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Abstract
This article makes a contribution to the understanding of party organisation by examining one of the most successful West European communist parties, the Communist Party of Cyprus (AKEL). Defying the downward trend of its counterparts and the external shock of Soviet collapse, the AKEL has managed to sustain the support of nearly a third of the electorate. Using original archival evidence and interview data, the article attributes the electoral endurance of the AKEL to organisational continuity. Since its founding, the party has built a robust mass party structure, with an extensive network of auxiliary organisations and strong centralising mechanisms. During the crisis of the late 1980s, the party kept the basic features of this organisational model intact refusing to dismantle its Leninist organisational infrastructure. Organisational continuity has helped the AKEL sustain its electoral strength by signalling its ideological consistency. Organisational continuity might also account for the relative persistence of other communist parties in Western Europe.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank George Charalambous and the anonymous reviewers of West European Politics for useful comments and critiques.
Notes
1. A number of scholars have pointed out, for example, that the organisation of the French National Front is modelled after the Communist Party (e.g. Ellinas 2010; Marcus 1995; Mayer 1998; Simmons 1996).
2. Interview with Christos Alekou, May 2012, Nicosia.
3. A poll shows that 54 per cent of those asked think that the ‘economy’ should be the top priority of the next president compared to 25 per cent who mentioned the Cyprus problem. ‘Banks and politicians hit rock bottom’ [in Greek] StockWatch, 13 July 2012, available at http://www.stockwatch.com.cy/nqcontent.cfm?a_name=news_view&ann_id=155804 (accessed 1 August 2012).
4. Interview with Alekou, May 2012, Nicosia.
5. Figures extracted from official party documents.
6. Interview with Yiannakis Kolokasides, May 2012.
7. Interview with Alekou, May 2012.
8. Interview with Kolokasides, May 2012.
9. This is the edition of the party material used today.
10. In the 2011 parliamentary elections, for example, party outdoor and print advertisements highlighted the various components of the party programme. None of the advertisements printed the name or showed the face of a candidate.
11. Interview with Alekou, May 2012.
12. Interview with Andros Kyprianou, June 2012.
13. Interview with Alekou, May 2012.
14. Interview with Kyprianou, June 2012.
15. Interview with Pambis Kyritsis, June 2012.
16. Interview with Alekou, May 2012.
17. Interview with Kyritsis, June 2012.
18. Ibid.
19. Interview with Alekou, May 2012.
20. Interview with Kyritsis, June 2012.
21. Interview with Alekou, May 2012.
22. Interview with Kolokasides, May 2012.
23. Interview with Alekou, May 2012.
24. Interview with Kyprianou, June 2012.
25. Ibid.