Greek Reformism and its Models: The Impact of the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan

U.S. criticism of the political and social system of Civil War Greece has often been cited as proof of the inadequacy of pro-Western voices in Greece as a whole. However, members of the new political forces that emerged in the country in the mid-1930s argued for far-reaching reforms along the lines of the New Deal. These new forces had rallied under the leadership of George Papandreou in 1944, but had been crushed under the weight of the civil strife of December 1944 and then by the eruption of full-scale Civil War in 1946. The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan projected ideas very similar to those of the Greek reformers, marking a revival of these forces after their successive defeats in previous years. This was a side-effect of U.S. intervention in Greece, but would prove important, as members of these reformist groups played a major role in Greece's post-civil war history.