Monitoring the rise of a radical force: the British Embassy in Athens and the Ascent of the Greek Panhellenic Socialist Movement, 1974–1981^*

* This manuscript has not been published or has not been submitted simultaneously for publication elsewhere.

Abstract

The article deals with perceptions, conceptions and policy implementation of British diplomacy towards the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) from its formation in 1974 until its first rise into power in 1981. PASOK, a political movement that was to dominate Greek politics for more than twenty years, entered the Greek political scene as a new, radical force that threatened Western values and interests and aspired to reshape the international orientation of the country, in a period of high Cold War tensions. It will be shown that British diplomacy, despite its opposition to PASOK, was forced by political realities to modify its policy significantly, in order to accommodate PASOK and preserve its interests in a country that was considered as a vital ally of the Western world.

Keywords:

• PASOK
• Papandreou
• Britain
• diplomacy
• socialism
• radical party
• Greece
• political parties

Notes

* This manuscript has not been published or has not been submitted simultaneously for publication elsewhere.

1. Sanders John (Director of Research, FCO) to Kerr O. John (PS/PUS), ‘Mr. Papandreou’, 25 November 1977, FCO 9/2565, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Records, The National Archives, London (Thereafter FCO).

2. PAK (Panhellenic Liberation Movement) was one of the most important anti-dictatorial movement organizations that campaigned against the Colonels’ Dictatorship. It was established in Sweden in 1968 by the exiled Andreas Papandreou and was the basis both in ideological and organizational terms of PASOK (Vasileiadis 1977; Draenos 2009).

3. Richards Brooks (British Ambassador, Athens) to Callaghan James (Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs), 16 October 1974, FCO 9/2000.

4. Denson John (Athens) to Cornish Francis (South European Department, FCO), ‘PASOK’, 18 June 1975, FCO 9/2225.

5. Richards to Owen David (Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs), ‘The Rise of the Pan Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and its Implications’, 14 December 1977, FCO 9/2566.

6. Ibid., FCO 9/2566, NA.

7. Papandreou was a great admirer of Tito’s governance, especially in the realm of foreign and economic policy. See, Papandreou’s analysis, interpretation and comments in Tito (1980, 1984).

8. Clements Michael (Athens) to Allen E. R. (Southern European Department, FCO), ‘Greek Elections the Party Line Up’, 26 October 1977, FCO 9/2565; Richards to Owen, ‘The Rise of the Pan Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and its Implications’, 14 December 1977, FCO 9/2566; ‘Papandreou’s Socialist Theories’, 19 April 1978, FCO 9/2732.

9. Everard J. Timothy (Economic and Commercial Counsellor, British Embassy, Athens) to FCO, ‘Mr. Clinton Davis’ Call on Mr. Andreas Papandreou’, 11 January 1978, FCO 9/2732; Clements (Athens) to Rawlinson J. Ivor (Southern European Department, FCO), ‘PASOK’, 2 March 1978, FCO 9/2732; ‘Socialism in Greece’, 13 April 1978, FCO 9/2732; Sutherland Iain (British Ambassador, Athens) to FCO, ‘The Policy of PASOK’, 26 September 1978, FCO 9/2734; Blackman David, ‘Fifty-Five Months After the Colonels’, February 1979, FCO 9/2831; 1980, FCO 9/2959; Llewellyn Smith Michael (Athens) to Daunt Timothy (Head of South European Department, FCO), ‘Papandreou’s Foreign Policy’, 12 November 1980, FCO 9/2980.

10. The Constitution of 1975 reserved to the President of the Republic the prerogative to call a referendum. Hence, a referendum on Greece’s entry to the EEC after it had become a member was unimaginable since the country’s European cause had been Karamanlis’ ultimate political vision and ideal.

11. ‘Record of conversation between Secretary of State and the leader of the Greek Opposition held at the Foreign and Common wealth Office on 28 November 1980 at 10am’, FCO 9/2981.

12. Her Majesty’s Ambassador at Athens (Sutherland Iain) to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Lord Carrington), ‘PASOK and the Left in Greek Politics’, 12 June 1980, FCO 9/2959.

13. Clements (Athens) to Allen (FCO), ‘PASOK Conference’, 14 July 1977, FCO 9/2564.

14. Vereker Peter (Athens) to Cornish (FCO), ‘PASOK’, 2 July 1975, FCO 9/2225; Wood Michael (Athens) to Cornish (FCO), ‘PASOK’, 10 July 1975, FCO 9/2225; Clements (Athens) to Wood J. David (Southern European Department, FCO), ‘New Upheaval in PASOK’, 9 February 1977, FCO 9/2564; Clements to Allen, ‘PASOK Conference’, 14 July 1977, FCO 9/2564. For a detailed account of internal upheavals in PASOK and their consequences for the party’s organizational evolution, see Spourdalakis (1988).

15. Clements (Athens) to Brett-Rooks Bedelia (Biddy), (Southern European Department, FCO), ‘Political Party Developments in Greece’, 13 December 1978, FCO 9/2734; Sutherland to FCO, ‘The Orientation of PASOK’, 2 March 1979, FCO 9/2831.

16. Blackman, ‘Fifty-five Months after the Colonels’, February 1979, FCO 9/2831.

17. New Democracy’s heavy dependence on Karamanlis raised the prospect of the party’s disintegration or split into two or more parts when Karamanlis would step out of its leadership. See, Richards to Callaghan, ‘The First Year of New Democracy’, 10 December 1975, FCO 9/2225; Richards to Owen, ‘The Greek Election’, 29 November 1977, FCO 9/2566; Clements to Allen, ‘Dissension in New Democracy’, 19 January 1978, FCO 9/2732.

18. Richards to Owen, ‘The Rise of the Pan Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and its implications’, 14 December 1977, FCO 9/2566.

19. Amalia Fleming was a doctor and a well-known public figure in Greece. She was married to the Nobel-prize microbiologist Alexander Fleming who died in 1955. She also drew the attention of the British Embassy in Athens because of her special relations with Britain (she had gained a scholarship from the British Council in 1945 to study in Britain, where she met her husband). See, Vereker to Cornish, ‘PASOK’, 2 July 1975, FCO 9/2225; Wood to Cornish, ‘PASOK’, 10 July 1975, FCO 9/2225; Clements to Wood, ‘New Upheaval in PASOK’, 9 February 1977, FCO 9/2564.

20. Richards to Owen, ‘The Rise of the Pan Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and its implications’, 14 December 1977, FCO 9/2566.

21. Cornish to Wood, ‘The Greek Centre Left’, 5 August 1974, FCO 9/1999, NA. The FCO had been informed about these developments by a British businessman, Martin Packard who had family connections with centre-left political figures in Greece. Ibid., FCO 9/1999.

22. Ibid., FCO 9/1999.

23. EDΙK was formed by George Mavros, a notable politician of the Centre and former Vice-President and Foreign Secretary in the National Unity government of 1974, as a heir to the party Centre Union-New Forces, which emerged as the main opposition party in the legislative Election of 1974 (2042% of the votes). Its inability to present a real challenge to the Karamanlis government and its internal disputes led to the party’s renaming to EDΙK.

24. Clements to Short Roger (Southern European Department, FCO), ‘EDIK, the Party of Greek Democratic Socialism’, 22 December 1976, FCO 9/2396.

25. Ibid., FCO 9/2369; Clements to Short, 22 December 1976, FCO 9/2396; Clements to Brett-Rooks, 29 January and 5 April 1979, FCO 9/2831; Denson, 18 February 1975, FCO 9/2230.

26. Richards to Crosland Anthony (Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs), ‘Greece: Democracy without Karamanlis?’, 23 December 1976, FCO 9/2396.

27. Stephen David to Prendergast Kieran, ‘PASOK’, 19 January 1978, FCO 9/2732, NA. This view was also shared by Francois Mitterrand’s French Socialist Party.

28. British Embassy in Athens, ‘Socialism in Greece’, 13 April 1978, FCO 9/2732.

29. Clements (Athens) to Culver John (Southern European Department, FCO), ‘PASOK and International Socialism’, 10 July 1980, FCO 9/2959.

30. Everard to FCO, ‘Mr. Clinton Davis’ Call on Mr. Andreas Papandreou’, 11 January 1978, FCO 9/2732; Miles Oliver (Athens) to Winchester Ian (Southern European Department, FCO), ‘Contacts with PASOK’, 11 January 1978, FCO 9/2732; Vereker to Clements, ‘Visit to Athens by European Parliament Socialist Group’, 28 February 1978, FCO 9/2732.

31. ‘Socialism in Greece’, 13 April 1978, FCO 9/2959.

32. See for example, Margaret Thatcher, ‘Speech at Kensington Town Hall, 19 Jan. 1976’, Margaret Thatcher Foundation, http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/102939.

33. Denson to Cornish, ‘PASOK’, 18 June 1975, FCO 9/2225.

34. Wood to Cornish, ‘The Opposition’, 8 October 1975, FCO 9/2225; Richards to Callaghan, ‘The First Year of New Democracy’, 10 December 1975, FCO 9/2225.

35. Clements to Allen, ‘The State of the Parties’, 28 September 1977, FCO 9/2564. It is interesting to note that the British, except for the parliamentary elections of 1974 were mostly puzzled by the outcome of all the other electoral ‘battles’ of the period even in the case of municipal elections since most of their predictions proved inaccurate.

36. Richards to FCO, 16 November 1977, FCO 9/2565.

37. Clements to Allen, ‘Greek Elections’, 18 October 1977, FCO 9/2565; Clements to Allen, ‘Greek Elections: The Party Line Up’, 26 October 1977, FCO 9/2565.

38. Kerr to Sanders, 21 November 1977, FCO 9/2565.

39. Sanders to Kerr, ‘Mr. Papandreou’, 25 November 1977, FCO 9/2565.

40. Richards to FCO, 27 November 1977, FCO 9/2566.

41. Richards to Owen, ‘The Rise of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and Its Implications’, 14 December 1977, FCO 9/2566; Richards to Sutherland, ‘Contacts with PASOK and Interior Communists’, 20 December 1977, FCO 9/2566.

42. Sutherland to Richards, ‘Contacts with PASOK and the Interior Communists’, 2 December 1977, FCO 9/2566; Winchester to Sutherland, 24 January 1978, FCO 9/2732.

43. Clements to Richards, ‘PASOK’, 1 February 1978, FCO 9/2732; Richards to FCO, ‘Record of a Call on Mr. Andreas Papandreou’, 8 February 1978, FCO 9/2732.

44. Ibid.

45. Richards to Sutherland, ‘Contacts with PASOK and Interior Communists’, 20 December 1977, FCO 9/2566; Richards to FCO, ‘Communism in Greece’, 22 February 1978, FCO 9/2732; Winchester to Sunderland, ‘Communism in Greece’, 14 March 1978, FCO 9/2732.

46. Clements to Brett-Rooks, ‘Contacts with PASOK’, 8 August 1979, FCO 9/2832. For a view that underlined common features between PASOK’s and the Labour Party’s policy towards the EEC see also the dispatch by David Blackman, ‘Fifty-Five Months After the Colonels’, February 1979, FCO 9/2831.

47. Her Majesty’s Ambassador at Athens to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, ‘PASOK and the Left in Greek Politics’, 12 June 1980, FCO 9/2959.

48. Fergusson Ewen (Assistant Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Europe) to Sutherland, ‘Greek Politics: The State of Play’, 12 December 1980, FCO 9/2960; Sutherland to Fergusson, ‘Greek Politics: the State of Play’, 27 January 1981, FCO 9/3176.

49. Karamanlis was elected as the second President of the Hellenic Republic on 5 May 1980.

50. Sutherland to FCO, ‘Greece: The Political Scene’, 22 May 1981, FCO 9/3176, NA. Also, according to Sutherland, former minister of Co-Ordination Ioannis Boutos, who had resigned in October 1980, in his first public pronouncement after his return from a surgery in the United States ‘spoke in ambiguous terms, saying that while he hoped and believed New Democracy would win, he nevertheless though a change successfully managed would be good for Greece’s democratic institutions’, Sutherland to Daunt, ‘The Greek Political Scene’, 12 May 1981, FCO 9/3176.

51. Lord Privy to the RT Hon Peter Shore MP, House of Common, FCO 9/2980.

52. Thatcher visited Athens at the end of September 1980. Daunt to Smith, ‘Andreas Papandreou’, 29 July 1980, FCO 9/2980.

53. Martin Roger (Southern European Department, FCO) to Llewellyn Smith (Athens), ‘Papandreou’, 21 August 1980, FCO 9/2980.

54. Martin to Fergusson, ‘Greece: Visit by the Leader of the Opposition. Briefing’, 24 November 1980, FCO 9/2980.

55. Lord Carrington to Athens, ‘Visit of Greek Leader of the Opposition’, 28 November 1980, FCO 9/2981; ‘Record of Conversation between Secretary of State and the Leader of the Greek Opposition Held at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on 28 Nov. 1980’, ibid.

56. Sutherland to FCO, ‘Visit of the Greek Leader of the Opposition’, 10 December 1980, FCO 9/2981.

57. ‘Greece: Implications of a Possible PASOK Government’ (undated), FCO 9/3177. See also ‘Conclusions of a Meeting of the Cabinet held on Tuesday 20 Oct. 1981’, CAB 128/71/13 and ‘Conclusion of a Meeting of the Cabinet held on Thursday 3 Dec. 1981’, CAB 128/71/19.

58. Llewellyn Smith to Daunt, ‘Military Intervention in Greece’, 23 December 1980, FCO 9/2960; Llewellyn Smith to Daunt (Undated), 18 March 1981, FCO 9/3176.

59. Sutherland to the Secretary of State, ‘Karamanlis President’, 14 May 1980, FCO 9/2959.