Markos Vafiadis

Markos Vafiadis
Markos Vafiadis at the start of his political rise

Head of Provisional Democratic Government
In office December 24, 1947 – February 7, 1949
Succeeded by	Nikos Zachariadis
Personal details
Born	January 28, 1906 Theodosiopolis (Erzerum), Ottoman Empire
Died	February 22, 1992(1992-02-22) (aged 86) Athens, Greece
Nationality	Greek
Political party	Communist Party of Greece Panhellenic Socialist Movement
Religion	Greek Orthodox
Military service
Allegiance	Provisional Democratic Government
Service/branch	Democratic Army of Greece
Years of service	1946–1949
Rank	General
Battles/wars	Greek Civil War

Markos Vafiadis (Greek: Μάρκος Βαφειάδης; January 28, 1906 in Theodosiopolis (Erzurum), Ottoman-controlled Eastern Anatolia – February 22, 1992^[1] in Athens, Greece) was a leading figure of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) during the Greek Civil War. His ancestry and lineage, comes originally from the island of Chios with subsequent descendants to follow his government.

Pre-war life

After the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey of 1923, Vafiadis went to Thessaloniki and Kavala as a refugee. From 1928, he worked in Thessaloniki as a member of the Young Communist League of Greece (OKNE). In 1932, he was imprisoned and sent to internal exile for his political action. After his release in October 1933, he worked as party instructor in many areas of Greece.

At the beginning of Ioannis Metaxas' dictatorship (the "4th of August Regime") he was exiled again to 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 (July 28, 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.

Resistance and Civil War

In May 1941, at the beginning of the Nazi German occupation of Greece, he, along with other communist prisoners, was allowed to leave Gavdos and began what was to become the original underground work against the German occupation, initially in Crete, later in Athens, Thessaloniki and eventually all of Macedonia. 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 People's 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 Evrytania, but was unable to attend. In October 1944, after the withdrawal of the German army, he entered in Thessaloniki with his men.^[2]

In November 1944, his forces liberated Central Macedonia. In February 1946, Markos Vafiadis disagreed with Nikos Zachariadis, the general secretary of KKE, who wanted to create a standing communist army. Vafiadis believed that the forces of the Greek government were too strong, and the best option for the KKE was a guerrilla struggle.

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, Vafiadis 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 led 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.

Post-Civil War

After the end of Joseph 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, ending his 33-year exile in the Soviet Union, he returned to Greece, and the island of Chios where he later published his Memoirs. Ηe became a political supporter of Andreas Papandreou and in November 1989 and April 1990, he was honorarily elected into the Greek parliament through the nationwide list of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK).

Bibliography

Non-Greek sources

Dominique Eude, Les Kapetanios (in French, Greek and English), Artheme Fayard, 1970

References

External links

Interview with Markos Vafiades, 1983

Preceded by (none)	Head of Provisional Democratic Government December 24, 1947 – February 7, 1949	Succeeded by Nikolaos Zachariadis

Heads of government of Greece

First Hellenic Republic (1822–1832)	Mavrokordatos P. Mavromichalis Kountouriotis And. Zaimis I. Kapodistrias A. Kapodistrias

Kingdom of Greece (Wittelsbach) (1833–1862)	Sp. Trikoupis Mavrokordatos Kolettis von Armansperg von Rudhart King Otto Mavrokordatos King Otto A. Metaxas Kanaris Mavrokordatos Kolettis Tzavelas Kountouriotis Kanaris Kriezis Mavrokordatos D. Voulgaris Miaoulis Kolokotronis

Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg) (1863–1924)	D. Voulgaris Moraitinis Z. Valvis Kyriakos Roufos D. Voulgaris Kanaris Z. Valvis Kanaris Koumoundouros Deligeorgis Roufos D. Voulgaris Koumoundouros Moraitinis D. Voulgaris Thr. Zaimis Deligeorgis Koumoundouros Thr. Zaimis D. Voulgaris Deligeorgis D. Voulgaris Ch. Trikoupis Koumoundouros Deligeorgis Koumoundouros Deligeorgis Koumoundouros Kanaris Koumoundouros Ch. Trikoupis Koumoundouros Ch. Trikoupis Koumoundouros Ch. Trikoupis Diligiannis D. Valvis Ch. Trikoupis Diligiannis Konstantopoulos Ch. Trikoupis Sotiropoulos Ch. Trikoupis Deligiannis Diligiannis D. Rallis Al. Zaimis G. Theotokis Al. Zaimis Diligiannis G. Theotokis D. Rallis G. Theotokis Diligiannis D. Rallis G. Theotokis D. Rallis K. Mavromichalis Dragoumis El. Venizelos Gounaris El. Venizelos Al. Zaimis Skouloudis Al. Zaimis Kalogeropoulos El. Venizelos² Lambros Al. Zaimis El. Venizelos D. Rallis Kalogeropoulos Gounaris Stratos Protopapadakis Triantafyllakos Charalambis Krokidas Gonatas El. Venizelos Kafantaris

Second Hellenic Republic (1924–1935)	Papanastasiou Sofoulis Michalakopoulos Pangalos¹ Eftaxias¹ Kondylis³ Al. Zaimis El. Venizelos Papanastasiou El. Venizelos P. Tsaldaris El. Venizelos Othonaios³ P. Tsaldaris

Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg) (1935–1973/4)	Kondylis¹ Demertzis I. Metaxas¹ Koryzis Tsouderos² Tsolakoglou⁴ Logothetopoulos⁴ I. Rallis⁴ Bakirtzis² S. Venizelos² Svolos² G. Papandreou (Sr.) Plastiras P. Voulgaris Archbishop Damaskinos Kanellopoulos Sofoulis Poulitsas³ K. Tsaldaris Maximos K. Tsaldaris Sofoulis Vafiadis² Zachariadis² Partsalidis² Diomidis I. Theotokis³ S. Venizelos Plastiras S. Venizelos Plastiras Kiousopoulos³ Papagos K. Karamanlis (Sr.) Georgakopoulos³ K. Karamanlis (Sr.) Dovas³ K. Karamanlis (Sr.) Pipinelis Sty. Mavromichalis³ G. Papandreou (Sr.) Paraskevopoulos³ G. Papandreou (Sr.) Novas Tsirimokos Stefanopoulos Paraskevopoulos³ Kanellopoulos³

Military Junta (1967–1974)	Kollias¹ Papadopoulos¹ Markezinis¹ Androutsopoulos¹

Third Hellenic Republic (since 1974)	K. Karamanlis (Sr.) G. Rallis A. Papandreou Tzannetakis Grivas³ Zolotas Mitsotakis A. Papandreou Simitis K. Karamanlis (Jr.) G. Papandreou (Jr.) Papademos³ Pikrammenos³ Samaras Tsipras Thanou³ Tsipras

¹Head of military/dictatorial government. ²Head of rival government not controlling Athens. ³Head of emergency or caretaker government. ⁴Head of collaborationist government during the Axis occupation (1941–44).

Greece during World War II

1940–41 Balkan Campaign	Occupation and Resistance		Greek government-in-exile

Greco-Italian War Battles Pindus Elaia–Kalamas Korytsa/Korcë Saranda Morava–Ivan Himara Klisura Pass Trebeshina Italian Spring Offensive Hill 731 Commanders Greece Ioannis Metaxas Alexander Papagos Charalambos Katsimitros Konstantinos Davakis Ioannis Pitsikas Dimitrios Papadopoulos Georgios Kosmas Italy Benito Mussolini Sebastiano Visconti Prasca Ubaldo Soddu Ugo Cavallero Carlo Geloso German invasion Battles Metaxas Line Vevi Kleisoura Pass Thermopylae Crete Commanders Greece Alexander Papagos Georgios Tsolakoglou British Empire & Commonwealth Henry Maitland Wilson Thomas Blamey Bernard Freyberg Germany Wilhelm List Kurt Student	Occupying powers Authorities/People Germany Günther Altenburg Hermann Neubacher Walter Schimana Alexander Löhr Hellmuth Felmy Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller Alexander Andrae Bruno Bräuer Max Merten Italy Angelico Carta Pellegrino Ghigi Carlo Geloso Piero Parini Bulgaria Andon Kalchev Atrocities Kondomari Kandanos Alikianos Doxato Kommeno Kalavryta Lyngiades Distomo Domenikon Drakeia Cephalonia Mesovouno Pyrgoi Viannos Kedros Kleisoura Haidari concentration camp 200 of Kaisariani Chortiatis The Holocaust in Greece Great Famine Collaborators People Georgios Tsolakoglou K. Logothetopoulos Ioannis Rallis Georgios Poulos George S. Mercouris Ioannis Plytzanopoulos Sotirios Gotzamanis Organizations Collaborationist government Security Battalions ESPO EEE Greek National Socialist Party Secessionists Vlach "Roman Legion" Ohrana Cham collaboration (Këshilla) Atrocities Paramythia Kaisariani Kokkinia	National Liberation Front (EAM) People Aris Velouchiotis Stefanos Sarafis Andreas Tzimas Georgios Siantos Alexandros Svolos Ilias Tsirimokos Markos Vafiades Organizations KKE SKE ELD ELAS ELAN EPON PEEA & National Council E.A. OPLA SNOF Operations Drama Uprising Ryka Mikro Chorio Gorgopotamos Bridge Fardykambos Sarantaporo Porta Pinerolo disarmament Steiri Agorelitsa Atrocities Feneos 5/42 dissolution Meligalas Non-EAM Resistance People Napoleon Zervas Georgios Kartalis Dimitrios Psarros Komninos Pyromaglou Kostas Perrikos Vasileios Sachinis Georgios Petrakis Organizations EDES EKKA YVE/PAO PEAN EOK E.S. MAVI Other Operations ESPO bombing Gorgopotamos Bridge Agia Kyriaki Milia Skala Paramythias Xirovouni Menina Dodona Atrocities Expulsion of Cham Albanians British Mission in Greece (SOE) People Eddie Myers Chris Woodhouse Patrick Leigh Fermor Bill Stanley Moss Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz Operations Operation "Albumen" Gorgopotamos Bridge Operation "Animals" Asopos Bridge Kidnap of Heinrich Kreipe Damasta sabotage	Events El Alamein Dodecanese Campaign April 1944 mutiny Battle of Rimini People King George II Emmanouil Tsouderos Sofoklis Venizelos Panagiotis Kanellopoulos Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos Pafsanias Katsotas Notable units 3rd Mountain Brigade Sacred Band Vasilissa Olga Adrias Katsonis Papanikolis 13th Squadron 335th Squadron 336th Squadron Toward the Civil War Events National Bands Agreement Plaka agreement Lebanon conference Caserta agreement Percentages agreement Dekemvriana Treaty of Varkiza People Georgios Papandreou Ronald Scobie Archbishop Damaskinos Georgios Grivas Angelos Evert Nikos Zachariadis

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 18049092 LCCN: n81020357 GND: 120273691

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