The Testament.

Ειμαστέ αισιόδοξοι. Το τέλος της Ιστορίας δεν ήρθε, ουτε θα έρθει. 

Ο κόσμος που ζούμε μπορεί να αλλάξει και θα αλλάξει. Είμαστε σίγουροι για αυτό... 

We are optimist. The end of History didn't come, neither it will.

The world we live in can be changed and it will be changed. We are sure about that...

C. Florakis (captain Yiotis), somewhere on the Greek mountains,
during the Greek civil war (1946 - 1949)

"The farmers leave! The sowing remains! And growing. And becomes bigger. And blossoms. And throws new seeds on the earth. And the circle repeats. That's how the generation of 1912 - 1913 thought, that it's the last heroic generation. And what would happen to the land when they will be gone. But then came the generation of '40, the new sowing and raised the struggle's flag even higher. The same says every generation identifying in itself the history. And forgets the sowing. That is coming too far from the past and goes deep into the future. You see, foolish, the youth around you that you think they have lost their path and have been compromised. You have no idea! Once there is a sparkle, these youth will turn into a fire, a volcano. And they will be proved way better than their fathers’ and grandfathers’ generation was. And they will raise the struggle's flag all the way to the Sun. It's the sowing, i am telling you... "

G. Alexandrou (Diamantis) & C. Florakis (Yiotis),
commanders of the 1st and 2nd division of
Democratic Army of Greece (Δ.Σ.Ε).
Karpenisi, Central Greece, January 1949

On Trial, Athens May 1960

After 26 years the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) is legal once again.
C. Florakis giving his first interview to the press as General Secretary of KKE.
Athens, 26.8.1974

M. Theodorakis, G. Ritsos & C. Florakis attend the commemorations
for the one year from the Polytechnical School Uprising.
Athens, 17.11.1974

C. Florakis addresses the Serbian people during the NATO bombings.
Belgrade, 23.4.1999

"I do not name this paper testament, for the reason that i have nothing to dispose. All i had i gave it to the Party, the Communist Party of Greece, with its known symbols, the ideology of Marxism-Leninism, its program and its principles. Politically, i also have nothing to leave. Everything i had to offer, i did it through my specific action. Give political advice, i do not consider it serious. I want to return and be buried to the place i was born. In Paliozoglopi and specifically at St. Ilias, to have better view. The tomb has to be simple, just be fenced, so it can't be easy for the wild animals to dig me out. I don’t want speeches and wreaths. All these, instead, to be expressed as support to the Party."

September 1994,

Farewell,

Charilaos Florakis

One last goodbye. Rachoula, Agrafa Mountains, 26.5.2005


In memory of Charilaos (20.7.1914 - 22.5.2005).
10 years after...