"Who Will Help Me to Get Rid of this Man?": Grigoris Lambrakis and the Non-Aligned Peace Movement in Post-Civil War Greece: 1951-1964

Grigoris Lambrakis's message of unity and his idea of a non-aligned peace movement were both original and subversive for a Greek people still carrying the scars of the Civil War and still deeply dichotomized between Left and Right, Left and Center, and Left and Left. Lambrakis's ardent mobilization for peace, amnesty, and democracy stemmed from his acute understanding that peace and democracy were from the start consubstantial, and could not be held apart. He knew what domestic and geopolitical considerations demanded, and urgently called for the creation of a Greek non-aligned and politically-inclusive peace movement. The timing proved him right, as a younger generation—born during World War II and the Civil War—was ready to listen and follow his bold example. His murder caused a seismic shock in and outside of Greece: it exacerbated internecine divisions and simultaneously uncovered a potential for meaningful cross-party dialogue that had not yet been harnessed. His murder also showed how volatile, complex, and contradictory Greek society was during Constantine Karamanlis's first Premiership.