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{{Infobox political party
{{Infobox political party
| country = Greece
| country = Greece
| colorcode = red
| colorcode = #D0040C
| name = Νέο Αριστερό Ρεύμα για την Κομμουνιστική Απελευθέρωση<br><hr> ''Neo Aristero Revma gia tin Kommounistiki Apeleftherosi'' <br><hr> New Left Current for the Communist Liberation
| name = New Left Current for the Communist Liberation
| native_name = Νέο Αριστερό Ρεύμα για την Κομμουνιστική Απελευθέρωση
| logo = New Left Current (Greece) logo.gif
| logo = New Left Current (Greece) logo.gif
| foundation = 1989
| flag = Nar-simaia-02.jpg
| headquarters = 76 Charilaou Trikoupi & Eresou, 10681, [[Athens]]
| foundation = 1990
| youth_wing = Youth Communist Liberation
| newspaper = [[Prin]]
| headquarters = [[Athens]]
| youth_wing = Youth Communist Liberation
| ideology = [[Communism]]<br>[[New Left]]<br>[[Eco-socialism]]
| ideology = [[Communism]]<br>[[Anti-capitalism]]<br />[[New Left]]<br>[[Eco-socialism]]
| split = [[Communist Party of Greece]]
| split = [[Communist Party of Greece|KKE]]
| position = [[Far-left politics|Far-left]]
| national = [[Anticapitalist Left Cooperation for the Overthrow]]
| national = [[Anticapitalist Left Cooperation for the Overthrow|Antarsya]]
| colours = [[Red]]
| international =
| website = [http://www.narnet.gr http://www.narnet.gr]
| colours = [[Red]]
| website = [http://www.narnet.gr http://www.narnet.gr]
}}
}}
The '''New Left Current''' ({{lang-el|Νέο Αριστερό Ρεύμα για την Κομμουνιστική Απελευθέρωση (ΝΑΡ)}}, ''Neo Aristero Revma'', '''NAR''') was formed in late 1989, mainly by former [[Communist Youth of Greece]] (KNE) members.


The '''New Left Current''' ({{langx|el|'''Νέο Αριστερό Ρεύμα για την Κομμουνιστική Απελευθέρωση'''}}; ''Neo Aristero Revma'', '''NAR''') is a [[communist]] political party in [[Greece]], formed in 1990 mainly by former members of the [[Communist Youth of Greece|youth organization]] of the [[Communist Party of Greece]].
==History==
As described in its website:<ref>{{Cite web|date=9 September 2020|title=30 Years of NAR - Brief History|url=https://narnet.gr/articles/30-%CF%87%CF%81%CF%8C%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%B1-%CE%BD%CE%B1%CF%81-%CF%83%CF%8D%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%BF%CE%BC%CE%BF-%CF%87%CF%81%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%BA%CF%8C|url-status=live|access-date=2021-09-26|website=narnet.gr}}</ref><blockquote>The New Left Current - NAP, was formed in the early 1990s, primarily as an expression of the potential of left-wing dissent and rupture with the KKE line. The 1989 split took place when thousands of KNE and KKE activists openly clashed with the political choices of the KKE leadership and the united Coalition to join the Tzannetaki government with the ND and then with the so-called "ecumenical" government and the ND. PASOK. It was a confrontation on the catastrophic line of class cooperation and subjugation for the movement and the Left. In these conditions, tendencies and currents of left criticism and search were formed. The collapse of "existing socialism" sharpened and deepened the crisis of the communist Left. It revived the search for the deeper causes of the failure of the ruling left to confront capitalist aggression and barbarism, sharpened the disagreements and criticism that existed for many years within the KKE and the KNE. The birth of these quests and criticism, of the processes in the movement and the communist left, is the process of formation of the NAP.</blockquote>


==Elections==
==Background==
In 1989, following the [[June 1989 Greek legislative election|June]] and [[November 1989 Greek legislative election|November]] general legislative elections in Greece, after which no party obtained the necessary majority to be able to form a government, the [[New Democracy (Greece)|New Democracy]] and [[Synaspismos]] parties agreed to form a [[coalition government]] led by New Democracy's [[Tzannis Tzannetakis]], as [[Prime Minister of Greece|prime minister]].<ref name=creation>{{cite news|last=Chrostodoulou|first=Kostis|date=2 July 2014|title=Τέλος εποχής: Από τον Συνασπισμό των Φλωράκη και Κύρκου στον Σύριζα του Τσίπρα|url=http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/fl-citrus-canker-ruling-20131016,0,7602285.story|language=Greek|trans-title=End of an era: From the Alliance of Florakis and Kyrkos to Tsipras' Syriza|work=I Efimerida|access-date=10 December 2023|archive-date=19 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220819043700/https://www.sun-sentinel.com/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
The New Left Current participated in the [[1990 Greek legislative election|1990]] elections as "Neo Aristero Revma - Laiki Antipoliteusi" ({{lang|el|Νέο Αριστερό Ρεύμα - Λαϊκή Αντιπολίτευση}}) and got 14,365 votes (0,22%). A critical figure at this early stage was [[Kostas Kappos]], former member of the KKE and parliamentary representative.


The Synaspismos party was an electoral alliance between the [[Communist Party of Greece]], aka KKE, and the [[Greek Left]] party. The coalition government's stated, primary objective was to deal with the [[Andreas Papandreou#"Koskotas scandal", trial and return to power|Koskotas scandal]], ostensibly linked to [[PASOK]]'s leadership. The decision of the KKE to enter into a government with the [[Liberal conservatism|liberal-conservative]] party of New Democracy was met with objections by many of its members, with the strongest ones coming from the party's [[Communist Youth of Greece|youth organization]].<ref name=pantiera>{{cite news|last=Markopoulos|first=Yorgos|date=1 January 2020|title=Καίριες απαντήσεις σε καίρια ερωτήματα προς τον Δημήτρη Δεσύλλα|url=http://pandiera.gr/%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%AF%CF%81%CE%B9%CE%B5%CF%82-%CE%B1%CF%80%CE%B1%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%AE%CF%83%CE%B5%CE%B9%CF%82-%CF%83%CE%B5-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%AF%CF%81%CE%B9%CE%B1-%CE%B5%CF%81%CF%89%CF%84%CE%AE%CE%BC%CE%B1/|language=Greek|trans-title=Timely answers by Dimitris Desyllas to timely questions|work=Pantiera|access-date=10 December 2023|archive-date=9 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209230226/http://pandiera.gr/%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%AF%CF%81%CE%B9%CE%B5%CF%82-%CE%B1%CF%80%CE%B1%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%AE%CF%83%CE%B5%CE%B9%CF%82-%CF%83%CE%B5-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%AF%CF%81%CE%B9%CE%B1-%CE%B5%CF%81%CF%89%CF%84%CE%AE%CE%BC%CE%B1/|url-status=live}}</ref>
In 1993 the NAR joined the [[Left Struggle]] (MERA) political coalition along with the [[Revolutionary Communist Movement of Greece]] (EKKE), [[Communist Party of Greece (Marxist-Leninist)]], [[Workers Revolutionary Party (Greece)|Workers Revolutionary Party]] (EEK). The coalition received 8,160 votes in [[1993 Greek legislative election|1993]] and 10,443 votes in the [[1996 Greek legislative election|1996 general elections]].


The dissidents held the majority in the Youth organization's leadership council and, from November 1989 onward, held a series of meetings and assemblies throughout the country against the "electoral coalition with the Right." The Communist Youth's Secretary General Yannis Grapsas, asked whether he will follow the party's directives, states publicly "I will certainly not obey," the first time that such a disagreement from the Youth leader is revealed in public. In response, KKE expels the dissidents from the Youth organization, along with a significant number of the organization's members.<ref name=birth>{{cite web |url=https://narnet.gr/articles/%CE%B7-%CE%B1%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%B1%CF%81%CF%83%CE%AF%CE%B1-%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82-%CE%BA%CE%BD%CE%B5-1989-%CF%87%CF%81%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%BA%CF%8C |title=Η ανταρσία της ΚΝΕ 1989 - Χρονικό |language=Greek |trans-title=The 1989 KNE rebellion - Chronicle |publisher=NAR |date=20 September 2019 |website=narnet |access-date=10 December 2023 |archive-date=19 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231119234540/https://narnet.gr/articles/%CE%B7-%CE%B1%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%B1%CF%81%CF%83%CE%AF%CE%B1-%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82-%CE%BA%CE%BD%CE%B5-1989-%CF%87%CF%81%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%BA%CF%8C |url-status=live }}</ref>
In 1999, NAR, [[Revolutionary Communist Movement of Greece|EKKE]], [[Workers Revolutionary Party (Greece)|EEK]] and the [[Independent Communist Organization of Serres]] (AKOS) formed the [[Radical Left Front]] (MERA). Since 2009, NAR, along with the other parties of MERA, with the exception of EEK, is part of the broader coalition [[Front of the Greek Anticapitalist Left]] (ANTARSYA).

At the same time, prominent members of the Communist Party itself, such as [[Kostas Kappos]],<ref group=n>Kappos, as member of the Greek Parliament, representing KKE, refused to give a confidence vote for the New Democracy-Synaspismos government in June 1989 and was expelled from the party's Central Committee. See in.gr (2005).</ref> leave KKE.<ref name=expel>{{cite news|date=11 September 2005|title=Πέθανε o Κώστας Κάππος, πρώην κοινοβουλευτικός εκπρόσωπος του ΚΚΕ|language=Greek|trans-title=Kostas Kappos, ex-KKE MP, died|url=https://www.in.gr/2005/09/11/greece/pethane-o-kwstas-kappos-prwin-koinoboyleytikos-ekproswpos-toy-kke/|work=[[in.gr]]|access-date=10 December 2023|archive-date=9 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209145845/https://www.in.gr/2005/09/11/greece/pethane-o-kwstas-kappos-prwin-koinoboyleytikos-ekproswpos-toy-kke/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Establishment==
Following a December 1989 country-wide meeting of sympathizers, a tentative [[Party platform|platform]] is put into circulation, titled "Proposal for a dialogue: For a new prospect of the Left in 1990's Greece," that clearly aims at establishing a new organization.

On 10 and 11 February 1990, the 1st All-Greece Assembly of the '''New Left Current''' is held in the facilities of the [[National Technical University of Athens|Athens Polytechnic]], in which some four hundred elected representatives from across the country participate, vote on the party's political platform, and elect the Co-ordination Committee.<ref name=birth/><ref group=n>NAR's Co-ordination Committee became in a short time its Political Committee. See Pantiera (2020).</ref>

The Communist Party denounces NAR as "[[opportunist]]s" and "[[social democrats]]", accusing the new party that, in demanding the "re-nationalization of privatized public enterprises," supports the delusion of [[state capitalism]].<ref name=deadend>{{cite news|date=January–March 2023|trans-title=The opportunist current in a dead end again|language=Greek|title=Το οπορτουνιστικό ρεύμα ξανά σε αδιέξοδο|url=https://www.komep.gr/m-article/To-oportoynistiko-rema-ksana-se-adieksodo/|work=Communist Review|access-date=10 December 2023|archive-date=30 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230930030653/https://www.komep.gr/m-article/To-oportoynistiko-rema-ksana-se-adieksodo/|url-status=live}}</ref> Other voices of the Left, accuse NAR of promoting the notion of "managing the capitalist system" rather than replacing it with [[socialism]], and, also, of "smearing KKE."<ref name=smear>{{cite news|last=Mottas|first=Nikos|date=10 February 2019|trans-title=ANTARSYA: The specialists of opportunism as KKE smearers|language=Greek|title=ΑΝΤΑΡΣΥΑ: Οι επιστήμονες του οπορτουνισμού σε ρόλο συκοφάντη ενάντια στο ΚΚΕ|url=https://atexnos.gr/%CE%B1%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%B1%CF%81%CF%83%CF%85%CE%B1-%CE%BF%CE%B9-%CE%B5%CF%80%CE%B9%CF%83%CF%84%CE%AE%CE%BC%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%B5%CF%82-%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85-%CE%BF%CF%80%CE%BF%CF%81%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85%CE%BD/|work=Atechnos|access-date=10 December 2023|archive-date=4 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220704094126/https://atexnos.gr/%CE%B1%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%B1%CF%81%CF%83%CF%85%CE%B1-%CE%BF%CE%B9-%CE%B5%CF%80%CE%B9%CF%83%CF%84%CE%AE%CE%BC%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%B5%CF%82-%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85-%CE%BF%CF%80%CE%BF%CF%81%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85%CE%BD/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Ideology==
Αs related by Political Committee member Dimitris Desyllas, the New Left Current supports the collaboration within the movement of the "fighting Left" for the implementation of a radical, anti-capitalist program.<ref name=pantiera/> NAR's political objectives are denoted as capitalism's overthrow and the establishment of a workers' democracy in a communist regime. The basic tenets of such a regime would be the end of private, capitalist ownership of the means of production in ever "basic" sector of the economy, control of production by workers' councils, and freedom of expression in society.<ref name=polakis>{{cite news|last=Mottas|first=Nikos|date=4 December 2023|trans-title=NAR: The left party in which members were Kotzias, Valavani, and ...Polakis|language=Greek|title=ΝΑΡ: Το κόμμα της Αριστεράς στο οποίο ήταν ο Κοτζιάς, η Βαλαβάνη και ο… Πολάκης|url=https://www.mononews.gr/politics/nar-to-komma-tis-aristeras-sto-opio-itan-o-kotzias-i-valavani-ke-o-polakis|work=Atechnos|access-date=10 December 2023|archive-date=9 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209145843/https://www.mononews.gr/politics/nar-to-komma-tis-aristeras-sto-opio-itan-o-kotzias-i-valavani-ke-o-polakis|url-status=live}}</ref>

Τhe New Left Current supports the notion that [[capitalism]] has evolved beyond what [[Lenin]] denoted as its uppermost, ultimate stage, that of [[imperialism]],<ref name=lenin>{{cite web|url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/|title=Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism|last=Lenin|first=Vladimir|author-link=Vladimir Lenin|publisher=[[Marxists Internet Archive]]|date=2018|orig-date=1916|website=Marxists.org|access-date=10 December 2023|archive-date=18 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211218082710/https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/|url-status=live}}</ref> into a "totalitarian capitalism," a state of affairs that could not have been foreseen at the time, according to NAR's position, since "inter-state totalities," such as the [[European Union]], did not yet exist.<ref name=tot>{{cite news|date=June 1997|trans-title=The Co-ordinating Committee positions: The modern capitalist society - new stage of capitalism's evolution and crisis|language=Greek|title=Θέσεις Σ.Ε.: Η σύγχρονη καπιταλιστική κοινωνία - Νέο στάδιο ανάπτυξης και κρίσης του καπιταλισμού|url=https://narnet.gr/content/%CE%B8%CE%AD%CF%83%CE%B5%CE%B9%CF%82-%CF%83%CE%B5-%CE%B7-%CF%83%CF%8D%CE%B3%CF%87%CF%81%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%B7-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CF%80%CE%B9%CF%84%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%B9%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AE-%CE%BA%CE%BF%CE%B9%CE%BD%CF%89%CE%BD%CE%AF%CE%B1-%CE%BD%CE%AD%CE%BF-%CF%83%CF%84%CE%AC%CE%B4%CE%B9%CE%BF-%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%AC%CF%80%CF%84%CF%85%CE%BE%CE%B7%CF%82-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9-%CE%BA%CF%81%CE%AF%CF%83%CE%B7%CF%82-%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CF%80%CE%B9%CF%84%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%B9%CF%83%CE%BC%CE%BF%CF%8D|publisher=NAR|work=narnet|access-date=10 December 2023|archive-date=23 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231123010815/https://narnet.gr/content/%CE%B8%CE%AD%CF%83%CE%B5%CE%B9%CF%82-%CF%83%CE%B5-%CE%B7-%CF%83%CF%8D%CE%B3%CF%87%CF%81%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%B7-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CF%80%CE%B9%CF%84%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%B9%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AE-%CE%BA%CE%BF%CE%B9%CE%BD%CF%89%CE%BD%CE%AF%CE%B1-%CE%BD%CE%AD%CE%BF-%CF%83%CF%84%CE%AC%CE%B4%CE%B9%CE%BF-%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%AC%CF%80%CF%84%CF%85%CE%BE%CE%B7%CF%82-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9-%CE%BA%CF%81%CE%AF%CF%83%CE%B7%CF%82-%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CF%80%CE%B9%CF%84%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%B9%CF%83%CE%BC%CE%BF%CF%8D|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Elections: alliances and votes==
Soon after its inception, the New Left Current has entered into co-operations and alliances, permanent or tactical/electoral, with other formations of the [[Left-wing politics|left]].

In 1990, NAR participated in the [[1990 Greek legislative election|general election]] as "New Left Current - People's Opposition" ({{lang|el|Νέο Αριστερό Ρεύμα - Λαϊκή Αντιπολίτευση}}) and received 14,365 votes or 0,22% of the total. Ex-KKE Central Committee member [[Kostas Kappos]] was a prominent figure in the party's electoral campaign. In 1993, NAR joined the [[Left Struggle]] political coalition, along with the [[Revolutionary Communist Movement of Greece]]), the [[Communist Party of Greece (Marxist-Leninist)]], and the [[Workers Revolutionary Party (Greece)|Workers' Revolutionary Party]]. The Struggle received 8,160 votes in [[1993 Greek legislative election|1993]] and 10,443 votes in the [[1996 Greek legislative election|1996 general elections]], or 0.11% and 0.21% respectively of the total. In December 1990, Kappos left NAR<ref name=leftnar>{{cite web |url=https://www.ianos.gr/persons/view/detail/persons/kappos-kostas-0040471#/ |title=Κώστας Κάππος |language=Greek|trans-title=Kostas Kappos|publisher=[[IANOS]] |date=2023 |access-date=10 December 2023}}</ref> and, though he never officially returned to the Communist Party, he would declare he'd never left the KKE.<ref name=neverleft>{{cite news|date=10 September 2018|title=Κώστας Κάππος: 'Ποτέ δεν έφυγα από το ΚΚΕ. Είναι δυνατόν να αρνούμαστε και τις ιδέες μας τώρα;'|language=Greek|trans-title=Kostas Kappos: I never left KKE. Can we really fefure our ideology?|url=https://www.katiousa.gr/afieromata-istoria/100-chronia-kke-50-chronia-kne/kostas-kappos-pote-den-efiga-apo-to-kke/|work=Katiousa|access-date=10 December 2023|archive-date=10 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231210133109/https://www.katiousa.gr/afieromata-istoria/100-chronia-kke-50-chronia-kne/kostas-kappos-pote-den-efiga-apo-to-kke/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1999, NAR, the Revolutionary Communist Movement of Greece, and the Workers Revolutionary Party, along with other, smaller formations of the left, allied themselves as the [[Radical Left Front]]. Some ten years after, in 2009, the New Left Current participates in the broader coalition of [[Front of the Greek Anticapitalist Left|ANTARSYA]].

Various former NAR members became prominent figures in the [[Syriza]] party, some of them becoming ministers in the [[Second Cabinet of Alexis Tsipras|Suriza government]] as well, such as [[Nadia Valavani]], [[Nikos Kotzias]], [[Pavlos Polakis]], and others.<ref name=polakis/> Foundational NAR member Kostas Kappos, one of the most heavily [[torture]]d prisoners of the [[Greek junta|1967-74 dictatorial regime]], enjoyed the respect of the Greek left's whole ideological spectrum, as shown by the expressions of mourning upon his 2005 death, such as the KKE obituary.<ref>{{cite news |date=13 September 2005 |title='Εφυγε' ο Κώστας Κάππος|language=Greek|trans-title=Kostas Kappos 'gone' |url=https://www.rizospastis.gr/story.do?id=3013474 |work=[[Rizospastis]] |access-date=10 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=15 October 2017|title=Κώστας Κάππος – Το μόνο που δεν ήξερε ήταν η αντοχή του|language=Greek|trans-title=Kostas Kappos - The one thing he did not know was his endurance|url=https://www.katiousa.gr/istoria/prosopa-istoria/kostas-kappos-mono-pou-den-iksere-itan-antochi-tou/|work=Katiousa|access-date=10 December 2023|archive-date=10 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231210165108/https://www.katiousa.gr/istoria/prosopa-istoria/kostas-kappos-mono-pou-den-iksere-itan-antochi-tou/|url-status=live}}</ref>

{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
| <strong>Election results</strong>
|-
|


===Election results===
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background-color:#C9C9C9"
|- style="background-color:#C9C9C9"
! colspan="9"|'''Results since 1990<br/><small>(year links to election page)</small>'''
! colspan="6" |'''Results since 1990<br/><small>(year links to election page)</small>'''
|-
|-
! style="width: 35px"|Year
! style="width: 35px"|Year
Line 165: Line 189:
| style="text-align:center" | 0.85%
| style="text-align:center" | 0.85%
| style="text-align:center" | 0/300
| style="text-align:center" | 0/300
|-
![[2019 European Parliament election in Greece|2019]]
| [[2019 European Parliament election in Greece|European Parliament]]
| [[Antarsya|ANTARSYA]]
|36,327
|0.64%
|0/21
|-
![[2019 Greek local elections|2019]]
| [[2019 Greek local elections|Regional]]
| [[Antarsya|ANTARSYA]]
|87,676
|1.62%
|13/703
|-
![[2019 Greek legislative election|2019]]
| [[2019 Greek legislative election|Parliament]]
| [[Antarsya|ANTARSYA]]
|23,239
|0.41%
|0/300
|-
![[May 2023 Greek legislative election|May 2023]]
|[[2019 Greek legislative election|Parliament]]
|[[Anticapitalist Left Cooperation for the Overthrow|ANTARSYA]]
|31,746
|0.54%
|0/300
|-
![[June 2023 Greek legislative election|June 2023]]
|[[2019 Greek legislative election|Parliament]]
|[[Anticapitalist Left Cooperation for the Overthrow|ANTARSYA]]
|15,969
|0.31%
|0/300
|-
|-
|}
|}
Line 195: Line 254:
{{bar pixel|2015, Parliament|crimson|46|,094}}
{{bar pixel|2015, Parliament|crimson|46|,094}}
}}
}}
|}


== Ideology ==
==Youth League==
ΝΑΡ describes its ideology as "communist re-foundation". Members of the organization believe that communist ideas after the fall of the Soviet union need to be updated, since they believe that socialism was never achieved in the countries of "[[Existing Socialism]]".


The New Left Current's youth organization, the [[Youth of Communist Liberation]] ({{lang|el|Νεολαία Κομμουνιστική Απελευθέρωση}} or '''nKA'''), participates in the [[United Independent Left Movement]], a coalition of left-wing student formations, and is active in the country's educational institutions.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Youth Communist Liberation|title=Ανακοίνωση νΚΑ για τις φοιτητικές εκλογές|trans-title=nKA announcement for the student elections|url=http://www.nka.gr/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=405|language=el|date=23 May 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204112136/http://www.nka.gr/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=405|website=nKA|archive-date=4 February 2012 |access-date=10 December 2023}}</ref>
Another big part of ΝΑΡ's rhetoric is the idea of "[[Contemporary Totalitarianism|Capitalist Totalitarianism]]" (literal translation from "Ολοκληροτικός Καπιταλισμός" in Greek), or "Contemporary Totalitarianism" as they mention it in their international articles on their website <ref>{{Cite web|title=NAR: Contemporary totalitarianism will be overthrown! The demonstrations in France, an image from the future of social explosions! {{!}} Νέο Αριστερό Ρεύμα|url=https://narnet.gr/articles/nar-contemporary-totalitarianism-will-be-overthrown-demonstrations-france-image-future|access-date=2021-09-26|website=narnet.gr}}</ref>. ΝΑΡ believes that capitalism in its current form has surpassed the "highest state of capitalism", which is Imperialism according to [[Vladimir Lenin]], as stated in his influential book, [[Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism]].


By the 2010s, nKA has come to define itself as "politically autonomous."<ref name=nka>{{cite web|publisher=Youth Communist Liberation|title=Τι είναι η νΚΑ|trans-title=What is nKA|url=https://nka.gr/ti-einai-i-nka/|website=nKA|language=el|date=23 May 2011|access-date=10 December 2023|archive-date=9 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209145845/https://nka.gr/ti-einai-i-nka/|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Youth League==
In the early years, the youth wing of the NAR was still named [[KNE|KNE-ΝΑΡ]], as even the general secretary of KNE, Giorgos Grapsas, and most of its politburo had joined NAR, but in the mid-1990s, it changed its name to the [[Youth of Communist Liberation]] ({{lang|el|Νεολαία Κομμουνιστική Απελευθέρωση}}, Neolaia Kommunistiki Apeleftherosi). Members of the Youth Communist Liberation participate in the [[United Independent Left Movement]], a sum of left-wing student organisations, active in 3rd-level educational institutions (Universities - Technical Academical institutions) in Greece.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Youth Communist Liberation|script-title=el:Ανακοίνωση νΚΑ για τις φοιτητικές εκλογές|url=http://www.nka.gr/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=405|language=el|access-date=2012-03-03|date=2011-05-23|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204112136/http://www.nka.gr/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=405|archive-date=2012-02-04}}</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
*[[Revolutions of 1989]]
*[[Anticapitalist Left Cooperation for the Overthrow]]
*[[List of political parties in Greece]]
*[[Radical Left Front]]

*[[Kostas Kappos]]
==Notes==
{{reflist|group=n}}


==References==
==References==
Line 213: Line 273:


==External links==
==External links==
*[http://www.prin.gr PRIN] - Weekly newspaper affiliated with NAR
*[http://www.narnet.gr New Left Current] official page
*[http://www.nka.gr Official page of Youth of Communist Liberation]
*[http://www.nka.gr Youth of Communist Liberation] official page
*[http://www.narnet.gr Official page of New Left Current]


{{Greek political parties}}
{{Greek political parties}}


[[Category:Political parties established in 1989]]
[[Category:Communist parties in Greece]]
[[Category:Communist parties in Greece]]
[[Category:Far-left politics in Greece]]
[[Category:Far-left politics in Greece]]
[[Category:1989 establishments in Greece]]
[[Category:Political parties in Greece]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1990]]

Latest revision as of 05:51, 23 October 2024

New Left Current for the Communist Liberation
Νέο Αριστερό Ρεύμα για την Κομμουνιστική Απελευθέρωση
Founded1990
Split fromKKE
HeadquartersAthens
Youth wingYouth Communist Liberation
IdeologyCommunism
Anti-capitalism
New Left
Eco-socialism
National affiliationAntarsya
ColoursRed
Party flag
Website
http://www.narnet.gr

The New Left Current (Greek: Νέο Αριστερό Ρεύμα για την Κομμουνιστική Απελευθέρωση; Neo Aristero Revma, NAR) is a communist political party in Greece, formed in 1990 mainly by former members of the youth organization of the Communist Party of Greece.

Background

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In 1989, following the June and November general legislative elections in Greece, after which no party obtained the necessary majority to be able to form a government, the New Democracy and Synaspismos parties agreed to form a coalition government led by New Democracy's Tzannis Tzannetakis, as prime minister.[1]

The Synaspismos party was an electoral alliance between the Communist Party of Greece, aka KKE, and the Greek Left party. The coalition government's stated, primary objective was to deal with the Koskotas scandal, ostensibly linked to PASOK's leadership. The decision of the KKE to enter into a government with the liberal-conservative party of New Democracy was met with objections by many of its members, with the strongest ones coming from the party's youth organization.[2]

The dissidents held the majority in the Youth organization's leadership council and, from November 1989 onward, held a series of meetings and assemblies throughout the country against the "electoral coalition with the Right." The Communist Youth's Secretary General Yannis Grapsas, asked whether he will follow the party's directives, states publicly "I will certainly not obey," the first time that such a disagreement from the Youth leader is revealed in public. In response, KKE expels the dissidents from the Youth organization, along with a significant number of the organization's members.[3]

At the same time, prominent members of the Communist Party itself, such as Kostas Kappos,[n 1] leave KKE.[4]

Establishment

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Following a December 1989 country-wide meeting of sympathizers, a tentative platform is put into circulation, titled "Proposal for a dialogue: For a new prospect of the Left in 1990's Greece," that clearly aims at establishing a new organization.

On 10 and 11 February 1990, the 1st All-Greece Assembly of the New Left Current is held in the facilities of the Athens Polytechnic, in which some four hundred elected representatives from across the country participate, vote on the party's political platform, and elect the Co-ordination Committee.[3][n 2]

The Communist Party denounces NAR as "opportunists" and "social democrats", accusing the new party that, in demanding the "re-nationalization of privatized public enterprises," supports the delusion of state capitalism.[5] Other voices of the Left, accuse NAR of promoting the notion of "managing the capitalist system" rather than replacing it with socialism, and, also, of "smearing KKE."[6]

Ideology

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Αs related by Political Committee member Dimitris Desyllas, the New Left Current supports the collaboration within the movement of the "fighting Left" for the implementation of a radical, anti-capitalist program.[2] NAR's political objectives are denoted as capitalism's overthrow and the establishment of a workers' democracy in a communist regime. The basic tenets of such a regime would be the end of private, capitalist ownership of the means of production in ever "basic" sector of the economy, control of production by workers' councils, and freedom of expression in society.[7]

Τhe New Left Current supports the notion that capitalism has evolved beyond what Lenin denoted as its uppermost, ultimate stage, that of imperialism,[8] into a "totalitarian capitalism," a state of affairs that could not have been foreseen at the time, according to NAR's position, since "inter-state totalities," such as the European Union, did not yet exist.[9]

Elections: alliances and votes

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Soon after its inception, the New Left Current has entered into co-operations and alliances, permanent or tactical/electoral, with other formations of the left.

In 1990, NAR participated in the general election as "New Left Current - People's Opposition" (Νέο Αριστερό Ρεύμα - Λαϊκή Αντιπολίτευση) and received 14,365 votes or 0,22% of the total. Ex-KKE Central Committee member Kostas Kappos was a prominent figure in the party's electoral campaign. In 1993, NAR joined the Left Struggle political coalition, along with the Revolutionary Communist Movement of Greece), the Communist Party of Greece (Marxist-Leninist), and the Workers' Revolutionary Party. The Struggle received 8,160 votes in 1993 and 10,443 votes in the 1996 general elections, or 0.11% and 0.21% respectively of the total. In December 1990, Kappos left NAR[10] and, though he never officially returned to the Communist Party, he would declare he'd never left the KKE.[11]

In 1999, NAR, the Revolutionary Communist Movement of Greece, and the Workers Revolutionary Party, along with other, smaller formations of the left, allied themselves as the Radical Left Front. Some ten years after, in 2009, the New Left Current participates in the broader coalition of ANTARSYA.

Various former NAR members became prominent figures in the Syriza party, some of them becoming ministers in the Suriza government as well, such as Nadia Valavani, Nikos Kotzias, Pavlos Polakis, and others.[7] Foundational NAR member Kostas Kappos, one of the most heavily tortured prisoners of the 1967-74 dictatorial regime, enjoyed the respect of the Greek left's whole ideological spectrum, as shown by the expressions of mourning upon his 2005 death, such as the KKE obituary.[12][13]

Youth League

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The New Left Current's youth organization, the Youth of Communist Liberation (Νεολαία Κομμουνιστική Απελευθέρωση or nKA), participates in the United Independent Left Movement, a coalition of left-wing student formations, and is active in the country's educational institutions.[14]

By the 2010s, nKA has come to define itself as "politically autonomous."[15]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Kappos, as member of the Greek Parliament, representing KKE, refused to give a confidence vote for the New Democracy-Synaspismos government in June 1989 and was expelled from the party's Central Committee. See in.gr (2005).
  2. ^ NAR's Co-ordination Committee became in a short time its Political Committee. See Pantiera (2020).

References

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  1. ^ Chrostodoulou, Kostis (2 July 2014). "Τέλος εποχής: Από τον Συνασπισμό των Φλωράκη και Κύρκου στον Σύριζα του Τσίπρα" [End of an era: From the Alliance of Florakis and Kyrkos to Tsipras' Syriza]. I Efimerida (in Greek). Archived from the original on 19 August 2022. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  2. ^ a b Markopoulos, Yorgos (1 January 2020). "Καίριες απαντήσεις σε καίρια ερωτήματα προς τον Δημήτρη Δεσύλλα" [Timely answers by Dimitris Desyllas to timely questions]. Pantiera (in Greek). Archived from the original on 9 December 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Η ανταρσία της ΚΝΕ 1989 - Χρονικό" [The 1989 KNE rebellion - Chronicle]. narnet (in Greek). NAR. 20 September 2019. Archived from the original on 19 November 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  4. ^ "Πέθανε o Κώστας Κάππος, πρώην κοινοβουλευτικός εκπρόσωπος του ΚΚΕ" [Kostas Kappos, ex-KKE MP, died]. in.gr (in Greek). 11 September 2005. Archived from the original on 9 December 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  5. ^ "Το οπορτουνιστικό ρεύμα ξανά σε αδιέξοδο" [The opportunist current in a dead end again]. Communist Review (in Greek). January–March 2023. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  6. ^ Mottas, Nikos (10 February 2019). "ΑΝΤΑΡΣΥΑ: Οι επιστήμονες του οπορτουνισμού σε ρόλο συκοφάντη ενάντια στο ΚΚΕ" [ANTARSYA: The specialists of opportunism as KKE smearers]. Atechnos (in Greek). Archived from the original on 4 July 2022. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  7. ^ a b Mottas, Nikos (4 December 2023). "ΝΑΡ: Το κόμμα της Αριστεράς στο οποίο ήταν ο Κοτζιάς, η Βαλαβάνη και ο… Πολάκης" [NAR: The left party in which members were Kotzias, Valavani, and ...Polakis]. Atechnos (in Greek). Archived from the original on 9 December 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  8. ^ Lenin, Vladimir (2018) [1916]. "Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism". Marxists.org. Marxists Internet Archive. Archived from the original on 18 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  9. ^ "Θέσεις Σ.Ε.: Η σύγχρονη καπιταλιστική κοινωνία - Νέο στάδιο ανάπτυξης και κρίσης του καπιταλισμού" [The Co-ordinating Committee positions: The modern capitalist society - new stage of capitalism's evolution and crisis]. narnet (in Greek). NAR. June 1997. Archived from the original on 23 November 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  10. ^ "Κώστας Κάππος" [Kostas Kappos] (in Greek). IANOS. 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  11. ^ "Κώστας Κάππος: 'Ποτέ δεν έφυγα από το ΚΚΕ. Είναι δυνατόν να αρνούμαστε και τις ιδέες μας τώρα;'" [Kostas Kappos: I never left KKE. Can we really fefure our ideology?]. Katiousa (in Greek). 10 September 2018. Archived from the original on 10 December 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  12. ^ "'Εφυγε' ο Κώστας Κάππος" [Kostas Kappos 'gone']. Rizospastis (in Greek). 13 September 2005. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  13. ^ "Κώστας Κάππος – Το μόνο που δεν ήξερε ήταν η αντοχή του" [Kostas Kappos - The one thing he did not know was his endurance]. Katiousa (in Greek). 15 October 2017. Archived from the original on 10 December 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  14. ^ "Ανακοίνωση νΚΑ για τις φοιτητικές εκλογές" [nKA announcement for the student elections]. nKA (in Greek). Youth Communist Liberation. 23 May 2011. Archived from the original on 4 February 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  15. ^ "Τι είναι η νΚΑ" [What is nKA]. nKA (in Greek). Youth Communist Liberation. 23 May 2011. Archived from the original on 9 December 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
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