CJB present at the 13th Congress of the Communist Youth of Greece (KNE)

International Commission

The 13th Congress of our sister organisation, the Communist Youth of Greece (KNE), was held between the 10th and 12th of February in Athens. The International Commission of the CJB was present together with other 27 communist- and anti-imperialist youth organisations of the whole world. The representative of the CJB delivered a speech to the delegates of the KNE highlighting the important role of their organisation for the strengthening of the international communist movement and the importance of the growth of both of our movements to give hope to a disillusioned youth.

The activities for the international delegates started with a tour to the port of Piraeus, the largest port of Greece and the fourth largest port in Europe. There we met with four leaders of the trade union of the COSCO workers. Since 2010 the port of Piraeus is owned by COSCO, a Chinese monopoly. The labour relations since then have deteriorated greatly, many workers have died because of the poor safety conditions. The workers of COSCO decided to start a trade union in 2014. This was met with fascist attacks, by a yellow fascist trade union started by COSCO. However, the trade union did not give up their fight against this imperialist monopoly. With many strikes being organised, they achieved an agreement for the betterment of their workers conditions. According to the trade union leaders, this was only possible due to the intervention of the KNE and the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), that gave to the workers the trust to fight and to win the struggle.

On Friday and Saturday, the international delegates observed the speeches held during the congress. During those two days, 59 speeches were delivered by both the international delegates, as the delegates of the different organs of the KNE. The speeches covered different subjects of the thesis of the 13th congress such as: the building of different base organisations and the political discussions held within those base organisations, the struggle of the students in universities, the struggle of students in schools, the activities of the KNE around women emancipation, the effort of the KNE for developing sport activities to achieve a healthier life amongst the youth, the struggle against drug abuse in the youth, the spreading of Odigitis (monthly paper of KNE) and Rizospastis (daily newspaper of KKE), the evaluation of the international communist movement and many other subjects.

All the content of the speeches was a fruit of the effort of the militants of the KNE in the last four years, to achieve the goals formulated in their 12th congress. The theoretical evaluations done in the 13th congress were a result of the struggle in the schools, universities, trade unions, student unions etc. The militants spoke openly about their flaws and strengths, successes and mistakes. This makes it possible for the KNE to achieve even greater succes after the 13th congress and be `the spark that will turn darkness into light` as the slogan of their congress says.

The congress activities for the international delegates were ended with a speech by the general secretary of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumpas. This very inspiring speech talked about many aspects of the class struggle in Greece, with an extra highlight given to the parliamentary elections that will be held this year and the struggle of the KKE against the opportunist forces of SYRYZA and ruing party New Democracy.

The KNE will play an essential role in canalising the anger of the youth that is disillusioned with the capitalist system. The situation in Greece is one of sharpening contradictions. The youth more and more is losing its trust in the opportunist forces to resolve the problems of their lives. The conclusions that will be taken, fruit of the discussions during the 13th congress will make the KNE more prepared to face the challenges of the coming period. For us, the communists in the Netherlands, it was a pleasure and a honour to be a part of the 13th congress. We have learned important lessons from the struggle of the communists in Greece that were presented in the thesis of the congress. We will use it to inspire our work, to organise our youth and to learn to keep struggling for a communist society, no matter what challenge lies ahead. We wish our fraternal brothers of the KNE much success in the period after the congress, for a strong KNE everywhere.

Greeting of the CJB at the 13th Congress of KNE

Dear comrades,

The Communist Youth Movement of the Netherlands wishes success ahead of the 13th Congress of the Communist Youth of Greece (KNE), which will take place from the 10th until the 12th of February in Athens, and sends warm comradely greetings from the communists in the Netherlands.

Your congress takes place in an extremely important period for the young communists of Europe and the world. In a post-pandemic world, with growing contradictions of the capitalist system, the intervention of the communist youth will be of extreme importance. The current developments demand a class oriented, Marxist-Leninist youth movement like the KNE, to organise the working youth.

The problems faced by the youth, such as unemployment, low wages, student debt, homelessness etc. are present in many countries in Europe. These problems are directly caused by the exploitative capitalist system and cannot be resolved by this system. The struggle of the communist youth movements will be essential to give hope to the working class that is becoming more and more disillusioned with the capitalist system. They long for an alternative and it is our task to present it to them.

On an international level, we are experiencing the rotting of the imperialist system. The present ongoing war in Ukraine is an expression of the most vile aspect of this system. The working class has only to suffer from this war. Not only in Russia and Ukraine, but in the rest of the world. The role of the KKE and the KNE in the International communist movement has been exemplar in analysing the current inter-imperialistic contradictions in the world.

In the Netherlands and in Greece, we see the sharpening of the crisis of capitalism. Even though we operate in different conditions, we can learn very much from the way in each we intervene in the struggles of the youth in our countries. This exchange of knowledge in the context of proletarian internationalism is very useful for the working classes of the respective countries. The important efforts of the KNE to the international collaboration of communist youth organisations, amongst others with the international activities that are held in the framework of the yearly Festival of KNE-Odigitis are also worth noting.

The growth of both our movements will give hope to the youth. The struggle of the communist of the world must ignite the flame that will `turn darkness into light` as the slogan of your congress says. The only way of resolving the current problems of the world is by breaking with the capitalist system and by building socialism-communism. That is the only way to build a future for the next generations that is not based on the exploitation of man by man, but based on solidarity and peace.