1973 student uprising against the Greek junta
The
Athens Polytechnic uprising
occurred in November 1973 as a massive student demonstration of popular rejection of the
Greek military junta of 1967?1974
. It began on 14 November 1973, escalated to an open anti-junta revolt, and ended in bloodshed in the early morning of 17 November after a series of events starting with a tank crashing through the gates of the
Athens Polytechnic
.
Background
[
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]
The first massive public action against the
Greek junta
came from students on 21 February 1973, when law students went on strike and barricaded themselves inside the buildings of the Law School of the
University of Athens
in the centre of
Athens
, demanding repeal of the law that imposed forcible
conscription
.
[2]
An anti-dictatorial student movement was growing among the youth, and the police utilised brutal methods and torture towards them, in order to confront the threat.
November events
[
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]
On 14 November 1973, students at the
Athens Polytechnic
(
Polytechneion
) went on strike and started protesting against the
military junta
(
Regime of the Colonels
). As the authorities stood by, the students were calling themselves the "Free Besieged" (Greek: Ελε?θεροι Πολιορκημ?νοι, a reference to the poem by Greek poet
Dionysios Solomos
inspired by the
Ottoman
siege
of
Mesolonghi
).
[4]
[5]
[6]
Their main rallying cry was:
Bread-Education-Liberty!
(
Psomi-Paideia-Eleftheria
)
An assembly formed spontaneously and decided to occupy the Polytechnic. The two main student parties, the
Marxist
pro-
Soviet
A-AFEE and Rigas, did not endorse the movement.
A Coordination Commission of the Occupation (CCO) was formed but had loose control over the uprising.
Police had gathered outside but did not manage to break into the premises.
During the second day of the occupation (often called "celebration day"), thousands of people from Athens poured in to support the students.
A radio transmitter was set up and
Maria Damanaki
, then a student and member of A-EFEE, popularized the slogan
"Bread-Education-Freedom"
. The demands of the occupation were anti-imperialistic and anti-
NATO
.
Third parties that allied themselves with the student protests were the construction workers (who set up a parallel committee next to CCO) and some farmers from
Megara
, who coincidentally protested on the same days in Athens.
On Friday, 16 November, the CCO proclaimed that the students were aiming to bring down the junta. During the afternoon, demonstrations and attacks against neighbouring ministries took place. Central roads closed, fires erupted and
Molotov cocktails
were thrown for the first time in Athens.
Students barricaded themselves in and constructed a radio station (using laboratory equipment) that repeatedly broadcast across Athens:
Polytechneion here! Polytechneion here! People of Greece, the Polytechneion is the flag bearer of our struggle and your struggle, our common struggle against the dictatorship and for democracy!
[13]
[14]
"
In the early hours of November 17, 1973, the transitional government sent a tank crashing through the gates of the Athens Polytechnic.
[15]
Soon after that,
Spyros Markezinis
had the task of requesting
Georgios Papadopoulos
to reimpose martial law.
[15]
An official investigation undertaken after the fall of the junta declared that no students of the Athens Polytechnic were killed during the incident. However, 24 civilians were killed outside the campus. These include 19-year-old
Michael Mirogiannis
, reportedly shot to death by officer
Nikolaos Dertilis
, high-school students
Diomedes Komnenos
and
Alexandros Spartidis
of
Lycee Leonin
, and a five-year-old boy caught in the crossfire in the suburb of
Zografou
. The records of the trials held following the collapse of the junta document the deaths of many civilians during the uprising, and although the number of dead has not been contested by historical research, it remains a subject of political controversy. In addition, hundreds of civilians were injured during the events.
[16]
Legacy
[
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]
An annual march commemorates the uprising.
[17]
In 1980, after the government prevented marchers from passing by the American embassy in Athens, police killed two protesters.
[18]
The students' struggle also had a lasting effect on
Greek anarchism
. Despite the anarchists' relatively minor influence in the uprising itself, their unfulfilled vision became a rallying cry for Greek anarchists internally. The now-defunct far-left organization
Revolutionary Organization 17 November
is named after the last day of the Polytechnic uprising.
See also
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]
Citations
[
edit
]
- ^
Brown, Kenneth (1974).
"Greece"
.
The World Book Year Book 1974
.
Chicago
:
Field Enterprises Educational Corporation
. p.
340
.
ISBN
0-7166-0474-4
.
LCCN
62-4818
.
- ^
ΑΡΗΣ ΔΗΜΟΚΙΔΗΣ (16 November 2014).
"11 ενδιαφ?ροντα πρ?γματα για την εξ?γερση του Πολυτεχνε?ου"
. Lifo Magazine.
Archived
from the original on 15 April 2019
. Retrieved
15 April
2019
.
- ^
"Πολυτεχνε?ο ? 45 χρ?νια μετ?: Πολ?τιμη πηγ? γν?ση?, ?μπνευση? και παραδειγματισμο?"
. Nea Selida. 17 November 2018.
Archived
from the original on 15 April 2019
. Retrieved
15 April
2019
.
- ^
"Πολυτεχνε?ο: 40 χρ?νια μετ?"
. Greek Reporter. 16 November 2013.
Archived
from the original on 12 January 2020
. Retrieved
15 April
2019
.
- ^
Etho Polytechneio through Internet archive
Text in Greek: Εδ? Πολυτεχνε?ο! Λα? τη? Ελλ?δα? το Πολυτεχνε?ο ε?ναι σημαιοφ?ρο? του αγ?να μα?, του αγ?να σα?, του κοινο? αγ?να μα? εν?ντια στη δικτατορ?α και για την Δημοκρατ?α, transliterated as:
Etho Polytechneio! Lae tis Elladas to Polytechneio einai simaioforos tou agona mas, tou agona sas, tou koinou agona mas enantia sti diktatoria kai gia tin Dimokratia
)
- ^
Πα?λο? Μεθεν?τη? (17 November 2018).
"17 Νο?μβρη 1973: Πολυτεχνε?ο"
. News247.
Archived
from the original on 15 April 2019
. Retrieved
15 April
2019
.
- ^
a
b
"Past present" and quote:
Markezinis had humiliated himself by 'requesting' Papadopoulos to reimpose martial law in the wake of the November 17 uprising at the Athens Polytechnic
,
Athens News
, 4 October 2002 through Internet Archive
- ^
BBC: On this day
Archived
2017-04-27 at the
Wayback Machine
quote:
It follows growing unrest in Greece, and comes eight days after student uprisings in which 13 people died and hundreds were injured.
.
- ^
"Greece marks '73 student uprising"
.
Athens News
. November 17, 1999. p. A01. Archived from
the original
on June 17, 2008.
- ^
Papadogiannis, Nikolaos (2015).
Militant Around the Clock?: Left-Wing Youth Politics, Leisure, and Sexuality in Post-Dictatorship Greece, 1974-1981
. Berghahn Books. p. 210.
ISBN
978-1-78238-645-2
.
Archived
from the original on 2020-01-07
. Retrieved
2019-08-24
.
Sources
[
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]
Further reading
[
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]
- Καλλιβρετ?κη?, Λεων?δα? (2004). "Πολυτεχνε?ο '73: Το ζ?τημα των θυμ?των: Νεκρο? και τραυματ?ε?" [Polytechnic School '73: The question of the victims: dead and injured].
Πολυτεχνε?ο '73: ρεπορτ?ζ με την Ιστορ?α
(in Greek). Vol. 2. pp. 38?55.
hdl
:
10442/8782
.
External links
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