Evening star., 1950-04-02


left-of-center progressive Liberal.
and that the right-of center Lib-
erals of VeniZelos and Democratio
Socialists Of George Papandreo,i
would take part in coalition OF
the center
However. the badly beaten Popu-
lists Immediately went to work 10
save something of the wreckage,
They concentrated their efforts
on the weakest link in the pro-
posed center coalition-Sophocles
Venizelos. They pointed out that
if one added up the votes of the
lesser parties Of the right with
those of the Populists and then
added to that the votes of the
Venizelos party, why then the sup
port of the other center groups
could be dispensed with, From
there they went on to pledge Veni-,
zelos rightist support If he would
accept the premiership in a coali-
ton with them. The rest was easy.
Venizelos' political ambitions and
his dislike of Plastiras were enough
to bring him into the rightist
camp and he reneged without
qualms on the earlier agreement
with the center groups.
Dangerous Tactics
Thus the Populists have turned
defeat into victory. But in so
doing they are playing with dyna-
mite. Along with Venizelos and
possibly some elements In the
army and in the palace, they arc
bucking the unmistakable current
of the elections. BY counting
votes and indulging in fancy
arithmetic and ignoring the popu-
lar trend away from the right
as expressed in the elections they
have. in effect, pulled of sort
of coup d'etat Whether they can
get away with it remains to be
seen. The first test will probably
be after Easter when Venizelos
is scheduled to ask for a vote Of
confidence before adjourning Par
lament for three months. 1t may
develop that Venizelos and the
right groups will not have enough
votes after all for there are signs
of revolt among some members
OF Venizelos' party over their
leaders betrayal of the center.
But far more important than
the Vaccinations of the politi-
clans in Athens is the sentiment
of the Greek people as expressed
at the polls on March S. Neither
communism nor the monarchy
was an issue in the elections. The
Communists had been beaten in
the field and what had started
out as civil war was over:
Queen Frederika and King Paul
had mingled with the people, seen
their problems and misery. and
gained in popularity. The vote
was. above ALL a warning that tho
Greeks wanted change from the
right-wing regime of the past four
years, a warning that the Greeks
wanted something new. neither
too far left nor too far right,
rather something in between that
could heal the wounds of the civil
war and bring tranquility, reforms
and reconstruction to Greece. But
this warning is being ignored.
So what happens now? II
Venizelos gets his vote of conf
dence in Parliament then trouble
seems inevitable Contrary to the
demands of the electorate the
rightist regime discredited at the
polls will be back in power, thinly
camouf1aged by liberal Sophocles
Venizelos as figurehead. This
could lead to revival of the fatal
split between two extremes which
bled Greece white for five years.
Possible Consequences
1t is hard to see how the un-
representative minority govern
ment of Venizelos will be able to
rule the country effectively. In
fact, its viability is so doubtful
that one may well wonder If its
creation was not intended merely
as step toward something else.
That something else" could be
either dictatorship or new elec-
tions. New elections would be a
dangerous adventure. In all prob
ability new elections would ac-
centuate the voters trend to the
left away from the right.
Other likely consequences of the
Venizelos- -rightist coup If they
get away with by-passing the
elections are these:
l. The Communists will gain
new heart. They were beaten by
the Greek Army and American aid
and Tito's closing of the Yugoslav
frontier to the rebels. On March
5 the Greek elections we're also a
defeat for them for the peoples
verdict presumably meant the end
OF right-wing Populist rule whose
police exceSses drove many non-
Communists into the rebel camp,
particularly In 1947.
2. On the international scene
the Communists will gain new
heart. too. The Greek elections
seemed to foreshadow an Athens
government excluding the Popu-
lists and Tsaldaris. Such
government could have made pos
sible a rapprochement between
Greece and Yugoslavia, thus
strengthening the Vests bulwark
against Soviet Russian expansion.
A rightist regime In Athens dimin.-
ishes the chances of such a rap
prochement, which is all to the
good as far as the Cominform Is
concerned.
3. Rightly or wrongly the
United States will be suspected Of
having had something to do with
the post-election sneak play which
has brought the right back TO
power. The Communists will say
y, A