# The Communist Party of Greece

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "The Communist Party of Greece," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-communist-party-of-greece/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's account of Greek communism: a civil war from 1946 to 1949 whose bitterness still scars families, a party banned outright until Andreas Papandreou legalised it in 1980, and a present-day remnant polling between three and five per cent — enough for parliamentary representation and not enough to be a factor.*

- **Civil war:** 1946 to 1949
- **Legally banned until:** 1980
- **Legalised by:** Andreas Papandreou
- **Present vote share:** Three to five per cent per election
- **Kiriakou's verdict:** Not a factor
- **Left parties he distinguishes:** Syriza and PASOK, democratic socialist rather than communist

**The Communist Party of Greece** was the subject of a viewer question in January 2026 — whether Greece had ever had a violent communist insurrection, and whether it ever had a real shot at power. John Kiriakou, whose family is Greek, answered on both counts.[1]

## The civil war

His answer to the second question was no, and his answer to the first was that the war itself was very bad indeed. *"The Civil War was bad. It still scars families."* From 1946 to 1949, in his description, it was absolutely just bloody.[1][2]

## The ban

What followed was a sustained state suppression backed from outside. A series of Greek governments, supported by both the United States and the United Kingdom, really cracked down on communism — and the Communist Party of Greece was legally banned until 1980, when Andreas Papandreou was elected and legalised it.[2]

## What remains

Kiriakou's assessment of the present is deflationary. There are not very many communists left in Greece; the party takes between three and five per cent in each election, which is *"just enough to be represented in parliament"* — *"but they're not they're not a factor."*[2][3]

He was careful to distinguish the party from the Greek left more generally. There are left-wing parties, and two socialist parties — Syriza and PASOK — one a little more purely socialist than the other, but both much more democratic socialist parties than anything else. If they must be called communist, he said, one might call them Eurocommunist. As for pure communism, Soviet-style communism, *"that time has come and gone."*[3][4]

## The postscript

The segment ended with Kiriakou mentioning a piece of hate mail he had received from a listener in Greece, and Rall setting out his own standing policy on such messages — that he reserves the right to publish anything hateful or threatening sent to him, which Kiriakou said he should have done himself.[4]

## See also

- [The Greek brain drain](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-greek-brain-drain)
- [Kiriakou's Greek citizenship](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-greek-citizenship)
- [Arabic and Greek](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/arabic-and-greek)
- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)

## Sources

1. Is Trump Bidening Out? | DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou (2026-01-30), at 36:31. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDPkwpAs6Io&t=2191s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-30-deprogram-show-with-is-trump-bidening-out-deprogram-with-ted/
2. Is Trump Bidening Out? | DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou (2026-01-30), at 37:02. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDPkwpAs6Io&t=2222s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-30-deprogram-show-with-is-trump-bidening-out-deprogram-with-ted/
3. Is Trump Bidening Out? | DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou (2026-01-30), at 37:33. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDPkwpAs6Io&t=2253s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-30-deprogram-show-with-is-trump-bidening-out-deprogram-with-ted/
4. Is Trump Bidening Out? | DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou (2026-01-30), at 38:04. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDPkwpAs6Io&t=2284s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-30-deprogram-show-with-is-trump-bidening-out-deprogram-with-ted/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-communist-party-of-greece/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt