Tsipras, Nea Aristera and SYRIZA mark 86 years since Greece's 1940 Ohi Day

Tsipras marks 86 years since the 1940 attack

On 28 October 2026, Alexis Tsipras posted a message for the national anniversary of the Italian fascist attack on Greece, which came 86 years earlier. He framed the Ohi of 1940 as a commitment that is still active rather than a memory. In his text he recalled the courage of Greek soldiers in the frozen mountains of Albania, their victory over Mussolini and his blackshirts, and the support ordinary people gave to resistance against an armoured invader.

He also honoured the National Resistance, whose leading organisations EAM and ELAS gave the Ohi its mass character, and paid tribute to those who fell in what he called an honourable struggle against fascist and Nazi violence. He singled out people who refused to accept the normality of occupation, even under overwhelming force and Nazi reprisals.

“Never in history has such a small word shown such a great will of a people for freedom.”

Linking 1940 to the present

Tsipras then tied the anniversary to current politics, listing the targets he says the Ohi still applies to. These include fascism and far-right violence that he said is rising across the world, Europe and Greece, and social injustice that leaves most people struggling to survive while a small minority profits from the lives of others. He also pointed to the erosion of freedom and democracy by what he described as a perforated rule of law and an epidemic of corruption. He rejected submission to what he called a fake stability that prepares hardship for the country.

“The struggle for freedom and justice is always necessary.”

He closed by calling for a Greece that claims freedom, democracy and social justice, guided by the struggles of the people against foreign fascism. The message was published on social networks. Coverage identifies Tsipras as a former prime minister and president of the Greek Left Alliance (ΕΛ.ΑΣ.).

Nea Aristera and SYRIZA respond

Nea Aristera issued its own statement the same morning, describing 28 October as a day to honour a people's refusal to surrender to fascism. It said official accounts often stop at the front, just before the story of the mass popular Resistance, of people who organised, shared what little they had and fought for liberation. The party presents anti-fascism as an everyday political and social position rather than a reminder of the past.

“On 28 October we honour the refusal of a people to surrender to fascism.”

SYRIZA's announcement, also issued on 28 October 2026, honours those who resisted in 1940 and underlines the roles of the National Resistance, EAM, ELAS and EPON. It said the day belongs once more to ordinary people who are called to say No to conditions that condemn them to a deprived life and a lack of prospects. The party argued that the struggle against fascism and against the rule of the powerful is continuous and rests above all with the people.