The latest temptation

Greek political life has registered several achievements which could even be considered world records. The Communist Party of Greece (KKE), for instance, as I write in my latest book, "Under Stalin's Shadow - A Global History of Greek Communism" (published in English by Ithaca: Northern Illinois University Press, and in Greek by Alexandria, 2023), claims the world record for dramatic changeovers in party leadership. From its founding until 1957, all of the party's leaders, around a dozen in total, were dismissed and expelled. The last two, Andronikos Chaitas and Nikos Zachariadis, met with a tragic end. The former was a victim of Stalinist purges in the USSR, while the latter took his own life while in exile in Surgut, northwest Siberia.

Meanwhile, the New Democracy party can boast of another world record. It must be the only center-right party in Greece's history, and...