Mr. Lafazanis appears to be an honest man. He never hid his ideas, his intentions and the goal he and his comrades set to change the country’s regime, when he is in the position to do so. During that time, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) appointed him as an officer at the Communist Youth of Greece party (KNE). One morning he found himself to be a close associate of the late Charilaos Florakis. It was a time when Greece had already become a democratic state. Charilaos Florakis, the renowned Captain Yotis of the civil war, had fought, lost and paid with prison and exile. A lot of flowers bloomed at his feet, among them Mr. Lafazanis. He represents a new generation that gave many unarmed and bloodless battles. Many of them abandoned KKE to join other parties, some of which appeared to be more left than the Left.
There is nothing to suggest that Mr. Lafazanis was a bright KKE officer. As a profession KKE officer, he found himself in charge of the Communist Platform, which along with the Coalition of the Left was one of the founding factions that formed SYRIZA, in the creation of which KKE Interior had major clout. That was the party that emerged from the split in the 1960s. Top KKE officers broke up their party to create a new one, again under the supervision of the Soviet Union.
There is nothing to indicate that Mr. Lafazanis can be included in the same category of officers such as Charilaos Florakis, Grigoris Farakos, Nikos Kaloudis, Kostas Loules, Asimina Giannou and countless others who are unknown to the common opinion of KKE officers and who supported the operation of democracy. Mr. Lafazanis left KKE at a time when the party was bleeding, having contracted the Kremlin virus. Later televisions worldwide broadcast scenes from Mr. Lafazanis and his fellows’ visit to the Kremlin, showing the proper respect… The international Press has also documented Mr. Lafazanis’ admiration for Hugo Chavez, who as a Head of State, privatized Venezuela’s oil for himself!
Of course, SYRIZA is a coalition of parties and movements with different ideas and one common denominator: inexperience. Fortunately, as it is now clearly obvious, the majority of SYRIZA officers have understood reality in time and have decided on a meaningful reform of the party within the scope of Greek reality. That gives birth to the hope of the Left rising to power heralding the modernization of the state which was attempted but unable to be completed by Konstantinos Karamanlis, Andreas Papandreou and Kostas Simitis.
While Mr. Lafazanis’ ideas fade way, Alexis Tsipras’ star begins to shine.
Stavros P. Psycharis
Originally published in the Sunday print edition
