Ninety years ago today, on 4 August 1936, Greece’s parliamentary democracy was suspended when Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas, with the full consent of King George II, imposed an authoritarian dictatorship that would last nearly five years.
Background: From Lawful Prime Minister to Absolute Ruler
Ioannis Metaxas, a former military officer with a long career in both the army and politics, was appointed prime minister in April 1936 by King George II after the sudden death of Konstantinos Demertzis. His government received a vote of confidence from 241 of the 300 members of Parliament. Lawmakers also granted him extraordinary powers: the right to suspend parliamentary sessions and to govern through legislative decrees that carried the full force of law.
These powers proved decisive. On the evening of 4 August 1936, Metaxas suspended several core articles of the Greek Constitution and established what became known as the 4th of August Regime or the Metaxas dictatorship.
The Official Justification: Fear of a Communist Uprising
The regime claimed that a planned general workers’ strike was about to escalate into an armed insurrection aimed at overthrowing the existing political and social order. In a report submitted to King George II, Metaxas wrote:
“Your Majesty,
The Government over which I have the honor to preside considers it its duty to report to Your Majesty that the country finds itself in a state of grave unrest and on the eve of a subversive uprising.”
The royal decree imposing martial law stated that the suspension of constitutional articles was necessary “owing to the threat of a serious disturbance of public order.”
How Democracy Was Suspended – A Contemporary Account
Two days later, the newspaper Eleftheron Vima (predecessor of today’s To Vima) published a censored report of the events:
“On the evening of Aug. 4, 1936, the Cabinet met at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister to decide how to address the announced general workers’ strike.
During the meeting, responsible information was received from the competent police and military authorities indicating that the planned general strike would turn into an insurrection aimed at overthrowing the country’s lawful political and social order.
After a brief discussion, the Cabinet decided to confront the situation by adopting a series of sweeping measures… The relevant decrees were drafted, taken by the Prime Minister to the royal palace, signed by the King, and published that same night in a special edition of the Government Gazette.”
Immediate press censorship followed. Political opponents, especially members of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), faced imprisonment, exile, and arbitrary arrest.
Historical Perspective: The Role of Political Crisis
In a 1996 article marking the 60th anniversary, Athens Law School professor I.M. Konidaris emphasised a critical point: Metaxas was still Greece’s lawful prime minister when he abolished the Constitution.
He noted that the deep crisis among the political parties of the time and their inability to form stable coalitions created the conditions that made the dictatorship possible. Parliament’s overwhelming vote of confidence and the authorisation to issue decrees with the force of law significantly facilitated the transition from parliamentary government to personal rule.
The Regime’s End and the 1940–41 War
The Metaxas dictatorship formally ended with the dictator’s death on 29 January 1941, during the Greco-Italian War. Censorship remained in force until the liberation of Greece on 12 October 1944.
When the newspapers of the Lambrakis group resumed free publication in May 1945, Ta Nea offered a sharp assessment of the regime’s legacy. The paper rejected the idea that the glorious Albanian campaign could be credited to the dictatorship, arguing instead that the Greek people’s struggle for national freedom was, at a deeper level, also a reaction against domestic oppression. The five-year period of “official Greek Fascism,” it wrote, had systematically attacked every centre of democratic tradition and produced one of the most destructive regressions in modern Greek history.