The 4th of August Party (K4A; el, Κόμμα 4ης Αυγούστου, translit=Kómma 4is Avgoústou) was a radical Greek
Metaxist political party, founded in July 1965 by a group of young nationalists and led by
Konstantinos Plevris
Konstantinos A. Plevris (; born 1939 in Athens), sometimes called in English Constantine Plevris or Kostas Plevris, is a Greek politician, lawyer, nationalist, and neo-fascist author. The prolific writer has, over the course of decades, written a n ...
, a self-confessed "Nazi, fascist, racist, anti-democrat, anti-Semite".
It was named after and inspired by the
4th of August Regime
The 4th of August Regime ( el, Καθεστώς της 4ης Αυγούστου, Kathestós tis tetártis Avgoústou), commonly also known as the Metaxas regime (, ''Kathestós Metaxá''), was a totalitarian regime under the leadership of Gener ...
of Prime Minister
Ioannis Metaxas.
Dissolution
On 24 February 1977, Aristotelis Kalentzis, a member of the party, was arrested along with others for possession of explosives and weapons in an apartment in
Kato Patissia. In retaliation, comrades of those arrested responded with a barrage of bombings targeting left-wing organizations and publications in the Athens area.
In the trial that followed, Kalentzis was sentenced to 12 years in prison in October of the same year, which he served.
In the same trial, Konstantinos Plevris was also a co-defendant for incitement, but he was acquitted. Kalentzis, later incarcerated in the prisons of
Nea Alikarnassos
Nea Alikarnassos ( el, Νέα Αλικαρνασσός, meaning New Halicarnassus) is a town and a former municipality in the Heraklion regional unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Heraklion, ...
initially and then of Corfu and describing himself as a "political prisoner", openly and publicly accused Plevris of being an informant for the
National Intelligence Service through his book ''Democracy 80. Katergos'' (1980) and the pamphlet ''The Black Book of Kostas Plevris.'' Kalentzis essentially claimed that Plevris trapped him, "selling" him to the police authorities, as he did with other comrades. For his part, Plevris categorically denied the allegations and denounced "new nationalists".
In such an atmosphere, the party could no longer continue its activities and decided to suspend its operation in 1977. In October 1977, the last issue of the party newspaper was published.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:4th Of August Party
Political parties established in 1965
Defunct nationalist parties in Greece
Political parties disestablished in 1977
1965 establishments in Greece
1977 disestablishments in Greece
Neo-fascist parties
Neo-Nazi political parties in Europe