The People's Civil Guard (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: Λαϊκή Πολιτοφυλακή, ΛΠ) was the security force of the
Communist Party of Greece
The Communist Party of Greece ( el, Κομμουνιστικό Κόμμα Ελλάδας, ''Kommounistikó Kómma Elládas'', KKE) is a political party in Greece.
Founded in 1918 as the Socialist Labour Party of Greece and adopted its curren ...
(KKE) during the
Greek Civil War
The Greek Civil War ( el, ο Eμφύλιος όλεμος ''o Emfýlios'' 'Pólemos'' "the Civil War") took place from 1946 to 1949. It was mainly fought against the established Kingdom of Greece, which was supported by the United Kingdom ...
(1946–49). It was the police counterpart of the
Democratic Army of Greece
The Democratic Army of Greece (DAG; el, Δημοκρατικός Στρατός Ελλάδας - ΔΣΕ, Dimokratikós Stratós Elládas - DSE) was the army founded by the Communist Party of Greece during the Greek Civil War (1946–1949). At ...
(DSE), KKE's military force. It was actually the successor of the
National Civil Guard
The National Civil Guard ( el, Εθνική Πολιτοφυλακή, ''Ethniki Politophylaki'') was the security force of the Political Committee of National Liberation (PEEA), the government that the National Liberation Front (EAM) had establish ...
, which was the successor of the
(OPLA).
The People's Civil Guard included both men and women; all of them were volunteers and ideologically dedicated to the Communist Party, a situation different from that of the DSE, which engaged in forced recruitment, especially in the last stages of the Civil War.
In June 1948, the KKE leadership published a booklet to be studied by the civil guards, "Lessons of Popular Civil Guard" (Μαθήματα Λαϊκής Πολιτοφυλακής), where it was emphasized that the Popular Civil Guard was a security force "of a new type", different from the
Greek Gendarmerie
The Hellenic Gendarmerie (, ''Elliniki Chorofylaki'') was the national gendarmerie and military police (until 1951) force of Greece.
History
19th century
The Greek Gendarmerie was established after the enthronement of King Otto in 1833 as the ...
and the
Cities Police
The Cities Police ( el, Αστυνομία Πόλεων) was a Greek police force extant from 1921 to 1984, responsible for policing urban areas. It complemented the Hellenic Gendarmerie, which was responsible for rural and suburban areas.
Histo ...
of the Greek government, whose aim was to serve the people.
Initially the People's Civil Guard was commanded by Stephanos Papayannis, a former Captain of the
Greek Army
The Hellenic Army ( el, Ελληνικός Στρατός, Ellinikós Stratós, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ), formed in 1828, is the land force of Greece. The term ''Hellenic'' is the endogenous synonym for ''Greek''. The Hellenic Army is the ...
who had joined the Communist Party during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, and had fought in the
Greek Resistance against the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
; later however,
Vasilis Bartziotas Vassilios or Vassileios, also transliterated Vasileios, Vasilios, Vassilis or Vasilis ( el, Βασίλειος or Βασίλης), is a Greek given name, the origin of Basil. In ancient/medieval/Byzantine context, it is also transliterated as Basile ...
, a Communist Party cadre took command.
[Ελεύθερος Κόσμος, 24/8/69]
In northern Greece it was also named and it was much known as Close Self-Defense (Στενή Αυτοάμυνα in Greek).
References
{{Greek Civil War
Greek Civil War
Communist Party of Greece
1947 establishments in Greece
Defunct law enforcement agencies of Greece
Military wings of socialist parties