The Communist Party of Greece ( Marxist – Leninist ) (, ΚΚΕ ( μ-λ ), Kommounistiko Komma Elladas ( marxistiko-leninistiko ), KKE ( m-l )), is a Maoist communist political party in Greece.

KKE ( m-l ) graffiti.

KKE ( m-l ) was founded in November 1976 by the majority of the Organisation of Marxists-Leninists of Greece ( OMLE ), itself a splinter group of the Communist Party of Greece since 1964.

KKE ( m-l ) in the Legislative Elections in June 1989 gathered 3, 361 votes ( 0, 05 %).

In 1993 the KKE ( m-l ) joined the Left Struggle political coalition along with the Revolutionary Communist Movement of Greece ( EKKE ), New Left Current, Workers Revolutionary Party ( EEK ).

KKE ( m-l ) publishes the biweekly newspaper, Proletariaki Simea ( Proletarian Flag ).

* KKE ( m-l ) Website

He was reelected in the 1982 and 1986 elections and remained in office until 1990 ( although he later switched from the Communist Party of Greece ( KKE ) to the radical leftist Synaspismos ).

C. M Woodhouse, a British Intelligence officer, head of the British military delegation stationed by the Allies in Greece during WWII, wrote that on 18 March, when the Germans were moving unopposed into Bulgaria, KKE advised Greeks to follow the example of " the heroic fraternal people of Bulgaria " Moreover, according to George Papandreou, there were hints of a possible collaboration between KKE and the Germans in forming a government under occupation.

First elected to parliament in 1974, Florakis led KKE as its general secretary from 1972 until 1989, when, though still fit for the job, he announced his decision to step down from the party's top post and proposed Grigoris Farakos as his successor.

The new government would have a majority of 58, with SYRIZA, Independent Greeks ( ANEL ), Golden Dawn ( XA ) and the Communist Party ( KKE ) comprising the opposition.

According to KKE's archives, the " Old Central Committee " had been denounced for its stance on the war issue ; today KKE claims that the majority of the party membership had not followed the decision of being neutral in case of an invasion.

The disintegration of USSR brought the Left into disunion, and the traditional majority within KKE purged all non-hardliners from the party-almost 45 % of the Central Committee members, including ex-general secretary Grigoris Farakos, and majorities in many Local Committees ( named by the KKE majority as revisionists and by the press as the renewers ), and also split from the coalition.

The new government would have a majority of 28, with SYRIZA, Independent Greeks ( ANEL ), Golden Dawn ( XA ) and the Communist Party ( KKE ) comprising the opposition.

At its Third Party Congress in 1924, KKE announced its policy for the self-determination of minorities, pointing out the minorities in Macedonia.

In 1934, KKE changed its view and expressed its intent to " fight for the national self-determination, under a People's Republic where all nations will found their self-determination and will build the common state of the workers ...".

The Macedonian people are today fighting for this independent united state with a coequal position and is helping the DSE with all its soul ..." The policy of self-determination for Macedonia within a People's Republic was reiterated during the 5th KKE Central Committee meeting held in January 1949, which declared that the " Macedonian people participating in the liberation struggle would find their full national re-establishment as they want giving their blood for this acquisition ... Macedonian Communists should pay great attentions to foreign chauvinist and counteractive elements that want to break the unity between the Greek and Macedonian people.

In order for KKE to clear up its position on the " Macedonian subject ", the 6th Congress of its Central Committee was called a few months later, during which was clearly stated that KKE was fighting for a free Greece and for a common future for Greeks and Macedonians under the same state.

KKE collaborated with the Soviet ambassador to persuade Venizelos ' administration to withdraw its troops from Asia Minor, and to persuade the Soviet Union to exert political pressure on Kemal Ataturk to allow autonomy for Greek cities in Asia Minor.

KKE and its organisations, although small in numbers, continue operating in all Greek major cities, especially industrial areas such as Athens, Piraeus, Patra, Thessaly and Volos, Thessaloniki, Kavala and elsewhere.

In any case, Zachariadis himself referred in his public statements after liberation almost exclusively to his first letter as proof of the patriotic character of KKE and its role as an inspiration to the Greek resistance movement during the war.

On 22 June 1941, the very same day that Hitler attacked the Soviet Union, KKE ordered its militants to organize " the struggle to defend the Soviet Union and the overthrow of the foreign fascist yoke ".

Although KKE was suffering from a lack of central political leadership, since its leader Nikos Zachariades had been taken by the Germans to the Dachau concentration camp, its members succeeded in maintaining communication with each other.

KKE maintained its alliances with the EAM.

By mid 1946 these units forced the KKE leadership to change its neutral position and to plan the formation a partisan army with the officers and fighters that were still free.

In December 1947, KKE and its allies that participated in the Civil War formed the Provisional Democratic Government (" Mountain Government ") under the premiership of Markos Vafiadis.

On 28 August 1949, the Civil War in Greece ended with the DSE forces defeated militarily and politically, and KKE entered a new phase in its history.

After the Civil War, the KKE was outlawed and most of its prominent members had to flee Greece, go underground, or provide a signed declaration that they renounced communism to avoid prosecution under Law 504, issued in 1948, a large number of KKE members were either prosecuted, jailed or exiled.

Despite the difficulties resulting from the split, KKE continued its opposition to the Greek Junta throughout the next 6 years.

In the elections from 1977 to 1989, the KKE participated on its own ( see results below ).

KKE is currently trying to mold a loose and rather disorganised international communist movement along a purely Marxist-Leninist line ; since its 18th Congress ( February 2009 ) KKE has opened up a discussion within the ranks and more broadly within the Greek left-leaning community on the future evolution of communism in the 21st century, with a particular emphasis on examining the causes of the collapse of the Socialist system in the former Soviet Union and in Eastern Europe.

KKE members propagated this position both on the front-which provoked accusations of treason from the Greek government-as well as in the mainland.

Such legislation was often used to prosecute KKE members and other leftist activists.

Many KKE members were imprisoned or exiled on isolated Aegean islands.

KKE members volunteered to fight on the side of the republican government of Spain during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939 ; about 440 Greeks joined the ranks of the International Brigade, many of whom were high-ranking KKE members.

A large number of KKE members were already in prison before the Nazi invasion.

In 1941, several KKE members managed to escape prison.

In several other places and in major cities, small armed groups of KKE members and non-communists began to emerge, protecting people from looters, the Germans, or collaborators.

Six ministers of the EAM, most of whom were KKE members, resigned from their positions in the government of Georgios Papandreou, in November 1944.

Right-wing groups, including elements which had collaborated with the Germans, seized this opportunity to persecute many KKE members.

Prominent members of the KKE were tried and executed, including Nikos Beloyannis in 1952 and Nikos Ploumpidis in 1954.

KKE members were persecuted along with other opponents of the junta.

In the local elections of 2006 DIKKI supported many tickets led by the Communist Party of Greece ( KKE ), and numerous party members ( for the size of the party ) were elected in local councils.

Her parents were National Resistance fighters and members of KKE, of Cephalonian origin.

Synaspismos was created partly at the instigation of Florakis, and drew members from both the KKE and the KKE-Interior Eurocommunists.