Markos Vafiadis
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Markos Vafiadis (Theodosiopolis, Asia Minor, 1906 - Athens, Greece, February 23, 1992) was a leading cadre of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) during the Greek Civil War.
[edit] Pre-war life
After the Asia Minor Catastrophe of 1922, Vafiadis went to Thessaloniki and Kavala as a refugee. From 1928, he worked in Thessaloniki as a member of the Federation of Greek Communist Youths (OKNE). In 1932, he was imprisoned and exiled for his political action. After his release in October 1933, he worked as party instructor in many areas of Greece.
At the beginning of the Metaxas' dictatorship (August 4, 1936) he was exiled in the island of Ai Stratis, but managed to escape in less than a month. Subsequently he worked in the party's underground organisation in Crete and was one of the leaders of the Chania uprising against the dictatorial regime (28 July 1938). After the suppression of the uprising, he went to Athens where he was arrested. He was jailed in Akronafplia and was exiled to the island of Gavdos.
[edit] Civil War
In May 1941, during the German invasion in Greece, he escaped from Gavdos and began underground work against the German occupation, initially in Crete, later in Athens and Thessaloniki. In 1942, he was elected into the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece and was named supervisor of the Macedonia wing of the Greek Popular Liberation Army (ELAS). In May 1944, he was elected as a representative of Thessaloniki to the national congress that took place at the village of Koryschades in Eurytania, which he was unable to attend.
In November 1944, he went into disagreement with Aris Velouchiotis, who wanted ELAS to prepare to fight the British. During the December fighting, the Macedonian wing of the ELAS didn't fight against the British troops. He also went into disagreement, in February 1946, with Nikolaos Zachariadis, the general secretary of KKE, who wanted to resume fighting.
However, in July 1946, Zachariadis appointed him as leader of the communist guerrilla formations. In October 1946, when the General Command of the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE) was founded, he assumed its leadership, and in December 1947 he was appointed Prime Minister and War Minister of the Provisional Democratic Government.
During the last stages of the Civil War his disagreement with Zachariadis on issues of military doctrine lead to his removal from leadership (August 1948) and later from all offices (January 1949). In October 1950, he was ousted from the Communist Party, while he was in exile in the Soviet Union, where he had fled after the breakup of the DSE.
[edit] Post-Civil War
After the end of Stalin's era, Markos Vafiadis was restored into KKE and was elected as a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the party. However, new disagreement with the party leadership led to his removal from office in January 1958 and to his second ousting from the KKE in June 1964. After the party split in 1968, the so called "interior" (εσωτερικού) faction of KKE restored him. In March 1983, he returned to Greece from Soviet Union where he had remained in exile for 23 years. Later on, he published his Memoirs. In November 1989, and in April 1990, he was honorarily elected into the Greek parliament through the nationwide list of PASOK.
| Preceded by (none) |
Head of Provisional Democratic Government December 24, 1947 – February 7, 1949 |
Succeeded by Nikolaos Zachariadis |
