Counterrevolution: the Greek example

- response to John Newsinger, author of "Counterrevolution: The Malayan Example", Monthly Review, Feb 94

Monthly Review ,  Oct, 1994   by Andreas P. Contogouris 

Dear Professor Newsinger:

I read with great interest and no little emotion your article "Counterrevolution: The Malayan Example" in the February 1994 issue of Monthly Review. I was struck by a number of similarities between the events in 1945 (British return to Malaya) and events in Greece in late October 1944, when the German occupation army left the country; similarities between the attitudes of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) and the Communist Party of Greece (CPG); and between the subsequent British policies in the two countries.

In Greece, during the Second World War, the British had to some extent, allied themselves with the National Liberation Front (NLF), which was created, organized, and directed mainly by the CPG. With the end of the German occupation the NLF (and thus the CPG) was the undisputed master of the country, its prestige among and support by the people was immense. It would have been a trivial matter for the CPG to seize power and prevent the first British units from landing. Instead, in the big demonstrations organized by the CPG that flooded Athens in October 1944, the British soldiers were cheered and carried on the shoulders of the demonstrators, and there were as many British flags as there were Greek, Soviet, and American flags. I was an eyewitness (then a young child) to these events, and I challenge anyone to deny them.

During November 1944 a number of aggressions by Greek rightists took place. At the end of the month there was a clear violation of agreements with the NLF. The violation was committed by the overwhelmingly center-to-right government; apparently Leaper, the Ambassador of England in Athens, bears a heavy responsibility.(1) The culmination of rightist aggression came on December 3, 1944, in Athens with an attack by the rightist police against unarmed NLF demonstrators who were protesting against the violation; many were killed.(2) Subsequently the NLF militia took certain limited steps toward resistance. In the meantime the British were bringing reinforcements. Nevertheless, the rule of the government and the British was still confined in a small part of the center of Athens; in the rest of the city and the country the NLF was the absolute master. At that time (beginning of December 1944) a more decisive action by the NLF could have easily thrown the British and their collaborators into the Aegean Sea. This action never came. Then at the order of the British commander General Scoby, the British tanks (Sherman) and Spitfire airplanes started attacking the NLF militia in Athens. And on the evening of December 27, 1944, after a general onslaught on the eastern suburbs of Athens, no less than three blocks of slum houses were burning in flames in Kaissariani, one of the poorest districts of the city.

Subsequently, as in Malaya, the British allied themselves with some of the most reactionary elements of Greek society, including several former collaborators of the Germans.

Among the several lessons one can deduce from your article I would like to point out the following: Suppose for a moment that the Malayan left was aware of the October-December 1944 events in Greece (I am well aware of the then practical difficulties for such and awareness). Then I could reasonably expect that their policies in Malaya would have been less naive. Thus the lesson is that awareness of significant events on an international scale is a must for any left-wing movement. To cite another example, the 1967 putsch of the colonels in Greece took place after the 1965 putsch in Indonesia (of course, Suharto had to be far more bloody) and a similar putsch in Brazil against Goulart. To anyone who was aware of major international events it was plausible that the then U.S. policies were not unfavorable to military dictatorships. Unfortunately, part of the Greek left (and much of the Greek political spectrum) was not aware at all.

Being granted that such an awareness is a must, our gratitude should be expressed to the editors of Monthly Review. At least in this respect, the journal consistently plays a very useful, major role; and, as a rule, in its pages, accounts of events are accompanied by a careful and deep analysis. "History does not repeat itself exactly, but it has a way of recurring";(3) and it severely punishes those who ignore it.

With friendly regards, Andreas P. Contogouris

NOTES

(1.)For a thorough and well-documented account of the events see N. Stavrianos, Greece: American Dilemma and Opportunity.

(2.)Ibid.

(3.)Ronald Frazer, Blood of Spain (New York: Pantheon Books, 1979).


COPYRIGHT 1994 Monthly Review Foundation, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group


Andreas P. Contogouris "Counterrevolution: the Greek example - response to John Newsinger, author of "Counterrevolution: The Malayan Example", Monthly Review, Feb 94". Monthly Review. FindArticles.com. 10 Apr, 2009.