SITUATION IN GREECE
4 Background Article
ATHENS <= A new stage, characterized by the breaking up of political stability, opened in Greece June 11 with the resignation of Premier Con-. . stantine Caramanlis., His regime, in power for the past eight years, owed its rise to a relation of forces favorable to capitalist reaction, It was supported by big capital (especially the banks), the “allies," the throne and the military clique of royalist officers,
Among the broad suppressed and exploited masses (workers, poor peas~ ants, employees, city petty~bourgeoisie) the eight-year regime of the ERE [National Radical Union, the extreme right-wing party headed by Caraman~ lis] was a dark period of increasing misery.
Exploitation was intensified, The oppressive police«state became. ~more brutal, Fascist bands appeared, Unemployment mounted and workers had to emigrate, The tax burden became insupportable. Waste and corruption in government reached gigantic proportions, Military expenses mounted and foreign imperialist rocket bases were installed, Medieval views prevailed in lower schools and universities, The blood of workers, of peasants, . students and two left-wing members of parliament, Lambrakis and Tsarouhas, was spilled in the streets,
The distance between the exploited popular masses and the government of the parliamentary dictatorship of capitalist reaction became wider and: deeper year by year, month by month,
The working-class movement for immediate demands, despite the strong. brakes applied by the traitorous trade-union leadership headed by Makris, Theodorou and Co, curved upward in the past four years. In 1959 strikers numbered 195,0003-in 1960, 395,000; in 1961, 515,000; in 1962, sis, 000.. The figures for 1963 will be still higher; in the first two months” alone, 154,000 were listed, The class ferment is especially visible among working. youth, :
In some instances the struggles amount to real class battles against the state machine. (The December 1, 1960, battle of the Athens construce tion workers.) The poor peasants, too, have engaged in militant mass demonstrations even in the face of bloodshed as at Iraklio-Creta and Valto-Xiromero.,:
The students have staged militant actions over such demands as "15 Per Cent of the Budget for Education" and "No More Hiroshimas," Teachers, employees and small tradesmen in the cities have expressed their discon=— tent in strikes and slow-downs,
The 1961 elections, conducted under a royalist provisional government ("elections of terror and fraud," they were. called) sharpened the opposi«:tion of the masses to the rightist government and deepened the differences between the ERE and the Center Union [party of the liberal bourgeoisie],
Expressing the interests mainly of a sector of -the industrial capi~ talists, and operating also as a safety valve for popular indignation, the Center tnion with Papandreou at its head has campaigned under the slogans, "Honest government! Honest elections! An honest electoral system"
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Mass pressure, however, is strong and is advancing beyond the aims of the Center Union, A peaceful meeting called by Papandreou on April 20, 1962, despite a government ban, developed into a real class battle against the oppressive state machine as a demonstration of the popular desire to exercize the democratic right of assembly, Since then the struggle for economic demands has grown more intense, spreading into the countryside, involving the youth and embracing larger numbers of the working people (strikes of doctors, school teachers, etc.). These movements, including antiwar rallies, have been met by government terrorism and the appearance | of fascist bands linked to state functionaries, The reaction reached its peak. last May in Thessalonike when Lambrakis was murdered and Tsarouhas _Bravely wounded.
‘The response to this was a huge popular demonstration at the funeral of Lanbrakis, one of the biggest rallies on record,
It was in.this situation that differences between the throne and Caramanlis appeared, The throne, which had favored and supported the Caramanlis regime, began to feel that this unpopular government had served its.purpose, The feeling among the masses that Caramanlis and the throne were in solidarity with each other was dangerous for the dynasty. Queen Prederika suffered great loss of prestige during her trip in London when she was picketed by Abaticlou, the militant wife of a political prisoner held for many years in the jails of Greece. ;
In addition it should not be overlooked that the British are seeking to regain their positions in Greece as the American aid program is reduced, Among wide circles in England and Europe, the House of Glucksberg symbol~ izes a rule that has kept a thousand political prisoners in jail for more than eighteen years, The “cordial friendship" between Paul of Greece and Elizabeth of England, disturbed by the Cyprus question, was not helped by the growing unpopularity of the Caramanlis regime among the British people who associated it with the Tories now threatened by a Labour victory.
. Besides this, a sector of the Greek capitalist class lacks confidence that ERE can handle the economic problems of Greece to best advantage in relation to the Common Market,
‘Finally the throne found Caramanlis! cultivation of a personal following among the royalist officers not exactly to its liking,
The growing differences eventually led to a breakdown in the relations between the king and Caramanlis.
For the palace this signified turning away from the worn-out image of the premier, an attempt at "renovation" of the right wing under another leadership, a new effort to hoodwink the masses, and a certain appeasement of international public opinion -- in brief the’ use of Caramanlis as a scapegoat.
As for Caramanlis, he resigned in order to re-establish the parliamentary standing of the ERE and strengthen his grip on the state machine, both of which seemed feasible in view of an electoral system that heavily favored his party. His stance against the throne, he calculated, would impress his electoral social following.
The provisional government of Pipinelis was an agency of the palace:
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but it was also supported ‘by the parliamentary majority of the ERE. It sought unsavory aims: to dupe the masses and prepare the.new elections in: such a& way as to favor the right wing.
In accordance with the first aim it purged the government of elements representing the tendency to go too far beyond bourgeois law in their crusade against popular fighters like Lambrakis, Yet it did not fail to display sympathy and understanding for criminal officers of the ‘gendare merie. .
Thus it arrested four officers, Mitsou, Kamoutsis, Diamantopoulos and Papatriantafilou, but granted them comfortable apartments at the General Police Security of Thessalonike where they enjoyed all conveniences, includ~ ing telephones, visits and balconies from which they could address friends who tossed kisses and flowers to them, ..
Radio Athens was permitted to carry all the attacks against the. judges who ordered the arrest of the four.
The Pipinelis government refused proportional system for the elections, maintained the threat of terrorist extra-parliamentary action against opposition parties, re jected the demands of the working people, shed the blood of the peasants in Aheloos. As a counterattack to the mass indignation over the Thessalonike crime, it accused "extreme left-. wing" elements of preparing the murders and slandered the left for an alleged separationist position in relation to Macedonia. Finally, with .the benediction of the throne and in collusion with the ERE it prepared the November 3 elections to give maximum advantages to. the right wing.
The replacement of the Pipinelis government by the new provisional government headed by Stylianos Mavromachlis did not change anything essen~ tial in this situation.
tn the process now under way, it should be recognized that the ultra reactionary right, nit by a rise in the mass movement in the last period, suffered a defeat when Caramanlis was forced to resign,
The Center Union represents the "democratic" reserve of capitalist reaction, the "democratic" support of the throne, and the "democratic" agency of imperialism. The policy of the Center Union is in substance to argue with big capital, the palace and American imperialism that it represents the preferable form of capitalist rule in Greece, since it can do the work better and ensure a better climate and safer regime for capital~ ist exploitation and oppression,
If the appeal by the Center Union is not accepted by these reaction~ ary forces it will not be because they doubt the aims of the Center Union but because they feel that in the present phase at least, a right-wing government with Caramanlis or his successor can better cheek the masses,
. The Center Union quite consciously seeks to channelize the dynamism of the masses and to confine it within the limits of bourgeois political change. Through its demagogy in the past two years, the Center Union has succeeded in attracting large numbers of peasants and the petty bourgeoisie, in this way playing its role as an obstacle to further radicalization of the masses while at the same time creating illusions among them,
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Instead of attempting to counter these illusions, the leaders of the Communist party and the EDA are taking a contrary course, seeking to strengthen illusions through a policy of class collaboration, of consti~ tuting a patriotic front" and forming a union with the "national" and "democratic" bourgeoisie.
' Throughout this. period the EDA has.acted as the left shadow of the bourgeois Center Union, begging that its collaboration be accepted, The EDA has rejected leading a mass struggle against the regime, While the Center Union cheated the masses, the EDA and the Greek Communist party openly betrayed the historical aims of the working class and its allies by eulogizing a wing of the bourgeoisie, supporting the throne and giving up ' the flag of class independence.
In the electoral campaign the working and popular masses. must conduct a hard fight against the capitalist parties, . Let them vote once more for EDA despite the irresponsibility of its leadership before history.
The November 3 elections offer little to the working people, Their problems will finally be solved in a different arena than the parliamentary one, Nevertheless they must utilize every shred of bourgeois parliamentarism, expressing by their vote:
-~- Hate for the bourgeois parties of the right and the center, the state staffed by murderers, the throne and imperialism,
~- Class opposition to the regime of exploitation, oppression and war,
-~ Disapproval of the policy of class collaboration and the “patriotic front" with bourgeois parties.
-~- Readiness to fight ina united front of the working class for economic, trade-union and political demands of the worker and peasant masses, the strategic orientation being establishment of a socialist democracy of people's councils, i
The political crisis of the regime of exploitation reflects a grow= ing movement of the masses, Let us try to strengthen and enlarge these struggles as the only way of getting out of todayts hell.