Shaping Identities: The C ypriot L eft and the Communist Party of G reece in the 1940s

This paper seeks to reveal the many ways in which the Communist Party of G reece ( KKE ) influenced the C ypriot L eft ( AKEL ) during the 1940s. The analysis centres on the main political events of the decade and details the reaction of AKEL , especially as it was reporting to the KKE . Attention then switches to AKEL 's ideology and tactics and how these were developed during and because of the G reek civil war. What this paper brings to the discussion is that the advice and control given by the KKE to AKEL – and at the same time the C old W ar, which was a playing field on which a political party had to choose a side – were the main factors that formed the identity and ideological framework practiced for decades by AKEL .