Metaxism
Metaxism (Greek: Μεταξισμός) is a Greek authoritarian nationalist ideology associated with Ioannis Metaxas.[1] It called for the regeneration of the Greek nation and the establishment of a modern, culturally homogenous Greece.[2] Metaxism disparaged liberalism, and held individual interests to be subordinate to those of the nation, seeking to mobilize the Greek people as a disciplined mass in service to the creation of a "new Greece."[2]
Metaxas declared that his 4th of August Regime (1936–1941) represented a "Third Greek Civilization" which was committed to the creation of a culturally purified Greek nation based upon the militarist societies of ancient Macedonia and Sparta, which he held to constitute the "First Greek Civilization"; and the Orthodox Christian ethic of the Byzantine Empire, which he considered to represent the "Second Greek Civilization."[2] The Metaxas regime asserted that true Greeks were ethnically Greek and Orthodox Christian, intending to deliberately exclude Albanians, Slavs, and Turks residing in Greece from Greek citizenship.[2]
Although the Metaxas government and its official doctrines are sometimes described as fascist, academically it is considered to have been a conventional authoritarian-conservative dictatorship akin to Francisco Franco's Spain or António de Oliveira Salazar's Portugal.[1][3] The Metaxist government derived its authority from the conservative establishment and its doctrines strongly supported traditional institutions such as the Greek Orthodox Church and the Greek Monarchy; essentially reactionary, it lacked the radical theoretical dimensions of ideologies such as Italian fascism and German Nazism.[1][3] The regime also lacked antisemitism, which it regarded as "distasteful".[4]
The ideology of Metaxism was associated with Metaxas' political party, the Freethinkers' Party and the 4th of August Regime.[5] In the post-war period it has been advocated by the 4th of August Party, the Golden Dawn party and the ELAM party.
Legacy[edit]
The social control which was established by Metaxas and the ideas passed to the youth, especially through the National Youth Organisation, had a significant influence on the Greek society and the post-war political system. Some examples are the censorship, which was in use until the Metapolitefsi, and the surviving elements of a police state. In the immediate post-war era Metaxism was advocated by the 4th of August Party. The ideas of the 4th of August Regime was also an extra motive for the group of right-wing army officers who seized power in a coup d'état and led to the Greek military junta of 1967–1974. Today the only party of the Greek parliament which claims to follow the ideas of Metaxas is the right-wing extremist Golden Dawn.[17] Other far-right parties such as Popular Greek Patriotic Union which split from the Golden Dawn also claim to follow Metaxism.