The Greek Communist Youth "Rigas Feraios" (, abbreviated EKON Rigas Feraios, ) was a communist youth organization in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. The organization was baptized after

Rigas Feraios Rigas Feraios ( , sometimes ''Rhegas Pheraeos''; ) or Velestinlis (Βελεστινλής , also transliterated ''Velestinles''); 1757 – 24 June 1798), born as Antonios Rigas Velestinlis (), was a Greek writer, political thinker and revo ...

, a national hero from the

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...

. EKON Rigas Feraios was the youth wing of the

Communist Party of Greece (Interior) The Communist Party of Greece – Interior (), usually abbreviated as KKE Interior (ΚΚΕ Εσωτερικού or ΚΚΕ Εσ.), was a Eurocommunist party existing between 1968 and 1987 in Greece. The party was formed after the Communist Party o ...

and formed the backbone of the party. Rather than being merely a front of the mother party, the Rigas Feraios youth organization exercised significant influence over the party. At its peak, EKON Rigas Feraios had some 15,000-17,000 members. The Rigas Feraios youth organization was established in 1967, shortly after the beginning of the

Regime of the Colonels In politics, a regime (also spelled régime) is a system of government that determines access to public office, and the extent of power held by officials. The two broad categories of regimes are democratic and autocratic. A key similarity acros ...

. It was the first illegal youth organization to emerge after the coup. The organization succeeded the now defunct

Lambrakis Democratic Youth Grigoris Lambrakis (; 3 April 1912 – 27 May 1963) was a Greek politician, physician, athlete, and lecturer. He participated in track and field sports and was a member of the faculty of the School of Medicine at the University of Athens. A mem ...

(DNL), the founders of Rigas Feraios had belonged to DNL. Rigas Feraios members were active in organizing resistance to the new regime, distributing leaflets and painting anti-junta graffiti around the country. By September 18, 1968 many Rigas Feraios organizers had been arrested by the junta. On October 29, 1968 the Rigas Feraios leadership was put on trial. The defendants were sentenced to jail, with sentences ranging from 5 to 21 years. A failed attempt to initiate low-scale armed struggle was launched in , with the formation of the 'Aris-Rigas Feraios' armed group. The Rigas Feraios organization aligned with the

New Left The New Left was a broad political movement that emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s and continued through the 1970s. It consisted of activists in the Western world who, in reaction to the era's liberal establishment, campaigned for freer ...

, although influenced by

Eurocommunism Eurocommunism was a trend in the 1970s and 1980s within various Western European communist parties, which said they had developed a theory and practice of social transformation more relevant for Western Europe. During the Cold War, they sough ...

. As the

Communist Party of Greece The Communist Party of Greece (, ΚΚΕ; ''Kommounistikó Kómma Elládas'', KKE) is a Marxist–Leninist political party in Greece. It was founded in 1918 as the Socialist Workers' Party of Greece (SEKE) and adopted its current name in Novem ...

split in 1968, Rigas Feraios became increasingly tied to the Communist Party of Greece (Interior). Rigas Feraios, which took a critical stance of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, would now compete with the pro-Soviet

Communist Youth of Greece The Communist Youth of Greece (; , KNE) is the youth organization of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). It is a Marxist-Leninist organization which mainly seeks to familiarize the Greek youth with the policies of the KKE. It publishes the month ...

(KNE) over the influence of the leftwing youth movement in the country. By 1972 Rigas Feraios was the largest youth organization, although KNE eventually outgrew it. EKON Rigas Feraios had a key role in organizing the November 1973

Athens Polytechnic uprising The Athens Polytechnic uprising occurred in November 1973 as a massive student demonstration of popular rejection of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974. It began on 14 November 1973, escalated to an open anti-junta revolt, and ended in bloo ...

against the military junta. The student wing of EKON Rigas Feraios was known as 'Democratic Struggle-Democratic Unity' (DA-DE). In 1974 DA-DE won 14.6% of the national student vote, in 1975 16.42%, in 1976 17.52%, in 1977 20.94% and in 1978 in 16.7%. During the 1970s EKON Rigas Feraios underwent period of internal strife, which ended up in a formal split in 1978 as the minority wing formed the B Panelladiki. The influence of EKON Rigas Feraios declined towards the end of the 1970s. In 1979, DA-DE won 7.5% of the national student vote. In 1980 it obtained 8.9% and in 1981 10.1%.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greek Communist Youth - Rigas Feraios Youth wings of communist parties Youth wings of political parties in Greece Rigas Feraios 1967 establishments in Greece