Papanastasiu, Alexandros

Alexandros Papanastasiu was born in 1876 in the mountainous Arkadian village of Levidi. (According to other sources in the nearby city of Tripoli (Greece) ^[1] ). His father, Panayotis Papanastasiu, was the director of the gymnasium, later head of the department in the Ministry of Education, and was elected deputy of the parliament from Mantinea . Mother, Marigot Rogari, was the daughter of the mayor of Levid.

Family financial opportunities contributed to the formation of Alexander Papanastasiu. He entered the University of Athens , where he studied law and sociological sciences. He continued his studies in jurisprudence and philosophy in Heidelberg , Berlin , London and Paris universities ^{[2] [2]}

During his studies in Germany, Papanastasiu joined socialist ideas that influenced his worldview. In particular, he began to occupy the theoretical issues of cooperation, after which his ideas of collectivism intensified.

Papanastasiu returned to Greece in 1907, he created the Sociological Society and co-founded (together with Delmuzos and Petizas ) the “Group of Sociologists”.

In 1910, members of the "Sociological Society" created the "People's Party" and in the elections of the same year Papanastasiou was elected a deputy to parliament. In parliament, he "gave battles", with the aim of transferring the estates to the landless peasants of Thessaly ^[2] .

In 1916 , during the National Schism , as a member of the Liberal Party, he joined the government of Venizelos in Thessaloniki , representing the revolutionary government of the Ionian Islands . In March 1917, the government of Venizelos entrusted to him the rule of the Ionian Islands.

When on June 14, 1917, the government of Venizelos moved to Athens Papanastasiou accepted the portfolio of the Minister of Transport and remained in that post until the elections of November 1, 1920 ^[3]

As Minister of the Government of Venizelos, he contributed to the reorganization of the Athens Polytechnic University and the Athens School of Fine Arts .

Papanastasiu ratified by law (General Urban Planning Standards) the new urban planning plan of Thessaloniki, destroyed during the fire of 1917 and proposed in parliament a committee to prepare a new urban planning plan for Athens.

In 1919, under the mandate of the Entente , Greece occupied the west coast of Asia Minor . Subsequently, the Sevres Peace Treaty of 1920 secured the control of the region over Greece, with the prospect of deciding its fate after 5 years, in a referendum of the population ^[4] .

The ensuing battles with the Kemalists acquired the character of a war that the Greek army was forced to wage alone. Of the allies, Italy, from the very beginning supported the Kemalists, France, solving its tasks, also began to support them. The Greek army firmly held its position. The geopolitical situation has changed radically and became fatal for the Greek population of Asia Minor after the parliamentary elections in Greece in November 1920. Under the slogan "we will bring our guys home" and having received the support of the considerable Muslim population of that period, the monarchist "People's Party" won the elections. The return to Greece of Germanophile Constantine freed the allies from obligations towards Greece. Winston Churchill , in his work “Aftermath” (pp. 387-388), wrote: “The return of Constantine terminated all allied ties with Greece and annulled all obligations except legal ones. With Venizelos, we made many commitments. But with Konstantin, no. Indeed, when the first surprise passed, the feeling of relief became apparent in the leadership circles. There was no more need to follow the anti-Turkish policy ” ^[4] .

Finding no solution to the question of the Greek population of Ionia , the monarchist government decided to resolve the issue by smashing the Kemalists and continued the war.

Papanastasiu published the Democratic Manifesto, in which he accused the policy of monarchists, pointing to the futility of continuing the war in new conditions. For the publication of this "Manifesto" Papanastasiu was arrested and imprisoned.

The reign of the monarchists ended with the defeat of the army and the massacre and the expulsion of the indigenous population of Ionia . Modern English historian Douglas Dakin blames the government for the outcome of the war, but not for the Greek army, and believes that even in the unfavorable conditions created, “as with Waterloo, the outcome could turn either this way or the other way” ^[5] . On August 28 / September 10, 1922, King Constantine , in the face of a developing revolution, dissolved the government of Protopapadakis , and then left his throne in favor of his son, Crown Prince George II .

In December 1923, Papanastasiu took part in the elections, where his political faction, the Democratic Union ^[6] , elected 90 deputies (out of 397 deputies of parliament) ^[5] . Papanastasiu, simultaneously with Pangalos and Condilis, put on the agenda the question of the abolition of the monarchy ^[6] . Venizelos remained the leader of the liberals, but did not dare to take such a step. During the parliamentary skirmish with Papanastasiu on the monarchy issue, Venizelos even lost consciousness ^[6] .

On March 8, 1924, the commander of the 1st Corps of the Army, General Papatanasiu, and Admiral Demestihas, Ioannis, appeared before the Regent, Admiral Kunturiotis and Venizelos, demanding that the monarchy be deposed by the National Assembly, Prime Minister Kafandaris, George immediately resigned. The party of Venizelos split into 3 fractions.

Admiral Kunduriotis, having no other opportunity, followed the "advice" of officers. On March 12, Kunturiotis commissioned the formation of a government to the leader of the Democratic Union, Papanastasiou ^[6] .

Papanastasiu formed a government with the support of the Liberal Party. On March 25, the government of Papanastasiou presented at the National Assembly a bill on the proclamation of the Republic, declaring the monarchy deposed ^[2] .

The bill was approved after the referendum on April 13, 1924 ^[7] .

Other important actions of the government of Papanastasiu are the establishment of the University. Aristotle in the Macedonian capital, the city of Thessaloniki , the recognition of the spoken national language Dimotika , in parallel with the official kafarevusoy .

It is noteworthy that in 1924, General Condilis called Papanastasiu a “Bolshevik” ^[6] .

From 1926 to 1928, Papanastasiou, representing the Agricultural Workers' Party he created, was Minister of Agriculture in the coalition government of Alexander Zaimis . In this post, he implemented some of his ideas about cooperation.

On May 26, 1932, he was assigned to form his own government. The second government of Papanastasiu took the oath, but almost immediately resigned on June 3, 1932 .

From January to March 1933, Papanastasiu was Minister of National Economy and, temporarily, agriculture in the government of Eleftherios Venizelos.

After an attempted coup undertaken by supporters of Venizelos in 1935, Papanastasiu appeared before a military tribunal, but was acquitted.

Papanastasiu was an ardent supporter of the Balkan peace and cooperation and created the Balkan Union organization for this purpose.

Papanastasiou resisted the dictatorships of generals Pangalos and Metaxas .

During the dictatorship of Metaxas Papanastasiu was placed under house arrest.

Papanastasiou unexpectedly died of heart failure on November 17, 1936 in the Athens suburb of Ekali. Today, in his homeland in Levid, the “Museum of Alexander Papanastasiu” was created, where his brain is stored in his formalin-containing solution along with his personal belongings.