The United Democratic Left (, ΕΔΑ; ''Eniéa Dimokratikí Aristerá'', EDA) was a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, active mostly before the

Greek junta The Greek junta or Regime of the Colonels was a Right-wing politics, right-wing military junta that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974. On 21 April 1967, a group of colonels with CIA backing 1967 Greek coup d'état, overthrew the caretaker gove ...

of 1967–1974.

Foundation

The party was founded in July 1951 by prominent center-left and leftist politicians, some of which were former members of

ELAS The Greek People's Liberation Army (, ''Ellinikós Laïkós Apeleftherotikós Stratós''; ELAS) was the military arm of the left-wing National Liberation Front (EAM) during the period of the Greek resistance until February 1945, when, followi ...

. While initially ''EDA'' was meant to act as a substitute and political front of the banned

Communist Party of Greece The Communist Party of Greece (, ΚΚΕ; ''Kommounistikó Kómma Elládas'', KKE) is a Marxist–Leninist political party in Greece. It was founded in 1918 as the Socialist Workers' Party of Greece (SEKE) and adopted its current name in Novem ...

, it eventually acquired a voice of its own, rather pluralistic and moderate. This development was more clearly shown at the time of the 1968 split in the ranks of Communist Party of Greece, with almost all former members of ''EDA'' joining the faction with Euro-communist, moderate tendencies.

History

''EDA'' participated in all the

elections in Greece At a national level, Greece holds elections for its legislature, the Hellenic Parliament. Election of the legislature The Greek Parliament (''Voulí ton Ellínon'') has 300 members, elected for a four-year term by a system of "reinforced" ...

from 1952 until 1964. In the

1958 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1958. Africa * 1958 French Togoland parliamentary election * 1958 Nigerien Constituent Assembly election * 1958 South African general election * 1958 Southern Rhodesian general election * 1958 Sudanese ...

it managed to become the leading party of the opposition, an achievement all the more surprising in view of the recent end of the

Greek civil war The Greek Civil War () took place from 1946 to 1949. The conflict, which erupted shortly after the end of World War II, consisted of a Communism, Communist-led uprising against the established government of the Kingdom of Greece. The rebels decl ...

and the consequently prevailing anti-Left politics at the time. In the 1961 election and 1964 election, ''EDA'' indirectly supported the

Center Union The Centre Union () was a major centrist political party in Greece, created in 1961 by Georgios Papandreou.Clogg, 1987, pp. 39–40 History The Centre Union was a political party in Greece in the 1960s which held office from 1963 to 1965 and wa ...

against the

National Radical Union The National Radical Union ( (ΕΡΕ), (ERE)) was a Greek political party formed in 1956 by Konstantinos Karamanlis, mostly out of the Greek Rally party. History ERE was a conservative, right-wing party, which also had some prominent centris ...

(NRU). Before the 1963 election, Greece entered a protracted period of political and social unrest, with the assassination of ''EDA'' MP Gregoris Lambrakis, providing further inflammation. ''EDA'' and the Center Union accused prime minister

Constantine Karamanlis Konstantinos G. Karamanlis (, ; 8 March 1907 – 23 April 1998) was a Greek statesman who was the four-time Prime Minister of Greece and two-term president of the Third Hellenic Republic. A towering figure of Greek politics, his political caree ...

and the NRU of the murder, which resulted in more (sometimes violent) manifestations. Karamanlis denounced his accusers, and warned that they contributed to the political instability of the country. An independent judicial inquiry held under public prosecutor

Christos Sartzetakis Christos Sartzetakis (; 6 April 1929 – 3 February 2022) was a Greek jurist and a supreme justice of the Court of Cassation, who served as the president of Greece from 1985 to 1990. Early life and education Sartzetakis was born in Neapoli, Th ...

concluded that those responsible for the assassination were far-right extremists linked with rogue elements in the Greek security forces. However, no specific instructions from the ruling political leadership were identified, nor proven in the subsequent trial of the perpetrators.

The party's end

With the advent of the

dictatorship A dictatorship is an autocratic form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, who hold governmental powers with few to no Limited government, limitations. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by a dictator, ...

of 1967, the party was outlawed by the regime and its members were persecuted. After the restoration of democracy, ''ΕDΑ'' reappeared in the elections of 1974 in an alliance with the

and the

Communist Party of Greece (Interior) The Communist Party of Greece – Interior (), usually abbreviated as KKE Interior (ΚΚΕ Εσωτερικού or ΚΚΕ Εσ.), was a Eurocommunist party existing between 1968 and 1987 in Greece. The party was formed after the Communist Party o ...

, which were allowed to operate once again, and other leftist parties, under the leadership of Ilias Iliou, the most prominent politician of the Left in

at the time. Following a split in the alliance, ''ΕDΑ'' never participated independently in Greek politics again after 1977. Under the leadership of

Manolis Glezos Manolis Glezos (; 9 September 1922 – 30 March 2020) was a Greek left-wing politician, journalist, author, and member of the Greek Resistance during World War II. After the end of the war, Glezos became a journalist and edited the left-wing n ...

, the party took part in the elections of 1981 and 1985 in an alliance with and within the ranks of

Panhellenic Socialist Movement The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK (; , ), is a social-democratic political party in Greece. Until 2012 it was one of the two major parties in the country, along with New Democracy, its main political r ...

(PASOK).

Politicians of EDA

Well-known politicians of EDA were: * Ioannis Passalidis, the most prominent of the ''EDA'' co-founders and leader of its group in the Parliament from 1951 until 1967. * Gregoris Lambrakis *

Nicolas Kitsikis Nicolas Kitsikis (; August 14, 1887 – July 26, 1978) was a Greek civil engineer and politician. He was a top civil engineer of 20th century Greece, and father of Beata Maria Kitsikis Panagopoulos, and Dimitri Kitsikis. He served as professor an ...

Mikis Theodorakis Michail "Mikis" Theodorakis ( ; 29 July 1925 – 2 September 2021) was a Greek composer and lyricist credited with over 1,000 works. He scored for the films '' Zorba the Greek'' (1964), '' Z'' (1969), and '' Serpico'' (1973). He was a three-ti ...

* Ilias Iliou *

Stefanos Sarafis Stefanos Sarafis (, 23 October 1890 – 31 May 1957) was an officer of the Hellenic Army and Major General in EAM-ELAS, who played an important role during the Greek Resistance. Early life and career Sarafis was born at Trikala in 1890. He w ...

Electoral performance

References