The Resistance

While visiting Boston last month, the Minister of Education and Religion in the Greek military junta briefly discussed the resistance movement against his regime. The first words to come to his lips were "Andreas Papandreou. . . ."

One of the first to be seized in the political manhunt which ushered in the junta, Andreas was imprisoned for eight months and finally exiled. Now professor of Economies at York University, Toronto, his most pressing task is the overthrow of the Greek regime.

Unfortunately, the Greek resistance movement as a whole is now almost hopelessly fragmented. Andreas and the Pan-Hellenic Liberation Movement (PAK) which he heads are only one among an assortment of rightist, monarchist, liberal, and leftist groups which have failed to unite on their antipathy to the regime.

Many of the differences have a solid political basis. For instance, Andreas recently declined to endorse a statement issued in Athens by four other "liberationist" groups early last month. His objections, however, were entirely understandable in the context of the junta's origin.

Andreas criticized the statement for having failed to consider such issues as the post-junta form of government and, in particular, the possible return of King Constantine.

The reinstatement of Constantine is a vital question because, in Greece, the monarch has always been more than the shadow-figure which his counterparts in most other European countries have become. As Andreas points out in the interview, Constantine's collaboration was vital to the imposition of the military junta-just as that of Constantine's father, King Paul-resurrected by the British after World War II-ushered in a period of conservatism and reaction which ultimately built for the 1967 coup.

Speaking of this latest coalition, Andreas wrote last Feb, 15 that the inclusion of vastly differing anti-junta groups "restrains the organizations from dealing with the problem of the form of government and the return of Constantine."

"It is impossible for us to comprehend how it is possible to wage a genuine liberation struggle that will move and mobilize the Greek people if its unfettered sovereignty will not be secured in the hour of victory," he continued. "And certainly the return of Constantine-the par excellence guardian of the American Pentagon and of the powers of occupation of our country-without the consent of the Greek people, is in compatible with the liberation struggle."

If the fate of varying anti-junta unity among Greeks is still undecided, the task of Americans opposing the regime is quite clear. The federal government must be made to withdraw its support from the junta, because it is the presence of the U.S. in Greece-military, economic, and psychological-which impedes an effective internal struggle against the colonels' regime. The events of the past four years indicate that a crucial component of the struggle will be waged against the junta's sponsors in the United States. Ultimately, the demise of the regime may be played out not only in Athens but in Washington as well.