83 years since the foundation of AKEL

 

A stronger AKEL fighting for workers and the people

14 April 2024, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

Eighty-three years have passed today since the founding of AKEL. On 14 April 1941, the assembly to establish AKEL was held in the village of Skarinou, on the initiative of the illegal Communist Party of Cyprus (CPC) and in cooperation with progressive figures of that period. AKEL was founded in response to the need for a legal and mass party of the working people and the Left of Cyprus.

AKEL took over the baton of national, political and social struggles from the Communist Party of Cyprus. From the very first years of its foundation it grew in strength and was a protagonist and decisive factor at the forefront of the Cypriot people’s struggles for freedom and in the worker’s struggles for socio-economic gains and rights.

With its founding assembly it joined the camp of the anti-fascist, anti-Hitler forces and worked to upgrade the contribution of the Cypriot people to the universal struggle against Hitler fascism.

In the decades that followed, it was the leading force in the anti-colonial struggle. AKEL intensified the struggle for freedom by waging mass political struggle, mobilizing the people through the organisation of rallies, demonstrations, political strikes and at the same time internationalizing the Cyprus problem, undertaking a series of initiatives that raised the Cyprus problem abroad.

It has been the most consistent force in defending the independence and unity of Cyprus from NATO’s plans to divide our country, acting as the backbone of the popular struggles in defence of democracy against fascism.

AKEL was and remains the force identified with the fraternity,

friendship and common struggles of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, struggles in which it remains to this day the most genuine voice and force for the reunification of Cyprus and our people.

The CPC-AKEL, in almost a century of its life and struggles, has been at the forefront of all small and big struggles, identified with the working people and remains tireless and militant in the service of the people, putting its own mark on the achievements of workers, the peasantry, women and youth.

AKEL wages the battle in the arena of culture, highlighting popular creation and is the most consistent ally of the people of culture, of arts and letters.

The CPC-AKEL, throughout its historical course, has suffered imprisonment, persecution, prohibitions and assassinations; it has fought and defended, with its sacrifices and the blood shed by its militants and members, democracy and freedom. It has not hesitated to stand up and fight against fascism, imperialism and foreign invaders.

Despite the unequal battles it has and continues to wage every time, AKEL continues to withstand all attacks against it, proud and strong because it was and is one with the people, as the voice and force of the common people, the toilers and the working class, armed with its ideology and the thousands of its members who have served and continue to serve the cause of the working class with selflessness.

Today, stronger, AKEL fights in Parliament, the European Parliament and local government for working people’s rights, for an economic growth to produce prosperity for all, for the modernisation of the state and society, for democratic freedoms and human rights, against racism, nationalism and bigotry, for the social goods of health and education, for ecology and the environment.

Looking to the future, AKEL conveys a message of optimism, a strong and renewed AKEL, with the momentum of its history and the strength of its ideology for the political and electoral battles to be waged, to continue to serve with consistency our people and our Cyprus.