Ilias Iliou (May 1904 – January 25, 1985) was a Greek lawyer and politician, member of the Greek Parliament and leader of the United Democratic Left

United Democratic Left

The United Democratic Left was a political party in Greece, active mostly before the Greek military junta of 1967-1974.-Foundation:...

 (EDA). He was also a distinguished writer and jurist.

Early years

Iliou was born in 1904 in Kastro (now renamed Myrina

Myrina, Greece

Myrina is a former municipality on the island of Lemnos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lemnos, of which it is a municipal unit. It covers the west coast of the island, and has a land area of 82.049 km², about 17.2% of the island's...

), the main town of Lemnos

Lemnos

Lemnos is an island of Greece in the northern part of the Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos peripheral unit, which is part of the North Aegean Periphery. The principal town of the island and seat of the municipality is Myrina...

. The island was part of the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 until 1912. His grandfather Ilias was a shoemaker originally from Macedonia

Macedonia (region)

Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...

, his father Philippos (d. 1927) a rich merchant who lost his fortune in 1929, and his mother Efthalia (d. 1916) a schoolteacher, rare for a woman at the time. He was the eldest of three brothers and one sister. The others were Yannis (b. 1906, died soon after), another Yannis (b. 1908), Konstantinos (b. 1910) and Eleni (b. 1912).

A brilliant pupil, he finished the gymnasium at the age of 16, studied law in the University of Athens, and graduated in 1924.

Before the Second World War

He started a legal practice in Mytilene with George Zoanos which continued in Athens after 1935. In addition to his legal work he also wrote poetry, was a translator from classical Greek and French of literary and legal books, contributing many articles to specialist law journals. He also wrote articles for literary magazines such as Noumas (Νουμάς), Philiki Etairia (Φιλική Εταιρεία), Ellinika Grammata (Ελληνικά Γράμματα) and Neoellinika Grammata (Νεοελληνικά Γράμματα), which broke new ground as they were written in the Demotic Greek (spoken, popular form of Greek) which was only officially recognized in 1975 instead of the usual more classical katharevousa

Katharevousa

Katharevousa , is a form of the Greek language conceived in the early 19th century as a compromise between Ancient Greek and the Modern Greek of the time, with a vocabulary largely based on ancient forms, but a much-simplified grammar. Originally, it was widely used both for literary and official...

.

During the Metaxas dictatorship (1936–41) he contributed two books in the series “Library of Writers and Poets of Ancient Greece” published by Zacharopoulos. After the war he wrote several more books and contributed many articles to journals and newspapers. In 1922 he joined the Democratic Union of Alexandros Papanastasiou

Alexandros Papanastasiou

Alexandros Papanastasiou was a Greek politician, sociologist and Prime Minister.- Early years :Papanastasiou was the son of Member of Parliament Panagiotis Papanastasiou. He spent part of his childhood in Kalamata and Piraeus...

 and stood as a candidate in the Parliamentary elections of 1932 and 1936, without success. He moved to Athens in 1935 and in 1942 he was called to the bar of the Areios Pagos

Court of Cassation (Greece)

The Court of Cassation is the Supreme Court of Greece for civil and criminal law. The Court of Cassation's decisions are irrevocable. If the Court of Cassation concludes that a lower court violated the law or the principles of the procedure, then it can order the rehearing of the case by the lower...

.

Iliou was always a supporter of liberal progressive causes. In 1935, during the dictatorship of General Metaxas, he was contacted by Joe Nordmann (b. 1910, a prominent lawyer who was a member of the French Communist Party

French Communist Party

The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...

 and later of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers) and asked to send information about the persecution of anti-fascists in Greece.

Resistance and civil war

World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 broke out for Greece in 1940, and he joined the National Liberation Front (EAM) in 1942. When the Germans had been driven out, a conflict broke out between the left-wing Greek Resistance

Greek Resistance

The Greek Resistance is the blanket term for a number of armed and unarmed groups from across the political spectrum that resisted the Axis Occupation of Greece in the period 1941–1944, during World War II.-Origins:...

 (EAM-ELAS) and the Greek Royalists assisted by British troops which were brought from Egypt in December 1944 (the Dekemvriana). Iliou’s house in Ambelokipoi was in the front line.

His son Philippos Iliou, 14 at the time, was a runner for EPON (United Panhellenic Organization of Youth) - one of those who, in the absence of phones radios and newspapers, formed the practical liaison between units and disseminated news about Athens. One day, British soldiers arrived at the house with an interpreter to arrest Philippos and Ilias. His father-in-law, Senator George Emmanuel Kaldis, happened to be there and was also arrested. They were brought to a warehouse in Kallithea which was used as a temporary prison.

The prisoners were then summoned one by one for interrogation. The procedure was that each would be asked what he had done through an interpreter. He would answer that he knew nothing, the interpreter would translate that as "I was involved with EAM", and the British would pack him off to Hassani airport, from which they were then sent to a prison camp in Libya. After a few people had been through this process, Ilias came forward and said "I am a lawyer and I wish to record that the translator is not doing his job properly". He was sent back to await his turn in the line and they were released after 3 days.

Free again, he became the defence lawyer of many of the members of the Resistance persecuted by the Royalist government. Offended by the gross injustices, he joined the Greek Communist Party (KKΕ) as a protest in 1945.

During the Greek Civil War

Greek Civil War

The Greek Civil War was fought from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek governmental army, backed by the United Kingdom and United States, and the Democratic Army of Greece , the military branch of the Greek Communist Party , backed by Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania...

 (1946–1950) he was arrested once more in March 1947. First, he was deported to Ikaria, then to the concentration camp of Makronisos

Makronisos

Makronisos is an island in the Aegean sea, in Greece and is located close to the coast of Attica, facing the port of Lavrio. It has an elongated shape and its terrain is arid and rocky. In ancient times the island was called Helena. It is part of the prefecture of the Cyclades but it is not part...

, and finally to the little island of Agios Efstratios

Agios Efstratios

Agios Efstratios or Saint Eustratius is a small Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea about 30 km southwest of Lemnos and 80 km northwest of Lesbos...

 until November 1951. He would recount later how he had been ushered around the Aegean Sea to do some tourism "at the expense of the State".

Post-war political career

The EDA party (United Democratic Left

United Democratic Left

The United Democratic Left was a political party in Greece, active mostly before the Greek military junta of 1967-1974.-Foundation:...

) was created in 1951 to represent a broad front covering the parties on the Left, including the proscribed Communist Party. Iliou was one of the founders. In the elections of 1952

Greek legislative election, 1952

The Greek legislative election of 16 November 1952 resulted in victory for General Alexander Papagos and the party he had founded the previous year, the Greek Rally party....

 Iliou was one of the deported candidates who were elected. The government was forced to release them, but it immediately annulled their election. Iliou became an MP for EDA and was re-elected in all the general elections from 1956 to 1967. He was its parliamentary leader and later President.

In 1965 Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos arranged for the tanks of an army unit on the country's north-eastern frontier to be sabotaged, and announced this as Communist sabotage. This was used as a pretext for the immediate arrest, without any formal process, of a number of soldiers and civilians throughout the country. When this subterfuge was exposed, this was raised in Parliament by the Prime Minister George Papandreou

George Papandreou (senior)

Georgios Papandreou was a Greek politician, the founder of the Papandreou political dynasty. He served three terms as Prime Minister of Greece...

. The speech by Iliou on that occasion was seen as prophetic:

“ ... How come there is a presumption that someone called Papadopoulos is telling the truth while dozens of free citizens are presumed to be guilty without evidence, that an order by Mr. Papadopoulos is enough for the arrest of ten citizens at home in the middle of the night and their imprisonment in total isolation, subject to the usual beatings and maltreatment, and that eventually it should be established that it was all a lot of hot air? And if tomorrow another order targets not 10 but 500, 1,000, 10,000 citizens, might it be possible that this country once more becomes home to a regime of fear, based on another arbitrary and malicious act by some Mr Papadopoulos?”

A cartoon by Bost

Chrysanthos Mentis Bostantzoglou

Chrysanthos Mentis Bostantzoglou and better known under the pen name of Bost , was a prolific Greek political cartoonist, playwright, lyricist and painter....

 in Avghi on 5 April 1964 shows Iliou and George Papandreou

George Papandreou (senior)

Georgios Papandreou was a Greek politician, the founder of the Papandreou political dynasty. He served three terms as Prime Minister of Greece...

 in a debate - this was turned into a painting which itself became a political prisoner later (see Bost

Chrysanthos Mentis Bostantzoglou

Chrysanthos Mentis Bostantzoglou and better known under the pen name of Bost , was a prolific Greek political cartoonist, playwright, lyricist and painter....

 for details).

Less than two years later, in April 1967, a military junta

Greek military junta of 1967-1974

The Greek military junta of 1967–1974, alternatively "The Regime of the Colonels" , or in Greece "The Junta", and "The Seven Years" are terms used to refer to a series of right-wing military governments that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974...

, led by Papadopoulos, seized power. Iliou was arrested again and after detention in the Hippodrome, where he was badly beaten, transferred once more to the revived concentration camp on Gioura

Gioura

Gioura is a Greek island and an abandoned settlement in the eastern part of the Sporades. It is administratively part of the municipality of Alonnisos. The island name dates back to the ancient times as Gerontia. The name was later altered to Gioura. The island also features a Neolithic settlement...

. His health suffered and he was transferred under solitary confinement to the hospital of the Averof prison in Athens. In 1971 he was released, but had to report regularly to the nearest police station. He was often stopped in the street when he called his wife - her name Eleftheria meant freedom.

After the fall of the Junta

Metapolitefsi

The Metapolitefsi was a period in Greek history after the fall of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974 that includes the transitional period from the fall of the dictatorship to the Greek legislative elections of 1974 and the democratic period immediately after these elections.The long...

 in 1974, he was reelected

Greek legislative election, 1974

The first free elections since 1964 and after the end of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974 took place in Greece on November 17, 1974 during the metapolitefsi....

 to Parliament in 1974 with EDA and in 1977 with the Coalition of Left and Progressive Forces

United Left (Greece)

The United Left was an electoral union formed between the Communist Party of Greece, Communist Party of Greece and the United Democratic Left to contest the 1974 Greek legislative election. The UL took 9.47% of the vote and won eight seats....

 (Συμμαχία Αριστερών και Προοδευτικών Δυνάμεων) which included inter alia EDA and the two Communist parties that had come out of the Party schism of 1968. By this time he was one of the senior, longest-serving MPs and a popular public figure. In 1978 the coalition dissolved into its constituents and in 1981 he retired from politics.

Poet, lawyer and politician, recognized as a humanist, a non-dogmatic and objective progressive precursor of Eurocommunism

Eurocommunism

Eurocommunism was a trend in the 1970s and 1980s within various Western European communist parties to develop a theory and practice of social transformation that was more relevant in a Western European democracy and less aligned to the influence or control of the Communist Party of the Soviet...

, an eloquent orator with a sense of humour, often called the "Nestor of Greek politics", he was respected by his enemies as well. At his death in 1985 from complications of diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus, often simply referred to as diabetes, is a group of metabolic diseases in which a person has high blood sugar, either because the body does not produce enough insulin, or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced...

, he was granted a state funeral at the First Cemetery of Athens

First Cemetery of Athens

The First Cemetery of Athens is the official cemetery of the City of Athens and the first to be built. It opened in 1837 and soon became a luxurious cemetery for famous Greek people and foreigners....

 with the honours of a Minister. Many streets throughout Greece were renamed in his honour after his death.

Personal life

In 1930 he married Eleftheria Kaldis, daughter of George Emmanuel Kaldis (1875–1953), MP for Lesbos and Lemnos

Lemnos

Lemnos is an island of Greece in the northern part of the Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos peripheral unit, which is part of the North Aegean Periphery. The principal town of the island and seat of the municipality is Myrina...

, and they had 2 children - Philippos Iliou (historian, 1931–2004) and Mary Iliou Ciompi (b. 1934). His wife died in 2003.

Writings

(All the publications below, which are a selection only, are in Greek and by I. Iliou. The titles have been translated from the original Greek)

1939: “Speeches by Aeschines” (translation and commentary I. Iliou), publisher Zacharopoulos.

1940: Ρητορική “Rhetoric” by Aristotle (introduction, translation, notes by I. Iliou), publisher Zacharopoulos (2 volumes). Republished by Kedros 1984 & 2002. ISBN 960-04-2114-5.

1953: “Public and private law”, Charles Eisenmann (Introduction and translation I. Iliou).

1958: “The youth of Greece”; I: Iliou (privately printed).

1960: “The program for national democratic reform” (Report to 1st National Congress of EDA, publisher EDA pp 93–104).

1960: “The national economy and the public finances in 1960” (General report on the budget of 1960), Greek national printing press.

1962: Presentation to “Reunion de Juristes d’Europe occidentale pour la restauration des libertes publiques en Grece, 26 mai 1962”, Edition de l’Association Internationale de Juristes, pp 8–19.

1962 “The truth on the Common Market”, printed by K. Koulouphakos.

1963: “The immediate demands of the people”, report to the 2nd Panhellenic Congress of EDA, official texts pp 84–124.

1966: “The socioeconomic basis and definition of political objectives”, in “Week of contemporary thoughts”, publisher Themelio pp 503–563.

1966: “The crisis of power”, publisher Themelio.

1973: “The definition of political objectives”, in periodical Iridanos no. 2-3, January-April 1973 p4-44.

1973: “The multinationals: present day economic empires”, pp 9–92 of “Multinational hypermonopolies: the disintegration of imperialism” by I. Iliou, K. Hadjiargyris, N. Panousis, publisher Gutenberg.

1975: “The constitution and its revision”, publisher Themelio.

1977: “Selected political writings 1974-76”, publisher Diogene.

1977: “The violations of Human Rights”, publisher Ermeias.

1980: Το μήνυμα του Θουκυδίδη - Δοκίμιο “The message of Thucydides - Essay”, publisher Kedros, 1980 & 2002, ISAN 960-04-1428-9.

2005: Κριτικά κείμενα για την τέχνη 1925-1937 “Critical texts on art (1925-1937)”, posthumous edition published by Themelio. ISBN 960-310-311-X.