“I had two paths in front of me: The first was with EDA. There we would have UNION of the progressive forces, which would mobilize the broad masses”
Yesterday marked 69 years since the execution of Nikos Plombidis by the post-conflict state. AVGI, in memory of the communist fighter, republishes part of the tribute hosted in our newspaper on Sunday, August 17, 2014, edited by historian Ioanna Papathanasiou
The Democratic Party in the 1950 elections
“For me the elections of 1950 had a special meaning. They were not normal, regular elections, but they were held after a long civil war, after the defeat of the Democratic Army and the disintegration of the KKE organizations, which was very advantageous for the enemy and disadvantageous for us. […]
To implement the party mandate and achieve the objectives of the election campaign which, in my opinion, were to make the party program widely known, to arouse and mobilize the popular masses and to break terrorism, etc. Under what conditions would I fight? What are the opponent’s strengths and mine? […]
We started with the strength we had, with determination but also with the conviction that we must win. Finally, we reached the knot, either we would insist on the full execution of the party mandate, in which case we would NOT form a Democratic Party and most likely the others would go it alone without us, or we would make concessions and go into the electoral battle all together. […]
I came to the opinion of proposing to the allies that they accept a minimum program and we give up our own candidates (I did the trick, while I had absolutely none of our own and I knew that the allies would put forward candidates from the leftmost circle). I submitted this opinion to P.G. for approval.
The allies accepted our proposals and, as approval was slow and combinations closed, I took charge and closed the deal for the Democratic Party. I notified the P.G. about the agreement and I called for the station to start speaking in favor of DP.
The result is known. A magnificent VICTORY, which shook the Americans and the Americans and gave new impetus to the further development of the movement.”
For the EDA and the 1951 elections
“I had two paths in front of me: The first was with EDA. There we would have UNION of the progressive forces, which would attract, arouse and mobilize the broad masses for everything and PEACE. We would have candidates, and of course MPs, the imprisoned and exiled. We would have combinations throughout Greece and the possibility of sending people to the provinces. We would have the necessary cover. We would have a small mechanism, which would gather and activate many people necessary for the electoral battle. We would NOT have Belogiannis MP, his life would be more at risk, but with the victory we would have won, we would have greater prestige and power to mobilize the broad masses and force his salvation. The egoism of Plombidis would be affected because he would not become a member of parliament, but the party would win. The party order would NOT be carried out to the letter, but it would be carried out in essence and we would have VICTORY.
The second with ELA, everything would be orthodox there. ORTHODOX and program and candidates imprisoned and exiled and Belogiannis – Ploubidis. We would NOT have a union but a split. DISSOLUTION of the progressive forces, we would have isolated the KKE, which would disappoint our people and the broad masses and either make them inactive or push them in other directions. We would not be with the people, but we would be a sect. Our program would not be known to many people, we would have combinations only in Athens and Piraeus, because, although the applications of the exiles had been submitted, there was not enough time to coordinate the work. The legitimate candidates would be unknown and many suspect. We would be CONFUSED. We did NOT have a mechanism and could not afford to make one. We would have had Belogiannis as a member of parliament, his life would have been in less danger formally, but the impact of defeat, the few votes and the lack of widespread mobilization of the masses would have been at the expense of Belogiannis, and at the expense of the movement. The selfishness of Ploubidis would be satisfied, but at the expense of the party and the movement. The Prime Minister’s order would be carried out to the letter, but if this was not treason, it would be stupidity and lead to the party’s defeat.”
Estimates for the elections
“I think the election is a serious battle. It is a phase of the class struggle between the KKE and the bourgeois parties as a whole (at the same time it is also a battle between the groups of capitalism itself for which one will spin the goods of power). Therefore, in order to fight a battle and in fact to win, you need not only a correct line and a correct determination of the objective conditions, you need forces, you need an organization, a mechanism, you need people and means, you need menial work”.
