Communist Archio-Marxist Party of Greece

The Communist Archio-Marxist Party of Greece (Greek: Κομμουνιστικό Αρχειομαρξιστικό Κόμμα Ελλάδας, KAKE)—which during varying periods also operated under the names Archio-Marxist Party of Greece and Archio-Marxist Socialist Party of Greece (alternate spellings such as Archeio-Marxist and Archaeo-Marxist exist as well, in addition to a number of other variants)—was a communist political party in Greece, active between 1934 and 1951. It belonged to a subgenre of Marxism–Leninism and Trotskyism known as Archeio-Marxism (Archive-Marxism),[1] and appears to have been the last scion of that ideology, the sole Archio-Marxist remnant of the 1950s.

Κομμουνιστικό Αρχειομαρξιστικό Κόμμα
Communist Archio-Marxist Party of Greece
Founded1934
Dissolved1951
Split fromCommunist Organization of the Bolshevik Leninists of Greece - Archiomarchists
IdeologyArcheio-Marxism
Political positionLeft-wing

Dimitris Giotopoulos (Δημήτρης Γιωτόπουλος), often known by his primary alias "Witte", was the leader of KAKE. Before its formation, he had been a leader of the Greek Archio-Marxists, which had been one of the by far largest dissident communist movements in Greece during the early-to-mid-1930s, as members of Leon Trotsky's "Left Opposition".[2] KAKE split from Trotsky's movement in 1934 after significant ideological fallout.[3]

It eventually joined the International Revolutionary Marxist Centre, known as the "London Bureau".[4] The party participated in the 1936 Greek legislative election, with Har. Alexopoulos (Χαρ. Αλεξόπουλος) as its formal party leader, where it won 1,148 votes – roughly 0.1% of the vote. It failed to enter parliament.[5] KAKE survived the dictatorship of General Ioannis Metaxas from 1936 onwards,[3] although Giatopoulos, accused by Trotsky of manifesting "the worst principles of individualism and anarchism",[6] ended up as a refugee abroad, for some time participating in the Spanish Civil War.[2] During World War II and the later the Greek Civil War, KAKE feuded with the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) on matters of policy and theory. Many KAKE members were purged and executed by the Greek People's Liberation Army.[7] It increasingly began to collaborate with the right-wing as a result, allying with the forces of anti-communism.[3]

Its final activities came with the 1951 Greek legislative election, where it received likewise negative results as back in 1936, after which it promptly dissolved.[5] After his return from French exile in the 1950s, the long-time leader Dimitris Giotopoulos became a collaborator of the right-wing regime, cooperating in anti-communist activities. His son Alexandros Giotopoulos, disillusioned with his father's anti-communism, became a notorious left-wing terrorist, active as an armed militant in the ranks of the 17 November terrorist group between 1969 and 2002.[8]

See also

References
  1. Keith S. Brown; Yannis Hamilakis (2003). The Usable Past: Greek Metahistories. Lexington Books. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-7391-0384-5.
  2. G. Horn (12 February 2009). Letters from Barcelona: An American Woman in Revolution and Civil War. Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 200–. ISBN 978-0-230-23449-9.
  3. Robert Jackson Alexander (1991). International Trotskyism, 1929-1985: A Documented Analysis of the Movement. Duke University Press. p. 503. ISBN 0-8223-1066-X.
  4. Victor Alba; Stephen Schwartz (31 October 2008). Spanish Marxism Versus Soviet Communism: A History of the P.O.U.M. in the Spanish Civil War. Transaction Publishers. p. 156. ISBN 978-1-4128-3494-0.
  5. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p830 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  6. Dianne Feeley; Paul Le Blanc; Thomas Twiss (10 October 2014). Leon Trotsky and the Organizational Principles of the Revolutionary Party. Haymarket Books. p. 55. ISBN 978-1-60846-455-5.
  7. Παπαλούκης, Κώστας (31 December 2014). "Οι αρχειομαρξιστές απέναντι στο ΕΑΜικό κίνημα". Εφημερίδα των Συντακτών (in Greek). Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  8. Stephen E. Atkins (2004). Encyclopedia of Modern Worldwide Extremists and Extremist Groups. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-313-32485-7.
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