868.00/11–1044: Telegram
The Ambassador in Greece (MacVeagh) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 11—12:40 p.m.]
25. The Mountain Brigade arrived here yesterday morning27 parading without incident and with great popular demonstrations of rejoicing. The troops looked fit and competent and marched well. In. greeting Mr. Papandreou and General Scobie the Commander pledged loyalty to the Government and to the British Command. For the moment the arrival has benefited local morale by contributing a new feeling of security.
[Page 138]I had a talk with Mr. Papandreou this morning. He expressed himself as optimistic (which is his usual turn of mind) but said that the most critical moment for his efforts to reestablish Government in a demoralized country, by political means only and without force to impose it, will come early in December when the guerilla organizations have been ordered to disband (see my telegram No. 16 of November 7 [9], 7 p.m.20). He emphasized that while his careful and gradual methods of tranquilizing and organizing would appear to have the support of EAM and the Communists at present, all depends on getting the people back to work, and he begged me to do all I can to insure the necessary supplies and credits for that purpose. He said the Liberals, though participating in the Government, are also providing the only political opposition he has presently to contend with but he believes this is not of a very serious nature and that in general the old parties as such have lost their hold on the people. He added that fear of Communism seems to be reviving Royalist sentiment particularly in “old Greece” but merely stated this as a fact which I believe it is, without expressing either pleasure or displeasure in regard to it.
I asked Mr. Papandreou about the treatment to be accorded the Quislings and other collaborators now in prison and he said “There will have to be some executions”. It is essential, he said, that the Government take this matter in hand and show severity with justice otherwise the Communists will certainly attempt direct action not only with the likelihood that much injustice will be done but with fatal results to our Government’s prestige. I referred to the speech he made here on arrival in which he said that the country had been liberated from a tyranny of 8 years and asked him whether he intends to make no distinction between Metaxists and traitors and he replied that there would certainly be a distinction and that the proof is supplied by the fact that already laws have been passed against the collaborators but none as yet against participators in the Metaxas’ regime (see my 358 October 12, 6 p.m. from Cairo29). He says it may even be that no specific laws against these persons will be passed at all but emphasized that Greece’s sufferings under the Metaxist tyranny have been too great to be overlooked: “That is why we must have a plebiscite on the Monarchy. If the King had not supported Metaxas the question would not arise.”