January 16, 1956
MARKEZINIS AND EDA: The confusion reigning in the opposition ranks has been exacerbated by the sudden announcement last night of the founding of the National Change Movement (EKA) which, due to the participation of Messrs Kartalis and Rendis, makes the position of the communists in the United Democratic Left much stronger in their continuing negotiations with the Democratic Center (George Papandreou and Sophocles Venizelos, among others) in an electoral alliance. (…) The communists have acted on the basis of a excellent plan which has been successful in all phases of its execution. They have drawn the leader of the Progressive Party, Mr Spyros Markezinis, into discussing political cooperation, and once they had compromised him by releasing details of the talks, they simply abandoned him, for they had achieved their main purpose. The Greek public has not yet been informed that the ultra-right party is highly likely to ally itself with the communists. The communists then turned to a more closely allied faction, the «democratic center.»
