The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) has strongly condemned the release from prison of Ilias Kasidiaris, a former leading member of the Nazi criminal organization Golden Dawn, describing the decision as a “provocation” against the organization’s victims, their families and the working people who fought for its conviction.
Kasidiaris’ release follows that of almost the entire former leadership of Golden Dawn, which was convicted in 2020 of operating as a criminal organization.
In its statement, the KKE also denounced what it called the “crocodile tears” of Greece’s establishment parties. It held both the current conservative New Democracy government and the previous SYRIZA government responsible for the lengthy judicial proceedings, noting that the case took 11 years to reach its present stage and has still not been concluded irrevocably. According to the KKE, this situation could be exploited by Kasidiaris in an attempt to stand in future elections.
The party argued that fascism cannot be separated from the capitalist system that produces and utilizes nationalism, racism and anti-communism, particularly amid growing militarization and preparations for war.
The KKE also rejected claims that strengthening the existing “rule of law” can provide an effective answer to fascism. It recalled that Golden Dawn was tolerated for years by state institutions and political forces before the 2013 murder of anti-fascist musician Pavlos Fyssas, while subsequent changes to Greece’s criminal legislation facilitated reduced sentences and earlier releases for members of the organization.
The statement further accused the European Union of promoting the anti-communist “theory of the two extremes,” while rehabilitating Nazi collaborators in parts of Europe, removing communist symbols and supporting restrictions or bans against communist parties and youth organizations.
Pointing to the growth of far-right forces in Germany and elsewhere, the KKE argued that fascism and far-right populism are ultimately products of the capitalist system rather than genuine “anti-system” alternatives.
“Only the workers’ and people’s movement, through its organized struggle,” the KKE stressed, can eliminate the conditions that generate fascism by opening the road toward “socialism-communism.”
The statement concluded by invoking the historic defeat of Nazism by the Soviet Union, recalling the raising of the red flag over the Reichstag in Berlin in 1945.
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