Hoidas, Roccos

Rokkos (Charalambos) Hoydas was born in 1830 in the first capital of the revived Greek state, in the city of Nafplion . His family dates back to an old aristocratic family originating from the island of Crete and settled around 1500 on the island of Kefalonia , which was under Venetian rule, where in 1593 it was inscribed in Libro d'oro (Golden Book of Aristocratic Clans). Father, Dimitrios Hoydas, fought in Moldova-Wallachia in 1821 as part of the student Sacred Squad and emerged alive from the heroic and tragic battle of Dragashani . Roccos Hoydas studied at the Law Faculty of the University of Athens and continued his studies of jurisprudence in Italy . Returning to Greece in early 1860, he worked as a lawyer and took an active part in the Nafplion Uprising of 1862 against the absolutism of King Otto . The uprising was crushed, 19 of its instigators, including a friend of Hoydas, Dimitrios Grivas fled to Italy. Hoydas, who fled to Constantinople , met with Grivas in Naples in May 1862. Despite the fact that the Nafplion rebellion was crushed, only 8 months later King Otton was deposed. Hoydas returned to the country and continued his career. In April 1869, he was appointed prosecutor and although he remained in this post for only a few months, until July, he managed to show his abilities in law and oratory, which made him widely known ^[1] .

During the years of his career, Hoydas fought with zeal against organized banditry, which was the scourge of Greece of those decades, and for the purification of public life. Disappointed by the scale of corruption, in 1874, Hoydas resigned from the judiciary and from that moment developed political and journalistic activities.

In 1875 , taking part in a protest rally against the lawlessness of the government of D. Vulgaris , he got involved in a verbal skirmish with MP D. Stykos, who insulted the assembled people. The skirmish grew into a duel , during which Stykos, being a retired colonel, shot Hoidas lung. For a month, Hoydas lay dying, and crowds of people stood daily at his house. To avoid unrest, the royal court suggested sending his daughter, Penelope, to study in Switzerland with a royal scholarship, and then appoint her maid of honor Queen Olga . Hoydas refused, provoking the respect of his associates and the hatred of the monarchists.

On July 18, 1875, Hoydas was elected to the parliament from Kefalonia, and in 1883 from Attica . He distinguished himself in parliament for his oratory, but especially for his rejection of the monarchy. However, the presidents of the parliament made sure that his speeches were not recorded in the minutes of parliamentary sessions, so as not to upset the monarch. In one of his speeches in parliament, he gave himself the name of the kinonist ("κοινωνιστής"), from the Greek word kininia (κοινωνία - society), which was equivalent to the Latin / French socialist. As a result, the illegal organization of the monarchists created difficulties for him in the election campaigns. In 1877 (for the first time), he resigned from parliament, claiming a scandal with a shipping company from the island of Syros, and demanding that he be sent there by the prosecutor. His resignation was not accepted, but he did not appear at the next parliamentary meeting. He appeared at the next meeting, where he caused a stir, declaring Christ the son of Joseph and Mary, and was "almost expelled from parliament" ^[2] . Information occasionally appears that in 1878, Hoydas took part in Greek uprisings on Ottoman territory , which were caused by the signing of the San Stefano Peace , which ignored Greek interests, and provided for the creation of “Great Bulgaria”, “which”, according to Dakin, “itself I didn’t make much effort to get my freedom ” ^[3] , and included in the new state the Greek, from the point of view of Greece and the Greeks, cities of Macedonia and the Western Black Sea. However, this information cannot be supported by authoritative sources. In November 1885, Hoydas finally refused the seat of a deputy in parliament after his bill on “Punishment of squanders of state money” was not passed. A few days later, an attempt was made on him on the steps before entering the parliament. Hoydas indicated the organizer of the attempt by the Athens police chief, Kokkinopoulos. His resignation was not accepted, but he did not return to parliament, continuing the struggle for democracy outside his walls. In the same year, he created with the deputy Ikonom the “People's Party” (Λαϊκό κόμμα), which however was soon dissolved, and supported democratic societies such as the “Democratic Society of Patras ” and the “Socialist League” of Stavros Kallergis. After which he began cooperation with Cleantis Triantafillou in the publication of the political satirical journal Rambagas ^[4] .

His ideology was the opposite of the policy of Prime Minister H. Trikupis , which led to their clash. On September 4, 1888, Hoydas published two articles in Rambagas, which were considered an insult to King George and Crown Prince Constantine ^[5] .

Hoydas was arrested, with the possible consent of Prime Minister H. Trikupis , and appeared before the court in the city of Amphis , where in May 1889. After his speech in court, which lasted a total of 24 hours, during which he accused the court of camarilla and the monarchist parties, Hoydas was sentenced to three years in prison in the city of Chalkida . Trikupis informed Hoidas that he would be pardoned if he declared his allegiance to the Constitution. However, Hoydas found the offer humiliating and refused to accept it. After spending a year in prison, May 3/15, 1890 , Hoydas died from prison deprivation and as a result of exacerbations of his wounds ^[6] . According to the Grand Lodge of Greece, Roccos Hoydas was a freemason ^[7] .

• Παναγιώτης Νούτσος (2003), “Πορτρέτα: Ρόκκος Χοΐδάς 1830-1890 -Η σοσιαλιστική σκέψη”, Ιστορία του Νέου Ελληνιλλύύύύύύύύύύύύύύύύύύύύύύύύύύύύύύύύ 256.