Charilaos Florakis (1914-2005) (Greek: Χαρίλαος Φλωράκης also Harilaos Florakis) was a leader of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). Communism - Wikipedia /**/ @import /w/skins-1. ... KKE sticker The Communist Party of Greece, better known by its acronym KKE (Greek: Κομμουνιστικό Κόμμα Ελλάδας, Kommunistiko Komma Elladas), is the major communist party in Greece. ...

Florakis was born on 20 July 1914 in the Paliozoglopi village, located near Agrafa in the Itamos municipality, prefecture of Karditsa, Greece. He joined the Greek Communist Party or KKE, in 1941. A partisan during the resistance to the Nazi occupation in World War Two, Florakis was on the losing side of the Greek Civil War and subsequently left the country. July 20 is the 201st day (202nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 164 days remaining. ... 1914 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... The Agrafa is a mountainous region in northwestern Thessaly in mainland Greece. ... The term prefecture has been used to denote a self-governing body or area since the time of Constantine I, who divided the Roman Empire into 4 districts (each divided into dioceses). ... Karditsa is one of the fifty-one prefectures of Greece. ... KKE sticker The Communist Party of Greece, better known by its acronym KKE (Greek: Κομμουνιστικό Κόμμα Ελλάδας, Kommunistiko Komma Elladas), is the major communist party in Greece. ... 1941 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... German soldiers at the Battle of Stalingrad World War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the worlds nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. ... An ELAS resistance fighter The Greek Civil War was a war fought between 1942 and 1949. ...

On his return to Greece in 1954 he was arrested. During his life he spent 18 years in detention or jail - including being put in internal exile by the Greek colonels at the start of the 1967-74 military dictatorship. 1954 was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

First elected to parliament in 1974, Florakis led KKE as its general secretary from 1972 until 1989, when, though still fit for the job, he announced his decision to step down from the party's top post and proposed Grigoris Farakos as his successor. 1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ...

Florakis did not retire from politics, however. In the same year he retired from the leadership of the KKE, he was approved as the president of the newly-founded Synaspismos or Coalition of the Left party. The Left Coalition was an attempt to reconcile Greece's two main communist factions, which arose in 1968 out of the Moscow-led invasion of Czechoslovakia that crushed the Prague Spring. That show of brute strength led many Greek communists to break with the Moscow-oriented KKE and to follow the nascent Eurocommunist path, which favoured national agendas and a more democratic road to socialism. Party logo The Coalition of the Left, of Movements and Ecology (Shorter: Coalition, Greek: Synaspismos, Συνασπισμός) is a Greek political party of the radical left. ... Czechs in a café watch Soviet tanks roll past The Prague Spring (Czech, Pražské jaro) was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia starting January 5, 1968, and running until August 20 of that year when the USSR and its Warsaw Pact allies (except for Romania) invaded the country. ... Eurocommunism was an attempt in the 1970s by various European communist parties to widen their appeal by embracing middle-class themes, rejecting unquestioning support of the Soviet Union and express more clearly their fidelity to the democratic institutions. ...

The Left Coalition was created partly at the instigation of Florakis, and drew members from both the KKE and the Euro-communists. It also became an umbrella for other leftist groups and disaffected supporters of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement of Andreas Papandreou, which lost a general election in 1989. Party logo The Panhellenic Socialist Movement, better known as PASOK (Greek: Πανελλήνιο Σοσιαλιστικό Κίνημα, Panellinio Sosialistiko Kinima, ΠΑΣΟΚ), is a Greek social democratic political party. ... Andreas Papandreou Andreas Georgios Papandreou, Ανδρέας Γ. Παπανδρέου (15 February 1919 - 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist and politician. ... 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In 1991, as it became increasingly clear that Soviet communism would not last, a rift arose within the KKE between those who supported continuing efforts towards a reconciliation with the Euro-communists through the Left Coalition, and traditionalists who felt that communism was threatened internationally and favoured a return to ideological roots. Florakis sided with the latter and at the 13th KKE conference in early 1991 - even before the fall of Mikhail Gorbachev and the dissolution of the Soviet Union - the party officially withdrew all support from the Left Coalition and Florakis was elected honorary president of the KKE. Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (Russian: ; Pronunciation: mih-kha-ILL ser-GHE-ye-vich gor-bah-CHOFF) (born March 2, 1931), was leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. ...

Florakis died of heart failure at his home in Athens on 22 May 2005. Florakis' body lay in state at the KKE headquarters in Perissos on May 24-25 where thousands of party members and sympathisers queued to pay their respects. Party leader Aleka Papariga addressed a civil funeral on the evening of May 25 which was attended by Greece's President Karolos Papoulias, prime minister Costas Karamanlis, parliament speaker Anna Benaki-Psarouda, opposition Pasok party leader George Papandreou, Left Coalition leader Alekos Alavanos, Cyprus communist AKEL party leader and Cyprus parliament speaker Dimitris Christofias, many ministers and MPs and other dignitaries. He was laid to rest on May 26 at the Agios Ilias cemetery in his native village. The Acropolis in central Athens, one of the most important landmarks in world history. ... May 22 is the 142nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (143rd in leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... Aleka Papariga (Greek: Αλέκα Παπαρήγα) (born 1945) is a communist Greek politician who has served the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) as its general secretary, since 1991. ... Karolos Papoulias Karolos Papoulias (Greek: Κάρολος Παπούλιας) is the President of the Hellenic Republic, former minister and member of the Hellenic parliament. ... Costas Caramanlis Costas Caramanlis (in Greek Kostas or Konstantinos Karamanlis, Κωστας or Κωνσταντινος Καραμανλης) (born September 14, 1956) became Prime Minister of Greece on March 10, 2004 following his partys victory in the March 7 parliamentary elections. ... For George Papandreous grandfather, also called George Papandreou, see George Papandreou, senior. ... Alekos Alavanos Alekos (Alexandros) Alavanos (Greek: Αλέκος Αλαβάνος) is a Greek politician, member of the Hellenic Parliament, former member of the European Parliament and president of the Synaspismos party of the radical left since 2004. ... The Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL) (Greek: Ανορθωτικό Κόμμα Εργαζόμενου Λαού) is a socialist party in Cyprus. ...