By Fire and Axe - The Communist Party and the Civil War in Greece, 1944-49 PDF
Preview By Fire and Axe - The Communist Party and the Civil War in Greece, 1944-49
The Communist Party and the Civil War in Greece, 1944-49 Evangelos Averoff-Tossizza I /. fg % #1 k>0' I [■ff ^Rnj [St ffi&g-.Vi-. '. ■ 1 The Communist Party and the Civil War in Greece, 1944-49 ' Evangelos Averoff-Tossizza Democracy has undergone many trials in contemporary Greece. In the 1920's and 30's fragile parliamentary coalitions apcjJextremely partisan politics often gave way'to military juntas. In 1936 democratic politics were suspended altogether and the conservative Metaxas dictatorship governed the country until the advent of the Second World War. 4t~yvas during this unstable period that the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) was founded. The Party evolved into a rigidly Stalinist mold and as a result gave ifsjifst loyalty to the dictates to Stalin's A‘Comintern. As a result the KKE was compromised on basic questions affecting Greece's survival as a nation (it was opposed, for example, to Greece's defense against Axis aggression) and for this reasop it had become very unpopular. Thie advent of the German attack on the Soviets proved a godsend to the for¬ tunes of the KKE. It threw its energies in¬ to gaining a predominant position in the anti-Axis resistance and gained much prest ge and legitimacy. The end of the war .saw the Greek Communist Party in a solid political position and it was this good furn of events that prompted some in the Party leadership to seek to impose their absolute rule on the country militarily. Evangelos Averoff-Tossizza draws an outline of the KKE history and then describes the forces that brought about th^ "ivar after the war". He not only gives a detailed description of Greek politics but he is also sensitive to the importance of the role of personalities and international diplomatic conditions. Averoff both a historian and an eyewitness; he describes with interesting detail events in which he participated and yet displays enough distance so as not to affectihi^'judgment. His narrative is balanced and fair, at times even cpmplssionate. Most importantly, (ctont'inued jon back flap) Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/byfireaxecommuniOOOOaver BY FIRE AND AXE BY FIRE AND AXE The Communist Party and the Civil War in Greece, 1944-1949. Evangelos Averoff-Tossizza Translated by Sarah Arnold Rigos CARATZAS BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS New Rochelle, New York 1978 First published in French under the title Lc Feu et la Hache Grece '46-'49, Histoire des Guerres de l'apres-Guerre in 1973 by Editions de Breteuil, Paris. First English language edition. Published by CARATZAS BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS 246 Pelham Road New Rochelle, New York 10805 (U.S.A.) ISBN: 0-89241-078-7 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 77-91603 COPYRIGHT © 1978 BY EVANGELOS AVEROFF-TOSSIZZA All rights reserved. This hook, or parts thereof, must not he reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publishers. PUBLISHER'S PREFACE The last decade has seen a Greek revival of a kind in the United States: the study of modern Greece has begun to attract the interest of a great number of Americans. As a result of this " Greek revival" a number of academ¬ ically related organizations have been formed while many American universities are adding courses on the language, the literature and the history of modern Greece. Much of the credit for the recognition of modern Greek studies by American scholars belongs to the Modern Greek Studies Association, an organization celebrating its tenth anniver¬ sary this year; the efforts of dozens, probably hundreds, of individuals to bring Greece to the attention of the American intellectual community should also be men¬ tioned. Finally, a number of major universities have recognized the importance of modern Greece and they have instituted programs for its study. The plans of Columbia University are perhaps the most ambitious, while Harvard has established the Seferis Chair of Modern Greek Studies and many other institutions have more limited but useful programs. The new American interest in the Helladic area has made evident a shortage of English language material; modern Greek literature and poetry, on account of certain indi- v viduals of great stature, are to some degree known to American readers. Even so, the background and context of men like Cavafy, Kazantzakis and Seferis is largely unknown in this country, for until recently very few universities offered courses in modern Greek literature. The American public is even less familiar with modern and contemporary Greek history. Insofar as Greek his¬ tory was mentioned at all it was in the context of larger European diplomatic and political movements. Mono¬ graphs, some of great calibre, have appeared on specific historical problems; there remain large gaps however even in very important historical areas. One such gap is that concerning the civil war which followed Greece's libera¬ tion after the Second World War. Many problems surrounded the writing of a history of the Greek civil war. Until recently the emotions caused by this internecine conflict were reflected in the works of otherwise competent historical writers. It is for this reason that Averoff's book is so remarkable. It has been pointed out that the politics of Evangelos Averoff-Tossizza are widely known: he has throughout his life been a firm believer in the democratic process in a country where democracy has been a very fragile institu¬ tion. He is also committed to a view of modern Greece as an integral part of what is known as the Western World. Yet despite his political commitments, or perhaps because of them, his work remains thorough and objective. (It has been praised by Markos Vafiadis, the military commander of the Greek communist forces during the civil war.) The merit of Averoff's book lies in its even and urbane tone. Most other literature that has appeared since the war's end is polemical, even abrasive and it is difficult for an outsider not having lived through these times to under¬ stand. Averoff s book tells what happened and gives the reasons for its conclusions. It is valuable both as a historical work and as a primary source, for its author is a statesman vi
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