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7 The British left’s attitude towards the Battle of Athens, December 1944–February 1945

Commonalities and divisions

Abstract

This chapter discusses the British left's attitude towards the conflict in Greece from the December Events to the Varkiza Agreement. It examines the attitudes of the Labour Party, the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and the newly founded Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). The chapter presents the positions of these parties and explores how they unfolded during 1944-1945 thus focusing on the political branch of the British labour movement rather than on its trade-union and co-operative branches, which did not express the same degree of interest in those faraway matters. The unprovoked shooting of unarmed civilians by the Greek police and British troops at Syntagma Square, the Battle of Athens between the National Liberation Front (EAM)/Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) forces and the British troops, and the reconciliation between the warring parties, after the signing of the Varkiza Agreement, sparked a wide range of discussions in the United Kingdom.

Abstract

This chapter discusses the British left's attitude towards the conflict in Greece from the December Events to the Varkiza Agreement. It examines the attitudes of the Labour Party, the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and the newly founded Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). The chapter presents the positions of these parties and explores how they unfolded during 1944-1945 thus focusing on the political branch of the British labour movement rather than on its trade-union and co-operative branches, which did not express the same degree of interest in those faraway matters. The unprovoked shooting of unarmed civilians by the Greek police and British troops at Syntagma Square, the Battle of Athens between the National Liberation Front (EAM)/Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) forces and the British troops, and the reconciliation between the warring parties, after the signing of the Varkiza Agreement, sparked a wide range of discussions in the United Kingdom.

Chapters in this book

  1. Front matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. List of figures and tables vii
  4. Notes on contributors viii
  5. Acknowledgements xii
  6. Abbreviations xiv
  7. Introduction 1
  8. PART I: Labour’s first century: disputed solidarities
  9. 1 The Grand National Consolidated Trades’ Union, 1833–1834 21
  10. 2 The Knights of Labor and the British trade unions, 1880–1900 33
  11. 3 The struggle for control of the Durham Miners’ Association, 1890s–1915 49
  12. 4 Contested coordinator 66
  13. 5 Domestic servants and the labour movement, 1870s–1914 83
  14. PART II: Convergences, divergences and realignments on the left
  15. 6 ‘The people’s main defence against monopoly’? 101
  16. 7 The British left’s attitude towards the Battle of Athens, December 1944–February 1945 122
  17. 8 The decline of revolutionary pragmatism and the splintering of British communism in the 1980s 138
  18. 9 Re-framing the debate on breakaway trade unions in an era of neoliberalism 153
  19. 10 English teachers’ unions since 2010 171
  20. PART III: The Labour Party today: fragmentation or mutation?
  21. 11 Dissent in the Parliamentary Labour Party, 1945–2015 193
  22. 12 ‘What dire effects from civil discord flow’ 221
  23. 13 The conflicting loyalties of the Scottish Labour Party 238
  24. 14 The ‘movementisation’ of the Labour Party and the future of labour organising 254
  25. Concluding remarks 271
  26. Index 280
Labour united and divided from the 1830s to the present
This chapter is in the book Labour united and divided from the 1830s to the present
https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526126337.00016

Chapters in this book

  1. Front matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. List of figures and tables vii
  4. Notes on contributors viii
  5. Acknowledgements xii
  6. Abbreviations xiv
  7. Introduction 1
  8. PART I: Labour’s first century: disputed solidarities
  9. 1 The Grand National Consolidated Trades’ Union, 1833–1834 21
  10. 2 The Knights of Labor and the British trade unions, 1880–1900 33
  11. 3 The struggle for control of the Durham Miners’ Association, 1890s–1915 49
  12. 4 Contested coordinator 66
  13. 5 Domestic servants and the labour movement, 1870s–1914 83
  14. PART II: Convergences, divergences and realignments on the left
  15. 6 ‘The people’s main defence against monopoly’? 101
  16. 7 The British left’s attitude towards the Battle of Athens, December 1944–February 1945 122
  17. 8 The decline of revolutionary pragmatism and the splintering of British communism in the 1980s 138
  18. 9 Re-framing the debate on breakaway trade unions in an era of neoliberalism 153
  19. 10 English teachers’ unions since 2010 171
  20. PART III: The Labour Party today: fragmentation or mutation?
  21. 11 Dissent in the Parliamentary Labour Party, 1945–2015 193
  22. 12 ‘What dire effects from civil discord flow’ 221
  23. 13 The conflicting loyalties of the Scottish Labour Party 238
  24. 14 The ‘movementisation’ of the Labour Party and the future of labour organising 254
  25. Concluding remarks 271
  26. Index 280
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