The "Historical Dictionary of Greek Parliamentary Parties 1844-1967", "guides" us through the history of the parties that appeared in our country over a period of 123 years . The 422-page publication, under the auspices of the Foundation of the Hellenic Parliament and the National Research Foundation, presents us with data on more than 150 parties or parliamentary groups and is a first-class opportunity for an in-depth further study of Greek party history .
This particular dictionary reminds the reader of things he knows, puts things in order that he probably doesn't have clearly in his mind, but mostly gives knowledge that one cannot easily find so well gathered and classified.
Starting with a full description of the "foreign" parties (English, French and Russian) and the specific time period, the reader has the opportunity to standon the "first division" of Greek society in relation to the Ecclesiastical Question . The English party demanded that the Church be subordinated to the state and not to the Ecumenical Patriarchate and thus began an ideological and cultural conflict over whether the new Greek state would be oriented towards the West or the East and whether it would be characterized by modernity or tradition . The introduction of quasi-universal (male) suffrage in 1844, the reform of the party system in 1909, ballots instead of pellets in 1923, women's suffrage in 1956 are also important milestones on this journey.
Going through the pages of the dictionary, we also notice the temporal transition from purely person-centered parties to more "ideological" formations . It is no coincidence that more than 20 parties - especially during the first period - had the name of their leader. It is worth noting that the figures were so powerful, that a party formation was created which had the name of his political opponent in its title (United Anti-Venizelists, 1926). The most recent purely personal party was the George Papandreou Party in 1951.
The ancestors of today's most important parties are presented in great detail as well. ERE (1956-1974), the Center Union (1961-1967), the EDA (1951-1967) occupy an important part of the dictionary and the reader acquires full knowledge of the historical period, the party affiliations and the persons who played a catalytic role in a difficult decade for Greece.
Reading about the Modernist Party (1872-1898), we see the first party formation up to that time with fixed principles and a program of government, but also the establishment of the "principle of the declared" . At the same time, we have the opportunity to "discover" several short-lived formations, parties or parliamentary groups with names that are logically strange to us, such as for example the Japanese (1906-1908), a seven-member independent group of parliamentarians in the period 1906-1908, which took the her name from the system of surprise with which she governed within the Parliament.
In conclusion, we could say that the 43 scientists that contributed to the creation of this Historical Dictionary, above all others, describe in a way the evolution not only of parties but also of political factions in general over decades , while offering the opportunity to researchers, scholars, and ordinary readers to acquire a complete and comprehensive knowledge of the political history of Greece up to 1967. We hope that the project will continue for the period after 1974.
*Petros Ioannidis is a political analyst at aboutpeople
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