Greek Communist Party chief calls for ‘readiness,’ slams SYRIZA
The chief of the Greek Communist Party (KKE), Aleka Papariga, on Thursday called for a “popular alliance” to overturn the government’s austerity drive, while also rallying forces within KKE to be “in a full state of readiness,” at the party’s 19th congress, which ends on Sunday.
Recent developments, Papariga said, “herald the intensification of the state’s use of force and the further curtailment of civil rights.” She called on party members to be “in a full state of readiness,” adding that she does not dismiss the possibility of a messy default and Greece exiting the eurozone.
Papariga said that “the struggle against the consequences of the crisis and for averting the further bankruptcy of the people” could under certain circumstances become the “link” that helps form an “organization of popular resistance.”
The 67-year-old politician was also critical of her own party, accusing it of “complacency,” though the brunt of her criticism was directed at leftist SYRIZA, which leads the opposition.
SYRIZA was “quick to go back on its promises and shed its radical slogans,” Papariga said.
