Walking down Stadiou Street at noon on a Sunday, and with the shops open due to Black Friday, the last thing I expected to encounter on my walk to Omonia was an exhibition blockbuster on the theme of the “liberating-revolutionary” 1944 signed by the KKE. And the truth is, I would have passed the ghost building of the National Printing Office if I hadn’t been struck by the fact that it was open. Although one of the few surviving first public buildings of the modern Greek state, with roots in the 1830s and the post-war seat of the Court of First Instance of Athens, the original National Printing and Lithographic Office has languished for the last several decades in a sad state of semi-abandonment. In the spring of 2023, it was granted by the Ministry of Justice to the Municipality of Athens with the aim of turning it into a cultural space at some point. For now, the municipality is just managing it.
However, at this time the space had life. Some people waiting in the cold caught my attention. Two unobtrusive banners and iconic photographs from the difficult years of the 40s, affixed to the frayed shutters confirmed (almost suggestively) that indeed “something” was happening. Climbing the steps and returning the smiling welcome from polite youths, I began to realize that I had come to the Communist Party’s top exhibition production for this year’s 80th anniversary of liberation and the Decemberists. Having linked the communist and generally “left” tradition with festival aesthetic historical records for the general public, I was immediately impressed by the modern exhibition approach of the organizers, as it unfolds in the 13 different spaces of the atmospheric shell of Santa Rosa, which it condenses into as many thematic sections the traditional, expected, suffocatingly unilateral position of the KKE on its dramatic events 40s. A project of museum standards, with an emphasis on the scenographic performance of rare evidence (from documents and photographs to filmed snapshots, objects and notebooks of protagonists of the period, etc.), the exhibition organized and carried out by the Attica party organization of the KKE was extended by two weeks and will remain open until December 15 (free entry). This is also due to the increased turnout, which is largely exhausted within the party walls, as the political introversion that characterizes the KKE has put its stamp on the (lukewarm) communication of the exhibition.

However, the reasons for communicative introversion are deeper, as explained to me by the historian Tasos Sakellaropoulos, head of the Historical Archives of the Benaki Museum, who accompanied me by invitation on my second visit to the party blockbuster on Stadiou Street: “But we are in the center of Athens. The exhibition is neither in Perissos nor in Peristeri. The center of Athens has a different weight and different symbolism and the KKE knows this very well. Moreover, if the exhibition ceased to be introspective, addressing a wider non-partisan audience, then the organizers would have to face difficult questions. Therefore, introversion also has to do with a very basic sense for the KKE of an absolutely controlled and safe environment, with content intended mainly for members and friends.”
Visitor attendance runs out on party members. If the exhibition was aimed at a wider audience, then the organizers would be faced with “very difficult questions”, as historian Tasos Sakellaropoulos says.
Indeed, the modernization of the KKE is limited to the scenography. For the rest, the now significant distance in time does not allow even a hint of reference to the atrocities during the Decembers (mass abductions of hostages, murders of civilians, looting of houses and shops, etc.), which shocked even sympathizers EAM and ELAS and wasted a significant part of the political capital that had been acquired during the Occupation.

Celebration or mourning
“It’s an exhibition with a deep ideological structure,” adds Tasos Sakellaropoulos, but he doesn’t mean it for good. “If we saw History through the lens of ideologies, we wouldn’t get a clue”, he explains with a slight smirk. When I convey to him my sense that the exhibition constantly vacillates between celebration (or competitive fervor) and mourning, the historian argues that communism is an “ideology of war.” “It kind of forces the world that serves it to be in a constant state of alertness. If this sense of an impending war, only political apparently and not armed, is diluted, its momentum collapses. Therefore, this regime of permanent political agitation must be maintained at all costs to the party audience. Thus, the concept of defeat should be softened in a way and we can say that it is not a disaster, but a milestone in History. Therefore, the idea of mourning is very relevant to a communist. But certainly also a celebration because they were the years of significant successes, moments of unprecedented elevation and an immediate revolutionary perspective.”

Emotion and “lessons”
Looking for those who set up such an ambitious production, I come across Tasos Antoniou, curator of the exhibition, who very patiently explains to me that the final result is due to the collective work of many recognized professionals (set designers, artists, electricians, carpenters, etc.) , who also happen to be members of the party. I tell him that the setup of the exhibition is quite different from what one expects from the KKE. “From the beginning, we had a basic scenario in mind, how the explosion and heroism of our people during the Occupation and in the battle of Athens will emerge, and at the same time we were interested in communicating the latest political conclusions about what happened in December ». These are reflected in the last section of the report. There the visitor now comes face to face with the official epimyth about what happened – the approved party verdict which, another surprise, also has tones of self-criticism: responsibility is attributed to the party leadership at the time, but also to the strategy of the international communist movement of the time because ” did not appreciate the new situation in the correlation of class struggle and did not manage in time to exploit the possibilities of revolutionary conquest and establishment of labor power in Greece”. In other words, “self-criticism” is exhausted in tactics, certainly not in the correctness of the “revolutionary” goal.

Returning to the organizational aspects of the exhibition, Tasos Antoniou tells me that the first important decision for the organizers was the choice of the building with its “bare” skin, with the exposed concrete, bricks and rough, hard surfaces that play a leading role in creating the evocative atmosphere. “The exhibition is run by a directorial approach that aspires to transmit the messages of the KKE to wider audiences,” he summarizes. When I ask him about these constant emotional transitions from elation to mourning, I understand that he does not like the word “mourning.” “Yes, many leave the exhibition in tears. However, it is not the aim of our report to simply move people, to talk about some “fighters who sacrificed themselves for the country”. We have created a historical-political exhibition with documents and contemporary conclusions and we would like the visitor to stand there. We did not want to hold a memorial service, we are standing in this decade – which we communists have in our hearts – to reflect on its critical events, to gain strength and lessons for the future”.
Less confrontational
I ask the historian Tasos Sakellaropoulos to compare the current exhibition with earlier productions of the KKE. He is quick to point out that the concept of conflict and betrayal has been toned down in the National Printing Office report. “If you noticed, there are no references to other resistance groups, so an older perception of ‘you’re a non-EAM traitor’ is missing.” They choose to focus on their own successes without blaming, complaining or bashing everyone else.” At this point Tasos Sakellaropoulos makes an interesting observation: “While it is an exhibition arranged chronologically, a sense of timelessness hovers. The indirect element is much more dominant than in previous reports of the KKE. In the past, the main means of propaganda was the text on the wall, while now the investment in the atmosphere, the feeling and the psychic connection of the visitor is evident.” Is there an explanation for this shift? “Of course there is. It’s time. 80 years have passed since December 1944. Today they can do it and they do.”
Center photo: Filmed footage from the period of Occupation, Liberation and the outbreak of the Decembrians is shown on the first floor of the National Printing Office. [ΝΙΚΟΣ ΚΟΚΚΑΛΙΑΣ]