HEATS UP THE CYPRUS ISSUE
ATHENS -- The political scene in Greece is now dominated by the question of Cyprus. In fact a wave of nationalist hysteria has > caught up all the bourgeois and petty-bourgeois tendencies. Each . is trying to outdo the others in displaying its patriotism. Unfortunately, this ugly mood has also begun to affect the working class.
The principal guilt for this situation lies with the. Papan=: . dreou ‘government, the instrument of Greek capitalism. It is seeking to prepare the masses psychologically for a war adventure with Turkey, its NATO associate. The proclaimed aim is. defense of the right of Cyprus to self-determination.
What the Papandreou government is. really concerned about, however, is. not direct intervention by Turkey in Cyprus, but the intervention of the. Cypriote masses. This could finish the present "leadership" of Makarios, Grivas and Company, opening up the road taken by Cuba and Algeria, transforming Cyprus into a new stronghold of the colonial revolution and posing the issue of socialism pointblank. . Gyprus, in fact, could become a revolutionary banner in the East Mediterranean as Cuba is in the Caribbean and Algeria in North Africa, This is the possibility feared by the Greek bourgeoisie and the Anglo-Ameriean imperialists.
The Greek bourgeoisie bear a vig share. of the responsibility for the situation in Cyprus. In 1954 the Papagos government backed General Grivas, who was notorious for his record in the war and the occupation and his relations with the English colonialists. The task of this fascist-minded militarist was to counter the anti- -imperialist rebellion-of the Cypriote masses, to bear down on the - left (the.Communist AKEL) and to impose the conservative administration of Archbishop Makarios. The Karamanlis government continued
this policy.
The London-Zurich agreement, which was forced on the Cypriote people by the British and which imposed the pattern of government that was bound to end in the present explosion, was accepted by all the bourgeois political parties in Greece.
Makarios, too, accepted it, and did not change his course until hard pressed by the Cypriote masses, many of whom are armed and under the influence of the AKEL., But he sought support from the Greek government in turning the bitterness and anger of the Cypriote masses against the national minority of the Turks, converting them into a scapegoat. To win:full support from the Greek government Makarios fostered the slogan of “unification with Mother Greece." This is his alternative to the Cuban road.
As for Turkish capitalism, it finds the Cyprus question a welcome diversion from the economic and political crisis that has been deepening in the country. Through Kutchuk and Company Turkey exploited the desires of the Turkish Cypriotes for independence, seeking to use them as tools in its own adventurist policy.
At the same time, the Anglo-American imperialists are doing their utmost to avoid granting the Cypriotes what they really want; i.e., the right -to determine. their. own fate. Free-exercise of selfdetermination would greatly favor a CGuban-type solution. Consequently, the imperialist game is to offer pseudo independence under a docile regime servile to NATO, maintaining Cyprus as a military base for use against the developing Arab and African revolution,. :
Papandreou hopes to persuade the Anglo-American imperialists that the best way to save the situation is to grant Enosis, union with Greece, The credentials he offers Wall Street and the Gity are impressive. He was in the forefront of the counterrevolution that met the great postwar socialist upsurge in Greece and finally crushed the heroic partisan movement of 1947-49, In the elections last year, he boasted of his success in cutting the Communist vote in halif (down to 12%). His basic point is that Greek capitalism is now the most stable and dependable force in the region,
As between the Greek Papandreou, the Turkish Inonou, the Cypriote Makarios and the Anglo-American imperialists, the workers and peasants have nothing to choose, What is called for is solidarity between the Cypriote, Greek and Turkish workers and peasants. The Greek and Turkish workers in particular must understand that they are class brothers and have nothing to gain from a war between their two countries. They would be the first and main victims in such a conflict.
: ~The enemy is not on the other side of the border. The enemy is to be.found at home, The name of the enemy is capitalism,
In Greece the revolutionary Marxists are not against defend-
_ w16-
ing their country; in fact they are for it -- but only after the government of the capitalists has been replaced by a workers and peasants government.
The slogans which the revolutionary Marxists are advancing in Greece against the warmongering capitalists are as follows:
"Immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops from (Cyprus. vO
“Tminediate withdrawal of the UN forces," |
Down ‘with the exploiters and hangmen of the working people. Down with the capitalist governments."
"Tong live the anticapitalist struggle of the workers ‘and peasants! Long live proletarian internationalismt"
"only a socialist democracy . of workers and peasants, of - Cypriote Turks and Greeks, can assure peace,,. ‘progress and brotherhood among the people of Cyprus. Meo,