Into Phase 2

For nearly a month, Greece has been gripped by a bitter and highly significant struggle. On one side were the hard-lining former military officers, who sought to perpetuate their rigidly moralistic rule. Pitted against them were the more moderate revolutionary leaders, who favored an eventual return to some form of parliamentary government. After a series of shifts and political maneuvers, it is finally clear that the moderates, led by Premier George Papadopoulos, have emerged the winners. Their victory signaled the start of a new chapter in Greece's post-revolutionary development.

The showdown had been brewing for some time. In the days following the April 1967 revolution, Papadopoulos was the favorite of the hardliners. They became increasingly disillusioned with him after he encouraged the drafting and promulgation of a constitution that ultimately would bring back exiled King Constantine and put the junta out of business. The breaking point came late last month, when Papadopoulos overruled a decision by his fellow military officers and stayed the execution of Alexandros Panaghoulis, a 30-year-old army private who had been convicted of an assassination attempt on the Premier's life.

Downgrading the Military. Papadopoulos then moved swiftly against his antagonists. In a series of deft maneuvers, he transferred several leading hardliners. Most notable: ex-Colonellonnis Ladas, who lost his post as chief of the country's internal security system. Isolated from their former colleagues in the army, the hard-liners had no alternative but to bow to the Premier's orders. Consolidating his control over the Greek military, Papadopoulos appointed Lieut. General Odysseus Anghelis, a reliable career officer, to the newly created post of Chief of the Armed Forces.

Meanwhile, Papadopoulos began a campaign to put the revolutionary council, the junta's shadowy ruling body, out of business. In conducting affairs of state, he ignored the council, instead sought ratification of his programs from the civilian-dominated Cabinet. Government censors allowed two Athens papers to report that the revolutionary council no longer existed.

As if to buttress that contention, the chief government spokesman emphasized at a press conference that all government power is now being exercised solely through the Cabinetland Premier, as prescribed in the new constitution that was overwhelmingly ratified last September. Papadopoulos appointed a commission of jurists and civil servants to draw up the 25 or so laws that are needed to implement the precepts of the constitution. In a nationwide radio address, Papadopoulos promised to ease the country's rigid revolutionary rule and to introduce extensive social re forms. The thrust of his actions in dicated that the initial military phase of the revolution had ended and that Phase 2, which would be political in nature, had now begun.

Eliminating an Excuse. At least two leading Athens politicians have sought to seize on the developments to resume activity. They are Evangelos Averoff-Tossizza, 58, Foreign Minister in Constantine Karamanlis' conservative government from 1956 to 1963, and Spyros Markezinis, 59, the former leader of the small Progressive Party. Said Averoff, who wants to found an opposition party: "I will continue attacking the regime, but I will do so in a legitimate way, not in a subversive manner." Papadopoulos has seemed content to allow them to make preliminary attempts at organizing parties. "I would be happy," he said, "if someone got started." But Greece's remaining political leaders, including former Premier Panayotis Kanellopoulos, have refused to cooperate in any way with Papadopoulos. The Premier hopes to convince them that their boycott is only delaying Greece's return to normal parliamentary rule.

Papadopoulos' victory imposes new responsibilities on him. In the past, he has accused the hard-liners of preventing him from moving more quickly toward the re-establishment of parliamentary rule through elections. Now that he has curbed them, he has also eliminated his most convincing excuse for keeping Greece a repressive, and in some ways a brutal, dictatorship 20 months after the revolution.

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