Pointing at the Communists as the Main Danger to Law and Order in Greece

Koutsopanagou, Gioula

doi:10.1057/978-1-137-55155-9_8

Gioula Koutsopanagou⁵

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in the History of the Media ((PSHM))

179 Accesses

Abstract

A multi-faceted propaganda campaign was mounted to ‘prove’ the ‘anti-national character of the Communists’. This was consistent with the growing hardening and polarization of attitudes to the Cold War conflict. Realizing the ineptitude of Greek government propaganda, American and British officials suggested specific remedies. This chapter examines how far the implementation of the British new anti-communist publicity launched in 1948 affected British press coverage of the ongoing Greek crisis.

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Notes

1.
Fatouros, A.A. Building Formal Structures of Penetration: The United States in Greece, 1947–8. In Greece in the 1940s: A Nation in Crisis, edited by J. Iatrides. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1981, 241–242; Amen, M.M. American Institutional Penetration into Greek Military And Political Policymaking Structures: June 1947–October 1949. Journal of Hellenic Diaspora, 5, no. 3 (Fall 1978): 89–113.
2.
FRUS, 1947, vol. 5, pp. 375–378, 384–386.
3.
Woodhouse, C.M. The Struggle for Greece, 1941–1949. London: Hart-Davies, MacGibbon, 1976, 209; Wittner, L.S. American Intervention in Greece, 1943–1949. New York: Columbia University Press, 1982, 138.
4.
Iatrides, Greece in the 1940s, 220–228. The KKE remained outlawed until September 1974.
5.
Kent, John. British Imperial Strategy and the Origins of the Cold War 1944–9. Leicester University Press, 1993, 212–217; Kent, John, and John W. Young. The ‘Western Union’ Concept and British Defence Policy, 1947–8. In British Intelligence, Strategy and the Cold War, 1945–51, edited by R.J. Aldrich, 166–189. Abingdon: Routledge, 1992; see also Warner, Geoffrey. The Labour Governments and the Unity of Western Europe, 1945–51. In Foreign Policy of the British Labour Governments, 1945–51, edited by Ritchie Ovendale, 61–82. Leicester University Press, 1984; Warner, Geoffrey. Britain and Europe in 1948: The View from the Cabinet. In Power in Europe? Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany in a Post-war World, 1945–1950, edited by Josef Becker and Franz Knipping, 27–44. New York: de Gruyter, 1986; Watt, Donald C. British Military Perceptions of the Soviet Union as a Strategic Threat, 1945–50. In Becker and Knipping, Power in Europe? 325–338; Dockrill, M.L. The Cold War, 1945–1963. London: Palgrave, 1988, 17–19, 23–25.
6.
Schneer, Jonathan. Labour’s Conscience: The Labour Left, 1945–51. Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1988, Routledge, 2018, 52–76.
7.
Rothwell, V.H. Britain and the Cold War, 1941–47. London: Jonathan Cape, 1982, 414; Morgan, Kenneth O., Labour People: Leaders and Lieutenants, Hardie to Kinnock. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987, 155ff.
8.
Kent, British Imperial Strategy, 217.
9.
Cf. Shulman, Marshall D. Stalin’s Foreign Policy Reappraised. Harvard University Press, 1963.
10.
William Francis Casey (1884–1957), Trinity College, Dublin, The Times editorial staff, 1913–1948, editor of The Times, 1948–1952. McDonald, Iverach. The History of The Times: Struggles in Peace and War 1939–1966, vol. 5, 1984, 9.
11.
British Policy, leader. 1948. The Times, 16 August and Foreign Policy, 9 December.
12.
Mr. Marshall’s Offer, leader. 1948. The Times, 12 May; see also leaders Soviet Tactics, 14 June, and Approach to Moscow, 7 July.
13.
The New Diplomacy, leader. 1949. The Times, 3 February 3; see also Russia in Europe, leader, 5 December.
14.
Ayerst, David. Guardian. Biography of a Newspaper. Collins, 1971, 586.
15.
A New Policy? leader. 1948. Manchester Guardian, 23 January.
16.
A United People, leader. 1948. Manchester Guardian, 24 January; see also Russian Policy, leader, 7 February.
17.
Europe, leader. 1948. Manchester Guardian, 11 June.
18.
Ibid.
19.
New Era, leader. 1948. News Chronicle, 18 March.
20.
One World, leader. 1948. News Chronicle, 12 May.
21.
The Battle of Ideas, leader. 1948. News Chronicle, 30 September.
22.
After Signing, leader. 1949. Daily Telegraph, 23 March.
23.
A Fresh Move, leader. 1948. Daily Telegraph, 12 May.
24.
Leader. 1948. Daily Express, 30 August.
25.
Cooper, Alfred Duff, Sir. One Sure Way Now of Saving Peace. 1948. Daily Mail, 9 August; see also by Cooper, How to Prevent a Third World War, 3 July, and by Lt Gen. Sir G. Martel, How to Deal with Russia, 4 August; see also The Shadow of the Russian Bear, 22 September.
26.
Scrutator. Stalin’s Peace Offensive. 1949. Sunday Times.
27.
Scrutator. Truth About the Atlantic Pact. 1949. Sunday Times, 20 February.
28.
Where Russia Stands. 1948. The Spectator, 18 June. See also, Dealing with the Russians. 1948. The Spectator, 6 August. See also Russia the Ambiguous, 4 February 1949.
29.
Clark, W.D. Is America to Blame? 1949. The Observer, 20 February; A Student of Europe. American Danger, 20 February and Russia’s New Aims, 22 May.
30.
Lull in the Cold War? 1948. The Economist, 24 April, 663–664.
31.
Schneer, Labour’s Conscience, 28–51; Morgan, Labour People: Leaders and Lieutenants, 258.
32.
Tribune, 23, 3, and 30 January 1948, 3.
33.
Tribune, 19 March 1948, 3.
34.
Tribune, 14 May 1948, 3.
35.
Slamming the Door. 1948. The New Statesman, 15 May.
36.
The Lesson of History. 1949. The New Statesman, 26 March.
37.
Peace and Propaganda. 1949. The New Statesman, 2 April.
38.
Salusbury. Shoot a Child. 1947. Daily Herald, 20 May and A Knock on Helen’s Door, 14 July; Fisher, John. As I Was Going Down in Tsortsil Street. Daily Express, 20 May.
39.
Clifford Alexander. The Cross v the Kremlin. The Battlefield Is the Mind. Make No Mistake This Is a Holy War. 1947. Daily Mail, 4 June.
40.
Clifford. 1947. Daily Mail, 4 June; Howard, Peter. The Glory That Is Greece. Diagnosis and Description of the Sick Nation in the News. Daily Mail, 14 July.
41.
Barber, Stephen (from Salonika). A Nation in Chaos. 1947. News Chronicle, 14 November.
42.
Gammans, L.D. Is Greece Doomed? 1947. The Spectator, 3 October.
43.
On 25 February 1947, Deakin inform Angelopoulos that The Times intended to appoint F. Macaskie as its representative in Greece. This letter was lost in the post, while rumours circulated in the Greek press that his replacement was imminent. Angelopoulos wrote to Deakin on 4 March about ‘the harm’ these rumours were causing to his ‘professional prestige’. When he was offered twice (March, September) to serve as deputy correspondent during Macaskie’s absence, he refused to accept the post. Macaskie left London for Rome on 10 March 1947 and, in mid-March, was in Athens (Alkeos Angelopoulos Private Papers).
44.
Lt Col Frank Macaskie (1913–1952). He met Sylvia Sprigge in Athens in September 1946. As his assignment in Athens was about to finish in October 1946, he wrote to Sprigge, then in Rome, asking whether the Manchester Guardian was interesting employing him as correspondent for Greece and Turkey. Sprigg wrote to M.D.P. (Pringle?) about him. ‘You will be interested I know to hear him on Greece, even if there isn’t a prospect for him. I don’t think he’d be much use…writing for he’s been out of England too long’ (F. Macaskie File: D/2263/1-2, Manchester Guardian’s Archives).
45.
David Woodford (d. 1948) Daily Telegraph obituary, 24 September 1948.
46.
Berlin (1904–1979). The Daily Express’ correspondent of long-standing. Due to his thorough knowledge of Germany and its people, in 1940 Delmer was recruited by the PWE and Political Intelligence Department of the Foreign Office. He directed the German-language broadcasts of the BBC during the war. After the Second World War, Delmer returned to the Daily Express as chief foreign affairs reporter, covering almost all major foreign news stories (Delmer, Sefton. Black Boomerang. London: Secker & Warburg, 1962).
47.
Patrick O’Donovan (1918–1981). He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford. He joined The Observer in 1946. In 1955–1960 and 1965–1966, he held the post of Bureau Chief in Washington. In 1976, he joined The Catholic Herald and, in 1978, the monthly ‘Roman Catholic Commentary’ in the Church Times. (O’Donovan, Patric. A Journalist’s Odyssey. London: Esmonde, 1985.) About his successful career in The Observer, see Cockett, Richard. David Astor and the Observer. Andre Deutsch, 1991, 145–149.
48.
Hondros, J.L. Occupation and Resistance: The Greek Agony, 1941–1944. New York: Pella, 1983, 172–173, 283 fn. 8; Makris-Staikos, P.S. Frank Macaskie. Chap. 8 in “Ο Άγγλος Πρόξενος.” Ο υποπλοίαρχος Νοël C. Rees και οι βρετανικές μυστικές υπηρεσίες. Ελλάδα – Μέση Ανατολή, 1939–1944 [‘The British Consul’. Lieutenant Noël C. Rees and the British Intelligence Services. Greece–Middle East, 1939–1944], 267–278. Athens: Okeanida, 2011.
49.
Obituary. F.G. Macaskie. 1952. The Times, 21 and 23 January, and 1 February.
50.
Macaskie to Barrington-Ward, 2 May 1947; Barrington-Ward to Macaskie, 30 May 1947. Greece, 1945–54 file. The Times Archives.
51.
Greece, leader. 1947. The Times, 23 May.
52.
Greece and UN, leader. 1947. Manchester Guardian, 10 May.
53.
A Plain Tale, leader. 1947. Manchester Guardian, 23 June; FO371/67120, R8561, Minutes by McCarthy, 26 June.
54.
FO371/67062, R2870, Consul General, Salonika to FO, 3 March 1947; Minutes by McCarthy, Colville, and Matthews; FO to Salonika, 8 March 1947.
55.
FO371/67063, R3043, Norton to FO, 6 March 1947, and FO to Norton, 21 March 1947; FO371/67063, R3060, Athens to FO, 6 March 1947; Minutes by Colville and Matthews; FO to Norton, 11 March 1947.
56.
FO371/67040, R5158, Norton to FO, 15 April 1947; Minutes, 8 April 1947.
57.
FO371/67075, R7593 Minutes by McCarthy, 9 June 1947, and Selby, 13 June; Letter to Athens, 20 June.
58.
Athens corr. 1947. The Times, 2 June. It was also reported in the Manchester Guardian, 3 June, the Daily Telegraph, Athens corr., 2 June, the Daily Mail, New York corr., 14 July.
59.
Greek Fire. 1947. The Spectator, 6 June, 641–642.
60.
FO371/67120, R7740, Minutes by McCarthy, 11 June 1947.
61.
On 14, 15 and 16 July, it was reported in the Manchester Guardian, Daily Telegraph, News Chronicle, Daily Herald, Daily Mail.
62.
Greek Troubles, leader. 1947. Manchester Guardian, 15 July.
63.
Salusbury 1947. Daily Herald, 17 July, 1.
64.
Leader. 1947. Manchester Guardian, 26 July.
65.
M. Porphyrogenis’ public statement at the French Communist Party Congress at Strasbourg in June to the prospect of setting up a Provisional Democratic Government (its formation was declared on 24 December 1947). Leading member of the KKE became Minister of Labour in Papandreou National Unity Government (October 1944), resigned on 2 December 1944.
66.
Macaskie. 1947. The Times, 10 July.
67.
Joint correspondent. 1947. Manchester Guardian, 11 July.
68.
Troubled Greece, leader. 1947. The Times, 11 July.
69.
The New Statesman, 19 July 1947.
70.
Tribune, 18 July 1947, 2.
71.
The Economist, 31 May 1947, 839.
72.
Knife Edge in Greece, leader. 1947. The Economist, 5 July; FO371/67120, R9792, draft letter to The Economist from Lt Col Castle, 7 July 1947; Minutes by McCarthy and Peck, 8 July 1947; McCarthy to Lt Col Castle, 9 July 1947; Lt Col Castle to McCarthy, 11 July 1947.
73.
Peter Calvocoressi, writer and book publisher; educated at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford; RAF Intelligence 1940–45; assisted at Trial of Major War Criminals, Nuremberg 1945–46; on staff, Royal Institute of International Affairs 1949–1954 (The International Who’s Who, 1994–1995, 252).
74.
The Economist, 12 July 1947, 62; Calvocoressi. Issues in Greece. 1947. The Spectator, 18 July; The Economist, 6 September 1947.
75.
FO371/67120, R9967, Minutes.
76.
Civil War in Greece, leader. The Times, 15 July 1947.
77.
Greek Chargé d’Affairs to Barrington-Ward, 15 July 1947, Greece, 1945–1954 file. The Times Archives.
78.
The Times, 17 July 1947 (Long of Wraxall, Hourmouzios); 18 July (De L’Isle and Dudley, Doganis); 19 July (Hourmouzios); 22 July (Lancaster, Athannassoglou); 23 July (Pavlakis); 24 July (Kolios, Donovan); 26 July (Doganis); 28 July (Pallis); 29 July (Vansittart); 2 August (Athanassoglou); 6 August (Vansittart); 30 August (Athanassoglou).
79.
FO371/67120, R9761, Reilly to FO, 16 July 1947.
80.
Basil Davidson, Editorial staff, The Economist, 1938–1939. A correspondent for The Times in Paris, 1945–1947; leader writer, 1947–1949. Special correspondent on The New Statesman and Daily Herald, 1950–1957, Daily Mirror, 1959–1962 (International Who’s Who, p. 373). In 1947, he took over Con O’Neil’s desk as leader writer (McDonald, Iverach. The History of The Times. Struggles in Peace and War 1939–1966. Vol. 5, 1984, 150–151).
81.
FO371/67120, R9967, Minutes.
82.
Ibid.
83.
The Greek Dilemma, leader. 1947. The Times, 18 July.
84.
FO371/67120, R9761, Minutes by Wallinger, R9967 Minutes by Balfour, R10386 Minutes by McCarthy.
85.
Macaskie to Barrintgon-Ward, 18 July 1947; Basil Davidson to Barrington-Ward, 18 July; Tyerman to Barrington-Ward, 29 July; Barrington-Ward to Macaskie, 1 August, Greece, 1945–1954 file. The Times Archives.
86.
Greek Troubles, leader. 1947. Manchester Guardian, 15 July; Greece, leader. 20 August; Greece, leader, 27 August.
87.
FO371/67043, R10539; CAB129/16: CP (47)34, CAB128/9: CM14(47).
88.
Concerning the withdrawal of British Troops from Greece, see Frazier, Robert. The Bevin–Marshall Dispute of August–November 1947. In Studies in the History of the Greek Civil War, 1945–1949, edited by Baerentsen, Lars, John O. Iatrides, and Ole L. Smith, 249–261. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 1987.
89.
FO371/72276, R345, Outward saving tel. from Commonwealth Office (undated).
90.
FO371/72276/343.
91.
FO371/67010, R14857, Confidential letter from Churchill to Sargent, 31 October 1947; draft letter from Sargent to Churchill, 8 November 1947, Churchill to Sargent, 19 November 1947.
92.
Get Out of it!, leader. 1947. Daily Mirror, 10 November.
93.
Starr’s interview, leader. 1947. News Chronicle, 11 November.
94.
Quit Greece Now, leader. 1947. Manchester Guardian, 11 November.
95.
By a special corr. 1947. The New Statesman, 22 November.
96.
Tribune, 14 November 1947, 3.
97.
Athens corr. 1947. The Times, 14 January.
98.
FO371/67031, P. Dixon’s Minute of 10 November 1947.
99.
FO371/67011, R15110, Norton to FO, 25 June 1947; Norton to FO, 12 November 1947.
100.
FO371/670371, Minutes by Peck and Dixon, 11 November 1947.
101.
FO371/67011, R15110, Norton to FO, 12 November 1947.
102.
Athens corr. 1947. The Times, 14 January.
103.
FO371/67011, R15110, Minute by C.P.M. (Mayhew), 14 November 1947.
104.
FO371/67011, R15110, FO to Athens, 14 November 1947.
105.
FO371/670371, Minutes by Peck, 11 November 1947.
106.
FO371/67031, R10121, Minutes by McCarthy, 18 July 1947; Hansard, 22 July 1947, vol. 440, col. 124 and 17 November 1947, vol. 444, cols. 815–817.
107.
FO371/67011, R16181, letter, Athens to FO, 1 December 1947; Lt Col Linaker, High Command, Larissa, Report, 22 November 1947.
108.
FO371/67011, R16181, Minutes by J.A. Turpin, 12 December and by Balfour and Peck.
109.
FO371/72276, R340, Minutes by Peck, Nash, Wallinger.
110.
FO371/67011, R16663, Norton to Wallinger, 19 December 1947; Minutes by Turpin, Balfour, Peck, and others.
111.
FO371/67012, R16857, Consul General, Salonika to FO, 24 December 1947.
112.
FO371/67012, R16818, FO to Athens, 24 December 1947.
113.
FO371/67012, R16892, Athens to FO, 26 December 1947.
114.
FO371/67012, R16818, FO to Athens, 24 December 1947.
115.
FO371/67012, R16857, Peck to Knight, 30 December 1947.
116.
FO371/67012, R16894, Lord Inverchapel to FO, 26 December 1947, FO to Lord Inverchapel, 29 December 1947.
117.
Ibid., Minutes by Wallinger(?), 29 December 1947; Memo from L. Mela on 27 December 1947 and 30 December 1947; letter FO to Melas, 30 December 1947.
118.
FO371/67012, R16898, FO to Athens, 29 December 1947.
119.
FO371/67012, R16894, Minutes by Wallinger, 29 December 1947.
120.
Leader. 1947. The Times, 27 December.
121.
FO371/67012, R16895, Norton to FO, 27 December 1947; Minutes by Turpin, Balfour, Peck on 30 December 1947.
122.
The Greek Challenge. 1947. The Times, 31 December.
123.
FO371/67012, R16895, Minutes by Ridsdale, 31 December, 1947; FO to Athens, 1 January 1948.
124.
Greece, leader and, Diplomatic correspondent. Dangers of New Situation. 1947. Manchester Guardian, 27 December.
125.
Barber with Greek 8th Eighth Mountain Division (delayed). 1948. News Chronicle, 1 January; Guns Not Enough, leader, 2 January; Bartlett, Vernon, 8 January.
126.
Athens corr. and diplomatic. corr. 1947. Daily Telegraph, 27 December.
127.
Buckley, Christopher. Aggression in Greece an Old Technique. 1948. Daily Telegraph, 1 January.
128.
Greece First, leader. 1948. The Spectator, 2 January, 3–4.
129.
Diplomatic. corr. 1947. The Observer, 28 December, 1; A Student of Europe. Greece: First Stage. 4 January.
130.
Strategy for Greece, leader. 1948. The Economist, 3 January, 1–2.
131.
Britain and Greece, leader. 1948. The New Statesman, 3 January, 3.
132.
Tribune, 2 January 1948, 3.
133.
Murder in Greece. 1948. Athens corr. The Times and the Manchester Guardian and leader. Daily Telegraph, 3 May.
134.
FO371/72353, R5587, Reuters, 4 May 1948; Minutes by Wallinger, 4 May 1948; FO to Athens, 5 May 1948.
135.
Greece Flares Up. 1948. The Spectator, 7 May, 542.
136.
FO371/72353, R5587, FO to Athens, 5 May 1948.
137.
Sulzberger, C.L. A Long Row of Candles: Memoirs & Diaries, 1934–1954. The Book Service, 1969, 354.
138.
Hansard, vol. 450, 10 May 1948, cols. 1718–1721.
139.
FO371/72353, R5651, FO to Athens, 10 May 1948.
140.
FO371/72353, R5655, Norton to FO, 7 May 1948; R5762, Minutes by Peck, 11 May 1948.
141.
Greek Executions, leader. 1948. The Times, 6 May; Athens corr., 8 May.
142.
Advice to Greece, leader. 1948. Manchester Guardian, 7 May.
143.
Greek Balance Sheet. 1948. The New Statesman, 12 June, 475.
144.
The Greek Moloch. 1948. Tribune, 19 March, 4.
145.
Athens corr. 1948. Daily Telegraph, 10 May and 14; Letter to Editor, Buckley. Upholding Law in Greece. The ‘clamour’ over executions, 22 June.
146.
The Grammos Campaign, leader. 1948. The Times, 10 August.
147.
After Grammos, leader. 1948. Manchester Guardian, 23 August.
148.
Greek Prospect, leader. 1948. Daily Telegraph, 18 August.
149.
Salusbury, Things Are Looking Up in Greece. Daily Herald, 22 September.
150.
War Against Markos. 1948. The Economist, 7 August, 223.
151.
No Peace in Greece. 1948. The New Statesman, 28 August, 166.
152.
FRUS, 1948, vol. 4, pp. 277–278.
153.
FRUS, 1948, vol. 4, pp. 226–228, 258.
154.
FO371/72217, R1305, FO to Wallinger, UN Delegation, Paris, 17 November 1948.
155.
Pringle, John Douglas. Have Pen: Will Travel. London: Chatto & Windus, 1973, 60.
156.
No End in Greece, leader. 1948. The Times, 4 October; see also Greece and the Powers, leader, 27 October.
157.
Greece in Shadow, leader. 1948. The Times, 1 November.
158.
Greece and her Neighbours, leader. 1948. The Times, 11 November; Greece in the Tolls, leader, 30 December.
159.
The Greek Dilemma, leader. 1948. Manchester Guardian, 14 October.
160.
FO371/72328, R12638, Minutes by McCormick and Peck, 14 October 1948, and Matthews, 10 October 1948.
161.
Letter by D.S. Jones, reply by the Editor. 1948. Manchester Guardian, 19 October.
162.
Greek Agony, leader. 1948. Daily Telegraph, 13 November.
163.
Greece and the UN. 1948. The Spectator, 12 November, 617–618; Balkans Talks, 19 November, 651.
164.
Mr. Marshall in Greece. 1948. The Economist, 23 October 1948, 657.
165.
UNO Discusses Greece, leader. 1948. The Economist, 13 November, 782–783.
166.
Mediation in Greece, leader. The New Statesman, 11 December.
167.
Tribune, 8 October 1948, 5, and 12 November 1948, 5.
168.
Matthews, Kenneth. Memories of a Mountain War, Greece: 1944–1949. London: Longman, 1972, 185.
169.
FO371/72215, R10258, Minutes by J. Cormick, 4 September 1948. Cormick to Athens, 7 September 1948. Correspondents who made extensive tours were: F. Macaskie of The Times (19–28 April 1947, 6–14 June 1947 in north and central Greece, Salonika, 15 August 1947, 27 August 1947 and Komotini, 15 November; Yannina, 1 and 3–5 January 1948, Arachova, 15 and 24 January 1948, Kalpaki, 21 January 1948, Salonika, Kastoria, Kastoriani, Yannina, 12–23 March 1948, Florina, 28 February 1949, Laconia and Arcadia, in Peloponese, March 1949; with the Greek First Army Corps, 22–31 August 1949); the Daily Telegraph spec. corr. (Komotini, 9 April 1947, Konitsa, 14 July 1947, Yannina, 17–19 July 1947, Ikaria, 27 August 1947, Konitsa, 6 January 1948, Salonika, 25 March 1948 and 12 April 1948, Komotini, 11 October 1949). S. Barber of the News Chronicle (Konitsa, 14 July 1948, Rhodes, 11 November 1947, Komotini, 16 November 1947, Kalpaki, 21 January 1948, Lake Prespa, 22–26 August 1949). Moorehead went to Larissa, 13 April 1947 and O’Donovan of The Observer went to Yannina, Serres, Salonika, Kavala, Lamia, 11 January–3 May 1948; Sefton Delmer of the Daily Express, Agiophyllon in Macedonia, 27 May 1947; Walter Lucas of the Daily Express, Yannina, 6–7 January 1948; A Clifford of the Daily Mail, Lamia, 3 May 1948; Judy Cowell of the Daily Mail, Macedonia, 6 January 1949; Alan Humphreys, Yannina, 28 September 1949.
170.
Matthews, Memories of a Mountain War, 185.
171.
A CBS broadcast was interpreted as ‘a cold, deliberate political demonstration…planned to intimidate’ (FO371/72215, R10660, Newsmen’s Commission…, Background Information). Around Polk’s murder was woven a mystery resembling a fiction. There were suspicions of the involvement of extreme Greek Right-wing elements. British officials in Salonika were also suspected (FO371/72215, R10274, Reilly, Athens to Wallinger, 31 December 1948). The case was finally dropped by producing what many of Polk’s colleagues considered a rigged trial, designed to prove a communist plot to murder Polk (Kostas Hadjiargyris, correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor, The Polk Case, Athens [1975]; Matthews, Memories of a Mountain War, 228). In 1977, the Polk case was unearthed. The only individual (Grigoris Staktopoulos) jailed for the murder charged that he had ‘confessed’ under torture; another individual condemned to death in abstentia volunteered to return for a new trial; the only physical evidence was challenged as a fabrication (New York Times, 20 January, and 1 May 1977; Roubatis, Yannis, and Elias Vlanton, Who killed George Polk? More (May 1977): 12–32; Staktopoulos, G. The Polk Case: My Personal Testimony. Athens, 1984, 1988. The unsolved Polk case still fascinates and is considered as emblematic of the ideological conflict since the early years of the Cold War and one of the of the biggest cover-ups, cf. Marton, Kati. The Polk Conspiracy: Murder and Cover-Up in the Case of CBS News Correspondent George Polk. New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1990.
172.
Matthews, Memories of a Mountain War, 222.
173.
FO371/72215, R11637, Norton to FO, 13 October 1948; Minutes by Peck, 14 October 1948; FO to Norton 15 October 1948.
174.
FO371/72216, R11996, Athensto FO, 19 October 1948. Roper’s report, 13–14 October 1948.
175.
FO371/72216, R12047, Norton to FO, 23 October 1948; Minutes by Peck, Matthews, Nash.
176.
FO371/72216, R12164, Norton to FO, 28 October 1948.
177.
FO371/72216, R12165, Norton to FO, 28 October 1948; Minutes by Peck, Nash.
178.
FO371/72216, R12294, Warner to Bateman, 30 October 1948; Bateman to Warner, 1 November 1948.
179.
FO371/72217, R12358, Norton to FO, 2 November 1948.
180.
FO371/72216, R12164, Minutes; FO371/72217, R12379, Minutes.
181.
FO371/72217, R13213, Minutes.
182.
FO371/72217, R12516.
183.
FO371/72217, R13213, Platts Mills to Mayhew, 12 November 1948; Minutes; Mayhew to Platts Mills, 17 November 1948.
184.
FO371/72217, R13213, Minutes.
185.
Matthews, 257–259, 269–270; his memories with the rebels, Prisoner of the Rebels. Chap. 3 in Memories of a Mountain War, 213–260.
186.
Hansard, 23 March 1949, vol. 463, cols. 393–397.
187.
(b. 1912–d. 1999). Shrewsbury; Lincoln College, Oxford. 1934–1939, leader writer for Manchester Guardian; 1939–1944, Army; 1944–1948, assistant editor of Manchester Guardian; 1948–1952, special leader-writer in The Times; 1952–1957, editor of Sydney Morning Herald; 1958–1963, deputy editor of The Observer; 1964–1965, managing editor of Canberra Times; 1965–1970, editor of Sydney Morning Herald (McDonald, History of The Times, 170).
188.
Pringle, Have Pen: Will Travel, 51.
189.
McDonald, History of The Times, 168–169, 174–176.
190.
McDonald to editor and Tyerman (for information), Tyerman notes, 24 March 1949; Davidson and Pringle memoranda, 30 March 1949; McDonald to editor, 30 March 1949; Tyerman to McDonald and editor for information, 31 March 1949, Greece, 1945–1954 file. The Times Archives.
191.
The Needs of Greece, leader. 1949. The Times, 4 April 4.
192.
Letters to Editor, R.A. Leeper. 1949. The Times, 6 April.
193.
FO371/78351, R5232 and R5472 State Department Press Release on the Discussions on Greece by Rusk, McNeil, Gromyko; FRUS, 1949, vol. 6, pp. 301–309, 320–321, Bullock, Alan. Ernest Bevin. Foreign Secretary, 1945–1951. London: Heinemann, 1983, 680; Wittner, American Intervention in Greece, 275–277.
194.
FO371/78351, R5232, Minutes, 24 May 1949.
195.
FO371/78351, R5232, Confidential letter from Bateman to Norton, 1 June 1949.
196.
FO371/78351, R5232, Minutes by Rumbold, 20 May 1949.
197.
FO371/78351, R5232, Confidential letter from Bateman to Norton, 1 June 1949; Minutes by Bateman, 24 May 1949.
198.
FO371/78351, R5232, Minutes by R. Makins, 26 May 1949.
199.
FO371/78351, R5365, FO to C.F.M. (Mayhew?) (Paris, UK Delegation), 28 May 1949.
200.
Leader. 1949. The Times, 9 June.
201.
Greek Gambit, leader. 1949. Manchester Guardian, 21 May.
202.
FO371/78393, R5385, Minutes by Peck and Matthews, 31 May 1949.
203.
Ewer. 1949. Daily Herald, 21 May.
204.
Marginal Comment. 1949. The Spectator, 27 May.
205.
Soviet Proposals in Greece. 1949. The Economist, 28 May, 974.
206.
The Greek Deadlock. 1949. The New Statesman, 28 May, 546. See also Mediation in Greece, 11 June, 601.
207.
A Dove for Greece? 1949. Tribune, 27 May; Bevin and Greece, 17 June.
208.
Documents on International Affairs, 1949–1950, 235.
209.
Diplomatic corr. 1949. Manchester Guardian, 10 October; see also Die Hard War, leader, 19 October.
210.
Greece, leader. 1949. News Chronicle, 17 October.
211.
Cease Fire? leader. 1949. Daily Herald, 19 October.
212.
New Hopes for Greece, leader. 1949. Daily Telegraph, 20 October.
213.
Interim Victory in Greece, leader. 1949. The Economist, 31 December.
214.
No Truce in Greece. 1949. The New Statesman, 22 October, 441–442.
215.
On 17 August 1995, 165 files of documents covering the first year of the IRD were released, 25 years after they would usually have been revealed to the public (The Times, 18 August 1995). On Greece, only one file was released (FO1110/61) covering the period from late May to early July 1948. It concerns the preliminary talks for putting forward a scheme about the extension of psychological warfare behind the Greek rebel lines in order to encourage desertions and to diminish the rebels’ morale.
216.
Lucas, W.S, and C.J. Morris. A Very British Crusade: The Information Research Department and the Beginning of the Cold War. In British Intelligence, Strategy and the Cold War, 1945–51, edited by R.J. Aldrich, 97, 99; Smith, Lyn. Covert British Propaganda: The Information Research Department, 1947–77. Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 9, no. 1 (1980), 69–70.
217.
Smith, Covert British Propaganda, 68.
218.
FO371/77623/N1388/1052/38G, Russia Committee meeting, 3 February 1949.
219.
FO371/67046, R12491, Meeting of 9 September 1949.
220.
Rankin to Secretary of State, 10/3/48, 868.00/3-1048 and 3/4/48, 868.00/4-348, SD records. For Deakin’s determination to use the issue for propaganda purposes, see also Rankin to Secretary of State, 4/4/48, 868.00/4-448, SD records (Wittner, American Intervention in Greece, 365, n. 68).
221.
For more, see Woodhouse, The Struggle for Greece, 1941–1949, 208–209, 249; Matthews, Memories of a Mountain War, 176–182; Queen Frederica of the Hellenes, A Measure of Understanding (1971), and L. Baerentzen, The ‘Paidomazoma’ and the Queen’s Camps, in Studies…,127–155. Cf. more recent, Danforth, Loring M. and Riki Van Boeschoten. Children of the Greek Civil War: Refugees and the Politics of Memory. Chicago: The University of Chicago, 2012.
222.
Macaskie. 1948. The Times, 4, 9, 12, and 16 March, 7 and 29 June, 21 August, 11 November, and 3 December; Macaskie. 1948. Manchester Guardian, 15 March and 29 December; Athens corr. 1948; Daily Telegraph, 4 March and 5 April; Athens corr. 1948. News Chronicle, 5 March. Letters in the press. 1948: The Times, 24 March (Pat Sloan), 6 April (London, president of the Anglican and Εastern Churches), 2 May (Woodhouse); Manchester Guardian, 14 May (R.W. Howard), 27 May (J. Mavrogordato and Dr Helle Lambridi), 29 May (Basdekas), 5 June (Dr H Labridi), 11 and 25 (Hourmouzios); The Spectator, June (Pallis), 30 July (R.W. Howard), 20 August (Dr Lambridi), 27 August and 10 September (Hourmouzios), 3 and 17 September (P. Sloan), 17 September (Keith Butler), 1 October (Marie Pritt); Daily Mail, 13 June 1949 (Major F.M. Bennett).
223.
Woodhouse. Displaced Children. 1948. The Spectator, 22 October.
224.
Woodhouse, The Struggle for Greece, 215–216; Wittner, American Intervention in Greece, 141, 165; Alivisatos, The ‘Emergency Regime’ and Civil Liberties, in Greece in the 1940s, 224. Also, Voglis, Polimeris and Stratis Bournazos. ‘Στρατόπεδο Μακρονήσου, 1947–1950. Βία και προπαγάνδα’ [Camp Makronissos 1947–1950. Violence and Propaganda]. In Ιστορία της Ελλάδας του 20ού αιώνα [History of 20th Century Greece] edited by Christos Xatziiosif, vol. 2. Athens: Bibliorama, 2009, 51–81.
225.
FO371/72212, R6465, Norton to FO, 28 May 1948.
226.
Athens corr. 1948. The Times, 31 May; see also, Reshaping the Rebels. Greek Methods of Converting Communist Youths, 17 November 1949.
227.
Athens corr. 1949. Daily Mail, 5 April.
228.
Matthews, Memories of a Mountain War, 214.
229.
Voigt, F.A. Makronisos. 1949. The Spectator, 22 April; see also Voight, F.A. The Greek Sedition. London: Hollis & Carter, 1949, 22.
230.
J.C.S. (later Sir Steven) Runciman (1903–2000). Distinguished scholar. He became the first permanent Representative of the British Council in Athens (October 1945–May 1947).
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Runciman, Steven. 1949. Manchester Guardian, 17 August.
232.
Woodhouse, The Struggle for Greece, 215.
233.
Davidson, Basil. 1950. The New Statesman, 1 January, 4.
234.
FO1110/61, PR422, Minute by Ralph Murray, [3.iv; 7. (A.&B.iv and D.i)], 16 June 1948.
235.
FO371/78393, R695, Minutes by McCormick, 13 January 1949.
236.
FO953/554, PE2338, Report on the activities of the Information Office during the second quarter of 1949, Information Department to Warner, FO, Whitehall, 13 July 1949.
237.
Epitropi Diafotiseos ke Propagandas (Committee of Enlightenment and Propaganda): its first issue was a book entitled What Is Communism and Why It Must Be Opposed; Sindesmos Allilovoithias Sfagiasthedon ke Kratumenon Ethnikiston, 1944 (SASKE) (Mutual Aid Association of Slaughtered Nationalists, 1944), Ethnikophroni Elasites Macedonias ke Thrakis (Association of Nationalist Elasites of Macedonia and Thrace), and so on. Publishing companies: Ethniki Christianiki Organisis (National Christian Organization), Ethnikos Agon (National Struggle), and so on. (Greek Ministry of Press and Information, Library.)
238.
Barker, Elisabeth. Yugoslav Policy Towards Greece, 1947–1949. In Studies in the History of the Greek Civil War, 1945–1949, edited by Baerentsen, Lars, John O. Iatrides, and Ole L Smith, 288–289. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 1987; Wittner, American Intervention in Greece, 271–272.
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Athens corr. 1949. Daily Telegraph, 14 February.
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Barber. Spring Fever in Macedonia. 1949. News Chronicle, 23 March. Diplomatic correspondent. Check to Russia in Greece. 1949. Sunday Times, 20 March.
241.
Macedonia, leader. 1949. Manchester Guardian, 12 March.
242.
Athens corr. Some Greek Communists Disillusioned. Used for ‘Imperialistic Purposes’. 1949. The Times, 14 March.
243.
Hansard, 23 March 1949, vol. 463, col. 389.
244.
Barber. Greece Looks West as the Snows Melt. 1949. News Chronicle, 25 March.
245.
Clifford. Greece: The Tide Turns. Rebels Can’t Win—Tsaldaris New Phase—With Tito as Ally?’ 1949. Daily Mail, 29 March.
246.
Wittner, American Intervention in Greece, 161.
247.
FO371/78408, R2930, Norton to FO, 14 March 1949; Minutes by Peck, 15 March 1949; FO to Norton, 16 and 17 March 1949.
248.
Athens corr. 1949. The Times, 21 March.
249.
FO371/78408, R3593, Norton to FO, 30 March 1949.
250.
Moscow and Greece, leader. 1949. The Times, 9 June.
251.
Diplomatic. corr. 1949, The Times, 18 October.

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Gioula Koutsopanagou

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Koutsopanagou, G. (2020). Pointing at the Communists as the Main Danger to Law and Order in Greece. In: The British Press and the Greek Crisis, 1943–1949. Palgrave Studies in the History of the Media. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55155-9_8

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