The Greek Civil War
Date: January 1947
Source: Bulletin of the American Council for a Democratic Greece, Volume IV, No. 1
Author: Unknown (unsigned)
Transcribed/HTML: Mike B. for MIA, 2006
Public Domain: Marxists Internet Archive (2006). You may freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet Archive” as your source.
Text of a memorandumrandum, sent by the Coalition of the Party of Left Liberals and the EAM to the United Nations. Dated October 15, 1946, the memorandum was signed by N. Grigoriadis for the Left Liberal Party; C. Gavriilidis for the Agrarian Party; S. Kriticas for the Republican Union; A. Loulis for the Radical Republican Party, C. Georgalas for the Socialist Party; D. Partsalidis for the Communist Party.
We have the honor to request you to put the following appeal before the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization.
Due to the absence of a Greek government representing the free and genuine will of the majority of the Greek people, the Political Coalition of the Parties of EAM and the Party of the Left Liberals, resort, in the name of the majority of the Greek people, to the General Assembly of the United Nations, and ask for the immediate and complete withdrawal of the British troops from Greece, which is not an enemy country. but an ally and member of the United Nations Organization.
The occupation of Greece by British forces. and the active intervention of British policy in the country's internal affairs have virtually abolished its national independence. The consent of the Greek Government to the presence of British troops is used as an argument for their continued stay. but it has no value whatsoever since the government was itself established by British intervention and is a complete organ of British policy.
In addition, the Greek Constitution forbids the stay of foreign troops on national territory without a special law being passed categorically granting the relative permission, when there is a serious national necessity. Such a law has never been passed and it cannot be substituted by the mere consent of the Greek Government, especially when this government is of such provenance as the present one. But from a substantial point of view, also, the presence of British troops in Greece does not serve any real Greek need; on the one hand, no real threat exists from abroad, and even if it did, it would create a case for the immediate intervention of the United Nations Organization and not of British troops alone; their presence, on the contrary, provokes dangers for Greece. On the other hand with regard to internal order and normalcy, the presence of British troops, not only does not help, but on the contrary, it contributes to further aggravation, due to the encouragement given to the Monarchist Right which was established in power by British policy, in order to continue the work of fierce persecution of the Republican people. The civil war already ravaging the country, causing great bloodshed and hampering the country's rehabilitation, constitutes ample proof of this.
In any case, the restoration of internal order is the exclusive work of a responsible government nominated by the people —not the work of anyone else. And if the present government, although it has at its disposal the Army and the Security Corps which were formed after special selection, together with the State machinery, cannot achieve internal order and normalcy, then this means nothing other than that the government is powerless because it is not based upon the will of the people's majority.
Consequently, and for this major reason, British troops have absolutely no right to intervene to support the present anti-popular regime of the minority. The mopping-up operations being carried out by the Army and the Gendarmerie against the Republican people compelled to armed self-defence, started following the permission of the Commander of the British forces in the Middle East, Sir Miles Christopher Dempsey, as if the Greek Army constituted part of the British Imperial Army, obeying its orders. Furthermore, the mopping-up operations being carried out are followed and also conducted by General Rawlings of the British Military Mission and Sir Charles Wickham of the British Police and Prisons Mission. Finally, the Greek Monarchist Government is negotiating with the British Government to be provided by it with more arms and supplies to arm citizens who are its followers, intending to launch them in an attack against Republican citizens.
Thus British policy, continuing, through its monarchist subordinates, the extermination struggle, which they began together long ago, against the democratic Greek people, contributes not towards the restoration of normalcy, but on the contrary, to the even wider extension and aggravation of civil war in which a second direct intervention of British forces is threatened.
All these constitute the well-known methods of abolishing a country's independence and transforming it into a colony and not only are opposed to the aims and principles formulated in the first chapter of the United Nations Charter, but also create dangers of international friction and dissensions, at the expense of the Greek people who are not in the slightest degree responsible.
Therefore, we ask for your intervention for the final withdrawal of British troops from Greece, as a primary condition for the restoration of its independence, its internal normalcy, its rehabilitation and its national security.