Pandelis Pouliopoulos

Who was Pandelis Pouliopoulos?

Pandelis Pouliopoulos was a Greek communist and onetime general secretary of the Communist Party of Greece. He stood for the internationalist and revolutionary character of the communist movement. He is the founder of the trotskyist movement in Greece.

Born in Thiva, Greece, Pouliopoulos enrolled at Athens University in 1919 to study law. In 1919, he joined the Socialist Labour Party of Greece, the forerunner of the Communist Party of Greece.

In 1920, he was conscripted to fight in the Greek-Turkish war of 1919-1922. He was arrested in 1922 for anti-war activity, but was freed with the end of the war.

From 1923 to 1925, was prominent in war veterans movement and, in 1924, was elected president of the Panhellenic Federation of Veterans.

In 1924, was party delegate to the fifth congress of the Comintern. Later that year he became general secretary of the KKE. On 24 August 1925, Pouliopoulos, along with 23 others, was put on trial in Athens on charges of promoting the autonomy of Macedonia and Thrace. He gave a five hour speech in his defence and the trial was adjourned. On 22 February 1926, the trial of the "autonomists" resumed. The charges were dropped, but instead of being released, the men were exiled to Anafi, Amorgos and Folegandros islands.