19th Congress of the Communist Party of Greece

The 19th Party congress of Communist Party of Greece (KKE) was held from April 11 to 14th. The session of the 19^th Congress of the KKE began with a presentation of the report of the Central Committee by the General Secretary of the Central Committee, Aleka Papariga. 

 

The 19^th Congress of the Communist Party took place after a 4-month pre-congress process, during which the Theses were discussed in the organizations of the Party and KNE and with thousands of workers. 96.8% of the party members votes in favour of the Theses and draft Programme of the Party, 1.65% against, blank votes 1.55%. 97.3% of the party members votes for the draft Statutes in the PBOs, 1.21% against, blank votes 1.49%. The results of the discussion in KNE are the following. 98.9% votes in favour, 1.1% votes against and blank votes.

The discussions and the votes for the decisions of the 19^th Congress of the KKE were held in an atmosphere of ideological-political unity and after substantial deliberations.  77 delegates spoke at the Congress (the time allocated for each speech was 12 minutes). The Congress unanimously approved the new Party Programme, the new Statutes and the Political Resolution of the Congress.

In addition, the report and closing speech of the Central Committee of the KKE was adopted unanimously, while the report and closing speech of the Central Auditing Committee (CAC) was approved with one vote against and one blank vote.

The work of the 19^th Congress of the KKE was completed with the election of the new Central Committee, which is comprised of 63 comrades (instead of 77 who had been elected at the 18^th Congress) and the new Central AC which is comprised of 7 comrades (instead of 5).

The CC in its first session elected Dimitris Koutsoumpas as the General Secretary of the CC of the KKE. It should be noted that the outgoing GS of the CC of the KKE, Aleka Papariga, was elected as a member of the CC of the KKE.

Biographical details of the General Secretary of the CC of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumpas. 

He was born in Lamia on the 10^th of August 1955. He is married and has a daughter. His family were militants in the EAM national resistance, some of them were executed by the Nazi occupation troops and by the extraordinary military courts in the period of the civil war, others were imprisoned and exiled.  His father, Apostolis Koutsoumpas, a member of the KKE, was arrested in 1945 in Larisa, tried, imprisoned and exiled for 8 years.

Dimitris Koutsoumpas graduated from High School in June 1973, took the exams and entered the Law Department of the University of Athens. While he studied, he worked in different jobs in order to meet the costs of his studies. On his arrival in Athens, he came into contact with the illegal organization of KNE, he participated in the events in the Polytechnic in November 1973 and became a member of anti-EFEE and KNE in December 1973, working in illegal conditions until the fall of the dictatorship in the summer of 1974. He became a member of the KKE in December 1974. He was sent to work in the party in the summer of 1975 in the organization of Eastern Central Greece and Euboia as a member of the regional bureau of KNE. He was a delegate at the 1^st Congress of KNE.

In the Autumn of 1977 he moved from working in KNE to working exclusively in the party, as a secretary of a sectoral organization and later as the secretary of the Prefectural Organization of Boiotia. In 1979 he became a member of the Regional Bureau of Eastern Central Greece and Euboia, with various responsibilities, for work in the labour and trade union movement, responsible for the political guidance of the Prefectural Organizations of Boiotia, Fthiotida, Fokida, Evrytania. Later on he became secretary of the Regional Committee of Eastern Central Greece and Euboia, apart from a period of 21 months when he carried out his military service in Messolonghi, Komotini, and Limnos.

He was elected to the Central Committee of the KKE at the party’s 12^th Congress in May 1987. In the split of 1991, as the secretary of Eastern Central Greece and Euboia and member of the CC, together with other comrades he struggled to defend the party, its principles, its worldview, against the splitting opportunist group that went to Synaspismos.

At the 13^th Congress, he was again elected to the CC and its Secretariat responsible for politically guiding party organizations, while after August 1991, immediately after the split, he took on the responsibility for the CC’s Press Office.

In December 1991 at the 14^th Congress, he was elected to the PB of the CC, responsible for the Press Office, Culture, and later “902” (TV and radio), until the floods of 1994, when he took on the responsibility for the organizations of Thessalonica, Central Macedonia, Western Macedonia, and Eastern Macedonia and Thrace.

At the 15^th Congress (May 1996) he was elected to the PB and became the Director of “Rizospastis”, a responsibility he held for 10 years At the 16^th Congress (February 2000) and the 17^th Congress (February 2005) he was re-elected to the PB and took on the responsibility for the International Relations of the party. At the 18^th Congress (February 2009) he took on the responsibility of the Secretariat of the CC on behalf of the PB. At the 19^th Congress (April 2013) he was elected General Secretary of the CC of the KKE.