Greece - US Department of State

Greece 611
have been inclined to treat what’s going on in Greece now as a temporary
and illegitimate departure from some democratic norm (and it
might well be asked here: what democratic norm?), as a sort of shabby
political aberration to be replaced by something better as soon as possible.
Whereas this interpretation is doubtless objectively correct, from
Papadopoulos & Company’s subjective viewpoint, it is not only erroneous
but keenly resented. (I know I’m sounding suspiciously like a
confirmed Regime apologist at this point, Dan, but please hear me out.)
Papadopoulos obviously regards his revolution as a desirable and necessary
stage in Greece’s political evolution to something better and
more stable; and in order to achieve this greater good, (in his eyes),
some price and sacrifice, in terms of temporary restraints on the past
degree of liberty enjoyed in Greece (which he clearly regards as excessive
to the point of being pernicious), are not only justified but beneficial.
Meanwhile, our approach to him has been to act as though the
whole enterprise, both means and ends were bad and misguided and
should therefore be got over as rapidly as possible. While we may well
be right (although a number of points here could be interestingly argued,
such as the effect of the return to complete freedom of the
press in Greece—on a possible Cyprus settlement, for example), Papadopoulos
is convinced that he’s right, and since he’s in control of
the country it behooves us, for tactical, if for no other reasons, to make
some concession to his viewpoint. The added fact that we do not ourselves
have any specific formula for a more successful political future
in Greece to propose (and indeed would probably be well advised to
keep out of the business of telling the Greeks what sort of government
they should have) reenforces, in my opinion, the importance of at least
acting toward Papadopoulos & Company as though we recognized
some justification in what he is trying to do. Obviously we’re not going
to accept the legitimacy of government based on force (and over
the long run I’m not sure that he does either), and are certainly correct
in pointing out to him the fundamental advantages of government-bythe-consent-of-the-governed.
A definite time element is moreover involved in this whole process
which, I think, must also be taken into account. As the lives of governments
go, this one has only been in undisputed control of the country
for just over a year now (since December 13, 1967), 11 which is not
a very long time as historical perspective goes. The Metaxas dictatorship,
as I recall, lasted for over four years. 12 The feeling that they need
11 Reference is to King Constantine’s attempted counter-coup against the junta.
12 General and Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas seized power in August 1936 with
the support of then King George II. He held power until his death in February 1941. A
successor government was subsequently driven into exile in May 1941 by the German
invasion of Greece.