The geography we live in has witnessed a strong rebel tradition, numerous resistances against persecution and oppression.
Workers, peasants, artisans have always waved the flag of resistance against the oppression and exploitation of the Ottoman Empire. By the 1900s, all this historical accumulation began to take shape again with the strong ideas of scientific socialism. The effect of the class struggles that were gradually developing and hardening in Europe was making itself felt more and more in our country.
Especially the revolutionary struggle that developed in Russia was followed with great interest and sympathy in the Anatolian steppes. With the effect of the Ottoman-Russian war, more eyes were focused on the region, not only on the brutal face of the Russian Tsardom, but also on the Bolsheviks, who raised the flag of communism against it. The overthrow of Tsarism by the workers under the leadership of the Bolsheviks in Russia caused this sympathy to grow. Communist societies were established all over the country, poems were composed for communism, and folk songs were sung.
THE ICE IS BROKEN, THE ROAD IS OPENED!
This movement, which developed with the resistance of the Defense of Rights Associations established in many regions as a result of the open occupation of Anatolia with the First World War by the imperialists, did not delay in creating its own parties.
Thus, a new era was opened in the lands of our country, and the route that would lead the workers to liberation was being entered. The sun was about to rise to save millions of people who have been groaning under oppression and persecution for centuries from this darkness. Workers; their own parties would sprout, in which they would fight against imperialism, feudalism and fascism, and show their will.
With the effect of this developing wave, the Turkish People’s Participation Party (Ankara) and the Turkish Workers and Farmers Socialist Party (Istanbul) were established in the 1920s. The Turkish People’s Participation Party was built by the coming together of independent groups organized in Anatolia. There was no ideological unity in this party, which was formed by the gathering of various groups that were influenced by the October Revolution, sympathized with the Bolsheviks and described themselves as socialists. This party, based in Ankara, had significant sympathy for communism, but did not have a program. This formation, in which segments opposed to Kemalists came together under the influence of communism, had important traces of Turkish nationalism. Many people who defined themselves as communists in the parliament were acting together with this party.
The Workers and Farmers Socialist Party of Turkey, founded under the leadership of Şefik Hüsnü (Deymer), was a group of intellectuals and writers who returned from Europe after 1918. Most of them were militants who took part in strikes, conflicts and resistances in various cities of Europe. This party, which had a program different from the Turkish People’s Participation Party, consisted of members who studied and researched Marxism. Conciliatory tendencies were quite strong in this party, which was based on englihtened bases. The Communist Party of Turkey was formed by the merger of these two parties and the group led by Mustafa Suphi.
A BOLSHEVIK MILITAN…
Mustafa Suphi, who was born in Giresun in 1883, received his primary education in Jerusalem and Damascus, and his secondary education in Erzurum, due to the duty of his father, who was a governor. When the First World War began, Mustafa Suphi was in Batumi. Here he was arrested as a prisoner of war. During this time, he met the Bolsheviks. He studied Marxism, developed himself ideologically and carried out agitation and propaganda activities among Turkish prisoners of war. By 1915, Mustafa Suphi joined the Russian revolution as an organized Bolshevik. With the October Revolution of 1917, he was liberated, like all prisoners of war and political prisoners. He worked in various regions of Russia with the instruction of the Russian Social Democratic Party in order to develop the revolution. During his service in Turkestan, he organized a Red Army Unit consisting of Turkish people. He started preparations to send this unit to Anatolia. He organized and chaired the International Fair of Notification, which will continue its propaganda activities in China, Kashgar, Bukhara, Khiva, Iran and Turkey.
The workers of Baku, who revolted on April 28, 1920, overthrew the Azerbaijan Musavat Government and established their Soviets. Mustafa Suphi arrived in Baku from Tashkent in May. During this period, the idea of returning to Anatolia became more concrete in his mind. The founding congress of the party was wanted to be held in Ankara, but the Ankara government did not allow it. Meanwhile, communist groups continued their preparations for the congress at full speed, and delegates were being elected.
After the Congress, which ended with great enthusiasm, on September 10, 1920 in Baku, the delegates of Turkish socialists organized by Mustafa Suphi from various parts of the Soviet Union, the Turkish People’s Participation Party from different cities and districts of Anatolia, and Turkish Workers and Workers from Istanbul. With the participation of 74 delegates of the Farmer Socialist Party and a total of 235 delegates, the First and General Congress of Turkish Communists, the founding congress of the TKP convened.
The Congress elected Mustafa Suphi as the Secretary General and Ethem Nejat as the assistant secretary and set the goal of moving to Anatolia and organizing as a priority.
MY HEART BEATS AGAIN, IT WILL BEAT AGAIN!
In line with the decisions taken about four months after the congress, the TKP Central Committee, which communicated with Ankara, set sail for Anatolia. Their aim was to reach Ankara, to meet with the government and to lead the resistance of the broad masses by improving the party organization. Mustafa Suphi came to Kars from Baku with 14 of his comrades. Here he was welcomed by Kazım Karabekir with ceremonies. However, the true face of the Kemalists would emerge after a while. After leaving Kars, the groups organized by the Special Organization did not let Suphi and his comrades into Erzurum. With the provocations organized in various places on the route they passed, Suphi and his comrades are directed to Trabzon. They are not allowed to enter the city. The 15’s set sail to go to Baku via Batumi with a taco. The 15s, whose weapons were taken, were killed by Yahya Kaptan and his gang on the night of January 28 to 29 and thrown into the sea. M. Kemal follows every step of the 15s through Kazım Karabekir and finally orders them to be massacred in the Black Sea. Yahya Kaptan is the man of Topal Osman, the “Commander of Mustafa Kemal’s Guard Regiment”, whose name is remembered for the massacres he committed with the Special Organization. By killing the 15s, the Kemalists openly showed their hostility to the revolutionaries and communists. After the killing of the 15s, attacks against communists, revolutionaries and opposition intensified. The branch of the Turkish People’s Participation Party is closed, and nearly 200 of its members are arrested.
For 101 years, the river of the Revolution has been flowing, sometimes deep and silently, sometimes cascading, through the path opened by the Communist Party of Turkey, founded under the leadership of Mustafa Suphi. The seeds of resistance planted by the communists on these lands continue to sprout in the mountains, factories and fields all over the country today under the leadership of the Proletariat Party!
