Maoism in the Developed World

After the fall of the colonels’ regime, the KKE (Marxist-Leninist) began to publish openly a monthly called Kokkini Simaia and established their own publishing house. In November 1974 they legally held their First Congress. One of its decisions was “to take part in the next parliamentary election when it is held.”[264] We have no information as to whether it did in fact have a slate in the first post-dictatorship election, or if so, how its candidate fared.

This version of the KKEML, led by Zachos, stayed loyal to the Chinese after the death of Mao. It sent congratulations to Hua Kuo-feng upon his becoming Mao’s successor.[265]

A second group using the name KKKEML was established in November 1976 as a split-off from the Organization of Marxist-Leninists of Greece. It denounced the Three Worlds Theory as “revisionism” and supported the Albanians in their split with China.“[266]

The Greek Revolutionary Liberation Front

Another Maoist group formed as a result of a split in the Organization of Marxist-Leninists of Greece was the Greek Revolutionary Liberation Front (EEAM), which was set up in the Spring of 1973 by cadres who left the OMLE. It was described by D. George Kousalas as being composed of “Marxist-Leninists opposed to the opportunism of KKE and to the Khruschevite revisionism which led to the ideological-political degeneration of KKE since 1956.” He described its leaders as being “Stalinists and Maoists … [who] consider the present Soviet leadership out of step with true Marxism-Leninism.”

The EEAM was made up mostly of students. It launched a periodical, Neoni Agones, which was reported to have been closed in 1975 “for lack of funds.”[267]

The EEAM apparently came out into the open after the fall of the colonels’ regime. However, by the end of the 1970s, it was not worth much more than a footnote to a sketch of the Greek Far Left in that period.

The Revolutionary Communist Movement Of Greece

The most significant of the Greek Maoist organizations after the fall of the colonel’s regime was the Revolutionary Communist Movement of Greece (EKKKE). It had been founded by a group of Greek students studying in East Berlin in 1970. It began operating in Greece in 1974 under the leadership of Chairman Christos Bistis.[268] By 1975 it was “considered to be the best-oriented and largest ‘extremely radical’ leftist group in Greece.”[269] It was reported as “having a Maoist orientation and aspires to be the nucleus for a truly Marxist-Leninist communist workers party in Greece.” By 1980 it was judged by the East German Communists to have a membership of 500, and a “mobilization potential” of 8,000.[270]

The EKKE had its principal base among university students, and in elections in the universities of Athens and Salonika in 1975 it got 630 and 225 votes out of 16,053 and 7,227, respectively.[271]

Unlike the other Maoist organizations, it took part in November 1977 parliamentary elections. Its candidate received 11,657 votes or 0.23 percent of the total.[272] However, D. George Kousoulas commented some time later that “In both the parliamentary and municipal elections, the Revolutionary Communist Movement of Greece (EKKE) … was ignored by the voters.”[273]

The EKKE stayed loyal to the Chinese after Mao’s death. It supported the Three Worlds Theory, and in August 1978 a delegation from the party visited China and was received by a member of the Chinese Politburo.[274]

Kousoulas reported in 1981 that “The pro-Chinese EKKE is currently in a state of disarray, following a serious split in 1980.”[275] We have no further information concerning the causes or nature of this division in the ranks of the EKKE.

Other Maoist Groups

East German SED sources mention several other Maoist groups. One of these was the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Greece, established in November 1976 under the leadership of Isaac Jordanidis, a former KKE party functionary, which had as its central organ Laikos Dromos (People’s Way). It endorsed the Three Worlds Theory; a delegation it sent to Peking in December 1977 was received by Li Xiannian.[276] In 1987, D. G. Kousoulas referred to it as a group “with little political significance.”[277]

Other groups mentioned by the East Germans without further elaboration were the Group for a Proletarian Left, founded in 1975; Greek Bolsheviks, established in 1973; Movement of Greek Marxist-Leninists; Group of Greek Marxists Leninists, founded in 1972; Greek Marxist-Leninist Movement, founded in 1970; and the Marxist-Leninist Organization of Greek Political Emigration.[278]

Irish Maoism