Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- Militant around the Clock? Left-wing Youth Politics, Leisure, and Sexuality in Post-Dictatorship Greece, 1974–1981 by Nikolaos Papadogiannis
The study of leisure brings to the fore the political dimensions of social relatedness; it also provides an alternative lens through which to analyze social and cultural transformations. Historical approaches to youth, on the other hand, question it as a reified and bounded notion and investigate the historical processes by which it emerged as a distinct category. Moreover, such studies stress that youth as a unified entity tends to conceal internal differences and variations stemming from cultural or social stratifications such as class. Nikolaos Papadogiannis’s Militant around the Clock? Left-wing Youth Politics, Leisure, and Sexuality in Post-Dictatorship Greece, 1974–1981 is embedded [End Page 435] within the rich matrix of historical works that engage with the concepts of youth and leisure. Grounded on a broad definition of the political, the book explores the politicization of leisure and sexuality by diverse left-wing youth groups. Through interviews, written records, and published materials, as well as numerous cultural products that range from music to films, Papadogiannis examines the main Socialist and Communist youth groups’ leisure and sexuality patterns in post-authoritarian Greece.
The book seeks to go beyond the simplified reification of the youth by meticulously highlighting the internal diversity of left-wing youth groups. With one exception (the case of Rigas Feraios), however, it fails to link these variations with broader social differences. At the same time, the analysis could benefit from a more in-depth engagement with relevant discussions in other disciplines. One of the strengths of the book is precisely its interdisciplinary perspective and the incorporation of discussions from anthropology to political science, and sociology. Nevertheless, sometimes references to these debates and analytical concepts remain fragmented and their potential unexploited.
The book is divided into three parts. The first part refers to the youth leisure patterns during the post-World War II era and the dictatorship years. The 1950s and 1960s was a period of social and cultural transformations in Greece: urbanization and migration shifted the social landscape, whereas economic prosperity fueled the diffusion of mass consumption and led to the emergence of new venues for the youth. These transformations affected the realm of leisure and sexuality, although, as the author claims, these were still dominated by the “conjugal model” (30). As far as the Left is concerned, the post-Civil War years were a time of exclusion and lack of freedom of expression. At the university protests of the late 1950s, and particularly in the 1960s, the Left was significantly strengthened, and the United Democratic Left (EDA) came to represent “itself as the genuine expression of the Greek nation” (33).
Patriotism and anti-Americanism dominated left-wing cultural politics and also informed the leisure activities of the left-wing youth in subsequent years. Tradition was invented and incorporated in leisure patterns, such as in music and in publishing activities. The Left elaborated on the concept of tradition, which, during the dictatorship, was invoked as a counterweight to the “monopolizing of patriotism by the regime” (43). The late 1960s and the dictatorship years signaled the identification of Greek left-wing youth with other movements in Western Europe and the United States. The youth in Greece became familiar with these trends through films and popular culture. These years were also marked by shifts in sexuality patterns, and sexual emancipation was a claim of particular political groups, such as Rigas Feraios.
The legalization of communist organizations after the fall of the dictatorship contributed to their flourishing in universities and in major Greek cities, such as Athens and Thessaloniki. The second part of the book revolves around the mid-1970s and presents this boom of participation and the emergence of new spaces and activities. Magazines, films, and music hosted “a deep collective reflection of Greek society and its history” (86), both as “suffering and militant” (89). At the same time, new...
