Shedding the guilt complex

I recently caught a televised speech by Greek Communist Party (KKE) general secretary Dimitris Koutsoumbas in Patra, southern Greece, during an "anti-imperialist" event organized by the party's youth wing (KNE). It was not a big crowd, but still I was impressed by the fact that a few thousand had gathered midsummer, waving red flags and chanting the same slogans I first heard as a schoolboy some 30 years ago.

It is often said that history is written by the victors, but we all know that this does not really apply in this corner of the world. And this is a reason why Greece is one of the very few countries in Europe where the sight of a public square filled with hammer-and-sickle flags fails to surprise. The six-year military dictatorship accentuated the phenomenon and, as a result, the generations who grew up after 1974 have been imbued with the romantic, idealized mythology...