GRECIAN REVOLT

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 85, 10 April 1935, Page 11

GRECIAN REVOLT

A TALE OF FACTION

GREAT CAREER ENDS

FLIGHT OF VENIZELOS

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, March 16.

The people of''Greece may congratulate themselves that they have emerged from their latest revolution with a total casualty list on both sides of 9 dead and 94 wounded. Material damage will run into many millions. ' Speaking from the balcony of his flat at the height of the popular demonstration in Athens, the Prime Minister (M. Tsaldaris) said:—• ■ "The revolution is at an end, and the time of expiation has come. Greece is now free—this time for ever —Vom the evil influence of the men who are the enemies of her peace and prosperity. We received from their hands the ruins of a country created 'by four years of extravagance and misgovernment. We have managed to reach a stage of recuperation, good government, and peace. "We shall struggle again and unhesitatingly apply the utmost rigours of the law to heal the wounds inflicted by our enemies. The punishment of those who have fled to foreign countries, taking with them money belonging to the people, will be banishment for life. The Greek people can bo sure that law will be applied in such a manner that the present generation will not again face the speclacle the country presented in the last ten days. The punishment of the guilty will be such that no one will dare in future to try and stand above Ihe laws and endanger national security." A LONG-STANDING FEUD. Possibly this mad adventure may- do some good for Greece, for it puts an end, for the time at least, to a dangerous rivalry. There have been officers in the Greek army and navy who warned the Government against too great a weight of the followers of Venizelos in the Services. That they spoke truly and foresaw the danger is proved by the revolution.. As it happened, the majority of the troops, especially in Athens, remained loyal to the Government. The fleet was almost evenly divided, with the best equipped men-of-war on the side of the Venizelists. The Government, however, had an important advantage in retaining the services of the Air Force. Indeed, the miniature war proved beyond doubt the helplessness of troops and ships unsupported by aeroplanes. They proved invaluable, not only for bombing purposes, but for informing the peasants in Thrace and Macedonia as to the real condition of affairs. Nothing but regret can be felt that M. Venizelos should have been guilty of this great blunder. The chief cause of the rising appears to have been the long-standing feud between Venizelists arid Royalists. M. Venizelos himself does not appear to have been the originator of the plot, but he lent his name to-it and he was ready to reap the fruits if it had been successful. •; "A CRIMINAL ERROR." "A reformer at home, a re-energiser of his nation, architect of the Balkan alliance against Turkey, the leader of his country, in spite of Royal opposition, into the War, M. Venizelos ac* quired during "the subsequent peacemaking an ascendancy which seemed to secure for Greece everything for which she cared to ask (says "The Times" in a leading article). But at the moment of his greatest triumph he was rejected by a vote of his own people, and now, after further periods of Premiership from 1928 to 1932, and in 1033, his eighth, he suffers what may be presumed to be a final eclipse of fortune, for the revolt which has brought him d,own must appear even to his warmest admirers to have been , a criminal error. When the elections of 1933 went against him his friend and ally General* Plastiras set up a dictatorship, which lasted only fourteen hours, and last week the same hot-blooded General was reported to be speeding from the Riviera towards Greece on the first tidings of revolt. That it was carefully prepared seems to be proved by its simultaneous outbreak in Crete, Macedonia, and the islands. . . , , "Faction has never long been absent from Greek history, and since the war-time quarrel between King Constantine and M. Venizelos it has found a fertile seed-ground in the rivalry of the two parties. If one was in power the partisans of the other had little prospect of official favour, and charges of corruption were regularly made by the Opposition against whichever party was for the time monopolising profit and promotion. Feelings had become more strained than ever dunng the last few years, although the Government Of M. Tsaldaris appeared to be ruling with less than the usual .intolerance and bias. It failed, in fact, to satisfy the claims of its own military supporters, owing to the opposition of the Venizelist Senate. On the other hand, M. Venizelos found the way blocked when he tried to get himself elected President of the Republic, and he was particularly embittered by the discovery that the determined attempt on his life two years ago had been led by a Royalist nnlice official. His own followers in the army, navy, and Civil Service probably felt that M. Venizelos s return to office would provide them with their best chance of successful careers; and in his own homeland of Crete in the Aegean islands, where he has always been popular, and in the nrovlnces which his statesmanship had added to Greece, a large proportion oi the population seem to have been ready to stake all in order to secure his triumph over their adversaries. " RETREAT FROM CRETE. ■ ' ■ M Venizelos and his fellow fugitives, after eleven days of uncertain dominance S *c island of Crete are n O w refugees in ■ the Italian island oi Ss, in the Dodecanese (wntes the corespondent of the "Daily • Telegtoph"). They landed there from the faXwed cruiser Averoff That ancient watship is now limping humbly back to Uraeus, the Port of Athens, where the trew abroard her hope to be receiver with the charity accorded, to a proligal son. The other ships which were captured by the rebels—save two--rwve surrendered in Suda Bay. Geneial Kamenos, leader of the insurrection in Macedonia and Thrace, is safe across the Bulgarian frontier with 20 members of his staff. Other officers oj the Fourth Army Corps implicated in the revolt against the Athens Government, and the troops impressed into this mad enterprise, have returned to duty. FLIGHT OF VENIZELOS. '.. M. Venizelos packed his luggage, including some books, at his villa on the outskirts of Canea. He also took with him a large sum of money. He was accompanied by his wife and a nuftiber of personal friends when he weit aboard the Averoff, where he was joined by officers of the navy and arm? who had been identified with the revolution. He was accompanied by ihe ex-Minister, M. Koundouros, and VT. Voloudakios, who are > both members of Parliament; M. Maris, fm■other ex-Minister and an intimate friend.Df M. Venizelos; M. Kothers, and