Al. Papariga: The Polytechnic’s fight raised the bar of popular mobilizations to an unprecedented height (VIDEO – PHOTOS)

The heroic uprising of the Polytechnic, the modern conclusions, the importance of especially the younger generations learning what is carefully and deliberately hidden from them, were highlighted in the event organized on Saturday afternoon by the The Educational Committee of the KKE with the keynote speaker Alexa Papariga, member of the Central Committee of the KKE.

“The attitude of the vanguard of the working people’s movement must be on the right side of history. Against the pursuits of the ruling class and governments. Communist radical militant educators have a special duty to discuss the truth, to learn it, to teach it to our students. We have a duty not to let the propaganda and the attempt for ideological political manipulation of the youth, the new generation, pass so that they do not fall behind the aspirations of the ruling class”, noted K. Stylou, welcoming the event on behalf of TO Education.

Starting her speech, A. Papariga noted:

“This year marks 50 years since the top event of the student and general anti-dictatorship movement. The uprising of the Polytechnic highlighted in this particular phase as a vanguard the student movement, which expanded very quickly as it joined forces with the labor popular movement that responded to the student call. The KKE and the KNE with the illegal organizations supported with all their might the student popular uprising of the Polytechnic. The executives and members of the Party and the KNE contributed to all forms of struggle and to the anti-imperialist anti-dictatorship framework that has remained as a memory to this day. We honor the anniversary of the uprising of the Polytechnic, the memory of its dead, we remember and highlight the greatness of the young student heroism that did not retreat even when the tank of the military junta knocked down the main door of the Polytechnic and spread death. Tens of thousands of workers were gathered outside the gates of the Polytechnic. People’s forces that responded to the call of the radio station that had been created, went with the purpose of joint action, joint struggle against the dictatorship, solidarity with food and medicine by all means. We honor the thousands of residents of Athens, especially those who lived near the Polytechnic University, who opened their doors to hide the pursued students, who when the tanks were coming down Alexandra Avenue to strike, they called on them not to do so or even disapproved of them”.

Al. Papariga referred to the debate surrounding the Polytechnic, the dominant bourgeois perception, the rendering of its political messages from various sides, noting that the bourgeoisie has drawn valuable conclusions about the fact that the struggles against imperialist occupation, the class revolutionary struggles, regardless whether they ended in victory or defeat, they can inspire, excite, give impetus to the continuation and escalation of struggles to the final victory, socialism, communism.

“That is why he has trained huge staffs in the universities, in education, in the media, in all walks of life, to cast a veil of darkness, to organize rampant disinformation, to spew a bunch of lies to slander the people’s struggles or, in the best case for the bourgeoisie, to lead to painless paths. It is worth recalling the orgy of lies, slander and disorientation that we live these days at the expense of the Palestinian struggle, with an aim to hide that the Palestinian people are, live, go through, suffer, torture and die because of long-standing Israeli military, political , economic occupation with the backs of the USA, NATO, EU, while denying it the right to have its own state”, he noted.

He detailed how the seven-year military dictatorship was imposed and how we got to the Polytechnic uprising. As he pointed out, “the Polytechnic was a student, worker, popular uprising, but it did not constitute a planned uprising with an elaborate political framework, as it did not result from any specific preparation plan by a political or resistance organization or by several, so the occupation began with a dominant element spontaneous. Certainly, the spontaneous constitutes the insufficiently conscious. This is not to say that it was a random event that sprung out of nowhere, out of thin air. There had been previous fighting episodes such as the takeover of the Faculty of Law in February 1973, but also other events within and at the Polytechnic itself. The widespread student indignation was based on the fact that a large part of the people was against the military junta, the fact that the other bourgeois parties also opposed it with their own grievances also played a certain role,” she noted, referring in detail to stations and processes of the period, stressing that “the struggle of the Polytechnic raised to an unprecedented height the bar of popular mobilizations in relation to labor and agricultural struggles that had preceded it up to that time”.

Then, he focused on the three days of November 15 – 17, in the presence of the KNE with the guidance of the KKE at those moments, emphasizing in particular the heroic attitude of the imprisoned and the gathered crowd, noting that “the uplift that emerged expressed the determination of the popular forces , the confidence they gained in their abilities from participating in major events”. “The Polytechnic, with its pan-European and global appeal, contributed to the even wider popular indignation, almost universal opposition to the dictatorship. It also contributed to exposing the junta’s deception of the people with the candy of “liberalization” of the political system (…). The uprising of the Polytechnic sharpened the contradictions within the junta, the crisis brewing within it became more acute, it accelerated its collapse, in combination with the crime committed in Cyprus”, he emphasized, among other things.

Al. Papariga closed her speech with the valuable conclusions drawn by the KKE and the KNE from the Polytechnic uprising, noting that “the Party has proven that by studying, with the distance of time, great historical events, it never hid problems and weaknesses”. Developing in this context the assessments from some sides of the Party’s and KNE’s action in harsh conditions of illegality, he said that the undeniable fact was that the KKE supported the uprising with all its strength. He was together with the KNE at the center of the developments and they played a key role, often a decisive guiding one.

• On Thursday, November 9, Aleka Papariga spoke at a similar event in the packed auditorium of the Electrical Engineers at the Polytechnic, in an event organized by KKE and KNE organizations at NTUA. The Organizations offered Al. Paparyga a painting with a sketch of students of Architecture, which depicts the gate of the Polytechnic during the days of the uprising.