Speech by the General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL A. Kyprianou at the mass event dedicated to the historic leader of AKEL Ezekias Papaioannou
Strovolos Municipal Theatre, Nicosia
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 8 October 2018
I step up to this podium in awe and deeply moved. This evening’s event is the least we owe of our debt to one of our Party’s historic leaders, Ezekias Papaioannou.
Today precisely 110 years have elapsed since his birth and this year 30 years since his death.
Our goal isn’t to create a life history idolizing Ezekias Papaioannou. Firstly because he has no need of any adulation. Only those who have things to hide need any adulation.
Our goal is to honor him precisely for what he was: a prominent political figure of Cyprus, but also a simple humble soldier of the Party and the People’s Movement.
A patriot, but also an internationalist.
Strict, but so human.
Faithful to the ideals of socialism, committed to the work of the Party, consistent and hard-working, always ready for exercise criticism, but also to engage in self-criticism.
His life’s album is enormous. He grew up poor in the village of Kellaki. At the American Academy he was both a school student and running errands to be able to pay for the tuition fees. He worked down the Foukasa mine in bottomless pits. He also worked at the Piraeus port as a laborer for a plate of food with his dream of studying to become a doctor day by day fading away. In London he slept in Trafalgar Square covered in newspapers.
That’s how Ezekias Papaioannou’s horizon developed and took the path of struggle for the People within the ranks of the Communist Party of Great Britain, the Cypriot Communist Groups of London, the Committee on Cypriot Affairs, the front of the anti-fascist struggle within the International Brigades in the Spanish civil war, the anti-aircraft defence units during the Second World War in London and at the forefront of all the political and social struggles waged by AKEL.
The whole life, the actions and services of Ezekias Papaioannou are themselves a remarkable lesson. His political assets represent an enormous legacy for us all. The duty to march on the same path is our great debt towards him.
“The task before every patriot is the declared line of the solution of the Cyprus problem as set out by the UN resolutions…” he writes in his book “Reminiscences”. He went on to add that one of the reasons why AKEL gained strength and influence in Cypriot society was that it remained consistent and committed to its line and tactics on the Cyprus problem. The line fighting for an independent, sovereign, territorial integral, federal, non-aligned, democratic and demilitarized Cyprus was, and continues to be, AKEL’s vision for Cyprus.
AKEL’s vision took on a practical form. It became a tangible political proposal with specific proposals and positions for the solution of the Cyprus problem. This vision is being promoted through consistent tactics all these years.
Through the correct utilization of the international community, the continuous enlightenment of the people, the assumption of continuous initiatives for rapprochement of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots and the formation of a common front, together with our Turkish Cypriot compatriots.
Through the struggle against nationalism, neo-fascism. With consistency to the goal of liberation, reunification and peace.
It is necessary and imperative that we serve this vision with consistency and determination also today. The way Anastasiades and governing DISY party have handled 9the Cyprus problem) has led us to a very critical situation. As a patriotic, responsible and serious Party, we have an obligation to struggle to reverse the occupational situation on the ground and halt the slide towards partition. Rest assured that we will carry out our duty in full.
Ezekias Papaioannou was elected to the leadership of AKEL in difficult times; difficult for Cyprus, the working class and the Party itself. He had already returned to Cyprus when the class, ideological and political struggle reached a climax in 1948. He stood firmly on the side of the striking miners and construction workers. He could not have taken any other stand as all his life the working people were always at the centre of his thoughts, emotions and struggles. The just cause of workers was always for Papaioannou, the infallible class criterion to perceive the world.
His election to the leadership of AKEL put an end to a long inter-party strife, which was undermining the Party and threatening to cancel out the gains and struggles of AKEL and the wider movement of the Left.
Ezekias Papaioannou assumed the leadership of AKEL during the period of the anti-colonial struggle. He formulated the political line of struggle together with the rest of the Party leadership by contrasting the short-sighted approach pursued by the Right to the path of mass political and anti-imperialist struggle, on which all forces should rally around. The Right faction’s policy of division did not permit this to happen. AKEL’s strength grew steadily, which worried the British colonialists. Despite the fact that AKEL took a position against the armed struggle, the British took action and measures against AKEL. This was done because as Papaioannou himself remarks a British officer had characteristically said that “We will work things out with EOKA one day, but with you, never”. So the British colonialists banned AKEL and the mass organizations of the Left and imprisoned Ezekias himself and other Party cadres.
The years that followed were the most bloody and darkest in modern Cypriot history. Papaioannou, together with the rest of the leadership, led AKEL in tackling the orgy of political assassinations committed by the hooded men of Grivas. It was an ordeal that he himself described as the most difficult of his life. He had endured so much, but considered as his most severe test that night when AKEL members visited him to demand that the Party permit an armed response to the killings, otherwise they would kill Papaioannou himself. His reply was simple, clear and unequivocal. “I prefer you kill me, rather than to see thousands of mothers and children crying.”
This dialectic stand must also guide us today too.
Under the leadership of Papaioannou and the other comrades, AKEL withstood the attacks. It was not misled into the turmoil of a civil war and launched campaigns to inform the people of AKEL’s political line. This line not only found a resonance, but also mobilized the people in the organization of huge political rallies that denounced the political murders and assassinations of AKEL militants and members of the mass organizations of the Left; mass rallies that vociferously voiced the popular demand for freedom and independence.
Ezekias Papaioannou, together with the rest of the leadership, guided our people’s struggle against imperialism’s plans. He led AKEL to stand up to and resist nationalism and chauvinism, to forge the unity of our people and become the brunt and bastion of resistance to fascism.
During the pre-coup d’état period, AKEL was warning that the climate being cultivated by the Greek Junta and EOKA B was part of the wider plan aiming at the overthrow of Makarios and the surrender of Cyprus to the interests of NATO. Ezekias Papaioannou from the podium of the 13th Pancyprian Congress of AKEL, in April 1974, warned of the NATO conspiracy. He indeed passed from making verbal declarations to practical actions by proposing to Makarios the formation of a Popular Militia that would represent the opposing force to EOKA B, but also to the National Guard which was under the control of the Greek Junta. In just one week Papaioannou gave Makarios a list of a thousand names that were ready to take action against EOKA B fascism and protect Cyprus.
The unity of the people in the struggle for the liberation and completion of independence was considered by Ezekias to be a basic component part of the struggle. The policy of alliances was at the forefront of the political struggles waged by the Party during those times when Cyprus was being threatened, both internally and from abroad. Papaioannou as General Secretary of AKEL was cooperating with Makarios in good faith and with sincerity. He made every effort to defend Cyprus, its dignity and integrity together with its democratically elected President. Had Makarios overcome his hesitations and listened to AKEL’s proposals, the fate of Cyprus would have been different.
The twin crime committed in 1974 resulted in complete destruction and our people becoming refugees. Ezekias Papaioannou devoted countless hours from the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee of AKEL in the refugee camps under refugee tents in order to see and promote the refugee’s problems. He made numerous interventions in the House of Representatives too on the same subject.
AKEL did not yield and on the ruins of the 1974 tragedy began to work to prevent the consolidation of the occupation. The acceptance and consistent support towards the solution of bizonal, bicommunal federation was characterized by Ezekias as the only way forward for every patriot.
At the same time, AKEL began to develop our people’s perspective on the devastation caused by the invasion by pursuing the policy of rapprochement. Our Party was attacked ferociously. It became the target of insults, slanders and mudslinging because it dared to support the solution of federation; because it was bold enough to talk about the unity and friendship of our people, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.
Consistency towards the declared line of the solution of the Cyprus problem is the essence of AKEL’s long-standing policy on the Cyprus problem, as Ezekias Papaioannou described it and as it continues to remain to this day. We stress this point in the face of every fake attempt by certain forces and circles to portray a different Ezekias, a different AKEL back then and a different AKEL today.
“The opponents of the solution of bizonal, bicommunal federation are arming the imperialists,” Ezekias Papaioannou was stating and he was right.
We knew from that time onwards that we would either reunite our homeland based on the agreed framework of the solution, or we would be left with partition. With partition, we would be realizing the plans of those forces who ordered the execution of the double crime committed in 1974.
Somewhere in his “Reminiscences”, Ezekias refers with a grievance that he doesn’t believe another political leader in Cyprus was vilified and defamed so much, as himself for the political positions he defended as General Secretary of AKEL. The attacks against Ezekias and AKEL developed into a savage and destructive war when President Christofias was elected President of the Republic of Cyprus because he dared put in the public debate and on the table of the talks positions that abolished ethnic conflict and which had the common homeland, the common state, the common life of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots at their cornerstone.
We mustn’t have any doubt that AKEL will face the same behavior by the numerous forces of the country’s establishment and the Right. The reason is simple. They consider that AKEL is a threat to the consolidation of their rule; an obstacle to the promotion of their policies and serving of their interests.
“Our Party is the Party of deeds and action, the Party of consistency,” he was saying before AKEL’s collective bodies. AKEL has indeed delivered lessons in parliamentary and socio-political actions after independence. From 1960 onwards, Ezekias Papaioannou was being elected Member of Parliament, irrefutable evidence of the recognition and respect he enjoyed among the people. “We can’t blame colonialism for everything. Today we are obliged to carefully study every problem and elaborate concrete proposals for their solution. If the study of the problem is shoddy and makeshift and the proposals for its solution unfeasible, we won’t help anyone and we will only be ridiculed”, he stressed
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to stress that Cyprus’ transformation during the 1960’s and the beginning of the 1970’s bear the indelible mark of AKEL and the mass organizations of the Left as a result of their actions, both inside and outside the House of Representatives. That transformation from a backward colony to a developing state took place despite the bloody adventures of the Cyprus problem, the regime of discrimination implemented against the Left and the treacherous activity of the ultra-right.
The freezing of debts, the drainage system, the construction of the Kourris Dam, the Petrol Refinery, Pitsilia Region Development Plan, improvement in the Social Insurance Fund, development of tourism, protection of the environment, the formation of Fruit and Vegetable Trading Councils, the holding of community and municipal elections are just some examples.
- Papaioannou was fully aware of the role and mission of the Party of the working class, of the crucial importance of this role and mission. That’s precisely why he considered his life unthinkable outside the Party and its struggles. His principal concern always was the Party’s proper functioning not as an end in itself, but as a means to promote the noble goals for the emancipation of working people and salvation of Cyprus.
“Organizational problems are intertwined with political problems and vice versa,” he underlined during the debate at Party organizational conferences. Papaioannou wasn’t a ritualist, nor did he simply demand the strict application of AKEL’s Statutes and Rules of Procedure. He strongly believed that the Party’s organizational principles were inextricably linked to AKEL’s character and served and applied them with this outlook guiding him. He believed that no matter how solid the political proposals the Party were, without the practical implementation of the Party’s fundamental principles of operation from the Party Base Organization up to the Central Committee, AKEL couldn’t go far. He also attached the same importance to democratic centralism, not in the sense of blind obedience, but the respect and implementation of collective decisions, the conscious understanding of the need to respect it so that the Party’s effectiveness is increased.
“We need a mass Party that will at the same time be active and not a closed Party of a few select members. We need a mass Party with many thousands of members from all the strata of the working people who should be active too”, he stressed before Party bodies. During the four decades when Ezekias Papaioannou led the Party, AKEL grew to become a mass Party It won the respect, trust and the hearts and minds of the people as that force that is struggling constantly with seriousness and consistency for the salvation of Cyprus, its progress and prosperity. Ezekias himself personally, but also AKEL as a whole gained the respect of even their political opponents.
“Youth is the future,” Ezekias pointed out. He himself pursued the policy of promoting cadres, not for the sake of any impressions, but for the substance. Demetris Christofias’ reference in his book is characteristic where he writes that every time he was returning to Cyprus in the summer from his studies, Ezekias devoted time to discuss numerous issues with him. Furthermore, when Papaioannou had proposed D. Christofias to assume the post of General Secretary of the Party and that D.Christofias himself had put forth objections by declaring that others preceded him, since he was just forty-four years old, Ezekias replied simply “… real renewal will take place”.
“Marxism Leninism is neither a Koran, nor a Bible for us Communists. It’s a science. It is the science of sciences. We use it as a guiding compass, as a projector to illuminate the problems we face”. Ezekias was a loyal soldier of the people’s cause, because for as long as he lived he was studying our ideology and reading it constantly. He had absolute faith in the power of the working class and always took care to remember that that’s precisely where the root and leading role of all the forces of our Party lies. He was a consistent servant of the values and ideals of socialism, and proved this throughout his party life, with his activity in Cyprus and the world, with his own way of life too.
AKEL won the hearts and mind of Cypriots precisely because it did what Ezekias had described. That’s to say, it applied ideology not as a dogma, but as a means to analyze conditions dialectically so that we can move one step forward, always retaining our class character and militancy for our country’s vindication, the just cause of working people and the people in general.
“Party members and cadres have the same rights. Cadres, depending on the position they hold, are entrusted with fulfilling more tasks and duties, but they don’t have any privileges whatsoever. The only privilege that we communists assert is to be at the forefront of our people’s struggles”, Ezekias contended, and he was the first one to set the example.
He was at the Party offices early in the morning, working hard continuously. He was at the forefront for the implementation of the Party’s decisions. He took an interest in everything that had to be done, from the writing of a simple letter to the preparation of serious policy documents. He applied the “Leninist style of work,” which meant everything was important: from how the Party offices looked to how cadres should be. Showing respect towards everyone, meticulousness, consistency, diligence, work with guidance, enthusiasm and motivation were the spirit of his day-to-day life.
The phrase “I am a real proletarian” reflected his whole attitude: nothing unnecessary, nothing that would provoke Cypriot workers, working people, farmers, namely those who he had decided to serve. Humble, honest and unblemished from the beginning to the very end. This in any case is what inspired the militants and thousands of members of AKEL who honored him with their support and respect.
Ezekias passed away prematurely – “Fortunately”, in quotation marks, someone could say. He did not live to see the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Papaioannou passionately loved the Soviet Union. He regarded it as embodying the noble ideals of socialism and as the second homeland of all communists all over the world. He considered any questioning of the Soviet Union as constituting an attack on socialism. Today, this approach may be subject to much criticism. But no one can question its genuine internationalist motives. This approach becomes even more understandable if we consider that Papaioannou came from a small country that was being threatened; a country that subsequently felt how valuable the Soviet Union’s support was in the struggle for survival Cyprus was waging.
Papaioannou was a prominent figure in the international communist movement and a founder of the Cypriot-Soviet relations. The Soviet people’s achievements and gains were a beacon for the Party and a driving force for its struggles. AKEL, under the leadership of Ezekias Papaioannou developed its international and internationalist action. We are certain that the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a result of the manifold heavy siege it came under from capitalist states, but also the distortion of the essence and scientific basis of socialism, would have hurt, but not yielded a fiery fighter such as Ezekias Papaioannou. His death bequeathed to the leadership that had succeeded him under comrade Demetris Christofias the enormous duty to respond to the bar which was already raised very high. At the same time, however, that leadership, when the world was literally falling apart, did not lower the red flag and didn’t accept the theory about the “end of ideologies”. Fortunately for the Movement and the country itself, it did not yield and fought to defend the Party and its character and make it even stronger.
Not an insignificant number of people believe that Ezekias was a stern and distant character, tied to formalities and strictness. He himself did indeed admit that his life was hard and that this had influenced his character. But if one studies carefully, one will find another side to his character, his human side, first and foremost what he himself says about the partner of his life, his wife Irene. It is enough to just consider that for Irene not to see him sick while she was also sick, he followed a peculiar treatment with horrible pains so as to recover immediately, so as to be near her and then to return to his duties. Then there is the unlimited respect and appreciation expressed in his writings about Maria, who stood by his side throughout his intense life with love, care and diligence. Finally, one cannot but notice his expression in every photograph that surrounded him with children. His look changed. He mirrors them; the mirror of innocence, joy and unselfish love for people. All his life and struggles had this starting point: his love for the people, his concern for the future and life, for “the universal day of peace, prosperity, joy and socialism.”
Ezekias Papaioannou was at the forefront of the struggles of our country’s modern history. That history does not concern the past, but rather the present is a tenet. His political legacy is not some memorial service dedicated to what he lived through, what he accomplished and what he offered. It is the vivid remembrance that we carry with us a long, rich in struggles and martyred history, but also the promise of the future: the relentless struggle for the vindication of Cyprus and the liberation of the People.
