‘An almost unique isle in the sea of democratic Europe’: Greek Communists' perceptions of international reality, 1944–1949.

This paper proposes a realistic appreciation of Greek communist perceptions of international realities and their impact on their domestic disposition and tactics in 1944–1949, during a particularly dense and rapidly changing international milieu. In a context whose volatility fuelled too many false perceptions, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) chose to internalise whatever it interpreted as positive signs and ignore those suggesting imponderables and adversities. The real difficulty for the Greek communists, however, was not the accuracy of their perceptions or lack thereof, but a lack of sufficient power to survive their inaccuracy. In addition, historiographically the paper seeks to redress the analytical balance in favour of national, regional and international politics as against the recent flood of local area studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]