Reaction in Greece¶
Core Argument¶
Digest: “Reaction in Greece” (Socialist Appeal, Vol. 7, No. 3)
This chapter presents a damning indictment of the post-war political settlement in Greece, arguing that the Plastiras government—installed and backed by Churchill—has systematically violated the Varkiza peace agreement and unleashed a “white terror” against the working class and the left-wing resistance movement EAM. The core narrative thrust is that the peace agreement, far from securing stability or democracy, has been a device for the counter-revolutionary restoration of right-wing and collaborationist forces.
The chapter’s key claims are substantiated by documentary evidence. It cites a secret document from Attorney General Collias, disclosed in the Daily Worker (21 March), which details mass arrests without warrant, the looting and destruction of EAM offices, and the retention of “volunteers” from the German Security Battalions in the National Guard. Further corroboration comes from The Times (8 and 9 March), which reports EAM’s formal protest against the victimisation of its supporters, the suppression of the left-wing press, and assaults on returning ELAS soldiers. The Times concedes that EAM “have a certain amount of right on their side.” The chapter also notes that the right-wing press circulates freely, openly defending the Quisling premiers Tsolakoglou and Rallis, while left-wing publications are seized and burned.
Historically, the chapter draws on the immediate aftermath of the Greek Civil War’s first phase (December 1944) and the Varkiza agreement (February 1945), which had promised amnesty and demilitarisation. The text argues that this agreement was a betrayal orchestrated by the Greek Socialist and Communist Parties, with the complicity of the British Labour leaders, who pressured EAM to surrender arms and hostages. The result, the chapter contends, is that Greek workers are now “unarmed and defenceless” against state terror.
The polemical target is twofold. First, it attacks the reformist leadership of the Greek left—the Socialist and Communist Parties—for their capitulation to Churchill’s counter-revolutionary strategy. Second, it condemns the British Labour Party for aiding this betrayal. The chapter positions the Fourth International as the only consistent force, having opposed the surrender of arms and warned of the “counter-revolutionary plans of Churchill.” The text thus functions as a sharp polemic against both Stalinist and social-democratic accommodation with British imperialism, arguing that only a revolutionary Marxist programme can offer a clear lead to the Greek peasants and workers.