With EAM-ELAS neutralized, its members became easy prey for persecution by various right-wing groups in retaliation for the preceding "Red Terror". Former ELAS partisans and leftist sympathizers reacted by establishing self-defense militias, known as Groups of Democratic Armed Persecuted Fighters (ODEKA). The Communist Party of Greece began preparations for an armed confrontation with the Greek government in April 1946. By the end of the year, the communist party had established a rival government known as the Provisional Democratic Government, with the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE) acting as its army; while the conflict had escalated into a large-scale insurgency.