Dear Comrades,
It is a great honor for our Organization to participate to the celebrations for the 100-year anniversary of Komsomol. It is with great pleasure and sense of responsibility towards the history of the international youth and communist movement that we are addressing this greeting, aspiring to contribute to highlighting the importance of the 100 years of militant life and action of your organization. Committing tribute to 100 years of Komsomol's pioneering action, the world youth movement also sets a solid foundation on a great historical heritage for the common struggles for the present and for the future.
The history of the heroic Komsomol is indissolubly related to the most historic events as well as the overall course of the international communist and youth movement. Its very foundation, one year following the Great October Socialist Revolution, was realized to highlight the anxieties and wills of the Soviet Union’s youth, providing it with an organized and more conscious expression. Komsomol found itself in the frontline of the struggles of Soviet youth and the Soviet peoples to build socialism and defend it from foreign interventions and the local reaction. It was the main donor to the great patriotic war and to the great anti-fascist victory of the peoples, which could not be realized without the decisive role of the Soviet Union. The clash of Hitler-Fascism is indelibly marked with the Soviet Union's seal, which heavily paid the price.
In front of the sacrifices and the heroism of the Soviet people and youth, all humanity honors and pays its respect. So do we.
The socialist construction during the 20th century, which is so inextricably linked to the history of your organization, has left its imprint on modern human history. Socialism, despite any mistakes and weaknesses, has proven its superiority and convinced mankind that it is the real alternative to the barbaric deadlock of capitalism. There are countless achievements demonstrated during the socialist period, both for the working class of your country and the impact they had on the peoples of the world. Above all, the Soviet Union, with the decisive role of the Communist Party and Komsomol, has been a constant pillar for the prevalence and preservation of the world peace and prosperity of the peoples. It has been a steady supporter of the struggling peoples and a supporter of the principles of international law. Cyprus has first-hand experience of the valuable support and commitment to the principles demonstrated by both the Soviet Union and Russia, and we are grateful to your country and your people.
The long-standing brotherly relations between our parties and our organizations played a leading role for the good relations between our countries. Relationships built and forged on the principles of proletarian internationalism and class solidarity. Relationships based on shared perceptions, common ideology, historical origin and historical destination. Relationships that their roots reach deep in the past and their branches will go far in the future.
EDON is the leading democratic mass political and cultural organization of youth, an integral part of the wide popular movement of Cyprus. Our organization has reached 74 years of sacrifices and struggles next to our honored party, AKEL, which is approaching a century of life and action. The course of our organization has not been easy at all. All these years, it has had countless struggles against imperialism and its regional and local allies. Our organization went through illegality, prosecutions and murders. People of Cyprus found themselves from an early point in history, ethnically divided- into Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots- in a shackled Cypriot independence. The tactics of imperialist NATO and the interventions of the imperialists in the two communities, culminating in the twin crime of the fascist coup and the Turkish invasion in 1974, resulted in the territorial separation of our island and our people. The consequences of the twin crime still devastate our island, as 37% of the land is under the Turkish army's possession until today.
For EDON, the solution to the Cyprus problem is vital. Alongside our Turkish Cypriot comrades, we are struggling to achieve a solution of a Bi-zonal Bi-communal Federation with political equality as defined in the United Nations resolutions. Solution of a state with a single sovereignty, one single and only international identity and a citizenship. A solution that establishes our country as truly free, independent, demilitarized and a pillar of peace and cooperation in the Eastern Mediterranean. Besides, it is only through the liberation and reunification of Cyprus, that our people will be able, united to build their common future and to keep the vision of the socialist perspective alive.
At the same time, the political and social environment in which Cypriot youth lives is characterized by the negative phenomena associated with the current stage of capitalist development in our country, the global capitalist crisis and the neo-liberal policies of the EU. Particularly, following the return of the right-wing Party to power in 2013 and its re-election in 2018, many social problems have been aggravated since the management of the economy is in full alignment with the tried and tested anti-popular policies pursued at pan-European level. Under these conditions, EDON gives its own struggles to provide relief to the masses, as well as a fairer distribution of wealth through the construction of a modern state that will place the popular needs and the social well-being high on its priority without, of course, having delusions regarding the limits that this capitalist system places.
The youth is at a critical crossroad. Imperialism takes advantage of the absence of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries that functioned as a counterweight to expand its sovereignty across the globe. Imperialist aggression shows its bloody face, in Latin America, in Syria, in Palestine, with NATO's encirclement of Russia, and anywhere else with great geostrategic and economic interests for the Capital.
The Communist movement now has to confront emerging neo-Nazi-neo-fascist forces. It must stand against the falsification of history and anticommunist propaganda imposed by those in power. The unhistorical equation of communism with fascism has to find a response in the struggles and actions of the Communists throughout the world and in the smash of fascism wherever it emerges.
The international youth and communist movement is called upon to further strengthen the struggles of the world peace movement for peace, disarmament and denuclearization. Defend international law against the unilateral decisions of the imperialists. Strengthen internationalist solidarity towards the struggling peoples. To further emphasize the necessity of breaking NATO and any other militias. The need for further cooperation between communist, progressive and anti-imperialist movements worldwide is necessary and needs to be improved. Coordination of action and joint initiatives, where and wherever possible, on the basis of respect for the independence of each organization are useful tools in this effort.
The World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) should remain at the forefront of this fight. WFDY today, is the only major and massive international anti-imperialist struggling organization at youth level, with more than 130 organizations with millions of members all over the world. EDON indicates the necessity of the unity of the left-wing, communist and wider progressive youth organizations. Unity based on the preservation of the anti-imperialist character of WFDY and our common struggle. Today, we have a duty to strengthen WFDY further in all areas, to strengthen the stable and consistent political line of the broad anti-imperialist struggle and to coordinate action among its member organizations.
The 100 years of KOMSOMOL is also our own celebration. We promise that we will continue to be faithful to the lessons of the classics of Marxism-Leninism and the struggles of the heroic Leninist youth. We have a sacred debt to our ancestors, but above all a sacred duty to the generations to come. We are sure that in this fight we will be together until the final victory!
Long live Komsomol!
Long Live EDON!
Long live the international solidarity!