The master of the ‘kolotoumba’

September 3 will mark 50 years since the founding of socialist PASOK. Much will be written and said about this party - or movement - which dominated Greek politics during the Metapolitefsi period, as well as its founder. I suspect that historical evaluations will contradict recent survey findings, which indicate that the public regards Andreas Papandreou as having been a more significant leader than Constantine Karamanlis. History demands a balanced and rigorous approach; it must not be written with nostalgia or bias.

Of course, there are also the major "what ifs."For instance, what if Andreas and PASOK had not emerged to channel the wave of Metapolitefsi radicalization? The Left sought retribution for the suffering it endured after the civil war and was trying to make a political comeback. The dictatorship had thoroughly delegitimized the Right and, combined with the Cyprus...