Letter from Charles Maliotis to Congressman John W. McCormack

CHARLES MALIOTIS 40 Court St. Rm. 1012 Boston, Mass. March 30, 1946 Hon. John W. McCormack Majority Leader of the House of Representatives Washington, D. C. Dear Mr. McCormack:- During my stay in Greece from the first week in November 1945 to the middle of February 1946, I talked with nearly all the leaders of the political parties and with people from all walks of life. I listened to the story of their heroic effort in the common cause and their tragic suf- ferings at the hands of cruel foes during the years of enemy occupation; how their abiding faith and high hopes that victory would bring them liberation, peace and security, were dashed by the curse of internal turmoil and civil strife and international conflict with repercussions in their home- land. I saw evidence of the scourge of war on every side and in every form: destroyed villages, ruined economy, production at a standstill, land and sea communications shattered, pes- tilential inflation, and physical and mental exhaustion of a people, beset by illnesses, which inevitably follow prolonged privations of the necessities of life. I observed, as best I could, the economic, social and political conditions under which the people lived, and formed opinions regarding them, which I respectfully submit. The resistance movement (the EAM) attracted during the years of occupation the valorous elements, which carried on in the mountains the traditional struggle for freedom against the invaders, just as their ancestors had done for centuries during the Turkish occupation. It was a natural continuation of the liberating spirit of 1821 and 1940. The movement was ARCHIVER 'NATIONAL broadly democratic. The extreme left wing (communist) was RECORDS SERVICE' small in numbers but relatively well organized and therefore influential, but not controlling. The whole movement was against the return of King George, and reliable opinion holds that had liberation been followed by peaceful transition, free elections would have yielded a truly democratic govern- ment. At the time of the liberation the return of the monarchy seemed a lost cause, if left to the people. The civil strife, however, with the excesses of both the extreme right and left, brought a popular revulsion of feeling, but to a greater degree against the EAM because the excesses of the left were, with outside help, better propagandized by the right. The shedding of brotherly blood unloosed deep passions on both sides. Following the termination of the civil strife, for about eight months, the extreme right, bent on the return of the monarchy,