The KOE has its origins in the Communist Party of Greece (Κομμουνιστικό Κόμμα Ελλάδας / Kommounistikó Kómma Elládas, KKE).

As a result of the KKE's revisionist turn in 1956, Nikos Zachariadis was expelled and many hard-line Stalinists were excluded from the party.

A lot of former KKE members founded the Organisation of Marxists-Leninists of Greece (OMLE) in 1964, and published the Anagennissi (Rebirth) monthly review and the weekly Laïkós Drómos (People's Road).

[2] In 1984, the future founders of the KOE established A/synechia, an effort aimed at rebuilding the communist movement, without revisionist or leftist trends, based on an analysis of the world development and the crisis that was shocking both western and eastern camps.

The KOE supports revolutionary Marxism,[3] following the teachings of Marx and Engels as well as the experience of communist movements around the world, including Leninism and Maoism.

People who collaborate with Drómos tis Aristerás include Mumia Abu-Jamal, political cartoonist Carlos Latuff, Communist Party of the Philippines leader Jose Maria Sison, and American historian, author, and social activist Max Elbaum.