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From International Socialism, No. 60, July 1973, pp. 24–25.
Transcribed by Christian Høgsbjerg, with thanks to Paul Blackledge.
Marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
Journals of Resistance
Mikis Theodorakis
Hart-Davis, McGibbon, £2.95
When the Greek Colonels’ coup came in April 1967, the Greek Communist Party was completely unprepared for underground activity. The organisation set up to rally the resistance contained strong elements critical of the CP’s mistakes. But the politics were tragically unchanged; desperate attempts were continued to find common ground for alliances with the parliamentary Centre and Right wing.
The result was a gradual collapse of all organised resistance amid harsh repression by the junta and growing apathy in the mass of the people. ‘All that would have been needed to precipitate (the tyrants’) downfall would have been slight pressure, a brief struggle and a few sacrifices. ‘Theodorakis’ tragedy is, that he blames the ‘parties and leaders for not taking part in launching this struggle’ and the mass of the people for ‘indifference’ and ‘lack of courage’.
Recognising the failure of the ‘left forces to unite against the common enemy’ he instead seeks for a ‘flexible solution’, namely to persuade an extreme right-wing conservative ex-premier of Greece to take over the leadership of a national front ‘consisting in the main of those representatives of the Centre and Right in order to replace the junta.’ Theodorakis blandly ignores the tragedy of the Greek working-class struggles which, since 1935, have been signposted by the betrayals perpetrated in the famous cause of finding ‘flexible solutions’. Yet he still wonders why the mass of the people remain indifferent when faced with the grotesque spectacle of such manoeuvres for which, once again, they are asked to sacrifice their blood!
Faced as he is by the indifference of the masses, the solution for Theodorakis is to find a substitute for them. The book is witness to the tragedy that befalls a personally courageous communist and artist who does not comprehend the essence of his own history.
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Last updated on 23.9.2013