Blackwell Reference Online

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Greek history after the dictato647ship is characterized by a transition from a post-civil war police state to democratic stability, known as metapolitefsi ( ). This process was to a large extent a reaction to the forceful political presence of a socialist and communist left movement, leading to a deeper integration of the traditional left in the “national backbone” of political life. At the same time, grassroots movements and a dynamic extra-parliamentary left contested this political mutation and reinforced antagonistic struggles, on some occasions with spectacular results. Thus it is no coincidence that the Greek left and communist movement remains one of the strongest in Europe. The seven-year (1967–1974647 dictatorship (“junta of colonels”) collapsed on July 24, four days after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus that was prompted by a failed coup d'état on the island (July 15). However, it was the Polytechnic School uprising of November 17, 1973 that managed to derail the process of gradual democratization of the military regime toward a pre-1967 model of limited democracy. A plan promoted by the dictatorship and accepted by a unified national political front – including the pro-Soviet Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and its Eurocommunist split Communist Party of Greece-Interior ( ) – caused initial condemnation of the advocates of the revolt by KKE as agents provocateurs ( Panspoudastiki ... log in or subscribe to read full text