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U.S. Imperialist Foreign Policy

Modern Communism continues its examination of U.S. imperialist activities around the world since the Second World War.

Greece

In 1944, Greece became the first European country to ave its entire political and economic system imposed by an outside power - Great Britain. By 1944, Greek partisans had defeated the Nazi occupiers, overthrown their collaborators and the entire country was in the hands of the partisans. An estimated two million of Greece's population of seven million were active in the resistance during the war years.

The British, terrified that the country would embrace communism, quickly installed the right-wing puppet government of George Papandreou. Some of the quislings the partisans had just overthrown were given positions in the new government. However, the British needed help, as many of the partisans and rebels who had fought the Nazis rejected the puppet government. The British turned to the Americans who, in two years, poured $180 million of military and economic aid into the country, propping up what they claimed was a democratic government. (The 1946 elections, supervised by the British, were boycotted by an overwhelming majority of Greeks).

By 1947, faced with the task of rebuilding in England and trying to maintain control of the crumbling British Empire, Britain informed the Americans that it would not be able to continue propping up the Greek government. By this time, the Greek regime had also drawn criticism, from even some of the staunchest anti-communists in Britain, about gross human rights abuses, corruption, and the wide-spread use of torture and collective punishment against civilians (to try and weaken support for the rebel forces).

The Truman administration stepped in, going to Congress to plead for special aid. In his appeal to Congress, Truman conceded that the government of Greece was not perfect, but argued that it would be better than a communist government.

Hundreds of millions of dollars in aid was approved, and by the end of 1947 the Greek government had one of the largest, best equipped armies in Europe. The Greek partisans, who had defeated the Nazis with virtually no outside assistance, were wiped out. Tens of thousands were killed, thousands more were imprisoned in camps and tortured. By this time, American control over the Greek government was assured - to the point that the American Mission to Aid Greece could send a memo to the State Department in 1947 which read, in part: "We have established practical control ... over national planning, as well as over imports and exports, the issuance of foreign exchange and the direction of military reconstruction and relief expenditures."

In order to assure the permanent defeat of progressive forces, the Greek government set up a secret police force. Modelled on the CIA, the KYP engaged in systematic torture, espionage and assassination against Greek citizens for decades.