With the momentum of our history – with an eye to the future

AKEL Declaration on the 97^th anniversary of the foundation of the Communist Party of Cyprus – AKEL

Any finalisation of the partition means a new cycle of suffering

15 August 2023, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

The 15 August 1926 is a milestone in the history of Cyprus and our country’s social struggles. The founding of the Communist Party of Cyprus (CPC) marks our country’s course because for the first time the working people asserted their place as protagonists of History.

The CPC planted within the Cypriot working class the seed of communist ideals and the vision of socialism, internationalism, the love for peace and democracy.

The CPC was the founder, the mind and soul of the workers’ movement and organised the first workers’ struggles.

It defined the line of unity of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots in the struggle for freedom and bread as the eternal compass of the Cypriot Left.

It established, by projecting the need for the forging of a united anti-colonial front, the policy of alliances that has governed the strategy and action of our Party for a century.

It introduced demands that were revolutionary for that era, such as equality of the sexes, protection of motherhood, the prohibition of child labour and free education, the separation of Church and State, the distribution of ecclesiastical and baccalaureate land to the landless, and the cancellation of the debts of the dispossessed peasantry.

It clashed with the ignorance and religious obscurantism of the time and cultivated in the working class a love of culture and education.

Throughout these 97 years, the Communist Party of Cyprus-AKEL has faced all kinds of enemies and ordeals. It has managed not only to withstand and hold its stand, but also to establish itself as a leading political force because it had the ability the boldness that its ideology demands: to change and renew itself, to correct mistakes and weaknesses, to find new forms of organization and action, to tie itself to the people of labour and to open itself to all the people, to unite the struggles of today with the vision of tomorrow.

Ahead of the milestone of the Statutory Party Congress next November and the double European and Local government elections of 2024, AKEL calls on its thousands of members for a collective thinking and collective decisions that will open up a new era for AKEL and the People’s Movement of the Left: an era of its growth and victorious struggles.

At the same time, we call on the broader progressive people of Cyprus for dialogue so that together we can build the progressive alliance that will change the balance of forces and situation in our country.

AKEL pays its respect to the pioneering and heroic communists who fought for the present and the future of our people and for our country. AKEL marches forward with boldness, determination and optimism. With the momentum of our history. With an eye to the future