After the occupation of Greece by the Axis forces in 1941, the Greek government, led by the banker Em. Tsouderos and King George II moved to Cairo, Egypt (then part of the British Empire), which became the centre of the exiled Greek government until the liberation of the country in 1944.
The fleeing of the government caused anger among the Greek people and the troops. While the country was being devoured by the monster of Nazism, bourgeois politicians and high-ranking military officers were trying to save their skin and their wealth. Indicative of the situation was the fact that the royal family initially could not find a battleship to transport them, as the crews refused to take them on board.
Various political forces were at work within the government-in-exile. The political representatives of the major bourgeois parties, along with the king, acted as puppets of British imperialism, whose priority was to keep Greece within its own sphere of influence after the war. The exiled Greek government was completely absent from the organization of the resistance struggle against the Nazis, which was in fact carried out by EAM (the National Liberation Front) and ELAS (Greek People’s Liberation Army)1. EAM was a front organisation led by the Greek Communist Party (KKE) and smaller left-wing forces.
In fact, the Greek ruling class was split in two camps during the Nazi occupation. One camp accepted the Nazis as “saviours” and collaborated with them, forming a Quisling government and the infamous “security squads”. The other camp fled to Cairo. None did anything to help the Greek people survive the Nazi onslaught and to meaningfully help in the liberation struggle.
Most of the right wing businessmen, politicians and officers who had actively participated in the 1936-1941 Metaxas dictatorship2 remained in Greece and collaborated with the occupiers. However, this section also maintained pockets within the government and the army in exile. Their only concern was to defeat the communists and EAM in order to save Greek capitalism.
The more moderate officers and soldiers aimed at organising the national liberation struggle without opposing the policies of the government and the “allied” British. On the contrary, the more progressive elements within the troops drew much more radical conclusions: the main objective should be to organise the struggle for the liberation of Greece with an anti-fascist orientation. In practice, this meant purging the army of the far-right officers and opposing the government and the British, who essentially supported them.
The Greek community in Egypt and the formation of the army
There was a significant Greek community in Egypt at the time. The Metaxas dictatorship was not particularly popular with the Greeks in Egypt. On the contrary, the majority of them were imbued with progressive and democratic sentiments. This is shown by the publications that were circulating at the time, which (unaffected by the censorship that was imposed in Greece) openly attacked the Metaxas regime.
From the very beginning of WWII, a battalion of 600 men had been formed in Egypt, which layed the basis for the creation of the 1st Brigade. It was manned by soldiers from Greece who were forced to flee the country after the Nazi victory. The 1st Brigade was stationed in the Hadera region of Palestine. At the same time, the 2nd Brigade was formed, consisting also of soldiers, officers and refugees from Greece.
As mentioned above, the British imperialists and the government had no intention of training a proper army capable of taking part in the fight against fascism and the liberation of Greece. The far-right officers had similar plans. They wanted to train an army that would be the gendarmerie of the post-war Greek bourgeois government and secure their power. Their presence was so strong that it was only under pressure, ten months after the flight to Egypt, that the king revoked the decree of August 4, officially ending the Metaxas regime.
An obstacle to the plans of all the above was the ordinary soldiers, the vast majority of whom were democratic and anti-fascist. It was only under their pressure that the British commanders allowed Greek troops to take part in the Battle of El Alamein, at the same time as the commanders of the 1st and 2nd Brigades submitted their resignations. After the battle, the Greek army was transferred to Lebanon (also under British occupation) and was never again allowed to participate in a battle of this scale.
The organization of anti-fascist soldiers
As a result of these tendencies and the developments in Greece (the foundation of EAM and the beginning of the resistance), the soldiers were organised on the basis of their anti-fascist sentiments. On October 10, 1941, the Anti-Fascist Military Organization (ASO) was founded under the leadership of KKE members. In December 1941, the Anti-Fascist Organization of the Navy (AON) was founded and in 1942, the Anti-Fascist Organization of the Air Force (AOA) followed suit.
The main aim of these organizations was to purge the army of fascist officers and prepare the troops for active participation in the fight against the Nazis and the liberation struggle. Their actions forced the government to make a series of changes, with the dismissal of the Metaxas regime ministers and the appointment of the a moderate figure as vice-president and minister of military affairs. Through periodicals they propagated their positions, exposed the schemes of the far-right officers and made known the programme of EAM. Their impact was enormous, to the point of having organized up to 90% of the troops in 1942.
In January ’43 the Greek Liberation League (EAS) was founded, organizing all Greek anti-fascists in the Middle East. Sections of EAS were formed in Alexandria, Port Said and Beirut. In April ’43 the Central Office of Antifascist Organizations in the Middle East was founded with the aim of coordinating the different antifascist organizations.
The events of February-March 1943
The anti-fascist organizations in the army provoked the reaction of the fascist officers. About 500 officers founded the secret organization “Nemesis” to replace the democratic officers of the 2nd Brigade, which they considered the most dangerous. On March 15 they announced their resignation unless certain democratic officers were expelled. The reaction of ASO was immediate. The fascists were arrested and taken to the brigade headquarters. In response, the government demanded the arrest not of the coup plotters but of 28 anti-fascist officers and tried to mobilise the 1st Brigade against the 2nd. Thanks to the actions of the ASO, the disbandment of the 2nd Brigade was avoided and the government was forced to reshuffle, sacking the minister of military affairs.
These events revealed in the eyes of all soldiers which side the government and its British patrons were on and what their priorities were. The morale of the anti-fascists grew and more people joined the ranks of ASO.
The British imperialists could not allow this situation to continue. They knew that their only hope of keeping Greece in their sphere of influence was for the exile government and the king to have some sort of military force loyal to them to act as a counterweight to ELAS. So, in July ’43 they unleashed a wave of terror on the army, replacing officers and making 400 arrests. They effectively disbanded the 2nd Brigade and sent what remained, along with the 1st Brigade, to military camps in the desert, isolating the Greek troops and exhausting them with meaningless drills.
The persecution extended to the navy. 27 sailors were summoned to apologise for trivial reasons. When they refused to appear, the minister of military affairs sent the naval police to arrest them using tear gas.
The events of April 1944
With the creation of the PEEA3 (Political Committee for National Liberation – also known as the “Government of the Mountain”, established by EAM) in March ’44, a feeling of enthusiasm flooded both the inhabitants of Greece and the Greek communities. At the time, EAM controlled three quarters of Greek territory and ELAS had 30,000 armed guerrillas. The news soon spread to the troops in Egypt. ASO leaflets were distributed in the barracks to inform the soldiers. On April 25, the first major demonstration in support of PEEA took place in Alexandria.
At the same time, the “Committee for National Unity of the Greek Armed Forces of the Middle East” was formed. On March 31, 1944, a delegation from the committee appeared before Prime Minister Tsouderos and delivered a letter calling for the formation of a government of national unity with PEEA as its core. Although Tsouderos initially appeared condescending, he subsequently ordered the arrest of the committee members.
These government actions led to a revolt in the army. As early as April 1st, 240 soldiers and 14 officers of the 1st Brigade were arrested for recognising PEEA as the only government. On April 3 to 6, the rebellion escalated. Occupations of strategic buildings, camps and ships began. The Greek garrison in Cairo was occupied by soldiers. In the following days the revolt spread outside Egypt. Even submarines in Malta were taken over by sailors. On the battleship Pindos, the sailors literally threw their officers overboard. By April 7, the soldiers’ committees had gained control of the majority of the troops. At the same time, all warships were controlled by sailors’ committees.
The government, trying to buy time, resorted to manoeuvres. Tsouderos resigned, while the fleet commander issued a condescending order.
The British ambassador wired London that
“What is happening here amongst the Greeks is nothing less than a revolution.”
But the British imperialists had no intention of giving in to the movement. With the personal intervention of Churchill, a crackdown was organised. Tsouderos was ordered to withdraw his resignation. Explicit orders were given to blockade the revolted units and to cut off their food supplies. The occupied ships were surrounded by British naval warships.
The solidarity of the Arab population with the mutiny was remarkable, breaking the blockades whenever they could, carrying food and supplies. In addition, English anti-fascist soldiers refused to carry out the orders of their superiors and were themselves arrested as a result.
The British urged the Greek government to crush the rebellion in every way possible, threatening to intervene themselves by sinking the Greek ships. Churchill wrote in a telegram to General Paget on April 22:
“We are prepared to use the maximum force, but it would be better to avoid a massacre if possible. You say that the responsibility will fall on the British and not on the weak and faltering Greek Government. His Majesty’s Government is prepared to shoulder this responsibility…”.
On April 22 and 23, after the intervention of the British, the mutiny of the ship crews and the 1st Brigade were violently suppressed. As a result, 20,000 soldiers, sailors and officers were sent to concentration camps in Sudan, Cyrenaica (Libya) and Eritrea, in appalling conditions. This was the end of the Greek anti-fascist revolt in the Middle East. The purging of progressive elements from the army allowed the creation of pro-government military forces that would later play an important role in the crackdown against EAM and KKE.
The unacceptable stance of KKE
The movement in the Greek army in the Middle East was a major political development at that time. It showed that the “government in exile” did not really have the support of the military forces under its command. The leadership of the resistance struggle at that time, KKE, instead of making use of this event… condemned it in order to promote a policy of “national unity”!
However, neither the British nor the Greek government were willing to share power with KKE, as was clear from their attitude towards the antifascist soldiers. In the face of these events, the slogan “for a government of national unity” was like banging one’s head against the wall. Even when the movement was suppressed, the slogan remained the same: “national unity”. But national unity with whom? With those who violently suppressed those who spoke of national unity?
The leadership of the movement should have prepared for these developments early on. Instead of promoting the destructive and short-sighted logic of “national unity”, it should have tried to build the class unity of the working people and the poor layers of the population. It should have prepared the anti-fascist organisations in the Middle East for the British reaction, in order to not only stop them from suppressing the movement but to overthrow the government. The aim should have been to create a government based on EAM, without the participation of bourgeois politicians and the king. This would open the way for the socialist transformation of society.
This attitude of KKE was not the result of miscalculation. It was the result of the adoption of the counter-revolutionary, Stalinist “stages theory”. According to this theory, backward Greece should first pass through the “stage” of bourgeois democracy and then, when “conditions are ripe”, proceed to socialist revolution. Hence, power should not be seized by the working class, but handed over to the “progressive bourgeoisie” to solve the bourgeois-democratic issues. Thus, in every conflict that arose, KKE retreated in order “not to break the national unity”. Every retreat made the “progressive ruling class” even more aggressive…
The KKE leadership remained dogmatically faithful to this line. How faithful? So much so that in May ’44 it went so far as to sign the joint declaration of the delegates to the Lebanon Congress4 (in which all Greek bourgeois parties took part) for the sake of “national unity”. The declaration read:
“We all agreed that the revolt in the Middle East was a crime against the homeland. We also agreed that the investigation must continue and that the instigators of the revolt must be punished in proportion to their responsibility. The argument that they were motivated by the slogan for a government of national unity cannot possibly absolve them of responsibility, because if disagreement about the government legitimises revolt in times of war, then the war in Albania5 would not have taken place”.
As for democracy in the army the declaration wrote:
“military discipline will be relentless and political opinions cannot exist in the army, because the army doesn’t hold political discussions”.
and called for:
“the creation of our national army, which will be free from all influence of parties and organizations, will belong only to the homeland and will obey the orders of the government”.
What a disgrace for the anti-fascist fighters who gave their lives and were exiled…
1 EAM (National Liberation Front) and ELAS (Greek People’s Liberation Army) were the main pillars of resistance during the German occupation of Greece (1941-1944). EAM, an initiative of the Communist Party (KKE), played a key role in mobilizing the people against the occupiers, with strong support from popular and working-class movements. ELAS, the military arm of the EAM, carried out significant resistance against the Nazi forces, while also fostering social solidarity and justice in the areas under its control.
2 The Metaxas (or August 4) dictatorship (1936-1941) was imposed with the support of the majority of the bourgeoisie and the army, abolishing bourgeois democracy and suppressing political rights. Under the pretext of “order and security,” the regime proceeded with the persecution and imprisonment of leftists, trade unionists, and political opponents, while attempting to consolidate its power through propaganda and repression.
3 PEEA was the temporary government of parts of Greece that were liberated by the Nazis. EAM was at the core of this government as it managed to hold elections right under the nose of occupiers.
4 The Lebanon Congress was held on May 17-20, 1944, between representatives of the PEEA, EAM and KKE on one side and the Greek government and the British imperialists on the other. There, KKE agreed to form a National Unity government and submit ELAS to the orders of the British imperialists.
5 Reference to the invasion of the Italian fascist army which was repelled (1940-41).
