Athens.- The main opposition Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA), in an announcement on the anniversary of the military coup on April 21, 1967, stressed that the struggle for democracy and freedom is always timely and unbreakably linked with the struggle for socialism.

The announcement added that “46 years after the imposition of the military dictatorship in our country, we are being faced with a frontal attack against the rights of the working people and of youth, as well as democracy itself”.

It goes on to say that “today’s message of resistance is against the government’s memorandum policy, authoritarianism, the suppression of struggles and the restriction of popular rule”.

The announcement also said that SYRIZA honours the members and cadres of the Left who played a leading role in the seven-year antidictatorship struggle, as well as all the fighters of democracy who defended human dignity, democracy and freedom.

The Communist Party of Greece (KKE), in an announcement over the weekend on the anniversary of the military coup on April 21, 1967, said that “the military dictatorship of April 21 1967, that had the support of the U.S. and the bourgeoisie class in Greece, was able to be imposed because it did not find before it an organised people, determined to defend their rights, also utilising the intensified contrasts of the bourgeoisie political system”.

The announcement added that despite the initial “numbness” of the people, the movement against the dictatorship developed with the great contribution of the communists and other fighters.

It further said that “the international solidarity of the socialist countries, the international labour movement constituted considerable help for the people”.

KKE further stressed that “international historical experience proves that the military dictatorships always constitute solutions for the plutocracy, when it is unable to promote its antipopular plans with Parliamentary means”.