Message of the Central Committee of AKEL to the 53rd Congress of the Communist Party of Britain
The Central Committee of AKEL conveys its warm comradely and militant greetings to the Communist Party of Britain, to its members and cadres, for a successful and fruitful 53rd Congress.
At this significant juncture for your Party, the communists of Cyprus recall the strong, enduring and historical links between the communists and working people of our two countries. We recall in particular the early stages in the history of the Communist Party of Cyprus and its successor, AKEL. Many Cypriot workers – migrants shaped their class consciousness within the ranks of the Communist Party and at the same time transmitted their experiences to the communist movement in Cyprus. Among them, the historical leader of our Party com. Ezekias Papaioannou who, together with many other Cypriot and British communists, fought and indeed died together in the great anti-fascist battle on the side of Republican Spain against Franco, but also struggling together in the daily class struggles of the labour movement and in numerous international solidarity campaigns.
The relations of several generations of Cypriots migrants and AKEL’s Branch in Britain with the Communists of Britain are continuing to this day. We look forward to enhancing and deepening these relations and joint actions.
AKEL highly appreciates and respects that the British Communists have always been in consistent, steadfast and militant solidarity with the struggles of the Cypriot people, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, for freedom and national independence against British colonialism; against the NATO imperialist plans to subjugate Cyprus; against the on-going Turkish occupation of 37% of our island, the presence of the British military bases and Turkey’s current provocations and aggressive actions in the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone in violation of International Law.
The struggle against the imperialist new world order is today more urgent than ever before. The Middle East has become once more the centre of imperialist expansion and aggression against the sovereignty of states, threatening peace in the entire region, fueling sectarianism and fundamentalist extremism, civil wars and humanitarian catastrophe. The international communist movement must at this crucial moment stand firmly on the side of the peoples of the region, and the communist, left, progressive and anti-imperialist forces in the region by developing joint action and mass struggles against these military interventions and aggressions; developments that threaten to plunge humanity into a vicious circle serving imperialist geo-strategic and economic interests.
Your Congress is taking place in the midst of the deep crisis of the capitalist system that is shifting even more burdens on working people’s backs and attacking elementary rights and gains. We are following closely the vital and coherent role the Communist Party of Britain is playing in the various developing campaigns, leading by example, promoting united mass action and forging broad alliances within the labour, social and people’s movement, such as the Peoples Assembly.
We would like once again to express our militant solidarity towards your struggles and reiterate our wish to further develop the ties between our two Parties. Every success to your Congress which we are sure will be a new landmark in the life and struggle of the Communist Party of Britain, in the struggles of the British working people for peace, democracy and socialism.
With fraternal and communist greetings,
The Central Committee of AKEL
