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Manolis Glezos (Greek: Μανώλης Γλέζος; 9 September 1922 – 30 March 2020)[1] was a Greek left-wing politician, journalist, author, and guerrilla fighter most famous for his role in the Greek Resistance during World War II. After the end of the war, Glezos became a journalist and edited the left-wing newspapers Rizospastis and I Avgi. As a politician, he was elected to the European Parliament twice (1984 and 2014) and served as a Member of the Greek Parliament (MP) at various points from 1951 to 2014, representing three constituencies. He also published six books.

Key Information

During the Axis occupation of Greece, he and Lakis Santas took down the flag of Nazi Germany from the Acropolis. After the end of Axis occupation, his left-wing political beliefs and activism in the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) led to him being sentenced to death three times; his imprisonments and legal troubles were often the topic of international interest, until his permanent release in 1971 ended over 15 years of non-continuous imprisonment and exile. He was originally a member of the Communist Party of Greece and the United Democratic Left (EDA), but left the former in 1968 after the invasion of Czechoslovakia.

After the restoration of democracy in 1974, Glezos resumed duties as a politician, becoming an MP for various left-wing parties, and most prominently was the leader of EDA from 1981 to 1989. From 1987 to 2012, he was elected to various local government posts throughout Greece and was a founding member of Synaspismos, before returning as an MP in the May and June 2012 elections. In 2014, at the age of 91 (as a candidate for Syriza), he became a Member of the European Parliament for the second time, making him the oldest-ever member of the European Parliament,[2] and the most voted-for candidate in Greece, but resigned in 2015 and split from Syriza amidst negotiations for the third bailout programme during the Greek debt crisis to form Popular Unity (LAE), which unsuccessfully contested the September 2015 elections.

Glezos is often regarded as an icon of the Greek Resistance and was the recipient of various international awards throughout his seven-decade long political career. He was nicknamed "The First Partisan", after Charles de Gaulle had dubbed him "The first partisan of Europe".

Early life and World War II

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Born in the village of Apiranthos, Naxos, Glezos moved to Athens in 1935 together with his family, where he finished high school. During his high school years in Athens, he also worked as a pharmacy employee. He was admitted to the Higher School of Economic and Commercial Studies (known today as the Athens University of Economics and Business) in 1940. In 1939, still a high school student, Glezos participated in the creation of an anti-fascist youth organization against the Italian occupation of the Dodecanese and the dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas. At the onset of World War II, he volunteered to join the Hellenic Army in the Albanian front against Fascist Italy but was rejected because he was underage. Instead, he worked as a volunteer for the Hellenic Ministry of Economics. During the Axis occupation of Greece, he worked for the Hellenic Red Cross and the municipality of Athens, while actively involved in the Greek Resistance.

The Nazi German flag on the Acropolis during the Nazi occupation of Greece, May 1941

According to popular tradition, on 27 April 1941 Konstantinos Koukidis was ordered to lower the Greek flag and raise the Nazi German flag. Koukidis allegedly lowered the flag and jumped from the Acropolis holding it, rather than raise the Nazi flag. On 30 May 1941, Glezos and Apostolos Santas climbed on the Acropolis and tore down the Nazi German flag, which had been there since 27 April 1941, when the Nazi forces had entered Athens. It inspired not only the Greeks but all subjected peoples in Nazi-occupied Europe to resist the Axis powers, and established them both as two international anti-Nazi heroes.

Hours later, the Nazi regime sentenced the perpetrators to death, but they were not identified until much later.[3] Glezos was arrested by the German occupation forces on 24 March 1942, imprisoned, and tortured. As a result of his treatment, he was affected by tuberculosis.[4]

Glezos was arrested again on 21 April 1943 by the Italian occupation forces and spent three months in jail. In 1944, he was imprisoned by Greek collaborators and beaten for trying to escape.[5]

Career and political activism

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Post-war period

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Glezos on a 1959 Soviet postage stamp

The end of World War II was not the end of Glezos' plight. On 3 March 1948, in the midst of the Greek Civil War, he was put to trial for his political convictions and sentenced to death multiple times by the national government.[6] His death penalties were reduced to a life sentence in 1950. Even though he was still imprisoned, he was elected member of the Hellenic Parliament in 1951, under the flag of the United Democratic Left, also known as EDA (Ενιαία Δημοκρατική Αριστερά, ΕΔΑ). Upon his election, he went on a hunger strike demanding the release of his fellow EDA MPs that were imprisoned or exiled in the Greek islands. He ended his hunger strike upon the release of seven MPs from their exile. He was released from prison on 16 July 1954.

On 5 December 1958, he was arrested again and convicted of espionage, which was the common pretext for the persecution of the supporters of the left during the Cold War. The Soviet Union issued a postage stamp depicting Glezos, to which the Greek government responded with a postage stamp depicting Imre Nagy. His release on 15 December 1962 was a result of the public outcry in Greece and abroad, including winning the Lenin Peace Prize. During his second term of post-war political imprisonment, Glezos was reelected MP with EDA in 1961. During the coup d'état of 21 April 1967, Glezos was arrested at 2 am, together with the rest of the political leaders. During the Regime of the Colonels, the military dictatorship led by George Papadopoulos, he was imprisoned and exiled until his release in 1971.

Glezos' sentences, from the Second World War to the Greek Civil War and the Regime of the Colonels total 11 years and 4 months of imprisonment, and 4 years and 6 months of exile.[citation needed]

Since 1974

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After the restoration of democracy in Greece in 1974, Glezos participated in the reviving of EDA. In the elections of October 1981 and June 1985, he was elected Member of the Greek Parliament, on a Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) ticket. In 1984 he was elected Member of the European Parliament, again on a PASOK ticket. He was the President of EDA from 1985 until 1989. In the meantime, in 1986, he withdrew from the Parliament, in order to try to implement a grassroots democracy experiment. He did so in the community of Aperathu, where he was elected as the President of the Community Council in 1986 elections. He then essentially abolished the privileges of the council, introducing a "constitution" and establishing a local assembly that had total control over the community administration. This model worked for several years, but in the long term the interest of the rest of his community wore off and the assembly was abandoned. Glezos remained the President until 1989.[citation needed]

In the 2000 Greek legislative election he led the list of Synaspismos (in English Coalition) party of the radical left. In 2002, he formed the political group Active Citizens (which is part of Coalition of the Radical Left, an alliance with Synaspismos and other minor parties of the Greek left) and he ran as a candidate prefect for Attica.

In March 2010, Glezos was participating in a protest demonstration in Athens, when he was hit in the face by a police tear gas canister. He was carried away injured.[7]

In February 2012, Glezos was arrested by riot police while protesting in Athens.[8] He was sprayed with tear gas by one of the police officers in that area.

In the June 2012 parliamentary election, Glezos was elected as MP of the Coalition of Radical Left (SYRIZA) party.

Glezos was a SYRIZA candidate for the European Parliament in the elections of 25 May 2014. He was elected to the European Parliament with over 430,000 votes, more than any other candidate in Greece. At age 91, he was also the oldest person elected to the European Parliament in the 2014 election.[9][10]

In 2015, Glezos took a firm stance in favour of the "No" vote in the Greek bailout referendum. As an MEP he also participated in a support protest in Brussels, along with thousands of Belgians[11] in favour of Greeks voting negatively in the referendum, a few days before the latter takes place.[12] He resigned from his position in the European Parliament in July 2015, being succeeded by Nikolaos Chountis. The same year, he left SYRIZA before the September 2015 Greek election, where he was an MP candidate with the newly formed Popular Unity party.

In 2018, Glezos publicly voiced his opposition to the Prespa Agreement between Athens and Skopje on the resolution of the Macedonia naming dispute -despite the agreement being promoted by the SYRIZA government party which he formerly supported. In an article for the Greek daily paper Kathimerini, he insisted that the people of the neighbouring country should "define themselves in accordance with their history, language, traditions... taking out of their mind the word Macedonia".[13][14]

Non-political career

[edit]

Apart from his political work, Glezos invented a system to prevent floods, combat erosion and preserve underground water, that works by the constructions of a series of very small dams that redirect water to aquifers. For his contributions to democracy, to geological sciences, and to linguistics he was pronounced honorary Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Patras (Department of Geology) in 1996, of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Department of Civil Engineering) in 2001, of the National Technical University of Athens (School of Mining & Metallurgical Engineering) in 2003, and of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (School of Philosophy) in 2008.

Death

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On 30 March 2020, Glezos died of heart failure, at the age of 97. Alexis Tsipras, former Greek prime-minister, said, "He will remain for all eternity the symbol of a fighter who knew how to sacrifice himself for the people." The Russian president Vladimir Putin sent a condolence message to the Greek government, which included, inter alia, the following words:[15][16] "To his Excellency, PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis. May you accept [my] deep condolences for the loss of Manolis Glezos, a brilliant political and social figure of Greece and a hero of the Greek Resistance at World War II. Manolis Glezos was a true friend of our country [...] He [also] greatly contributed, in person, in the struggle against the distortion of history. [...] With honour, Vladimir Putin. Moscow Kremlin, April 1st, 2020".

Funeral

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His funeral was held in the First Cemetery of Athens, in public expense on April 1, with only his family present, due to the restrictions for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Publications

[edit]

Glezos wrote articles in Greek newspapers since 1942 and was the editor of the newspapers Rizospastis and I Avgi in the 1950s. He was awarded the International Award of Journalism in 1958, the Golden Medal Joliot-Curie of the World Peace Council in 1959, and the Lenin Peace Prize in 1963. He published six books in Greek:

  • The History of the Book (Η ιστορία του βιβλίου, 1974)
  • From Dictatorship to Democracy (Από τη Δικτατορία στη ∆ημοκρατία, 1974)
  • The Phenomenon of Alienation in the Language (Το φαινόμενο της αλλοτρίωσης στη γλώσσα, 1977)
  • The Conscience of the Rocky Earth, (Η συνείδηση της πετραίας γης, 1997)
  • Hydor, Aura, Nero, (Ύδωρ, Αύρα, Νερό, 2001)
  • National Resistance 1940-1945, (Εθνική Αντίσταση 1940-1945, 2006)

References

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Manolis Glezos

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Manolis Glezos (9 September 1922 – 30 March 2020) was a Greek World War II resistance fighter and leftist politician, most famous for climbing the on 30 May 1941 with fellow partisan to tear down the Nazi swastika flag hoisted there shortly after the Axis invasion of . This act of defiance, carried out under cover of night without weapons, evaded immediate detection by German forces and became a symbol that galvanized the Greek resistance against occupation. Born in Apeiranthos on the island of , Glezos joined the communist-led National Liberation Front (EAM) and its armed branch, the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS), engaging in sabotage and guerrilla actions during the occupation by , , and . Following liberation in 1944, he faced imprisonment by British forces and later by the post-war Greek government amid the Greek Civil War, reflecting his alignment with communist insurgents. Despite this, Glezos pursued a long political career, serving as a member of the Greek Parliament from the 1950s onward with various leftist and socialist parties, including the (EDA), in the 1980s, and SYRIZA in 2012; he also held a seat in the . Glezos remained politically active into advanced age, protesting austerity measures imposed by the during Greece's and facing arrest in 2012 for occupying a finance ministry building in against German-led policies. He died of in at age 97, receiving a as a national icon of resistance, though his enduring communist ties drew criticism from conservative quarters for overlooking the violent record of EAM/ forces in internecine conflicts.

Early Life

Birth, Family Background, and Education

Manolis Glezos was born on September 9, 1922, in Apeiranthos, a mountain village on the island of in . His father, Nikolaos Glezos (1892–1924), worked as a public servant and journalist, while his mother, Andromachi Naupiliotu (1894–1967), was a schoolteacher originating from ; the early loss of his father left his mother to raise the family amid economic challenges in interwar . The family relocated to in 1935, seeking better opportunities amid rural hardships on , where Glezos had completed primary schooling. In the capital, his parents' professions exposed him to intellectual discussions, including critiques of emerging in . Glezos finished secondary education in and took early employment to support the household. In 1939, as fascist regimes consolidated power across , he co-founded a youth group opposing such ideologies, reflecting personal convictions shaped by family influences and global events.

World War II Resistance

The Acropolis Swastika Incident

On the night of 30 May 1941, Manolis Glezos, then 19 years old, and fellow student Apostolos "Lakis" Santas, also 19, scaled the cliffs of the Acropolis in Athens under cover of darkness to remove the Nazi swastika flag hoisted there by German forces on 27 April 1941 following the Axis invasion of Greece. The pair evaded German guards patrolling the site, using a narrow goat path and navigating sheer drops to reach the flagpole atop the rock, where the banner was secured with metal wires and knotted ropes anchored to the ground. Glezos and Santas cut through the fastenings with tools including a and wire cutters, pulling down the large swastika-emblazoned cloth, which measured approximately 6 by 3 meters. They tore out the central emblem as a and discarded the remainder into a nearby or to conceal evidence of , fleeing the scene before dawn without raising an alarm. Accounts from Glezos himself, corroborated by Santas before his death in 2011, detail the physical dangers, including the risk of falls from the unsecured climb and immediate execution if captured by occupation forces enforcing strict around symbolic sites. The following morning, German authorities discovered the flag's absence and initially attributed it to storm damage from high winds to suppress reports of deliberate resistance, avoiding acknowledgment of a successful that exposed vulnerabilities in their control over . This non-violent act of defiance, executed without affiliation to organized groups at the time, provided an early morale boost to occupied by demonstrating that symbols of Nazi dominance could be challenged through audacious individual initiative amid widespread and threats.

Broader Involvement in Anti-Occupation Activities

Following the symbolic removal of the swastika from the Acropolis on May 30, 1941, Glezos integrated into organized resistance structures amid escalating Axis exploitation of Greece. The occupation triggered the "Great Famine" of 1941–1943, exacerbated by requisitioning of food supplies, naval blockade, and hyperinflation, resulting in an estimated 100,000 to 300,000 excess deaths from starvation and associated diseases, equivalent to 1.4–2.8% of the pre-war population. Axis authorities installed puppet regimes, beginning with Georgios Tsolakoglou's collaborationist government in April 1941, followed by successors under Konstantinos Logothetopoulos and Ioannis Rallis, which facilitated resource extraction and suppressed dissent while enabling black-market profiteering by local elites. Glezos aligned with the National Liberation Front (EAM), a communist-dominated founded in September 1941 by the Greek Communist Party (KKE), which rapidly expanded to encompass diverse anti-occupation elements and claimed over 1.5 million adherents by 1944. EAM's armed branch, the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS), formed in December 1941, grew to approximately 50,000 fighters by mid-1944 and prioritized against Italian and German forces, including Bulgarian units in . Glezos, operating primarily in the Athens region, contributed to EAM's urban networks, leveraging his prior defiance to bolster recruitment and morale in a context where occupation reprisals—such as the execution of 200 civilians at Kandanos in June 1941—deterred open opposition. ELAS tactics encompassed sabotage of infrastructure, intelligence collection on Axis troop movements, and ambushes to disrupt logistics, with operations peaking after Italy's capitulation in shifted primary threats to German forces. Notable actions included the joint ELAS- of the Gorgopotamos railway viaduct on November 25, 1942, which severed a key supply route to and delayed Axis reinforcements by weeks. Glezos supported these efforts through evasion of German sweeps, dissemination of underground , and auxiliary roles in intelligence relays, evading capture until the Axis evacuation in October 1944, amid ELAS's control over much of the countryside by late 1943. While EAM/ELAS actions inflicted tangible costs on occupiers—disrupting and forcing diversion of 100,000 troops to internal security—their communist also pursued monopolization of resistance, clashing with non-aligned groups like and foreshadowing post-liberation strife, though such dynamics remained secondary to anti-Axis imperatives during the occupation proper.

Greek Civil War and Immediate Aftermath

Alignment with Communist Forces

Following the Axis liberation of in October 1944, Glezos, who had participated in the communist-led National Liberation Front (EAM) and its military arm during the occupation, aligned with communist forces amid post-liberation power struggles between remnants and British-backed royalist government troops. These tensions, exacerbated by the British Military Mission's support for anti-communist elements and the failure of the Lebanese Conference to integrate into the national army, led to the clashes in starting December 3, 1944, marking the prelude to full-scale . In a notable engagement during these events, on December 24, 1944, Glezos and approximately 30 operatives infiltrated ' sewers to plant 12 kilograms of beneath the British at the Grande Bretagne , aiming to disrupt command operations; the plot was aborted when the detonation signal failed to arrive, narrowly averting potential casualties including British Prime Minister , who dined there that evening. This action exemplified Glezos's tactical shift from anti-Axis to targeting Allied forces perceived as obstructing communist influence in the postwar vacuum, driven by his ideological adherence to Marxism-Leninism and EAM's vision of a people's over monarchical restoration. By 1946, as the Varkiza Agreement's disarmament provisions collapsed and guerrillas rearmed under the (KKE), Glezos supported the formation of the (DSE), engaging in insurgent activities against the government amid a conflict that claimed an estimated 150,000 lives through combat, reprisals, and . His alignment reflected causal pressures including KKE's control over rural liberated zones, economic collapse from occupation legacies (with reaching 15,000% by 1944), and fears of right-wing purges, prioritizing class struggle and over national reconciliation despite the ideological rift fracturing Greece's resistance unity.

Capture, Trial, and Imprisonment

Glezos was captured by Greek government forces during the Greek Civil War in 1948 while participating in communist guerrilla activities. He was subsequently tried by a military court on charges of and collaboration with insurgent forces. In early 1949, the court sentenced Glezos to death, citing his involvement in armed resistance against the national government as justification for the penalty. This marked the second such sentence he received, following an earlier one related to wartime actions. A sentence was imposed later that year for similar reasons tied to civil war participation. Facing international pressure and domestic considerations, Greek authorities commuted both death sentences to in 1950. Glezos served his term under harsh conditions in facilities including Akronauplia prison, where he endured torture and physical deterioration, contributing to long-term health effects such as exacerbations from prior injuries. He was released on July 16, 1954, as part of amnesties granted under the right-wing government of , which aimed to stabilize post-civil war society by reducing political prisoner numbers, though excluding active communist leaders. This release ended the immediate punitive phase of his civil war involvement, after approximately five years of incarceration related to those events.

Periods of Exile and Suppression

Internal Exile Under Right-Wing Governments

Following his release from prison on 16 July 1954, Manolis Glezos remained under severe restrictions imposed by 's conservative governments, which maintained anti-communist policies in the aftermath of the Greek Civil War (1946–1949). These administrations, led by figures such as Prime Minister , systematically targeted perceived leftist threats through internal —a form of banishment to remote locations without formal —often accompanied by movement prohibitions, constant by security forces, and denial of employment opportunities, leading to economic hardship for exiles. Glezos, as a prominent communist sympathizer and former resistance fighter aligned with the left, experienced these controls directly, limiting his ability to engage in public life or travel freely within . In July 1959, under the government of Konstantinos Karamanlis's , Glezos was convicted on charges related to his political activities, receiving a sentence that included deprivation of civil rights for eight years and to the remote Aegean of Ai Stratis (Aghios Efstratios). This barren, isolated outpost served as a penal site for political dissidents, where exiles faced harsh living conditions, including inadequate shelter, food shortages, and enforced idleness under military guard, exacerbating physical and psychological strain. Such exiles were part of a broader pattern of suppression, with estimates indicating tens of thousands of former communist fighters and supporters subjected to similar banishments or in the 1950s, as conservative regimes sought to neutralize leftist influence amid alignments with the West. Glezos's confinement on Ai Stratis lasted several months, during which he endured these deprivations while under perpetual monitoring to prevent escapes or communications. Despite the oppressive environment, Glezos demonstrated personal fortitude by pursuing self-education, studying historical texts and languages available to him, which sustained his intellectual engagement amid isolation. Internal exiles like his were typically renewed or extended based on perceived ongoing threats, with often conditional on oaths of loyalty that Glezos refused, prolonging his restricted status into the early . This phase of passive containment reflected the conservative establishment's strategy of containment over outright execution, prioritizing stability under U.S.-backed anti-communist frameworks, though it stifled and contributed to widespread resentment among affected communities. By the mid-, shifting electoral dynamics began easing some pressures, but Glezos's experiences underscored the enduring scars of post-civil war .

Release and Initial Journalistic Efforts

Glezos was released from prison on 15 December 1962, after serving a sentence imposed in for alleged , amid significant public protests in and international , bolstered by his receipt of the Soviet Union's earlier that year. This release occurred under the conservative government of , reflecting limited political concessions to mounting pressure rather than a full for leftists. Following his release, Glezos tentatively reentered professional life through journalism, contributing articles to left-leaning outlets while navigating persistent surveillance and social ostracism tied to his communist guerrilla history and prior convictions. These efforts marked an initial, subdued phase of reintegration, constrained by the right-wing establishment's distrust of former resistance figures aligned with the defeated Democratic Army of Greece, though no major publications or editorial roles are documented in this interlude before the political upheavals of 1965–1967. His activities remained low-profile amid a thawing yet precarious climate under subsequent center-left administrations, culminating in renewed arrest on 21 April 1967.

Resistance to the Military Junta

Arrests and Public Opposition

Following the military coup on April 21, 1967, Glezos was arrested on September 28, 1967, for his public anti-regime statements and perceived threat as a prominent leftist figure. He faced multiple detentions during the junta's rule, including a four-year from 1967 to 1971, during which he endured alongside thousands of other political detainees. The regime's repression involved an estimated 8,000 arrests in the coup's first month alone, with around 2,000 victims subjected to , as documented in post-junta investigations. Despite imprisonment, Glezos contributed to anti-junta morale through smuggled writings and defiant messages that circulated underground, avoiding formal leadership roles to evade deeper scrutiny. His acts, verified in junta-era records, highlighted personal risks amid the dictatorship's suppression of , which held over 6,000 political prisoners in camps and islands by mid-1967. After his 1971 release, brief exile followed another arrest, but he persisted in subtle public opposition until the regime's fall in 1974.

Post-Metapolitefsi Political Career

National Parliamentary Roles

Following the restoration of democracy in , Glezos entered national politics as a member of the , representing left-wing parties in multiple terms. He was first elected in the October 1981 parliamentary elections on the ticket, securing a seat in the 300-member body during a period of socialist governance under . Glezos was re-elected in the June 1985 elections, again with , continuing his service amid debates over and historical reckonings from the junta era. Glezos's parliamentary tenure with emphasized reconciliation efforts, including support for measures addressing past political persecutions, though specific legislative initiatives tied to him focused on amplifying resistance legacies rather than direct authorship of bills. His alignment with reflected a tactical shift from earlier communist affiliations to broader leftist coalitions, positioning him as a bridge figure in post-junta legislative dynamics. In later years, Glezos returned to with the Coalition of the Radical Left (), winning a seat in the June 2012 elections amid economic turmoil, where SYRIZA surged to 26.9% of the vote and 71 seats. This term underscored his enduring appeal as a symbolic leftist voice, though he resigned from SYRIZA in 2014 over policy differences, continuing independent stances until the end of the parliamentary session. Throughout these roles, Glezos maintained a record of opposing conservative measures, consistently advocating for progressive reforms in line with his resistance background.

European Parliament Service and Independent Candidacies

Manolis Glezos served as a (MEP) for from July 24, 1984, to January 25, 1989, representing the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (). During this term, his activities focused on parliamentary debates aligned with 's socialist platform, though specific committee assignments from that period are limited in public records. Glezos's participation emphasized 's post-junta integration into European structures, reflecting his broader leftist commitments without notable deviations from party lines. Glezos returned to the in the 8th term, elected on May 25, 2014, as the lead candidate for , securing the highest number of preferential votes among Greek MEPs at age 92. His candidacy highlighted an anti-austerity agenda, demanding German and critiquing EU fiscal policies as detrimental to Greece's sovereignty. Assigned as a full member to the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and the Committee on Culture and Education, Glezos also served as a substitute in delegations related to countries, including EU-Armenia, EU-Azerbaijan, and EU-Georgia parliamentary committees. Throughout his 2014–2015 tenure, Glezos's parliamentary interventions consistently opposed EU-imposed measures, framing them as a continuation of external domination akin to historical occupations. He delivered speeches advocating for and reparations, drawing on Greece's wartime history to argue against what he termed "neo-colonial" economic policies. Attendance records indicate active engagement despite his age, though he resigned on July 8, 2015, citing health and a desire to prioritize national anti- efforts. No independent candidacies for seats are documented; his runs were party-affiliated, underscoring his alignment with radical-left coalitions despite his symbolic status as a resistance icon.

Political Ideology and Key Positions

Lifelong Communist and Leftist Commitments

Glezos embraced Marxism-Leninism as a teenager through his participation in communist-led youth organizations and the National Liberation Front (EAM) during the , framing the anti-fascist struggle as an extension of against and . This ideological foundation positioned the Soviet model as a beacon for emancipation, despite its documented internal contradictions, including the mass repressions of the (1936–1938), which executed or imprisoned hundreds of thousands on fabricated charges and deviated from professed egalitarian principles. Glezos's early uncritical alignment with the KKE reflected the broader Greek communist movement's deference to , prioritizing wartime unity over scrutiny of the USSR's causal failures in governance and human costs. His commitment to communist tenets persisted through the Greek Civil War (1946–1949), where he supported the , viewing the conflict as a defense of socialist gains against monarchist and Western-backed forces. Affiliation with the KKE endured until 1968, when Glezos denounced the as a betrayal of socialist self-determination, prompting his exit from the party and signaling a rupture with orthodox Soviet-aligned Marxism-Leninism. This shift did not erode his core anti-capitalist convictions, which causally propelled repeated opposition to right-wing regimes and economic elites amid Greece's postwar divisions, interpreting as class warfare rather than ideological overreach. Post-1968, Glezos channeled his leftist ideology into successive affiliations, including the (EDA) as its parliamentary voice, the (PASOK) from 1981 to 1989, (1991–2012), (2012–2015), and Popular Unity (2015–2020), each platform reinforcing a vision of worker-led democracy against neoliberal and imperialist structures. While adapting to Eurocommunist influences and rejecting rigid centralism, he retained fidelity to Marxism's critique of exploitation, as evidenced by his self-identification as a communist into advanced age and advocacy for over elite . This consistency underscored how ideology, rather than opportunism, dictated his navigation of Greece's fractured polity, though it invited marginalization under anti-communist governments.

Views on Reparations, Austerity, and International Relations

Glezos persistently advocated for to pay reparations to for damages inflicted during the Nazi occupation in , estimating the total liability at up to €1 trillion to account for destroyed infrastructure, forced loans, and human losses. He cited the unfulfilled 1942 occupation loan extracted from the , which funded German military operations in , as a key unresolved claim equivalent to billions in contemporary terms. In April 2014, Glezos resigned from a parliamentary committee tasked with pursuing these reparations, arguing it had shifted focus from demanding compensation for Nazi crimes to unproductive discussions. He continued this campaign into 2017, publicly confronting the German ambassador at a WWII memorial event to reiterate demands for payment. Glezos vehemently opposed the austerity policies imposed on Greece following the , framing them as externally dictated measures that exacerbated economic hardship without addressing root causes. He criticized the role of the , IMF, and particularly German influence in enforcing cuts, likening them to a form of neocolonial control during protests in . On February 12, 2012, at age 89, Glezos was arrested by while participating in demonstrations against these measures, during which he was exposed to . As a member of the , he rejected a 2015 interim deal extending commitments, urging resistance to what he saw as capitulation to creditor demands. In , Glezos prioritized Greek national sovereignty, opposing concessions in disputes with neighboring states that he believed compromised historical claims. On the Macedonia naming issue, he rejected the 2018 Prespa Agreement, which resolved the long-standing dispute by renaming the neighboring country , insisting Skopje abandon the term "Macedonia" entirely due to its ties to heritage and language. This stance diverged from his party's support for the accord, reflecting his emphasis on cultural integrity over diplomatic compromise.

Controversies and Criticisms

Implications of Communist Affiliation

Glezos's lifelong affiliation with the (KKE), a Stalinist organization that maintained close ties to the , implicitly endorsed an empirically linked to catastrophic human costs worldwide. Regimes implementing communist principles, from the to Maoist , resulted in an estimated 94 to 100 million deaths through executions, forced labor camps like the system, engineered famines such as the , and purges, as compiled in detailed historical analyses drawing on declassified archives and survivor accounts. While Glezos himself was not directly involved in these foreign atrocities, his unwavering commitment to the KKE's orthodox Marxism-Leninism—evident in his leadership roles and public defenses of the party's line—aligned him with a doctrine that prioritized class struggle and central planning over pragmatic governance, fostering a that downplayed these regimes' failures in favor of anti-imperialist . In the Greek context, this affiliation amplified domestic divisions, as the KKE's ideological intransigence rejected electoral participation and compromise, prolonging the Greek Civil War (1946–1949) beyond opportunities for negotiated settlement. The conflict inflicted economic losses approximating one full year's GDP, with widespread destruction of infrastructure, agricultural output halved in affected regions, and long-term effects persisting for over a decade through disrupted investment and . Casualties exceeded 80,000, including civilians, while over 100,000 fighters and supporters emigrated or fled as refugees to countries, exacerbating labor shortages and delaying post-war reconstruction. This devastation left Greece in a deeper crisis than the Axis occupation, with ideological rigidity—mirroring broader communist tactics of protracted —foreclosing earlier stabilization that could have accelerated recovery via Western aid like the , which the KKE opposed as imperialist. From a causal standpoint, communism's core mechanisms of central planning and collectivized incentives systematically undermined economic efficiency, as evidenced by misallocation of resources without market price signals, suppressed individual innovation, and bureaucratic distortions leading to chronic shortages and stagnation. In Greece, Glezos's advocacy for KKE policies, including opposition to NATO and European integration, represented an opportunity cost: had such views gained traction, Greece risked trajectories akin to Eastern Bloc states, where communist rule halved potential growth rates compared to Western Europe, with per capita GDP lagging 50-70% behind by the 1980s due to similar incentive failures. Instead, Greece's alignment with capitalist institutions fueled the "Greek economic miracle" of 7-8% annual growth from 1950 to 1973, highlighting how ideological adherence to provenly deficient models diverted focus from adaptive reforms toward doctrinal purity, perpetuating cycles of instability and underdevelopment. This contrast underscores a blindness to empirical outcomes, where short-term anti-capitalist mobilization yielded long-term societal burdens, independent of Glezos's personal valor in other spheres.

Civil War Actions and Ideological Rigidity

During the clashes of December 1944, Glezos, as a member of the communist-led forces, participated in armed confrontations in against British troops and Greek government , contributing to that resulted in over 15,000 casualties, including civilians caught in crossfire and reprisal killings. units under communist command systematically targeted perceived anti-communists and collaborators during this period, executing hundreds in summary reprisals and establishing parakratos () structures that enforced ideological conformity through intimidation and violence against non-adherents. As the conflict escalated into the full from 1946 to 1949, Glezos aligned with the (DSE), the reorganized communist guerrilla force, engaging in , ambushes, and territorial control efforts against the National Army. DSE operations included documented reprisals such as village burnings and executions of civilians suspected of aiding government forces, with death squads on the communist side responsible for thousands of deaths amid a broader toll of 158,000 killed, including from brutality and forced displacements. Historical analyses, drawing from eyewitness accounts and military records, highlight these actions as part of a class-war strategy that prioritized eliminating internal enemies over minimizing civilian harm, contrasting with left-leaning narratives that frame communist forces primarily as victims of right-wing terror. Following the DSE defeat in October 1949, Glezos rejected opportunities for release by refusing to sign mandatory anti-communist declarations of repentance, a condition imposed on political prisoners under amnesties, resulting in his continued detention until 1958 and subsequent and re-imprisonment, totaling over 11 years of hardship. This unyielding adherence to communist , even amid electoral purges and of the KKE party, is critiqued from conservative historical perspectives as ideological rigidity that hindered national reconciliation, favoring doctrinal loyalty and perpetuating factional enmity rather than pragmatic for postwar unity. Such views counter prevailing academic tendencies, often influenced by leftist sympathies in , to portray figures like Glezos as unambiguous heroes without accounting for the divisive costs of sustained partisan commitment.

Non-Political Contributions

Journalism and Authorship

Glezos contributed to Greek journalism primarily through roles at communist-affiliated publications. Following Greece's liberation from Axis occupation in October 1944, he joined the staff of Rizospastis, the official newspaper of the , where he reported on postwar developments and resistance activities. In 1947, he advanced to chief editor of Rizospastis, overseeing its editorial direction until the publication was suppressed amid the Greek Civil War. Later, after periods of imprisonment and exile, Glezos edited I Avgi, another left-leaning daily, focusing on historical and contemporary topics. His journalistic output earned recognition as an award-winning professional, with contributions emphasizing documentation of resistance efforts rather than partisan advocacy. Post-1974, following the fall of the , Glezos shifted toward authorship, producing works that chronicled personal and national experiences during the occupation. These included detailed accounts aimed at preserving firsthand records of events like the 1941 flag removal from the . Among his publications, Εθνική αντίσταση 1940-1945 (National Resistance 1940-1945), released in 2006 by Stochastis publishers, comprised 453 pages of archival material and testimonies on anti-Axis actions. This volume, structured chronologically, drew from declassified documents and survivor interviews to outline resistance operations, distinguishing it from contemporaneous partisan narratives by prioritizing verifiable timelines and participant logs. Earlier post-junta writings, such as analyses of dictatorship-era transitions, further evidenced his focus on historical reconstruction through primary sources.

Publications and Intellectual Output

Glezos authored several books drawing directly from his wartime experiences, offering firsthand accounts of the Axis occupation, resistance activities, and subsequent civil strife. His Εθνική Αντίσταση 1940-1945 (National Resistance 1940-1945), published in two volumes by Στοχαστής, provides an exhaustive examination of Greece's six-year ordeal under occupation, incorporating details of the , 1941, flag-tearing operation on the and guerrilla operations against Nazi and Italian forces. These works emphasize themes of anti-fascist defiance and collective endurance, serving as primary documents for historians despite their alignment with Glezos's communist worldview, which privileges leftist insurgent narratives over rival royalist or British-backed efforts. In Γιατί ο Εμφύλιος; 1941-1949 (Why the Civil War? 1941-1949), Glezos chronicles the Greek Civil War from a partisan standpoint, attributing its origins to post-liberation betrayals by monarchist and Western-aligned factions rather than internal communist overreach. The text details his own imprisonments and exiles under right-wing governments, framing them as suppressions of legitimate antifascist continuity. This publication, like his resistance memoirs, yields empirical insights into personal ordeals—such as torture and isolation—but requires cross-verification against non-communist records due to selective emphasis on ideological motivations. Glezos also addressed occupation legacies in works like 50 Years Later (1995), which compiles data on forced loans and plunder extracted by German forces, estimating unrepaid sums via Greek state archives. Similarly, Και ένα μάρκο να ήταν... Οι οφειλές της Γερμανίας στην Ελλάδα (Even If It Was One Mark... Germany's Debts to Greece) reiterates demands for reparations, grounding claims in Bank of Greece ledgers from the 1940s. These texts extend his resistance ethos into economic accountability, providing verifiable fiscal data amid his advocacy, though their polemical tone underscores a consistent anti-imperialist lens unmitigated by concessions to Allied complicity in Greece's divisions.

Death and Legacy

Final Years and Passing

In his final decade, Glezos resided in and persisted in anti-austerity activism despite his age, including participation in protests where he sustained injuries from police in March 2010. He was elected as a in 2014, serving until 2019 while advocating against fiscal policies imposed on . Glezos's health deteriorated in early 2020; he was admitted to Evangelismos Hospital in central on March 18 with and a . He died there on March 30, 2020, at age 97, from .

Funeral Arrangements and Public Response

Glezos's funeral was held on April 1, 2020, at 1:00 p.m. at a church in , followed by burial in the , where the municipality provided a grave in honor of his contributions to . Despite his prominent leftist and communist background, the Greek government accorded him honors, reflecting his status as a of resistance. However, attendance was severely restricted to immediate family members only, in compliance with Greece's strict measures enacted in late March 2020 to curb the pandemic's spread. Public response emphasized Glezos's heroic act of removing the Nazi from the in 1941, transcending ideological divides in tributes from political leaders across the spectrum. Prime Minister , of the center-right New Democracy party, led official condolences, praising Glezos's example of resistance against occupation. Former Prime Minister , from the left-wing party, described him as "the symbol of resistance and struggle" for eternity. The Greek Parliament observed a minute's silence in his memory during committee sessions, underscoring bipartisan recognition. Media coverage, including from international outlets, portrayed the event as a somber farewell to a WWII icon amid national mourning, with limited physical gatherings offset by widespread online expressions of grief and admiration for his anti-fascist legacy. Greek reports highlighted the "silent for a humble man," aligning with Glezos's self-described modest persona. While unified in honoring his resistance exploits, responses avoided deep engagement with his postwar communist activities, focusing instead on his unifying role in Greece's of occupation.

Balanced Historical Assessment

Manolis Glezos's removal of the Nazi from the on 30 May 1941, executed with under cover of night, served as a verifiable catalyst for morale during the Axis occupation. This clandestine operation, amid early German dominance following the April 1941 invasion, demonstrated practical defiance and inspired subsequent partisan activities by underscoring the vulnerability of occupier symbols to individual initiative. Glezos's post-liberation commitment to the , however, entrenched him in conflicts that perpetuated division. His involvement in the December 1944 , including planting explosives targeting British headquarters in , aligned him with communist militias opposing the British-backed government, escalating tensions into the Greek Civil War of 1946–1949. For these associations, he received two death sentences in 1948, commuted to , reflecting judicial assessment of his role in subversive efforts that fueled the war's fratricidal violence. A dispassionate weighing reveals Glezos as a contextual whose anti-Nazi symbolism yielded tangible inspirational effects, yet whose ideological inflexibility—sustained through decades despite communism's documented authoritarian excesses and economic inefficiencies in Soviet-aligned states—fostered polarization rather than unity. prioritizes the former's boost against the latter's causal contribution to prolonged instability, rendering his legacy inseparable from Greece's 20th-century ideological scars.

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