration efforts. It says: No to ALL drugs. It denies the separation of soft – hard (drugs). It does not believe in substitution programs, which maintain drug addiction and do not cure it. The substitution should concern special groups (eg with chronic diseases). NO to the decriminalization of hashish. "Demand reduction" policy not "harm reduction" policy.</blockquote>
=== Economy ===
The KKE proposes the [[nationalization]] of the [[means of production]] and to centrally [[planned economy|plan the economy]]. The latter, they argue, would enable the needs of the Greek people to be met.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/08/tsipras-syriza-debt-greece-kke/|title=What About the Greek Communist Party?|access-date=12 January 2022|archive-date=24 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124171653/https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/08/tsipras-syriza-debt-greece-kke/|url-status=live}}</ref> The party seeks the establishment of "popular power" and "popular economy", which would be characterized by social ownership of the means of production, central planning and workers' control. The short-term economic goals of the KKE are redistributive measures such as universal social security, labour protection rights and universal public education. At the same time, the party states that the limits of capitalism in redistributive measures, stressing that only a 'cohesive socialist programme' could provide adequate welfare to the workers.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://athens.fes.de/projekte/political-parties-of-greece.html |title=Political parties of Greece – a map of the political landscape |first=Eftichia |last=Teperoglou |website=[[Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung]] |location=Athens}}</ref> 

According to the party, the free market is completely undesirable for the working class; while socialism is a long-term demand, short-term demands also include full employment, wage and pensions increases, the establishment of a 35-hour working week, provisions for the unemployed, establishment of agricultural cooperatives and a social wage system based on need rather than competitiveness.<ref name="elsevier">{{cite journal |title=On the (non) distinctiveness of Marxism-Leninism: The Portuguese and Greek communist parties compared |first1=Dan |last1=Keith |first2=Giorgos |last2=Charalambous |year=2016 |volume=49 |issue=2 |doi=10.1016/j.postcomstud.2016.04.001 |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |journal= Communist and Post-Communist Studies |pages=147–161 }}</ref> At the same time, the party takes an unequivocally anti-reformist stance, rejecting the possibility of governing within a capitalist system and advocating the establishment of a dictatorship of the proletariat, built through the central action of a revolutionary socialist state that proceeds to socialise the means of production under the leadership of the party. The KKE stresses that its political proposals depend, first and foremost, on the socialist revolution.<ref>{{cite book |title=Karl Marx: legado, críticas e atualidade |language=pt |date=October 2022 |isbn=978-989-755-788-0 |publisher=Edições Húmus |editor1=Fernando Bessa Ribeiro |editor2=Manuel Carlos Silva |editor3=Almerindo Janela Afonso |editor4=Cristina Matos |editor5=Francisco Mendes |editor6=Isabel Estrada Carvalhais |editor7=Sílvia Sousa e Ana Jorge |chapter=O que resta do marxismo-leninismo? O Partido Comunista Português (PCP) e o Partido Comunista da Grécia (KKE) em análise |first1=José Pedro |last1=Lopes |first2=Alena |last2=Vieira |pages=358–360}}</ref>

The party supports the economic policy of [[Joseph Stalin]], praising the overall contribution of the USSR to socialism and arguing that history had vindicated Stalin's policies. The party argues that the USSR did not collapse because of structural flaws in its economy, but rather it fell because of the pressure from 'counter-revolutionary' forces inside the CPSU that forced deviations from Marxism-Leninism. The KKE criticises Soviet economic policy of [[Nikita Khrushchev]] and his successors, arguing that it resulted in the "disempowerment of central planning" and was based on faulty application of socialist principles of economic management. Instead, the party postulated socializing means of production under central planning and the centralized rule of the communist party.<ref name="elsevier"/> 

The KKE connects class struggle with the defense of national sovereignty; it argues that the significance of nation-states did not wither away and instead became crucial, as the influence and sovereignty of the nation-states depends on the power of their national capital and their military power. The party states that the struggle of the proletariat must take place at the national level. At the same time, the KKE argues that the root of issues such as globalization and neoliberalism is capitalism. It states: "The people produce the wealth that belongs to them. But capital receives it. Here lies the root of the problem. Only socialism, with the workers’ taking power, with the social property of the main means of production, has the potential to provide solutions for humankind's great problems."<ref name="elsevier"/>

=== Foreign policy ===
The KKE takes a [[Hard Euroscepticism|hard Eurosceptic]] stance.<ref>Vasilopoulou, S. (2018). The party politics of Euroscepticism in times of crisis: The case of Greece. ''Politics, 38''(3), 311–326. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263395718770599 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231225223729/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0263395718770599|date=25 December 2023}}</ref> It advocates Greek [[patriotism]] alongside [[proletarian internationalism]] and considers it its patriotic duty to oppose Greece's EU membership.<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 April 2018 |title=ΚΚΕ: Ο πατριωτισμός ταυτίζεται με την πάλη κατά του ευρωμονόδρομου |url=https://m.naftemporiki.gr/story/228338? |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220524212727/https://m.naftemporiki.gr/story/228338 |archive-date=24 May 2022 |access-date=24 May 2022 |website=m.naftemporiki.gr |language=el}}</ref> Furthermore, the KKE is absolutely opposed to Greece remaining in NATO. It argues that Greece is a dependent country, attacking the Greek ruling class for "putting foreign interests above national ones and surrendering national sovereignty by fostering the cosmopolitanism of capital, taking on the role of the flag bearer for NATO, the USA, the EU and playing the role of NATO’s salesman." The party argues that NATO serves the interests of "murderous states such as Israel and Saudi Arabia"; KKE demands the "closure of all foreign military bases in Greece [and] return of the Greek military forces involved in missions outside its borders."<ref>{{cite journal |title=Transatlantic Turmoil: Populist Parties and NATO Membership in the European Union |first=Naz |last=Göçek |date=May 2020 |journal=Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law |publisher=Freeman Spogli Institute |url=https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid:qt989gn1344/NazGocek_Thesis.pdf |pages=56–60}}</ref>

The party considers the [[United States]], the European Union, and [[Japan]] to be [[Imperialism|imperialist]] powers. The party is also critical of [[China]], accusing it of "predominance of capitalist relations of production" and "assimilation into the imperialist system".<ref name="role_china"/> It proposes a theory of an "imperialist pyramid", according to which the imperialist system had evolved to make even non-imperialist states interdependent on them, making all capitalist states a part of the imperalist pyramid. However, within the pyramid there exist contradictions and unequal relations which make it possible for the party to outline a 'hierarchy' of imperialism. It considers the United States to be the dominant imperialist power "at the top" of the pyramid, while countries such as China, Russia, Türkiye and Greece are seen as "2nd- and 3rd-tier imperialists".<ref>{{cite web |title=A Critique of the Theory of Imperialist Pyramids and State Capitalism |first=Jang-Min |last=Kim |publisher=PNYX Institute for Political Economy |url=https://wapnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Critique_of_Imperialist_Pyramids_and_State_Capitalism-Mr.Jang_.pdf |year=2025 |website=World Anti-imperialist Platform}}</ref> The KKE also believes that the [[Chinese Communist Party]] has lost its [[revolutionary]] elements, although both parties still maintain bilateral relations with each other.<ref name="role_china">{{Cite web |title=Communist Party of Greece – The International role of China |url=https://inter.kke.gr/en/articles/The-International-role-of-China |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422195936/http://inter.kke.gr/en/articles/The-International-role-of-China |archive-date=22 April 2016 |access-date=24 May 2022 |website=inter.kke.gr}}</ref> The party does not take a position on Vietnam and Laos, countries that implemented reforms similar to those of China.<ref name="dagkas"/> 

In 2022, the KKE condemned "the imperialist war in Ukraine" by issuing an appeal, which was also signed by communist parties in Spain ([[Communist Party of the Workers of Spain|PCTE]]), Turkey ([[Communist Party of Turkey (modern)|TKP]]), and Mexico ([[Communist Party of Mexico (1994)|PCM]]).<ref>{{cite web |date=24 February 2022 |title=The Communist Party of Greece condemned the imperialist war in Ukraine – Athens News |url=https://en.rua.gr/2022/02/24/the-communist-party-of-greece-condemned-the-imperialist-war-in-ukraine/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220225164130/https://en.rua.gr/2022/02/24/the-communist-party-of-greece-condemned-the-imperialist-war-in-ukraine/ |archive-date=25 February 2022 |access-date=25 February 2022}}</ref> The KKE has condemned Russia's actions, stating that "the murders of civilians is the most atrocious and barbarous picture of the imperialistic wars from whenever it comes from wherever they take place, either now in Ukraine due to the Russian invasion or in the past in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere with the responsibility of USA and NATO."<ref>{{cite news |date=12 May 2022 |title=Greek communists protest country's involvement in Ukraine War with banners on the Acropolis |url=https://greekcitytimes.com/2022/05/12/greek-communists-ukraine-acropolis/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230822113624/https://greekcitytimes.com/2022/05/12/greek-communists-ukraine-acropolis/ |archive-date=22 August 2023 |access-date=22 August 2023 |work=Greek City Times}}</ref> 

The KKE is also critical of the Ukrainian government and boycotted [[Volodymyr Zelenskyy]]’s address to the Greek parliament, stating that he "represents a [[reactionary]] government backed by the US-NATO-EU camp and like Russia is responsible for the drama of the Ukrainian people" and that he has supported neo-Nazi groups and persecuted Ukrainian communists.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sweeney |first1=Steve |title=Communist Party of Greece to boycott Zelensky's address to parliament |url=https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/w/communist-party-of-greece-to-boycott-zelensky-address-to-parliament |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230822100619/https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/w/communist-party-of-greece-to-boycott-zelensky-address-to-parliament |archive-date=22 August 2023 |access-date=22 August 2023 |work=[[Morning Star (British newspaper)|Morning Star]]}}</ref> The party stresses that it does not support Ukraine, and takes an ambivalent stance by arguing that Western imperialism is the main culprit for the war. Greek political scientist Dimitri A. Sotiropoulos wrote that the KKE takes "a quiet, if not ambivalent, pro-Russian stance".<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.kew.org.pl/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Protecting-European-Values_Long-term-sympathy-transformed-into-a-visible-rift_pop2.pdf |title=Long-term sympathy transformed into a visible rift: Greece, Russia and the war in Ukraine |publisher=College of Eastern Europe |location=Wrocław |editor=Adam Balcer |isbn=978-83-7893-365-6 |page=6}}</ref> Along with the [[Portuguese Communist Party]], the KKE has a perfect record on voting against resolutions that target Russia in the [[European Parliament]].<ref>{{cite journal |title='My enemy's enemy is my friend'? European radical left parties' response to Russia's war in Ukraine |first1=Jakub |last1=Wondreys |first2=Luke |last2=March |first3=Bartek |last3=Pytlas |author-link2=:es:Luke March |journal=The British Journal of Politics and International Relations |date=28 September 2024 |volume=27 |issue=3 |doi=10.1177/13691481241284204 |publisher=Political Studies Association |page=8 (note on page 26) |quote="While RLMEPs were significantly more reluctant to vote against Russia than any other MEPs (two-tailed p-value = 0.0001, see Table 1), including those on the radical right (see Appendix 2), there were also notable differences among them. Even though a vote against these resolutions was indeed the preferred vote outcome for RLMEPs (in 42.6% of the cases), only a few parties had a perfect voting record in this direction: The Greek Communist Party (KKE), the Irish Independents 4 Change (I4C), the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), and the Spanish Anticapitalistas (Anticap.)"}}</ref> It also voted against the [[European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement]], along with a few other Greek parties such as [[Independent Greeks]] and the [[Golden Dawn (Greece)|Golden Dawn]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/The_Kremlins_Trojan_Horses_2_web_1121.pdf |title=The Kremlin's Trojan Horses: Russian Influence in Greece, Italy, and Spain |date=November 2017 |edition=2nd |isbn= 978-1-61977-387-5 |author1=Alina Polyakova |author2=Markos Kounalakis |author3=Antonis Klapsis |author4=Luigi Sergio Germani |author5=Jacopo Iacoboni |author6=Francisco de Borja Lasheras |author7=Nicolás de Pedro |publisher=Atlantic Council Policy on Intellectual Independence |page=8}}</ref>

The party supported independent Cyprus, speaking for "a Cyprus united, independent, with one single sovereignty, one citizenship and international personality, without foreign bases and troops, without foreign guarantors and protectors."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://inter.kke.gr/en/articles/Decision-of-the-CC-of-the-KKE-on-the-developments-around-the-Cyprus-Issue-and-the-position-of-the-KKE/ |title=Decision of the CC of the KKE on the developments around the Cyprus Issue and the position of the KKE |date=29 October 2016 |author=Central Committee of the KKE}}</ref> It rejects a compromise between Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots as "an imperialist plot".<ref name="stalinist">{{cite book |title=The Radical Left and Social Transformation: Strategies of Augmentation and Reorganization |page=266 |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-367-10989-9 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |editor1=Robert Latham |editor2=Karen Bridget Murray |editor3=Julian von Bargen |editor4=A. T. Kingsmith |chapter=The national question, partition and geopolitics in the 21st century: the Cyprus problem, the social question and the politics of reconciliation |first=Nicos |last=Trimikliniotis}}</ref>

In October 2023, KKE officially supported Palestine and condemned Israel in the [[Gaza war]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=7 October 2023 |title=Με μια κατάπτυστη ανακοίνωση ο ΣΥΡΙΖΑ στηρίζει το Ισραήλ! |url=https://www.902.gr/eidisi/politiki/343626/me-mia-kataptysti-anakoinosi-steketai-sto-pleyro-toy-israil |archive-url=https://archive.today/20231008021155/https://www.902.gr/eidisi/politiki/343626/me-mia-kataptysti-anakoinosi-steketai-sto-pleyro-toy-israil |archive-date=2023-10-08 |access-date=2023-10-07 |website=www.902.gr |language=el}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=7 October 2023 |title=Αλληλεγγύη στο λαό της Παλαιστίνης που υπερασπίζεται τα δικαιώματά του |url=https://www.902.gr/eidisi/ergatiki-taxi/343645/allileggyi-sto-lao-tis-palaistinis-poy-yperaspizetai-ta-dikaiomata-toy |archive-url=https://archive.today/20231008020730/https://www.902.gr/eidisi/ergatiki-taxi/343645/allileggyi-sto-lao-tis-palaistinis-poy-yperaspizetai-ta-dikaiomata-toy |archive-date=2023-10-08 |access-date=2023-10-07 |website=www.902.gr |language=el}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=7 October 2023 |title=Ο παλαιστινιακός λαός έχει το δικαίωμα να υπερασπιστεί τα δικαιώματά του και χρειάζεται μεγαλύτερη λαϊκή στήριξη και αλληλεγγύη |url=https://www.902.gr/eidisi/politiki/343635/o-palaistiniakos-laos-ehei-dikaioma-na-yperaspistei-ta-dikaiomata-toy-kai |archive-url=https://archive.today/20231008020259/https://www.902.gr/eidisi/politiki/343635/o-palaistiniakos-laos-ehei-dikaioma-na-yperaspistei-ta-dikaiomata-toy-kai |archive-date=2023-10-08 |access-date=2023-10-07 |website=www.902.gr |language=el}}</ref>

=== LGBT rights ===
{{see also|LGBT rights in Greece#Recognition of same-sex relationships}}

In December 2015, KKE voted against the [[Same-sex marriage in Greece#Passage of legislation in 2015|Civil Partnerships Bill]] proposed by [[Syriza]] that would extend cohabitation agreements to same-sex couples, responding, among other things:
<blockquote>The family is a social relationship, it is an institution for the protection of children, as it was formed in the context of today's society, capitalism. We also believe that civil marriage should be the only, obligatory form of marriage. And whoever wants, let him have the right to the corresponding religious ceremony. But you do not touch upon this urban modernization that has taken place in other countries for years.

If the government wanted to introduce a less "bureaucratic" civil marriage, it could propose the necessary amendments to the Civil Code. There is no need for two legal regulations (civil marriage and cohabitation agreement) on the rights and obligations between spouses, the core of which is the potential reproduction, upbringing and upbringing of children.

Today, this is confirmed by the fact that the Cohabitation Agreement is extended in terms of obligations and rights of both parties, which essentially resembles marriage and especially by the fact that it extends to same-sex couples. Greece's condemnation by the European Court of Justice, cited by the government and the Report, was not a breach of any positive obligation imposed by the European Convention on Human Rights. But it was a negative discrimination against homosexual scales, but in the context of the institutionalization of the Cohabitation Pact. If there was no Cohabitation Pact for heterosexual couples, there would be no question of condemning Greece.

The aim of the bill is essentially the institutional recognition of same-sex couples, including – in a process – the acquisition of children by them. And there, is our disagreement.

Rights and obligations arise within marriage, which is the legal expression of the social relations of the family. It includes social protection of children, who are biologically the result of sexual relations between a man and a woman.

With the formation of a socialist-communist society, a new type of partnership will undoubtedly be formed—a relatively stable heterosexual relationship and reproduction.<ref name="icl-fi.org">{{cite web|date=December 20, 2015|title=Greek Communist Party on Cohabitation Agreement|url=https://www.rizospastis.gr/story.do?id=8714869|url-status=live|access-date=20 December 2015|newspaper=Ριζοσπάστης|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151224171433/http://www.rizospastis.gr:80/story.do?id=8714869 |archive-date=2015-12-24}}</ref></blockquote>

One of the party's MPs, Giannis Gkiokas, made a speech further explaining the party's opposition to the Co-habitation Agreement. Gkiokas argued that [[homosexuality]] is a personal choice rooted in "chronic social problems arising out of capitalist development", and that same-sex cohabitation agreement would open the way to child adoption by same-sex couples which would "damage children and the reproductive process". He also affirmed KKE's support for the nuclear, heterosexual family as a stable institution of reproduction and raising children that cannot be undermined.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of Modern Greek Politics |chapter=The Communists |first=Giorgos |last=Charalambous |date=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-882510-4 |edition=1st |editor1=Kevin Featherstone |editor2=Dimitri A. Sotiropoulos |page=324}}</ref> Many [[Democratic socialism|democratic socialist]] parties, including Syriza, denounced the KKE's stance as [[Prejudice|bigotry]].<ref name="icl-fi.org"/>

However, the KKE also supports strengthening legislation to punish homophobic behavior, and has spoken against such discrimination, stating that "unacceptable and condemnable discrimination and violence against our fellow human beings, based on their sexual orientation and other personal characteristics, are not addressed by cheap declarations of equality and words of sympathy, but by strengthening legislation against perpetrators of sexism, racism and homophobia, with the full social support of those who suffer from such behaviors. A real shield against such discrimination is collectivism, the struggle for modern social rights for all people."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Δήλωση του Δημήτρη Κουτσούμπα για τη Διεθνή Ημέρα κατά της Ομοφοβίας |url=https://www.kke.gr/article/Dilosi-toy-Dimitri-Koytsoympa-gia-ti-Diethni-Imera-kata-tis-Omofobias/ |access-date=19 May 2022 |website=www.kke.gr |language=el |archive-date=17 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517165540/https://www.kke.gr/article/Dilosi-toy-Dimitri-Koytsoympa-gia-ti-Diethni-Imera-kata-tis-Omofobias/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2024, the party voted against legalising [[same-sex marriage in Greece|gay marriage]] and same-sex adoption, claiming that "same-sex marriage means abolishing paternity-maternity".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-02-07 |title=Greece's Mitsotakis makes progressive pivot with same-sex marriage bill |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/greeces-mitsotakis-makes-progressive-pivot-with-same-sex-marriage-bill/ |access-date=2024-04-15 |website=POLITICO |language=en-GB}}</ref>

The party published an article by Makis Papadopoulos, a member of the KKE's Central Committee, in its newspaper [[Rizospastis]] and [[902 TV]] media outlet. In the article, the party denounces [[gender transition]] and [[puberty blockers]], comparing them to experiments of Nazi criminal [[Josef Mengele]].<ref name="makis">{{cite web |url=https://www.902.gr/eidisi/politiki/354612/oi-stohoi-toy-kefalaioy-metamfiesmenoi-se-atomika-dikaiomata-stin-epohi-toy |title=Οι στόχοι του κεφαλαίου μεταμφιεσμένοι σε «ατομικά δικαιώματα» στην εποχή του «ίντερνετ των σωμάτων»
 |date=3 February 2024 |language=el |first=Mάκης |last=Παπαδόπουλος |website=[[902 TV]]}}</ref> The article also addresses the LGBT movement, arguing that it is a part of the agenda of Western capitalist and imperialist institutions, as well as billionaires like [[George Soros]]:
{{blockquote|text=The promotion of gender identity, the right to continuous gender transition, postmodern positions of "individual self-determination," and the lumping together of people with different class positions, political views, and expressions of sexuality into a single "LGBTQ community" are official strategies of the EU and NATO.
:
A series of legislative measures, such as the European Parental Certificate (which recognizes the parental relationship of a child with three parents of the same biological sex) have already been implemented.
Mass entertainment platforms, such as Netflix, bombard viewers with identical messages and portray anyone who rejects them as reactionary, religious, and fascist.
:
In this direction, the self-proclaimed leadership of LGBTQI is also being utilized, funded and supported by groups such as George Soros, JP Morgan, and General Electric. At the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, participants discussed how corporate diplomacy will promote the LGBT agenda.<ref name="makis"/>}}
=== Other policies ===
The KKE takes a skeptical view towards movements such as feminism and environmentalism and instead adheres to a "workerist and statist tradition".<ref>{{cite thesis |url=https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/24017/1/FulltextThesis.pdf |title=The European Left: Democracy and Sovereignty in Italy, Spain, and Portugal |degree=Degree of Doctor of Philosophy |first=Rodrigo I. |last=Francisco Maia |year=2021 |publisher=Brunel University London |page=143}}</ref> The party has been described as 'conservative communist' as it is considered to be TAN on the GAL-TAN dimension (Green/Alternative/Libertarian vs Traditionalist/Authoritarian/Nationalist) used to measure stances on cultural issues. It is considered one of "the most conservative and least connected to post-materialist values" radical-left parties in Europe.<ref>{{cite thesis |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/155248375.pdf |title=Cold pragmatism, warm radicalism: ideological differences between radical left parties from Nordic and Southern European countries |publisher=University of Aveiro |year=2017 |first=Pedro Miguel |last=Cardoso Lourenço |degree=Master in Political Science |pages=55–56}}</ref> It is considered culturally conservative,<ref name="cult_con">{{bulleted list|{{cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of Modern Greek Politics |chapter=The Communists |first=Giorgos |last=Charalambous |date=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-882510-4 |edition=1st |editor1=Kevin Featherstone |editor2=Dimitri A. Sotiropoulos |page=324 |quote="Moreover, Greek communism is pervaded by a cultural conservatism, most evident in the KKE’s adamantly negative position on soft drugs and its recent intervention concerning the (SYRIZA) Government’s proposed legislation on same-sex marriage (the Co-habitation Agreement)."}}|{{cite journal |url=https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/athen/21157.pdf |title=The Greek Party Landscape in 2023 |journal=Democracy and Human Rights Policy Brief |publisher=Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung |quote="By looking at the distribution of KKE voters’ answers on each of the 30 issues included in the What2Vote questionnaire, we are able to identify the main sources of party–voter incongruence. On the cultural axis, much of the incongruence results from the party’s conservative stances on issues." |first=Emmanouil |last=Tsatsanis |editor1=Lamprini Rori |editor2=Vasiliki Georgiadou |editor3=Dimitri A. Sotiropoulos |editor4=Eftychia Teperoglou |editor5=Yannis Tsirbas |editor6=Lamprini Rori |year=2024 |page=11}}|{{cite thesis |title=The Missing Quadrant: Left-conservative parties and voters in Western Europe |degree=Master in Political Science |first=Michael |last=Souer |publisher=Universiteit Leiden |url=https://studenttheses.universiteitleiden.nl/handle/1887/3160270 |year=2020 |page=14 |quote="In 2006, before these developments, Greece had two parties positioned in the leftconservative quadrant; the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and the Democratic Social Movement (DIKKI), a split-off of PASOK, both combined a far-left economic position with a mildly culturally conservative position. While DIKKI has since descended into obscurity, Figure 4 reveals that the KKE has in fact moved further right on the sociocultural dimension, from a 6.1 to a 7."}}|{{cite thesis |title='What do you want the world to be like in the future?' Utopian ethnography in the crisis-ordinary of late 2010s Pátra, Greece |year=2020 |first=Judy |last=Thorne |degree=Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities |publisher=University of Manchester |quote="Cóstas point blank refused to attend the party’s summer cultural festival, at which the ageing Greek rockstar Vasilis Papakonstantinou headlined, to an enormous crowd of people who my KKE informants pointed out to me were not communists but who had just showed up for the free concert. Cóstas told me that this kind of crowd-pleasing was how the party justified its cultural conservatism." |url=https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/what-do-you-want-the-world-to-be-like-in-the-future-utopian-ethno}}}}</ref> and socially conservative.<ref name="soc_con">{{bulleted list|{{cite book |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Radical Left Parties in Europe |editor1=Fabien Escalona |year=2023 |isbn=978-1-137-56264-7 |doi=10.1057/978-1-137-56264-7 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |chapter=Conclusion |first1=Daniel |last1=Keith |first2=Luke |last2=March |author-link2=:es:Luke March |page=703 |quote=However, most of the parties from these subgroups promote conservative social policies e.g. regarding the teaching of national history. For example, the KKE opposed same-sex civil partnerships (Polenta, 2016). Criticisms of the EU can also be anchored in nationalism (e.g. PCP). As Luke March shows in Chapter 20, in ECE, RLPs often promote nationalist, sexist and homophobic positions.}}|{{cite web |url=https://gay45.eu/gay-greece/ |title=The Cradle of Queer Civilisation? Why Gays Still Love Greece |date=23 February 2024 |first=Danny |last=Tye |quote="NPR reported that political opposition to the bill was present within the Hellenic Parliament, though limited to small far-right parties and the socially conservative Communist Party." |website=[[Gay 45]]}}|{{cite journal |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/394167 |title=After the Storm: Party Systems in Southern Europe in the Wake of the Eurocrisis |journal=Suvremeni Mediteran |volume=1 |issue=1 |year=2022 |first=Višeslav |last=Raos |doi=10.17818/SM/2021/1.2 |publisher=[[:hr:Hrčak (portal)|Hrčak]] |page=28 |quote="The rather unusual far-right outliers for the Greek party system in the 2000s pertain to the Greek Communist Party (KKE), an orthodox Marxist-Leninist party with underpinnings of social conservatism."}}|{{cite web |url=https://www.semafor.com/article/11/22/2024/conservative-leftists-want-to-upset-the-political-spectrum |title='Conservative leftists' want to upset the political spectrum |date=22 November 2024 |first=Brad |last=Glasser |website=[[Semafor (website)|Semafor]] |quote="BSW has been placed in a tradition of “Old Left” parties that retain the social conservatism of the Soviet era. Communist and social democratic parties across Europe fall into this vein, like the Communist Party of Greece, which has campaigned against same-sex marriage in the country."}}|{{cite web |title=Why the left failed |first=Michael |last=Chessum |website=[[The New World (British newspaper)|The New World]] |date=16 February 2025 |url=https://www.thenewworld.co.uk/michael-chessum-why-the-left-failed/ |quote="The Greek Communist Party (KKE), for instance, has long combined strong leftist economic policies with socially conservative views, including opposition to gay marriage."}}{{cite web |url=https://carta-politica.webnode.page/l/%28re%29-elecciones-griegas%3A-%C2%BFotra-mayoria-absoluta-para-la-derecha/ |title=(Re) Elecciones Griegas: ¿Otra mayoría absoluta para la derecha? |date=24 June 2023 |language=es |website=Carta Política |quote="Asimismo, la presencia del KKE, el cual no solo es socialmente conservador, sino también pro - ruso, rompe casi todas las posibilidades de esta unidad, pues muchos dirigentes de este partido prefieren la continuación de ND antes que un gobierno progresista." |trans-quote="Furthermore, the presence of the KKE, which is not only socially conservative but also pro-Russian, undermines almost all possibilities for this unity, as many leaders of this party prefer the continuation of ND to a progressive government."}}|{{cite journal |title=Índice del Populismo Autoritario |date=April 2024 |first1=Andreas Johansson |last1=Heinö |author-link1=:sv:Andreas Johansson Heinö |journal=Timbro |url=https://www.epicenternetwork.eu/publications/timbro-authoritarian-populism-index-2024/ |publisher=Swedish Free Enterprise Foundation |page=169 |quote="Además de estar muy a la izquierda en cuestiones económicas, el KKE está en contra de la pertenencia de Grecia a la OTAN y a la UE, y adopta posturas conservadoras en cuestiones sociales." |trans-quote="In addition to being far to the left on economic issues, the KKE is against the Greek membership in NATO and the EU and takes conservative positions on social issues."}}|{{cite thesis |title=O marxismo-leninismo e a crise económica e financeira de 2008: oportunidades e desafios em análise |url=https://repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt/bitstream/1822/61136/1/Jose_%2BPedro%2BMartins%2BLopes.pdf |language=pt |first=José Pedro |last=Martins Lopes |publisher=Universidade do Minho |degree=Mestrado em Ciência Política |page=90 |date=April 2019 |quote="Demonstra-se nesta dissertação que a crise trouxe um aumento do ceticismo face à integração europeia para ambos os partidos, que o KKE se tornou mais autoritário no pós-crise e o PCP mais nacionalista. Os comunistas gregos mantêm-se mais à esquerda e mais eurocéticos do que os portugueses. PCP e KKE radicalizaram ligeiramente o seu posicionamento na dimensão esquerda-direita económica e não só se tornaram um pouco mais céticos face à integração europeia, como aumentaram a saliência desta dimensão nas suas posições políticas. O posicionamento de ambos face às new politics não registou alterações significativas, especialmente no que toca ao conservadorismo social." |trans-quote="This dissertation demonstrates that the crisis has led to increased scepticism towards European integration for both parties, with the KKE becoming more authoritarian in the post-crisis period and the PCP becoming more nationalist. The Greek communists remain further to the left and more Eurosceptic than their Portuguese counterparts. The PCP and KKE have slightly radicalised their position on the economic left-right dimension and have not only become a little more sceptical about European integration, but have also increased the prominence of this dimension in their political positions. The position of both parties on new politics has not changed significantly, especially with regard to their social conservatism."}}}}</ref> Political scientist Federico Trastulli described KKE as "a markedly economically left-wing party and right-of-centre culturally".<ref>{{cite journal |first=Federico |last=Trastulli |date=7 December 2022 |title=Two is better than one? Testing a deductive MARPOR-based left-right index on Western Europe (1999-2019) |journal=Quaderni dell'Osservatorio Elettorale – Italian Journal of Electoral Studies |volume=85 |issue=2 |doi=10.36253/qoe-13796 |publisher=Firenze University Press |page=69|doi-access=free }}</ref> The party adopted distinctively socially conservative views in the early 2000s.<ref>{{cite book |title=Government-Opposition in Southern European Countries during the Economic Crisis |chapter=Government–Opposition Dynamics during the Economic Crisis in Greece |first1=Kostas |last1=Gemenis |first2=Roula |last2=Nezi |editor1=Elisabetta De Giorgi |editor2=Catherine Moury |series=Library of Legislative Studies |year=2020 |edition=3rd |isbn=978-0-415-81752-3 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |page=39}}</ref> 

It has been described as Stalinist.<ref name="stalinist"/> Political scientist [[:es:Luke March|Luke March]] compared the party to the [[Communist Party of the Russian Federation]] (CPRF), writing: "The most appropriate parallel for the contemporary CPRF is now arguably the Greek Communist Party (KKE), known as being a ‘paleaostalinist’ party, with a strong tendency towards national-populism and sectarianism, particularly towards other left-wing parties."<ref>{{cite book |title=Systemic and Non-Systemic Opposition in the Russian Federation: Civil Society Awakens? |series=Post-Soviet Politics |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-3170-4722-3 |chapter=The ‘Post-Soviet’ Russian Left – Escaping the Shadow of Stalinism? |first=Luke |last=March |author-link=:es:Luke March |publisher=Routledge |editor=Cameron Ross |page=145}}</ref>

The KKE denounces reformism and progressivism of other left-wing parties as a betrayal of the working class. The party instead "respects the religious feeling that has deep roots in much of the population, and people’s devotion to the Greek language, tradition, habits, prejudices, and superstition", and argues that it "does not attempt to change these behaviors, nor to develop them on a higher theoretical or ideological level, but rather to turn them against what is foreign". It opposes the introduction of foreign universities in Greece, arguing that it amounts to an intellectual and cultural penetration of Greece and its society, injecting the cultural norms of foreign, dominant countries into Greece. Instead, KKE proposes to restore traditional teaching of Greek universities, criticizing reforms as profit and business-oriented that "will only broaden the gap between Greek universities and
renowned foreign institutions". Critics of the party consider this stance nationalist.<ref name="dagkas">{{cite journal |title=The Labor Movement and Higher Education: Developments in China and Greece in the Context of Globalization |first1=Alexandros |last1=Dagkas |volume=20 |issue=1 |year=2008 |journal=NST: Nature, Society and Thought |issn=0890-6130 |publisher=Marxist Educational Press |url=http://imid.ltd/docs/nst201a.pdf |pages=55–58}}</ref>

The party takes a very critical stance towards spontaneous social protests, arguing that they are not revolutionary in substance and stand in contradiction with the actual interests of the workers. It highlights examples such as Greek industrial workers organizing counterprotests against environmental activists given the prospects of losing their jobs. The party denounces movements for environmental causes, animal rights and gender issues as "a form of opportunism that underplays the significance of class struggle" that is easily controlled by imperialist states and institutions. Political scientists Dan Keith and Giorgos Charalambous describe the KKE as traditionalist, authoritarian and nationalist, writing that it is a communist party that is "completely untouched by any kind of liberal, red-green or other leftist thinking".<ref name="elsevier"/>

The party's stances on immigration have been described as nationalist.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.psa.ac.uk/psa/news/corbyn%E2%80%99s-departure-end-left%E2%80%99s-reincarnation |title=Is Corbyn's departure the end of the Left's reincarnation? |date=23 January 2020 |first=Sarah |last=Wagner |website=[[Political Studies Association]]}}</ref> 

It supports the [[separation of church and state]]. However, religious people are allowed to join the party and it also has religious associates such as [[Liana Kanelli]]; the KKE states that it respects religion and its connection to Greek culture and nation, and does not seek to challenge it.<ref name="dagkas"/>

== Splits and alliances ==
{{unreferenced section|date=May 2024}}

In 1956, after the 20th Congress of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] at which [[Nikita Khrushchev]] denounced the excesses of [[Joseph Stalin]], a faction created the Group of Marxist–Leninists of Greece (OMLE), which split from the party in 1964, becoming the [[Organisation of Marxists–Leninists of Greece|Organisation of Marxists-Leninists of Greece]].{{clarify|reason=Which side of the debate did they take?|date=May 2024}}

In 1968, amidst the [[Greek junta|Greek military junta of 1967–1974]] and the [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia|Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia]], a relatively big group split from KKE, forming [[Communist Party of Greece (Interior)|KKE Interior]], claiming to be directed from within Greece rather than from the Soviet Union.

In 1988, KKE and [[Greek Left]] (the former KKE Interior), along with other left parties and organisations, formed the [[Synaspismos|Coalition of the Left and Progress]].

Also in 1989, a majority of members and officials from [[Communist Youth of Greece]] (KNE), the KKE's youth wing, split to form the [[New Left Current]] (NAR), drawing mainly youth in major cities, especially in [[Thessaloniki]]. However, KNE managed to overcome the split of 1989-91, despite the losses in members and officials that resulted initially in a decline of its influence and presence in the country. Already from 1991 the KNE had begun to rebuild itself after the split.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://festival.kne.gr/50o-festival/article/17o-Festibal-KNE-Odigiti/|title=1991: 17ο Φεστιβάλ ΚΝΕ - Οδηγητή|website=festival.kne.gr|language=el|accessdate=2025-07-04}}</ref> Today KNE's student wing, PKS, has won the student elections in Greece since 2022,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.902.gr/eidisi/neolaia-paideia/393382/i-panspoydastiki-ks-1i-dynami-xana-apostomotiki-katadiki-tis|title=Η «Πανσπουδαστική ΚΣ» 1η δύναμη ξανά: Αποστομωτική καταδίκη της εγκληματικής πολιτικής - Μήνυμα ελπίδας και αγωνιστικής αισιοδοξίας |date=2025-05-19 |website=902.gr|language=el|accessdate=2025-07-04}}</ref> while the member base of the organisation and its activities have been growing steadily over the years to become one of the most influential and significant youth organisations in Greece during the 2020s. 

In the early 2000s, a small group of major party officials such as Mitsos Kostopoulos left the party and formed the [[Movement for the Unity of Action of the Left]] (KEDA), which in the [[2007 Greek legislative election|2007 legislative election]] participated in the [[Syriza|Coalition of the Radical Left]] (Syriza), which was to win the 2015 national elections with a [[plurality (voting)|plurality]].

== The Congresses of the Communist Party of Greece ==
* The First Panhellenic Socialist Congress (the founding congress of SEKE) – November 1918, Piraeus
* The 2nd congress – April 1920, Athens
* Extraordinary pre-election congress – September 1920, Athens
* Extraordinary congress – October 1922, Athens
* Extraordinary pre-election congress – September 1923, Athens
* The 3rd (extraordinary) congress – 26 November–3 December 1924, Athens
* The 3rd (ordinary) congress – March 1927, Athens
* The 4th congress – December 1928, Athens
* The 5th congress – March 1934, Athens
* The 6th congress – December 1935, Athens
* The 7th congress – October 1945, Athens
* The 8th congress – August 1961 (illegally)
* The 9th congress – December 1973 (illegally)
* The 10th congress – May 1978
* The 11th congress – December 1982, Athens
* The 12th congress – May 1987
* The 13th congress – 19–24 February 1991, Athens
* The 14th congress – 18–21 December 1991, Athens
* The 15th congress – 22–26 May 1996, Athens
* The 16th congress – 14–17 December 2000, Athens
* The 17th congress – 9–12 February 2005, Athens
* The 18th congress – 18–22 February 2009, Athens
* The 19th congress – 11–14 April 2013, Athens
* The 20th congress – 30 March – 2 April 2017, Athens
* The 21st congress – 24–27 June 2021, Athens
* The 22nd congress - 29-31 January 2026, Athens
KKE delegations participated in international conferences of Communist and working parties (1957, 1960, 1969, Moscow). KKE approved the documents accepted at the conferences.

== Organization ==
=== List of First Secretaries and General Secretaries ===
[[File:Pantelis Pouliopoulos.jpg|thumb|140px|[[Pandelis Pouliopoulos]], a supporter of the internationalist and revolutionary character of the communist movement]]

# Nikolaos Dimitratos (November 1918 – February 1922), expelled from the party on charges of "suspect behavior"{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
# [[Yanis Kordatos]] (February–November 1922)
# Nikolaos Sargologos (November 1922 – September 1923), expelled from the party on charges of "espionage"{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
# Thomas Apostolidis (September 1923 – December 1924), expelled from the party on charges of "opportunism"{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
# [[Pandelis Pouliopoulos]] (December 1924 – September 1925)
# [[Eleftherios Stavridis]] (1925–1926), expelled from the party on charges of pro-[[bourgeoisie]]s political position
# Pastias Giatsopoulos (September 1926 – March 1927), expelled from the party on charges of "liquidarism"{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
# Andronikos Chaitas (March 1927 – 1931), expelled from the party and executed in the Soviet Union in 1938{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
# [[Nikos Zachariadis]] (1931–1936), first term
# [[Andreas Tsipas]] (July 1941 – September 1941)
# [[Georgios Siantos]] (January 1942 – May 1945), caretaker until the return of Zachariadis
# [[Nikos Zachariadis]] (May 1945 – March 1956), second term
# [[Apostolos Grozos]] (March – June 1956)
# [[Kostas Koligiannis]] (June 1956 – December 1972)
# [[Charilaos Florakis]] (December 1972 – July 1989)
# Grigoris Farakos (July 1989 – February 1991), resigned from the party to join [[Synaspismos]]
# [[Aleka Papariga]] (February 1991 – April 2013)
# [[Dimitris Koutsoumpas]] (April 2013 – present)

=== Party membership ===
{|class="wikitable"
|-style="background:#c9c9c9;"
!colspan="9"|Membership (1918–2008)<ref>The table is part of a larger table found in {{cite news|author=Chr. Vernadakis and G. Mavris|url=http://www.theseis.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=212&Itemid=29|script-title=el:Απο τη 'Λαοκρατία' στην 'Αλλαγή'|magazine=Theseis|issue=22|year=1988|language=el|access-date=11 January 2011|archive-date=17 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717025506/http://www.theseis.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=212&Itemid=29|url-status=live}} The table in the article provides detailed sources for the numbers stated above which are from CPG's official documents and/or independent historians.</ref>
|-
!style="width:120px"|Year
!style="width:200px"|Number of members
|-
|1918
|1,000
|-
|1920
|1,320
|-
|1924
|2,200
|-
|1926
|2,500
|-
|1928
|2,000
|-
|1930
|1,500
|-
|1933
|4,416
|-
|1934
|6,000 (est.)
|-
|1936 (start)
|17,500
|-
|1936 (mid)
|<10,000 (est.)
|-
|1941
|200 (est.) free + 2,000 in prison
|-
|1942 (December)
|15,000
|-
|1944 (June)
|250,000
|-
|1944 (October)
|420,000–450,000
|-
|1945 (October)
|45,000
|-
|1946 (February)
|<100,000
|-
|1948
|<50,000
|-
|2008<ref name="dagkas"/>
|<10,000
|}

=== Youth organisation ===
{{main|Communist Youth of Greece}}

The youth organization of the KKE is the [[Communist Youth of Greece]] (KNE), which is under the all-round guidance of the KKE. It was illegally founded in 1968 during the anti-communist [[Greek junta|military junta]]. KNE members have been dominant in the Greek universities since 2022 under the [[Panspoudastiki]].

=== Associated organizations ===
It publishes the daily newspaper ''[[Rizospastis]]''. It also publishes the political and theoretical journal ''Communist Review'' ({{langx|el|Κομμουνιστική Επιθεώρηση}}) every two months and a journal covering educational issues, ''Themata Paideias''.

=== International affiliation ===
[[File:ΚΚΕ_100.png|thumb|KKE 100 year anniversary logo]]
The KKE stands in elections and has representatives in the [[Hellenic Parliament]], local authorities and the [[European Parliament]], where its two MEPs sit with the [[Non-Inscrits]]. 

KKE is currently trying to mold a loose and rather disorganised international communist movement along a purely Marxist–Leninist line. Since its 18th congress (February 2009), KKE has opened up a discussion within the ranks and more broadly within the Greek left-leaning community on the future evolution of communism in the 21st century, with a particular emphasis on examining the causes of the collapse of the Socialist system in the former Soviet Union and in Eastern Europe.

== Election results ==
[[File:June-2023-Greece-KKE-gradient.svg|thumb|350px|Communist Party support in [[June 2023 Greek parliamentary election|June 2023 election]]]]
=== Hellenic Parliament ===
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:100%; line-height:16px;"
|-
! width="60" rowspan="2" |Election
!colspan="5"|[[Hellenic Parliament]]
! width="30" rowspan="2" |Rank
! width="125" rowspan="2" |Government
!rowspan="2"|Leader
|-
! width="75" |Votes
! width="45" |%
! width="45" |±[[Percentage point|pp]]
! width="100" |Seats won
! width="40" |+/−
|-
! [[1928 Greek legislative election|1928]]
| 14,352
| 1,56%
| 0
| {{Composition bar|0|250|}}
| 0
| #12
| style="background-color:#DDDDDD"| No seats
| Collective leadership
|-
! [[1932 Greek legislative election|1932]]
| 58,233
| 4.97%
| {{increase}}3.56
| {{Composition bar|13|250|{{party color|All People Front}}}}
| {{increase}}13
| #6
| style="background-color:#FFCCCC"| Opposition
| rowspan="4" | [[Nikos Zachariadis|Νikos Zachariadis]]
|-
! [[1933 Greek legislative election|1933]]
| 52,958
| 4.64%
| {{decrease}}0.33
| {{Composition bar|0|248|}}
| {{decrease}} 13
| #4
| style="background-color:#DDDDDD"| No seats
|-
![[1935 Greek legislative election|1935]]
| colspan="3" rowspan="2" |[[All People Front]]
|{{Composition bar|0|300|}}
|0
|#3
| style="background-color:#DDDDDD"| No seats
|-
! [[1936 Greek legislative election|1936]]
| {{Composition bar|15|300|{{party color|All People Front}}}}
| {{increase}}15
| #4
| style="background-color:#FFCCCC" | Opposition
|-
![[1974 Greek legislative election|1974]]
|colspan="3"|With [[United Left (Greece)|United Left]]
|{{composition bar|5|300|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
|{{increase}} 5
|4th
|{{no2|Opposition}}
|rowspan="5"|[[Charilaos Florakis]]
|-
![[1977 Greek legislative election|1977]]<sup>'''A'''</sup>
|480,272
|9.4%
| −0.1
|{{composition bar|11|300|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
|{{increase}} 6
|4th
|{{no2|Opposition}}
|-
![[1981 Greek legislative election|1981]]
|620,302
|10.9%
| +1.5
|{{composition bar|13|300|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
|{{increase}} 2
|3rd
|{{no2|Opposition}}
|-
![[1985 Greek legislative election|1985]]
|629,525
|9.9%
| −1.0
|{{composition bar|12|300|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
|{{decrease}} 1
|3rd
|{{no2|Opposition}}
|-
![[June 1989 Greek legislative election|June 1989]]
| colspan="3" rowspan="3" |With [[Synaspismos]]
|{{composition bar|20|300|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
|{{increase}} 8
|3rd
|style="background-color:#CCFFCC"|Interim government<br />{{small|[[New Democracy (Greece)|ND]]–[[Synaspismos|SYN]]}}
|-
![[November 1989 Greek legislative election|November 1989]]
|{{composition bar|16|300|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
|{{decrease}} 4
|3rd
|style="background-color:#CCFFCC"|National unity government<br />{{small|ND–[[Panhellenic Socialist Movement|PASOK]]–[[Synaspismos|SYN]]}}
|rowspan="2"|[[Grigoris Farakos]]
|-
![[1990 Greek legislative election|1990]]
|{{composition bar|15|300|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
|{{decrease}} 1
|3rd
|{{no2|Opposition}}
|-
![[1993 Greek legislative election|1993]]<sup>B</sup>
|313,001
|4.5%
| −5.7
|{{composition bar|9|300|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
|{{decrease}} 6
|4th
|{{no2|Opposition}}
|rowspan="8"|[[Aleka Papariga]]
|-
![[1996 Greek legislative election|1996]]
|380,046
|5.6%
| +1.1
|{{composition bar|11|300|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
|{{increase}} 2
|3rd
|{{no2|Opposition}}
|-
![[2000 Greek legislative election|2000]]
|379,454
|5.5%
| −0.1
|{{composition bar|11|300|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
|{{nochange}} 0
|3rd
|{{no2|Opposition}}
|-
![[2004 Greek legislative election|2004]]
|436,818
|5.9%
| +0.4
|{{composition bar|12|300|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
|{{increase}} 1
|3rd
|{{no2|Opposition}}
|-
![[2007 Greek legislative election|2007]]
|583,750
|8.2%
| +2.3
|{{composition bar|22|300|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
|{{increase}} 10
|3rd
|{{no2|Opposition}}
|-
![[2009 Greek legislative election|2009]]
|517,154
|7.5%
| −0.7
|{{composition bar|21|300|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
|{{decrease}} 1
|3rd
|{{no2|Opposition}}
|-
![[May 2012 Greek legislative election|May 2012]]
|536,105
|8.5%
| +1.0
|{{composition bar|26|300|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
|{{increase}} 5
|5th
|{{partial|Snap election}}
|-
![[June 2012 Greek legislative election|Jun 2012]]
|277,227
|4.5%
| −4.0
|{{composition bar|12|300|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
|{{decrease}} 14
|7th
|{{no2|Opposition}}
|-
![[January 2015 Greek legislative election|Jan 2015]]
|338,138
|5.5%
| +1.0
|{{composition bar|15|300|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
|{{increase}} 3
|5th
|{{no2|Opposition}}
|rowspan="5"|[[Dimitris Koutsoumpas]]
|-
![[September 2015 Greek legislative election|Sep 2015]]
|301,632
|5.6%
| +0.1
|{{composition bar|15|300|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
|{{nochange}} 0
|5th
|{{no2|Opposition}}
|-
![[2019 Greek legislative election|2019]]
|299,592
|5.3%
| −0.3
|{{composition bar|15|300|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
|{{nochange}} 0
|4th
|{{no2|Opposition}}
|-
![[May 2023 Greek legislative election|May 2023]]
|426,741
|7.2%
| +1.9
|{{composition bar|26|300|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
|{{increase}} 11
|4th
|{{partial|Snap election}}
|-
![[June 2023 Greek legislative election|June 2023]]
|401,187
|7.7%
| +0.5
|{{composition bar|21|300|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
|{{decrease}} 5
|4th
|{{no2|Opposition}}
|-
|}
{{small|<sup>A</sup> 1977 results compared to the [[United Left (Greece)|United Left]] totals in the 1974 election.}}<br />{{small|<sup>B</sup> 1993 results compared to the [[Synaspismos]] totals in the 1990 election.}}

=== European Parliament ===
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:100%; line-height:16px;"
|-
!colspan="9"|[[European Parliament]]
|-
! width="60" |Election
! width="75" |Votes
! width="45" |%
! width="45" |±[[Percentage point|pp]]
! width="100" |Seats won
! width="30" |+/−
! width="30" |Rank
! Leader
! EP Group
|-
! [[1981 European Parliament election in Greece|1981]]
| 729,052
| 12.84%
| New
| {{composition bar|3|24|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
| New
| 3rd
| rowspan=3|[[Charilaos Florakis]]
| rowspan=2|[[Communist and Allies Group|COM]]
|-
! [[1984 European Parliament election in Greece|1984]]
| 693,304
| 11.64%
| −1.20
| {{composition bar|3|24|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| 3rd
|-
! [[1989 European Parliament election in Greece|1989]]<sup>'''A'''</sup>
| 936,175
| 14.31%
| +2.67
| {{composition bar|4|24|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
| {{increase}} 1
| 3rd
| [[European United Left (1989-1993)|EUL]]
|-
! [[1994 European Parliament election|1994]]
| 410,741
| 6.29%
| −8.02
| {{composition bar|2|25|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
| {{decrease}} 2
| 4th
| rowspan="4"|[[Aleka Papariga]]
| rowspan="4" |[[European United Left - Nordic Green Left|GUE/NGL]]
|-
! [[1999 European Parliament election in Greece|1999]]
| 557,365
| 8.67%
| +2.38
| {{composition bar|3|25|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
| {{increase}} 1
| 3rd
|-
! [[2004 European Parliament election in Greece|2004]]
| 580,396
| 9.48%
| +0.81
| {{composition bar|3|24|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| 3rd
|-
! [[2009 European Parliament election in Greece|2009]]
| 428,151
| 8.35%
| −1.13
| {{composition bar|2|22|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
| {{decrease}} 1
| 3rd
|-
! [[2014 European Parliament election in Greece|2014]]
| 349,342
| 6.11%
| −2.24
| {{composition bar|2|21|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| 6th
| rowspan="3"|[[Dimitris Koutsoumpas]]
| rowspan="3" |'''[[Non-Inscrits|Non-attached]]'''<ref>{{Cite web |last=alterthess |date=2014-06-02 |title=Αποχώρησε από την ομάδα της Αριστεράς στο Ευρωκοινοβούλιο το ΚΚΕ |url=https://alterthess.gr/apochorise-apo-tin-omada-tis-aristeras-sto-eyrokoinovoylio-to-kke/ |access-date=2024-10-21 |website=AlterThess.gr - Όλες οι Ειδήσεις από την άλλη Θεσσαλονίκη |language=el}}</ref>
|-
! [[2019 European Parliament election in Greece|2019]]
| 302,677
| 5.35%
| −0.76
| {{composition bar|2|21|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| 4th
|-
! [[2024 European Parliament election in Greece|2024]]
| 367,796
| 9.25%
| +3.90
| {{composition bar|2|21|hex={{party color|Communist Party of Greece}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| 5th
|}
{{small|<sup>A</sup> Contested as part of the [[Synaspismos#Coalition, late 1980s–1991|Coalition of the Left and Progress]].}}

== See also ==
{{portal|Communism|Conservatism|Greece|Politics}}
* [[All-Workers Militant Front]] (PAME)
* [[International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties]]
* [[Initiative of Communist and Workers' Parties]]
* [[Socialism in Greece]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== Citations ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* [[Dimitri Kitsikis]], ''Populism, Eurocommunism and the Communist Party of Greece'', in M. Waller, Communist Parties in Western Europe – Oxford, Blackwell, 1988.
* Dimitri Kitsikis, "Greece: Communism in a  Non-Western Setting," in D. E. Albright, ''Communism and Political Systems in Western Europe.'' Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1979.
* Dimitri Kitsikis, "Greek Communists and the Karamanlis Government," ''Problems of Communism,'' vol.26 (January–February 1977), pp.&nbsp;42–56.
* Artiem Ulunian, "The Communist Party of Greece and the Comintern: Evaluations, Instructions, and Subordination," in Tim Rees and Andrew Thorpe (eds.), ''International Communism and the Communist International, 1919–43.'' Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998.

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikinews|KKE: Interview with the Greek Communist Party}}
* {{Official website}} {{In lang|el}}
* {{cite news |last=Charalambous |first=Giorgos |title=Understanding the Greek Communist Party |newspaper=Greece@LSE |url=http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/greeceatlse/2012/09/02/understanding-the-greek-communist-party/ |publisher=[[London School of Economics]] |date=2 September 2012}}
* Neni Panourgiá. [http://dangerouscitizens.columbia.edu Dangerous "Citizens Online"]. [[Dangerous Citizens Online|Online version]] of ''Dangerous Citizens: The Greek Left and the Terror of the State''. {{ISBN|978-0823229680}}.
* Gabriele D'Angeli (19 April 2012). [http://www.marxist.com/the-kke-and-the-greek-revolution.htm "The KKE and the Greek revolution"]. National Committee of the Italian Young Communists.
* [[Dimitri Kitsikis]] (January 2010). [https://web.archive.org/web/20150406201019/http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/pages-europe/d000562-grece.-le-synaspismos-tiraille-entre-social-democratie-et-anarchisme-par-dimitri Kitsikis/article "Grèce. Le Synaspismos tiraillé entre social-démocratie et anarchisme"]. ''Grande Europe''. No. 16. ''La Documentation Française''.
* [[Dimitri Kitsikis]] (1975). [http://www.erudit.org/revue/ei/1975/v6/n3/700576ar.pdf "Le mouvement communiste en Grèce"]. ''Études internationales''. Vol. 6. No. 3.

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

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