On August 4, 1936, Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas, with the consent of King George II, suspended key articles of the Constitution and declared a dictatorship. The regime proved to be hypocritical and would collapse after his death on January 29, 1941.
Metaxas was prime minister from April 13, 1936 to January 29, 1941. Then, Alexandros Koryzis took over as prime minister until April 18, 1941 and later Emmanuel Tsouderos. Typically the regime was abolished by royal decree in February 1942, while the country was occupied by the Axis powers and the Greek government-in-exile was in Egypt.
The political instability of interwar Greece
Throughout the interwar period, with the exception of the four years 1928-1932, Greece suffered from political passions (coups, dictatorships, bankruptcy, restoration, etc.). On January 26, 1936, elections were held under the electoral law of simple proportionality (AN. 30/12/1935). The elections led to a political stalemate as the two major factions of the time, that is, the Venizelians (Liberal Party, Democratic Coalition, Old Democratic Union of Crete, Agrarian Party of Greece, Agrarian Democratic Party) and the pro-royalists (People's Party, General People's Radical Union, Liberal Party, Reform National Party) had collected 141 and 144 votes respectively. Due to the National Division that was rekindled by the kinematic attempt of Venezuelan officers under Nikolaos Plastiras in 1935, the two major factions were unable to come to an understanding with each other.
The road to dictatorship
The KKE now played a regulatory role, through its electoral scheme, the Pallaikos Front, which had 15 seats. After the elections, the KKE conducted negotiations with both the People's Party and the Liberal Party. Finally, on February 19, 1936, the Sofouli-Sklavaina Pact was secretly signed between the Liberals and the Pallaic Front. In practice, this pact meant that the KKE and the Liberal Party were creating a popular democratic front, as the Comintern's strategy at the time dictated. On March 2, the first meeting of the parliament took place and the deputies took the customary oath. The KKE MPs filed a document stating that the Pallaikos Front MPs are not bound by the formal oath they took. At the second meeting of the parliament on March 6, a vote was held to elect the president of the parliament. KKE MPs, based on the Sofoulis-Sklavaina pact, voted for Sofoulis as president. Intense verbal disputes between the deputies followed.
On March 5, 1936, Ioannis Metaxas was appointed military minister in the government of Constantinos Demertzis. On March 14, he takes over as Minister of Aviation and Deputy Prime Minister. After the death of the then acting Prime Minister Kon. On April 13th, King George appointed Ioannis Metaxas, a well-known supporter of the dictatorial deviation, as prime minister.
On April 27, after the programmatic statements of the prime minister, the parliament gave a vote of confidence to the Metaxas government with 241 votes in favor, 16 against and 4 abstentions. KKE MPs and George Papandreou voted against. On April 30, parliament adjourned until September 30, authorizing the government to run the country by legislative decree, subject to oversight by a 40-member parliamentary committee. A key role in the rise of Metaxas was played by the death of great political leaders during the first half of 1936 (Georgios Kondylis, Eleftherios Venizelos, Panagis Tsaldaris, Konstantinos Demertzis). The bloody events of Thessaloniki in May 1936 will provide the first justification for the overthrow of the parliamentary system. After these events, Ioannis Metaxas raised with the king the issue of dictatorial governance of the country. The adoption of the emergency measures was studied within the context of the growing tension in international relations and the imminent threat of European conflict. "The dictatorship was deemed necessary for reasons of foreign policy". In fact, one of the subsequent ministers of the August 4th regime, Konstantinos Maniadakis, in his pre-election speech in the context of the 1950 elections, stated that the dictatorship was imposed for external reasons.
The reaction of the bourgeois parties to the dictatorship was lukewarm because even earlier dictatorships had been imposed or attempts had been made by other politicians (including Venizelos), and the removal of parliamentary institutions was considered permissible in order to return the country to normality.
The imposition of dictatorship
On the evening (22:00) of August 4, 1936, Metaxas went to the Palace to meet King George. With him he had ready the decrees for the suspension of certain basic articles of the constitution and the dissolution of the parliament, on the occasion of the general strike that the unions had declared for August 5, by a joint decision of the GSEE and the United GSEE. That same evening, Metaxas convened an emergency cabinet meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Despite the reactions and resignations of some ministers, Metaxas managed to suspend important articles of the Constitution and, with the support of the king, established the dictatorship of August 4.
Metaxas writes in his diary:
"Greece became an anti-communist State, an anti-parliamentary State, a totalitarian State from the 4th of August. An agrarian and labor-based state, and therefore anti-plutocratic. Of course, he had no particular party to govern. But all the people were a party, except for the incorrigible communists and the reactionary old party members".
The character and ideology of the regime
The August 4th regime can be characterized as right-wing authoritarian and paternalistic. Despite its influences from fascism and Nazism, August 4th is not fully identified with the regimes of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Moreover, it did not adopt the racial-racist discrimination of Nazism (a characteristic example is that Greek Jews were allowed to participate in the EON). Moreover, unlike fascism and Nazism, the Metaxas dictatorship did not acquire a broad popular base, despite its efforts, nor did it have a radical-kinetic base. Another important difference was the anti-imperialist discourse of the regime and Metaxas.
Influenced by the dictatorship of Salazar in Portugal (since 1933) and the militaristic "Estado Novo" in Brazil (since 1930). After all, in the official discourse of the regime there were frequent references to the Greece of Metaxas as a "New State", along with other characteristic rhetorical schemes such as "Patris, Religion, Family" etc.
An attempt to recognize the silk dictatorship as popularly acceptable, but also to instill its ideology in the youth was the establishment of the National Youth Organization. As a symbol of Youth, the Minoan double pelekis was chosen in the logic of "the first symbol of all Greek civilizations". Membership, however, was not mandatory. Crown Prince Pavlos was appointed head of EON.
Nationalism and Third Greek Civilization
Nationalism was perhaps the most prominent feature of the regime. Metaxas still aimed for cultural/cultural purity with the goal of a new "Third Greek Civilization". He created and spread this ideology of the "3rd Greek Civilization", on which the state of the 4th of August was based. The followers of the regime considered that the modern Greeks should be the continuations of the Ancient (A') and Byzantine (B') Civilization and that they should have as their goal the racial unity of the nation, as well as the preservation of traditions. The ideal state according to Metaxas was not the Athenian Republic, but the military Sparta and the ancient Macedonia which united ancient Greece politically. The main difference with the 3rd Reich lies in the fact that the ideology of "3rd Greek Civilization" did not find as wide an appeal among the masses as the National Socialist ideology found in Germany (absence of a mass fascist or National Socialist party as in Italy and Germany).
Monarchy
Support for the Monarchy, seeing the institution as a symbol of national unity, was still one of the main features of the dictatorship. Still, Metaxas tried to project himself as the only hope of salvation in a divided nation, while turning hostile towards "old partyism" and the parliamentary tactics of the past.
Censorship
In the logic of social control, the regime proceeded to impose censorship on the press, while prohibiting the recording and circulation of rebetik songs that contained or were based on "oriental" roads, as well as songs with Hasidic themes as well as some satirical ones.
Another silk policy was the choice in favor of the Vernacular language (in a moderate form of course). Thus, steps were taken to introduce her to education. In 1939, Manolis Triantafyllidis was commissioned to publish a grammar for the vernacular, the "New Greek Grammar".
Arts and Letters
The August 4th regime did not seek to use art and artists to produce propaganda work, as happened in other interwar totalitarian regimes. No kind of Ministry of Propaganda was created. He kept an equal distance from the artistic currents of the time, banning only the production of those who were ideologically opposed to the regime. The uninterrupted continuation of the surrealist current is indicative.
The views of the regime on the arts and in particular on painting was presented in the context of a discussion Metaxas had with a group of painters (Vikatos, Prokopiou et al.) in 1937. The painters expressed to him their concerns about the favor of certain members of the regime "to its subversive art directions, towards the strengthening of futurism". Metaxas promised that he does not support a certain art movement and that he will not decorate public spaces with works of bad art. He was of the opinion that the arts are primarily an instrument of culture and only indirectly an instrument of propaganda. However, he believed that "only the Head of Government" should have the coordination of arts policy. At the beginning of 1937, he submitted the matters of culture to the newly established Deputy Ministry of Press and Tourism. Also, in the Ministry of Religion and National Education created the Department of Letters, Fine Arts and State Theaters with Kostis Bastias as director. In March 1938 he inaugurated the "Panhellenic Art Exhibition", a manifestation of the regime's desire to place artistic activity under state patronage.
The debt to the Societe Commerciale de Belgique
In 1925 the Greek State had entered into an agreement with the Belgian Societe Commerciale de Belgique (Socobelge) for the construction of railway projects. The agreement was ratified by law of 6-10-1925 (Government Gazette 294 A' / 8-10-1925). The value of the project was initially estimated at approximately 21 million US dollars. The payment would be made in gold, with money that the company would lend to the Greek State. In 1932, due to an economic crisis, the Greek State abandoned the "golden rule" and suspended the payment of the loan.
The two sides appealed to international arbitration. On July 25, 1936 the Arbitration Commission issued a decision according to which the debt of the Greek State was 6,771,868 gold dollars with an interest rate of 5%. However, the Greek State did not proceed with the payment of the loan installments, while it announced that it would not pay in gold. From December 1936 a series of fruitless negotiations began and in 1937 the case passed from the Belgian company to the Belgian Government.
The latter appealed unilaterally to the Permanent International Court of Justice on 4-5-1938, with the request to recognize that Greece is violating international law. During the procedure, the Greek side accepted the existence of the debt but argued that due to financial difficulties (force majeure) it cannot pay it. After a process of about two months in which the Greek Government insisted on its positions, the Belgian Government stated that it takes into account Greece's ability to pay as well as the traditional friendship between the two states. Following this, the Court, on June 15, 1939, rejected Belgium's request and referred Greece and the Belgian Company to the Arbitration Award of 1936.
After WW2, and while part of the Marshall Plan aid was given to Greece through Belgian Banks, Socobelge again tried to claim amounts of this aid, a request to which the Belgian Government initially agreed. With the intervention of the USA, Belgium was convinced to refer the company to a friendly settlement with Greece.
Strong anti-communism
The main feature of the August 4th Dictatorship was fierce anti-communism, moreover its enforcement was based on the "communist threat". The persecution of communism was systematic and aimed at its disappearance. The prosecution of the communists was undertaken by the newly established Deputy Ministry of Security, headed by Konstantinos Maniadakis.
The dictatorship persecuted the KKE, arresting and torturing its members with unprecedented methods (castor oil, hot pepper, ice, phalanx, castration and even horseshoeing) and murdering others even with torture.
The communists Christos Maltezos, Nikos Valianatos, Mitsos Maroukakis, Lysandros Miliaresis, Stefanos Laskaridis, Pavlos Stavridis and others were murdered by the August 4th dictatorship.
Mitsos Maroukakis, editor-in-chief of Rizospastis, was thrown from the roof of the General Security in Piraeus on October 13, 1936, the old trade unionist Nikos Valianatos escaped from the Athens Special Security on August 9, 1938, and the shoemaker Stefanos Laskaridis also escaped from the Thessaloniki Special Security on the 31 January 1938 and their murders were attributed by the Security to suicide.
However, there was no organized planning for mass executions of communists, as for example happened in Franco's Spain.
From the very first day, the regime closed Rizospasti and unleashed the first wave of arrests of KKE members and executives (Vassilis Berveris, Manolis Manoleas, etc.). In September 1936, he arrested and imprisoned the leader of the KKE, Nikos Zachariadis, in Corfu, in the notorious Aktina IX. Until the middle of 1938 he arrested many members of the KKE leadership, while during 1939 the arrests escalated and few leading members escaped arrest (from the KKE Central Committee the only member not arrested was Damianos Mathesis).
In the prisons of Akronaflia that operated since the spring of 1937, the largest group of communists, about 600 people, was imprisoned. Also, many executives and members of the KKE were displaced to the small islands of Ai Strati, Anafi, Folegandros, Kimolos, Gavdos and elsewhere. At the end of 1939, few members of the KKE had remained unaccounted for. The KKE practically did not exist.
Metaxas, a fanatical anti-communist himself, had gathered around him some of the most extreme anti-communists, such as Konstantinos Maniadakis and Theodoros Skylakakis, stalwart majors of 1923, Kostas Kotzias, I. Diakos and others. In addition, the dictatorship had sent some Security personnel (including Spyros Paxinos) to the Gestapo in Nazi Germany for training in the persecution and countering of Communism.
The regime strengthened its legal arsenal with new laws, such as Law 117/1936 "on measures to combat Communism". According to the data of the Deputy Ministry of Security, 47,000 communists submitted "statements of repentance and renunciation of communism" by 1940, while those arrested amounted to approximately 50,000.
Book burning
One of the first acts of the dictatorship was the burning of progressive books confiscated from bookstores, agencies and the homes of the arrested. The books burned in public places by members of fascist organizations, regime officials and paid individuals were by Greek and foreign authors. In addition to works by Marx, Engels, Lenin, Plekhanov and other classics of Marxism, works by Gorky, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Goethe, Darwin, Freud, Anatole France, Bernard Shaw, Papadiamanti, Kazantzakis, Karkavitsa, Kordatos and others were also burned.
In newspapers of August 16, 1936 we read:
"Η Εθνική Φοιτητική Νεολαία Πειραιώς προβαίνουσα εις την εξαφάνισιν δια πυράς ολοκλήρου σειράς κομμουνιστικών εντύπων την προσεχή Κυριακήν και ώραν 8μμ και εν τη πλατεία Πασαλιμανίου Πειραιώς προσκαλεί άπαντας τους εθνικόφρονας νέους, όπως προσέλθουν εν τη πλατεία Τερψιθέας 7μμ ίνα εν σώματι μεταβούν και συμμετέχουν εις την τελετήν'".
Η έννοια του κομμουνιστικού εντύπου ήταν πολύ πλατιά και ερμηνευόταν από το καθεστώς κατά το δοκούν. Συμπεριλαμβάνονταν σε αυτά ακόμα και σχολικά βιβλία όπως Τα Ψηλά Βουνά του Ζαχαρία Παπαντωνίου. Στο κάψιμο των βιβλίων και στη δίωξη των ιδεών το καθεστώς της 4ης Αυγούστου αντέγραφε επακριβώς τα χιτλερικά πρότυπα.
Ωστόσο, σύμφωνα με μια μελέτη (Κοντού Γεωργία, διδακτορική διατριβή 2013), το καθεστώς 4ης Αυγούστου θεώρησε ικανοποιητικά τα ήδη υπάρχοντα σχολικά βιβλία και επέτρεψε την κυκλοφορία τους αφού εξέφραζαν κατά μεγάλο μέρος τις ιδεολογικές αρχές του καθεστώτος.
Το 1939 τύπωσε νέα σχολικά βιβλία για τη στοιχειώδη και μέση εκπαίδευση για να εκφράζουν πληρέστερα τις ιδεολογικές αρχές του καθεστώτος. Στα νέα σχολικά βιβλία τονίζεται το εθνικό φρόνημα, η αρχαία ιστορία και μυθολογία και η υπεροχή του εθνικού συμφέροντος έναντι το ατομικού. Όμως σπανίζουν οι εκφράσεις φανατισμού και πολεμόχαρης βίας. Ακόμα και οι ένοπλες δυνάμεις παρουσιάζονται ως έτοιμες να υπερασπιστούν τα κεκτημένα και όχι να διεκδικήσουν νέα εδάφη.
Μειονότητες
Επίσης, στον τομέα των μειονοτήτων, το καθεστώς προσπάθησε να επιβάλλει τη χρήση της ελληνικής γλώσσας σε δημόσιους αλλά και ιδιωτικούς χώρους, με κυριότερα θύματά του τους σλαβόφωνους πληθυσμούς που κατοικούσαν στη Μακεδονία και τους Σλαβομακεδόνες. Δεν υιοθετήθηκε όμως κάποιο σχέδιο μαζικής εξόντωσης ή εκτοπισμού, όπως συνέβη με ανάλογα καθεστώτα στην Ευρώπη.
Πολιτικοί κρατούμενοι
Ένα από τα μελανότερα σημεία της Δικτατορίας της 4ης Αυγούστου, τρεις μήνες μετά τον θάνατο του Ι. Μεταξά, ήταν η παράδοση όλων των πολιτικών κρατουμένων στους κατακτητές Γερμανούς και Ιταλούς, με αποτέλεσμα πολλοί από αυτούς να εκτελεστούν αργότερα από τους κατακτητές κατά τη διάρκεια της κατοχής.
Στις 29 Οκτωβρίου 1940, μία μέρα μετά την κήρυξη του ελληνοϊταλικού πολέμου, η ομάδα των 600 περίπου κρατούμενων κομμουνιστών της Ακροναυπλίας έστειλε υπόμνημα στην κυβέρνηση Μεταξά και ζήτησε να σταλούν όλοι οι κρατούμενοι στο μέτωπο για να πολεμήσουν τον εισβολέα. Το υπόμνημα υπέγραψαν εκ μέρους των πολιτικών κρατουμένων οι βουλευτές του ΚΚΕ Γ. Ιωαννίδης και Κ. Θέος.
Στις 6 και στις 13 Νοέμβρη στάλθηκαν άλλα δύο υπομνήματα που απορρίφθηκαν επίσης από τον Μεταξά, ο οποίος ζήτησε από τους κρατούμενους να υπογράψουν δήλωση μετανοίας για να αφεθούν ελεύθεροι.
Επίσης εξόριστοι των νησιών των Κυκλάδων (Φολέγανδρο, Κίμωλο, Ανάφη) με αίτησή τους, ζήτησαν από το Υπουργείο Ασφαλείας να σταλούν στο μέτωπο, οι μεν άνδρες στην πρώτη γραμμή, οι δε γυναίκες ως νοσοκόμες σε προωθημένα ιατρεία, όπως στην Κίμωλο με πρωτοστάτες την Φούλα Χατζιδάκη και τον Μιλτιάδη Πορφυρογένη. Μετά την αρνητική απάντηση των κρατούντων και μπροστά στον κίνδυνο να τους παραδώσουν στους κατακτητές, οι εξόριστοι συνεδρίασαν και αποφάσισαν δραπέτευση, ομαδική, τμηματική ή και ατομική.
Εξωτερική πολιτική
Στον τομέα της εξωτερικής πολιτικής, ο Μεταξάς προσπάθησε να ισορροπήσει μεταξύ της Αγγλίας, η οποία ήταν η κυρίαρχη ναυτική δύναμη της Μεσογείου και προς την οποία άλλωστε στρέφονταν οι συμπάθειες του βασιλιά, και της Γερμανίας, με το ολοκληρωτικό καθεστώς της οποίας υπήρχε ιδεολογική συνάφεια, αλλά και στενότατοι οικονομικοί δεσμοί. Φαίνεται, όμως, ότι ήδη από το 1936 η Ελλάδα είχε ευθυγραμμιστεί απόλυτα με τους Βρετανούς. Οι δεσμεύσεις του Μεταξά προς το Λονδίνο φάνηκαν λίγο μετά την επιβολή της δικτατορίας, στις 20 Αυγούστου 1936, ο Μεταξάς σύνηψε συμφωνία με τους Άγγλους κατόχους Ελληνικών ομολόγων, με την οποία αύξησε το τοκοχρεολύσιο του εξωτερικού δημοσίου χρέους από 30% που προβλεπόταν για την διετία 1935-1937 σε 40%. Αναφέρει επίσης σε επιστολή του στον Πρέσβη της Ελλάδος στην Αγγλία ότι αι μόναι προνομιακαί επιχειρήσεις εν Ελλάδι είναι αι Αγγλικαί. Σημαντικό ρόλο έπαιξε η απόρριψη της ανανέωσης του συμφώνου Βενιζέλου - Τιτόνι (1928) περί της Ελληνοιταλικής φιλίας από τον Ιωάννη Μεταξά το 1938, έναν χρόνο πριν το ξέσπασμα του Β ΠΠ.
Παρ΄όλη την πρόοδο των Γερμανικών οικονομικών συμφερόντων στην Ελλάδα το αγγλικό μονοπωλιακό κεφάλαιο παρέμενε το ισχυρότερο. Τα 3 δυτικά κεφάλαια (Αγγλία, Γαλλία, Αμερική) κατείχαν το 70% των ξένων κεφαλαίων, ενώ το Γερμανικό και το Ιταλικό 5% και 4,5% αντίστοιχα.
Οι Άγγλοι αποδέχονταν, επίσης, την ουδέτερη στάση της Ελλάδας εξαιτίας της αδυναμίας τους να της παράσχουν ουσιαστική στρατιωτική υποστήριξη.
Χαρακτηριστικό παράδειγμα των στενών σχέσεων που υπήρχαν μεταξύ των δύο κυβερνήσεων είναι το γεγονός ότι ο Μεταξάς πρότεινε το 1938 στην αγγλική κυβέρνηση τη σύναψη αμυντικής συμμαχίας, την οποία η αγγλική κυβέρνηση αρνήθηκε διπλωματικά αφού δεν είχε λόγο να αμφιβάλλει σχετικά με την στάση της Ελλάδας σε επικείμενο πόλεμο. Αντίθετα, με τη γερμανική κυβέρνηση οι σχέσεις ήταν τυπικές, αφού η Ελλάδα είχε πολλά οφέλη από τις οικονομικές επενδύσεις των Γερμανών. Σημαντικό ρόλο στις διπλωματικές σχέσεις των δύο χωρών διαδραμάτισε και η στάση της Ιταλίας, λόγω των συνεχών προκλήσεων. Το γεγονός της βύθισης της Έλλης σηματοδότησε το τέλος των φιλικών σχέσεων με τις δυνάμεις του Άξονα.
Επίσης, σημαντική παράμετρος της εξωτερικής πολιτικής του καθεστώτος υπήρξε και η συνέχιση των καλών σχέσεων και της προσέγγισης με την Τουρκία, η οποία είχε αρχίσει από τα έτη πρωθυπουργίας του Ελευθερίου Βενιζέλου. Ένας πρόσθετος λόγος που συνέβαλλε σε αυτήν την πολιτική ήταν και η ιταλική παρουσία στα Δωδεκάνησα και το Αιγαίο.