The Communist Archio-Marxist Party of Greece (, 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 Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

political party in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, active between 1934 and 1951. It belonged to a subgenre of

Marxism–Leninism Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology which was the main communist movement throughout the 20th century. Developed by the Bolsheviks, it was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, its satellite states in the Eastern Bloc, and various co ...

and

Trotskyism Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...

known as Archeio-Marxism (Archive-Marxism), and appears to have been the last scion of that ideology, the sole Archio-Marxist remnant of the 1950s. 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 The Left Opposition was a faction within the Russian Communist Party (b) from 1923 to 1927 headed ''de facto'' by Leon Trotsky. The Left Opposition formed as part of the power struggle within the party leadership that began with the Soviet fou ...

". KAKE split from Trotsky's movement in 1934 after significant ideological fallout. It eventually joined the

International Revolutionary Marxist Centre The International Revolutionary Marxist Centre was an international association of left-socialist parties. The member-parties rejected both mainstream social democracy and the Third International. Organizational history The International was fo ...

, known as the "London Bureau". The party participated in the

1936 Greek legislative election Parliamentary elections were held in Greece on 26 January 1936.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p830 The Liberal Party emerged as the largest party in Parliament, winning 126 of the 300 seats.Nohlen ...

, 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. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p830 KAKE survived the dictatorship of General

Ioannis Metaxas Ioannis Metaxas (; el, Ιωάννης Μεταξάς; 12th April 187129th January 1941) was a Greek military officer and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Greece from 1936 until his death in 1941. He governed constitutionally for t ...

from 1936 onwards, although Giatopoulos, accused by Trotsky of manifesting "the worst principles of individualism and anarchism", ended up as a refugee abroad, for some time participating in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and the later the

Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War ( el, ο Eμφύλιος �όλεμος ''o Emfýlios'' 'Pólemos'' "the Civil War") took place from 1946 to 1949. It was mainly fought against the established Kingdom of Greece, which was supported by the United Kingdom ...

, 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 Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

. It increasingly began to collaborate with the right-wing as a result, allying with the forces of

anti-communism Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...

. 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. 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 Alexandros Giotopoulos ( el, Αλέξανδρος Γιωτόπουλος; born 1944 in Paris) is a convicted terrorist, currently serving seventeen life sentences plus 25 years imprisonment. He was found guilty in 2003 of leading the Marxist-Lenini ...

, 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.

References

{{reflist 1934 establishments in Greece 1940s in Greek politics 1950s in Greek politics 1951 disestablishments in Greece Defunct communist parties in Greece International Revolutionary Marxist Centre Political parties disestablished in 1951 Political parties established in 1934 Trotskyist organizations in Greece

See also

References