UNIVERSITY OF THESSALY
2nd International Conference on Economic and Social History
"Markets" and Politics
Private interests and public authority (18th-20th centuries)
Volos, 10-12 February 2012
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
Abstracts
- Christos Tsakas Expropriations and contracts in question: the later phase of the dictatorship, 1973 – 1974
The last period of the dictatorship, between the overthrow of Papadopoulos (25/11/1973) and the Political Changeover (24/7/1974), remains perhaps the least known period of the modern Greek history, having been shadowed by the coup in Cyprus, the Turkish invasion and the political developments it precipitated. However, this specific period has decisively influenced the way we nowadays perceive the whole dictatorial regime, hallmark of which is often considered its social and political alienation.
The coup of 25 November 1973 takes place in the name of the restoration of the “values of April 21” and of the “cleansing of the stink from the scandals”. The initiative of the intervention belongs to a faction of junior officers who seem frustrated by the venture of the liberalization of the regime; “liberalization” which they consider as synonymous with the erosion of the “revolutionary” style and of the martial moral of the(ir) power.
One of the first moves of the new government of Androutsopoulos would be the annulment of the expropriations taken place for the sake of mammoth – contracts, advertised as historic investments by the propaganda of Papadopoulos regime. The most significant of such initiatives is the unilateral annulment of the expropriation for the Third Refinery in Megara which would be announced by the new ministers of Industry and of Agriculture in a mass public gathering of the inhabitants as the first public action of the new government. The slogans prevailing on the placards of the inhabitants were “We are with you” and “Yes to tourism - No to the Refineries”. Of course, this move is not a coincident one. The contract had been signed between Papadopoulos regime and Stratis Andreadis, the president of the Association of Greek Shipowners, who had proved himself to be one of the pillars of the regime. Similar (less impressive though) decisions would follow as far as other tycoons closely related to the former dictatorial regime are concerned.
Which are the goals of such decisions? How would they influence the representative relations between the regime and the entrepreneurs? Would this hostile handling of the gratuitous contracts of the former dictatorial regime inaugurate a broader reshuffling of the social and political alliances? These questions will be examined during the presentation which will be based on the political and financial Press, on the official editions of entrepreneurial organizations, on oral interviews and written witnesses of protagonists of the period.
