JANUARY 26, 1952
COURSE TOWARD DICTATORSHIP: From an editorial in Kathimerini: «All Greeks who had the mental fortitude to read yesterday’s reports and rulings on the amnesty for the officers (in the military organization IDEA), the report of the investigation and the decree that the government drew up in a fit of temper and issued in order to create a fait accompli, must have been overcome by disgust and pity at the level to which the government lowered itself. (…) IDEA is presented as a diabolical conspiracy that tried to overthrow constitutional and democratic order, something similar to the Beloyiannis and Batsis group, while the author of the report takes great pains to create confusion about the strictly patriotic and anti-communist activity of the organization, which was in fact its only activity. IDEA truly (…) had its finger on the nation’s pulse and reflected the concern of brave officers who were seeking a way to save the Motherland, when outlaw groups were loose on Mt Parnitha and their guns were firing on Thessaloniki. Moreover, there was nothing conspiratorial or suspect (about the organization). (…). Yesterday’s plot was a typical example of the depths to which the country’s political morals have fallen, and is unprecedented in modern Greek history.» It also gained all the benefits of the large EU members, escaping the storms of chance and speculation that could sink a small economy at precarious times such as this. And it managed all this while avoiding the fate that had plagued it so many times in the past: Being left out of a major European development. We missed the Renaissance, we missed the Enlightenment, and we missed the Industrial Revolution because we were too busy being the slaves of a foreign oppressor. But we are not missing out on the unification of
