This article deals with the issue of anti-communism in Greece with a special focus on the anti-communist legislation introduced between 1917 and 1967. These legislative measures were part of a broader anti-communist campaign that affected various areas of public life, including the spheres of education, religion, culture, the media, and state propaganda. Based on the legislative acts as primary sources and some relevant literature, the analysis focuses on the development of the political persecution of the Greek Left and sets it in the contexts of the interwar period (1917–1941), the Greek Civil War (1946–1949), and the post-Civil War era (1949–1967). It attempts to explain the motivations that led Greek political elites to adopt anti-communist legislation and examines the implications for the legal system. The article follows the anti-communist policies of both liberal and conservative political powers as well as those of two dictators (Theodoros Pangalos and Ioannis Metaxas). Furthermore, it considers the new tendencies that took place under the influence of the Cold War and greater US engagement in Greece.
The year 1968 was a milestone in the history of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), which was celebrating the 50th anniversary of its establishment. This paper will analyse the peculiarities of the division of 1968 and its impact on the Greek left, especially on the life of Greek refugees in Czechoslovakia. The paper is based primarily on materials available in the National Archives of Prague and also in the archives of the refugee newspaper Agonistis. The article highlights in chronological order the reactions of the KKE and the Czechoslovak leadership to the news of the military coup in Greece, focusing chiefly on those reactions caused by the split of the KKE in conjunction with the changes brought about by the Prague Spring and its violent repression.