History of Modern Greece, 1944-1990

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HISTORY OF MODERN GREECE, 1944 - 1990

Commissioned by the Greek Academy for History and Progress,
Michael Lalos, 1999​

 

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GREECE SWINGS LEFT
Picture from National Archives, December Accords, 1944. The bloody banner of the protestors reads: "When the People is faced with the threat of Tyranny,
they can either pick up the shackles or the guns."
​

The December Accords (Dekemvriana) refer to the events that took place between 3 December and 17 December 1944. During that time, the returning Greek government came to clash with the provisional Greek government established during the National Resistance (1941-1944). The clash was the outcome of moths of tensions between Monarchists advocating for the return of the deposed king, Republicans who favored the transition to a liberal democracy, and Socialists who advocated for an establishment of a socialist democracy. The instigating provocation came from Athanasios Novas, then acting as interim Prime Minister, who declared a general amnesty extending to those accused of collaborating with the Axis forces. In addition, the Prime Minister pressured the guerilla bands to disarm while inducted known collaborators in the new Greek army and police. For months preceding the events Novas was accused of pandering to the far-right elements in order to strengthen his own position, and faced relentless criticism for not bringing collaborators to justice.

By the time of these events, the Greek government had been cut off from the mainland after their initial flee to Cairo in 1941. Despite issuing proclamations through radio, the government had been largely ineffective in directing its citizens to resist the occupation and was widely viewed as incapable of leading the nation. The government’s reputation was further tarnished after accepting personalities of dubious character, such as Dimitrios Marallos who was proposed as Minister of Justice when he had been part of the collaboration government set up by the Axis powers. Fires of distrust between the two political forces were further stoked when the Exiled Government crossed to Greece from Italy, on the tow of the Allied advance to Rome, bringing with them two fully armed brigades of servicemen who had opted to continue the fight against fascism in Africa. These men were widely seen as enforcers of a Monarchist restitution. As a response, the Provisional Government issued a declaration for a general strike on 3 December, demanding that Novas stepped down and new elections were held.

From its side the Provisional Government was also fragmented. By 1942, the Greek partisans had noted that help from other socialist states against the armies of fascism had not been forthcoming, and they had to resort to banditry and ambush to secure munitions to continue the fight. This isolation from the greater socialist struggle led many in the Provisional Government to disavow both the Soviet Union and the Yugoslav experiment, instead focusing on cultivating a Greek variety that would avoid what they saw as major flaws. Criticism on policy and praxis had been driving a wedge between the emerging faction of Democratic Socialists, expressed by EDA, and traditional Marxists congregated around SEKE and was reaching boiling point by late November.

Panorama of the monumental rally held on December 3rd, 1944.​

On the morning of 3 December, the Greek people took to the streets en mass despite the government’s attempts to thwart the strike. The glorious participation of Greek workers and peasants proved the determination of the Greek people to rule itself autonomously. A rally of some 200,000 people took to the streets and attempted to block the parliament building, demanding that those who collaborated with the Axis forces during the occupation be tried for treason, and that new and fair elections be held, rejecting the legitimacy of Novas’ unelected government. Around noon, shots were fired at the crowd, causing chaos among the protesters, leaving 28 dead, and injuring an additional 148. These killings ushered a full-scale armed confrontation between police forces (which included Security Battalions raised by the Axis) and guerilla bands stationed around the capital.

The shootings began when the crowd had reached Omonia square, originating from nearby buildings. Among many testimonies, a fifteen-year-old protestor described that he saw the Chief of Police giving the order to open fire on the crowd by means of waving a handkerchief from a window. LIFE photographer Dimitri Kessel, who witnessed the shootings, also claimed that the police opened fire unprovoked. Fighting broke out once the news had spread around the capital, beginning in working class neighborhoods in Nea Smyrna and Kokkinia.

By dawn of 19 December, the partisan groups had managed to contain the fighting into isolated pockets of resisting security battalions. In order to avoid further political violence and instability, the two governments declared a ceasefire, where the terms of the new elections where laid out and Novas declared his resignation. During the fight, almost 2,000 partisans were killed, while more than 2,500 members of the Security Battalions were either killed or captured. Despite the Accords delivering a much needed period of peace to the war-weary populace, it did not stop the inevitable descent into civil war that started the following year.