Greece since the Return of Venizelos

Author(s): William Miller

Source: Foreign Affairs, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Apr., 1929), pp. 468-476
Published by: Council on Foreign Relations
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20028707
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GREECE

SINCE THE RETURN

OF VENIZELOS
By William Miller

? FTER more than four years' absence from political life, Mr.
Venizelos on July 4 of last year became Prime Minister
L\
JL Jl
of Greece for the fifth time, and in the subsequent General
Election obtained such an overwhelming
victory that he became
the constitutional
dictator of his country. Only fifteen Royalists,
one
leader, Mr. Tsaldares, were elected,
including only
Royalist
and even such a Royalist
returned
stronghold as the P?loponn?se
The
have
taken
their defeat like
Venizelist
deputies.
Royalists
between
bitterness
their
the
them
and
sportsmen;
opponents has
some
if
extremists
refuse to have
still
and,
sensibly diminished;
converse with Mr. Venizelos,
the less intransigent admit that the
Greek people, tired of frequent political changes, wanted a strong
man at the head of the Government.
On his side, the Premier has
in his
been generous to his adversaries. He included two Royalists
in the Chamber
Cabinet and has praised the Royalist opposition
for its objective and useful criticism.
is specially inter
Like the late Lord Salisbury, Mr. Venizelos
ested in foreign policy, and as soon as he had recovered from the
on a
tour to Rome, Paris,
dengue fever he started
diplomatic
London and Belgrade. In Rome he negotiated with Sig. Mussolini,
a treaty of
on
signing
September 23
friendship, arbitration and
judicial

settlement.

On

that

occasion

he made

the

statement

to a

"a Dodecanesian
question does not exist between
journalist that
as
a
Greece and Italy, just
question does not exist
Cypriote
between Greece and Great Britain. Just as Cyprus, during the
half century of the British occupation, has not prevented the best
relations

between

Greece

and

the

so the Dodecanese

latter,

can

not and should not prevent the development

and strengthening of
relations of friendship and trust between Greece and Italy."1
At the same time he expressed the opinion that the signature of
"
cannot fail to have a fortunate influence
this treaty of friendship
and the
upon the relations between the Italian administration
Two

Dodecanesians."

months

later,

Dr.

Skevos

Zervos,

the

in Athens, pointed out in theMessa

leader of the Dodecanesians
to be semi-official,
considered
ger d'Ath?nes2
(which, although
i

Hestia,

Sept.

26,

1928

*Nov.

24,

1928

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GREECE SINCE THE RETURN OF VENIZELOS 469

maintains complete independence in this question) that experience
so far had not confirmed the Premier's
optimistic forecast. Never
official
relations
between
theless,
Italy and Greece have im
to write
unofficial
Dodecanesians
continue
proved, although
about their "question."
for
Sig. Grandi, Italian Under-Secretary
in
Athens
visited
and
received
marked
Affairs,
Foreign
January
from the authorities,
attentions
and the Italian officials have
taken

several

to show

opportunities

courtesy

to

the Greeks.

To be friends with both Rome and Belgrade is almost as diffi

cult as to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. But Mr.
Venizelos has attempted
this difficult feat. As far as Belgrade is
no
statesman
Greek
is better qualified for the task, for
concerned,
he is personally popular there in memory of the Graeco-Serbian
alliance concluded under his auspices in 1913, and more recently
he offered to serve his country by becoming Minister
in the Jugo
slav capital. But the Greeks have had difficulty
in negotiating
with Belgrade because there has been no durable Government
there with which to negotiate. The arrangements for the existing
"Serbian free zone" at Saloniki have caused the usual oriental
one concession that Belgrade demanded, that of
delay;
importing
no Greek
munitions
of war through Saloniki into Jugoslavia,
Government
could permit. For if the imported munitions were
used against a Power with which Jugoslavia was at war, that
Power would bombard the "Serbian free zone," and in so doing
to import munitions
hit Saloniki. Moreover,
from the .zEgean
across Macedonia
would tempt the Bulgarian comitadjis to blow
up trains after the fashion of which they gave a sample in Septem
ber 1927. It is regrettable that, although they have been neighbors
since 1913, few Greeks know anything about Jugoslavia, and few
Jugoslavs anything about Greece.
With Turkey, negotiations
about outstanding difficulties have
not been more successful, owing
principally to the attitude of the
Turks. At a moment when it seemed likely that Mr. Venizelos
might accept the invitation to go to Angora, whither Sig. Grandi
had preceded him, the Turkish press opened an attack upon
was per
Greece. The late Turkish Minister
in Athens,
Djevad,
are
as
but
the
Turks
sonally popular,
proverbially
exasperating
negotiators,

because

they

are

past-masters

in the

art

of procras

at Con
tination. The famous dragoman of the British Embassy
once remarked to me: "There is
stantinople, Mr. Fitzmaurice,
?
one
to
in
which
the battle
only
place
negotiate with the Turks

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FOREIGN AFFAIRS

47?

field." The assessment of the relative values of Turkish properties

in Greece and of Greek properties in Turkey
lends itself to inter
minable discussions, and the good offices of Sig. Grandi have not
a Graeco-Turkish
agreement. This is the more un
yet produced
fortunate because the Greek Government
has no longer either the
wish or the interest to be hostile to Turkey. Hellenism
has prac
to exist inAsia Minor; and theMoslems have almost
ceased
tically
wholly evacuated Macedonia.
Mr. Venizelos has expressed the desire to be on good terms with
no
feel
Bulgaria, and there is
longer that strongly anti-Bulgarian
name
which
in
Greece
made
the
of
Bul
"old
ing
people apply
to
whom
anyone
garian"
they disliked. It is recognized that a
communication
with Bulgaria
direct
would
benefit
railway
so
"Macedonian
and
the
which
Greece;
question,"
sorely per
at the beginning of the century, has been
plexed diplomatists
is concerned. The Greeks are
solved so far as Greek Macedonia
a commercial outlet on the
to
the
Bulgarians
willing
give
?Egean
at

or

Dedeagatch,

even

at

Saloniki,

without,

of

course,

terri

torial corridor, but they justly view with disapproval

the pro
of
the
Mr.
Venizelos
Bulgarian
posed suspension
reparations.
emphasized in the Chamber the injustice which would be inflicted
by the Great Powers upon Greece if they reduced her quota of the
reducing the Greek war debt to
reparations without
Bulgarian
themselves. This, he added, would hinder those close relations
Greece

between

and

Bulgaria

which

he

As

desired.

an

earnest

of

this, the Chamber ratified the agreement of December

1927 con
and
But
Greek
the Greek
Bulgarian property.
refugees
cerning
has notified Great Britain, France and Italy that in
Government
case

the

payment

of

the

next

two

half-yearly

Bulgarian

repara

it will neither apply this agreement nor pay

tions be postponed,
its debts to Great Britain, nor yet submit for the ratification of the
Chamber the arrangement made by Mr. Kaphandares
for the set
tlement of the debts to France. Greece argues that an ex-ally should
be

as well

treated

as an

ex-enemy.

But

experience

since

the war

has shown that nations are apt to act upon the principle that,
while the Bible bids us love our enemies, it does not expressly bid
us love our allies. In the present case, Greece has all the greater
reason for complaint because after the Demirkapu
incident with
was
not
allowed to deduct from the repara
Bulgaria in 1925 she
tions due to her from Bulgaria the amount of compensation which
she was ordered to pay to Bulgaria.

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GREECE SINCE THE RETURN OF VENIZELOS 471

With Great Britain the relations of Greece are excellent. The
doubts with which a portion of the British press regarded the
to power, owing to his possible
unexpected return ofMr. Venizelos
financial policy and to the probable effect which itmight have in
have been largely dissipated.
retarding domestic "reconciliation,"
A big British fleet, always the best form of British propaganda,
visited Greek waters in January and had a cordial reception, and
has asked for, and obtained, a new British
the Greek Government
to
arrive when that headed by Captain Turle
Naval Mission,
term
of
its
service this spring.
completes
The United States have been the subject of enthusiastic praise
in the Greek press in consequence of the speeches made in Con
institu
gress upon the subject of the loan to Greece. American
a
Graeco-American
"Athens
the
tions, notably
College," play
now
is
in
that
it
installed
considerable part in Athenian
life; and,
that school will
its new quarters in the garden-city of Pyschiko,
be able to develop its activities still further. The fact that the
Chairman of the Refugee Settlement Commission has always been
an Englishman,
an American
and that
and the Vice-Chairman
Dr. Hill, the former Director of the American School of Classical
Studies, who has lived twenty years in Greece, has latterly acted
as their substitute, has
with the
closely connected Anglo-Saxons
work
Mr.
Venizelos
of
the
reconstruction
of
Greece.
is de
great
sirous of prolonging
the life of the Commission
beyond next
on a smaller
when
it
would
spring,
probably end, by entrusting it,
the
the
of
with
settlement
lands which
scale,
agriculturists upon
will have been reclaimed by the drainage of the Vardar and
Struma valleys. He has recognized the importance of Macedonia,
the future granary of Greece, by his decision to decentralize
the
to
which
the
red
ties
it
Athenian
administration,
tape
cutting
bureaucracy,

and

bestowing

large

powers

upon

the

Governor

General. This will doubtless be a politician of the first rank, prob

who has been Premier and Foreign
ably Mr. Michalakopoulos,
Minister
and who lately made a tour of inspection throughout his
future province. Saloniki, the "second capital" of Greece, pos
sesses such
importance and its problems are so special that it can
not be
as its
satisfactorily governed from Athens, just
University,
cannot be
intended to produce agriculturists
and industrialists,
on
as
same
conducted
lines
the Athenian.
the
external
and
Peace,
internal, is the greatest blessing which a
statesman can bestow upon Greece, for her most urgent
problems

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FOREIGN AFFAIRS

472
are those of

Since the return of Mr.

have admittedly been more
Venizelos, government
departments
active and questions are solved more rapidly. The influence of the
Premier is felt in every Ministry. Working
thirteen hours a day,
on almost every
speaking
departmental
problem in the Chamber,
never
one man upon whose
a
he
is
the
missing
public function,
in the last resort depends. Now this system
decision everything
has also its drawbacks. Mr. Venizelos cannot know the details of
technical subjects, which he sometimes decides; yet the details are
the essentials. If he justly receives the credit for all that succeeds,
he will inevitably be blamed for all that fails, and he is not in
fallible. At his age can he, even with the examples of Gladstone,
Clemenceau and Pashitch before him, continue work at this terrific
an
to the
Under-Secretary
pace? He has, indeed, appointed
some of the strain; but in democratic
to
relieve
Premiership,
Greece people like to talk with the leading man, not with his
and daily a crowd may be seen waiting outside the
understudy,
in power is desirable, if for
Premier's office. His long continuance
no

internal

reason

other

than

administration.

that

frequent

of

changes

pre

government

vent the adequate study and prompt solution of questions which

are far more
important than tinkering with the political machin
so that various
and
ery
portfolios
rearranging Ministerial
erase
the adverb "formerly" before the word
worthy persons may
on

"Minister"

their

visiting-cards

or

so

that

fresh

Premier,

after a few months of office, may be addressed as "Mr. President"

for the rest of his life. In Greece the best government
is that which
will stay in power, so that people can get on with their business
without

interruption,

and

the worst

enemy

of

the

best

govern

ment is the desire to have something better. The Greek Republic

in five years.
has had ten administrations
The work of the Chamber has also been accelerated. At last the
Senate, projected in 1924, has been created, and Greece today, for
the first time since the revolution of 1862 abolished the Othonian
it will prove to be a
Senate, possesses a second chamber. Whether
or
to
another source of friction,
the constitution
useful addition
an

assembly

of sages

or an

asylum

for old men,

an American

Sen

ate or a House of Lords (without the social prestige), remains to

be seen. The Council of State, abolished in 1865, and restored on
paper in 1911, has now begun to function under the presidency of
a former Speaker of the Chamber. More
Mr. Raktivan,
important
in practice than these alterations of the constitutional machinery

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GREECE SINCE THE RETURN OF VENIZELOS 473

is the serious attempt to improve the health and sanitary condi
tion of the country, with the assistance of doctors sent by the
If the terrible lesson of the dengue epidemic be
League of Nations.
to
will
it
be an example of the Italian proverb that
taken
heart,
"not every evil is bad." To the strong hand of the Premier is due
the settlement of the long-pending question of the Town's Police,
a force under the direction of a British officer, Sir Frederick Halli
to the rival
day. General P?ngalos, who owed his elevation in part
force of gendarmerie, had rewarded the latter by transferring to it
from the police the duty of conducting criminal investigations.
This has now been restored to the police, to which is assigned the
over Athens, the Piraeus, Corfu, Patras and
complete jurisdiction
looks after the
(in the future) Saloniki, while the gendarmerie
smaller towns and the country-side. The plague of brigandage
which infested Epirus and the adjacent districts of Macedonia,
and culminated in the arrest of the two Kaphandarist
candidates,
Messrs. Mylonas
and Melas, during the late election campaign,
and his wife, has been stamped out
and of the Dutch Vice-Consul
and the chief brigands handed over to justice.
Mr. Venizelos found General P?ngalos, who had been arrested
in 1926, still untried. In October he granted an amnesty for all
political offences committed since 1925, and this included P?ngalos,
but the ex-dictator was re-imprisoned on the charge of firing on
the people during the elections of last August. He was, however,
released on bail, and is now living in obscurity. Some of the evil
which he did, however,
lives after him, notably
the contract
for the electrification of Athens by the system of 220 volts, which
"Power

and Traction"

managed

to obtain

during

his

domination

Mr. Chres
and which the present Minister
of Communications,
to
has
been
of
alter
in
the
interest
the public
tamanos,
trying
an
This
furnishes
of
the
safety.
danger to small
episode
example
case
states of granting big contracts to foreign
companies. In this
the danger is not merely moral but physical, for several persons
have died from the shock of the "homicidal current."
Another reform of great benefit to tourists has been recently
effected. Every visitor to Greece knows the horrors of landing in
*
small boats, especially in bad weather. Originally due to the lack
of quays, the practice was perpetuated
in the interest of the boat
and were resolved to keep it. Now,
men, who had a monopoly
however, passengers are landed direct on to the quays at all Greek
ports where quays exist, while the boatmen, as is just, have been

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FOREIGN AFFAIRS

474

in proportion to their age out of a fund provided by

compensated
a small tax on
landing. Great stress is laid upon the desirability
traffic
the tourist
increasing
los has an extensive
roadmaking

of

as a source
program

of revenue.
Mr. Venize
?
it is a century
since

from Pylos toMethone, was made

by the
to
that
and
from
Athens
the
Piraeus
force,
expeditionary
made till 1835. There are still rural districts where the
doctor is a couple of days distant by mule-track. The
inGreece has facilitated travel
of motor-traffic
great development
to the English guidebooks,
in a manner unknown
the latest of
which is twenty years old. In these days when classical education
is rarer, the apostles of Greek travel would do well to lay less
road inGreece,

the first
French
was not
nearest

stress

exclusive

the

upon

and more

antiquities

upon

the

natural

beauties of the country. They might also endeavor, by erecting

hotels in high places, on the lines of Troodos
in Cyprus, to keep
in Greece

the

during

summer

those

well-to-do

Greeks

who

are now

to travel two or three

days' journey abroad in search of
compelled
a cool "hill-station."
But for all these practical and ultimately
remunerative
reforms money
is wanted,
and there is a limit
to the issue of loans. Efforts are also being made to check the
(as clearly shown by
increasing tendency of the rural population
to
flock
the census of May
into
the
15, 1928)
towns, and it is
to put

proposed

a tax
upon

in view

bachelors,

vealed by the census, that the female population

?
a

male

?
52,214

phenomenon
is not yet

not

noticed

and

large,

the

before

taxation

of

the

fact,

also

re

is in excess of the

?
difference
1920. The
of bachelors
in Greece

is complicated by the custom of the celibacy of a brother until his

?
last December
sisters have married, and by the cost of living
times

19.11

what

it was

before

the war

which

tends

to raise

the

the last six months of 1928 the index

age of marriage. During
a
little, from 19.47, but the cost of several articles of
figure fell
consumption

increased,

and

salaries

have

not

risen

in the

same

proportion.

Thus while Greece has made undoubted progress during this

there are difficulties ahead. The Pre
Venizelist
administration,
better than
is thought to know mankind
mier, like Gladstone,
individual men. His appointments have sometimes been criticized
on the ground that, being a man of
spotless integrity himself, he is
apt

to

imagine

that

other

persons

have

the

same

standard

of

was one of the causes of his fall in 1920,

public morality. This
because the proverb noscitur a sociis was applied to him by his

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GREECE SINCE THE RETURN OF VENIZELOS 475

so
said that he was not a Gladstonian,
opponents. As Gladstone
It is unfor
Mr. Venizelos might say that he is not a Venizelist.
in
tunate that one of the most upright and sterling characters
cannot collaborate with him
Greek public life, Mr. Kaphandares,
after the difficulties between them last May, for which the sepa
a
from Lord Harrington
ration of Gladstone
parallel.
supplies
two
followers
Now the former leader of the Liberal party has only
alone of the Republi
in the Chamber, where Mr. Papanastasiou
to the Premier's proposals. The other
cans raises any
opposition
leaders who were prominent during the last five years have been
temporarily

eclipsed,

is the more

creditable

among

them

the

so-called

"stratocrats,"

who played such decisive parts in the earlier years of the Republic.
is
One marked advantage,
indeed, of Mr. Venizelos's
hegemony
the complete subordination of the military element. His authority
is such that he can keep ambitious generals in their proper places,
to the press
and the familiar phrase of official communications
that "the army is entirely engrossed with its duties" is now true.
Nothing did Greece more harm abroad than the exaggerated repu
tation which she obtained for coups d'?tat. That is now a thing of
of War,
the Minister
is the first
the past, for Mr. Sophoules,
of
of
Mr.
the
the
latter in
and
lieutenant
Venizelos,
presence
power is a guarantee of civil government.
It was the February protocol of 1830 which declared Greece to
state. If nothing unforeseen happens before
be an independent
it will be possible to
next year's celebration of the centenary,
is much
record that the country's
condition
improved from
after the Asia Minor
disaster. This
what it was immediately
acteristic

in all

to the Greek
?

ages

in view

of

?
its
people's
vitality
the immense
economic

char
losses

the inundations, and above

caused by the Corinth earthquake,
all the dengue fever last year alone. It is calculated
that 85
were
low
of
Athenian
that
the
laid
percent
by
epi
population
demic, so that the number of working days lost was in the aggre
it.
gate enormous, besides the large sums expended in combating
The diplomatic
situation of Greece has, as I said, improved.
It remains to be seen whether Mr. Venizelos will achieve in the
field of internal and social legislation successes similar to those
which he reaped in foreign policy during his first three Premier
ships. Bismarck attempted both tasks, but with unequal results;
the most eminent of dead Greek statesmen, succeeded
Trikoupes,
in both. Especially
difficult for Greece is the financial problem,

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FOREIGN AFFAIRS

476

is the keystone

which

not

knowledge

of the arch, and which

within

usually

the

of

range

expert

requires

statesmen's

acquire

ments. Numerous British Chancellors of the Exchequer have been

duffers at arithmetic, but they had the advantage of being sup
an expert permanent civil service such as does not exist
ported by
in Greece. Besides, Greece has the expensive task of developing
as Macedonia,
which the Turks neglected for five
provinces such
with Epirus by rail, and of
of
Macedonia
centuries,
connecting
of
the
the
settlement
refugees. Here the prompt grant
completing
loan would assist, for the delay has
of the projected American
caused

To
hasty

necessary

prophesy

but

visitors;

of

reductions

will

what
a

the

happen

calm

survey

program.

in Greece
of

the

is the privilege
last

few

months

of
en

If Greece can have a few years of firm and

courages optimism.
her immediate progress should be assured.
stable government,
?
is the same
the
But the problem of one man rule everywhere
successor.
is
there
less interest than
question of the
Happily,
a
as
in
Greeks
profession. Other interests
formerly among
politics
have

to

arisen

more

challenge

that

once

all-absorbing

theme.

Greece

is

the
industrialized;
sport has ardent votaries;
becoming
careers
than the quest of
rising generation looks forward to other
for
business
the newspapers
and
pays better;
posts,
governmental
devote considerable space to social questions. If the Premier re
serves his energies for the larger issues, leaving details to compe
tent subordinates, and if no event disturbs the peace of the neigh
boring
at Tirana
Foreign

?-

for there are danger

to add
be able
he may
Minister
the less spectacular

states
?

spots
to his

alike

past
but more

at
and
Belgrade
as a
record
great
use
permanently

ful one of a regenerator of his country's internal life. Extension of

the first acts of his career in Greek public
territory characterized
cultivation
should mark the last.
its
intensive
life,

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