On the 89th anniversary of the foundation of the Communist Party of Cyprus – AKEL

 

AKEL C.C Press Office, 15th August 2015, Nicosia

 

The feast of the Virgin Mary on 15th August in the Cyprus of the 1920 decade was a big social event that was celebrated with social gatherings and parties. This was the reason why on 15th August 1926, so as not to provoke the British colonialist’s attention, about twenty pioneering communists chose to hold the founding Congress of the Communist Party of Cyprus (CPC) in a small house in Limassol.

Today eighty nine years have passed since the establishment of the CPC; eighty-nine years since the messages and the great visions of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and the shape of the first organized communist cells of the early 1920’s were transformed into the Party of the Cypriot working class. Subsequently, the foundations were laid for the people themselves to emerge at the forefront of social and political history, in whose name the then bourgeois petty politicians were preaching to, but never represented.

In conditions characterised by immense poverty, ignorance, prejudices, oppression and the deep illegality of the period, one is in awe of the first tasks the newly-established Communist Party set itself: namely, the dissemination of socialist ideals, the organization of workers and peasants, the waging of an anti-colonial struggle, the struggle for political rights for the people, wages and humane working conditions, the fight against prejudices, ignorance and backwardness.

To Communist Party of Cyprus after the October uprising in 1931 was outlawed by the British colonialists, the leadership of the Party exiled, its cadres and members imprisoned and exiled in the villages of Cyprus. Passing the baton of struggle to AKEL in 1941, it can be concluded effortlessly that the Communist Party of Cyprus offered invaluable service to the cause of the people and the working class of Cyprus. It introduced the ideas of Marxism-Leninism and laid the foundations of the class-based workers movement.

AKEL, as the successor of the CPC, continued on the path charted by the pioneering communists, but waged the struggle from more favourable positions and enriched by better experience. AKEL has been the leading force in the struggles of our people against colonialism, for freedom, the defence and consolidation of the independence of Cyprus and for democracy in the country. AKEL developed into a mass Communist Party, assertive and responsible. It evolved into a Party whose great contribution to Cyprus, workers and our people is acknowledged by all. AKEL for decades has established itself as a big serious political and social force that plays a leading role in shaping our country’s future and working people’s perspective.

The completion of eighty nine years since the founding of the CPC-AKEL also means that as of today we are heading towards to the ninetieth year of the Party’s life and struggle. The 90th anniversary of the CPC-AKEL as a historical milestone, both for the Party itself and for Cyprus and our people, will be honoured as it deserves to be with numerous events that will be announced.

On the occasion of today’s anniversary, AKEL pays homage to the thousands of people’s fighters who with their sacrifices, struggles and their blood shed created better living conditions for the common people and who built the great bastion of AKEL and the People’s Movement of the Left.

Finally, we express our thanks to the Cypriot people for the practical support, love and the confidence that it embraces the Party. The people are the Life-Giver of AKEL and AKEL exists to serve them. We renew our commitment to continue the struggle for the reunification of our homeland, for social justice and prosperity.