THE ECONOMOU-MERKOURIS GROUP; THE BENETATOS-PONTIKIS GROUP

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R002200180007-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 19, 1999
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: January 3, 1949
• Content Type: REPORT

CLASSIFICATIO14 -~ U.S. 0 IC:~ .L2OIILY 2g
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I F T CD NO.
COUNTRY Greece
DATE DISTR. 3 Jan 1949
SUBJECT The Econornou -Merkouris Group; v v_ 1 V 1 L
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2eorge Economou-stamatis merkouris (gaup
1. At a public meeting of the General Council and of the Central Committee
of the Greek Union of the United Socialist States of Europe, elections
were held for a president and two vice-presidents. At this meeting
the journalist Gerasimos Lychnoe was elected president, and the
lawyers John Papalakis and Nikolaos Evangelopouloe were elected vice--
presidentso
President Geraoinaos Iychnos is a former correspondent for the
newspaper Pima, and is one of the most highly educated journalists of
Athens. Dung the occupation, Demetrios Lambrakis entrusted the-
publication of the Eleftheron Vima to him.
3. N. Evangelopoulos was condemned in 1925, together with others, by a
court martial to life impxlsonment on the.charge that, as an official
of KKE, he had worked for the autonomy of Macedonia. After a short
time he was "amnestied" and released. Because of his imprisonment he
was promoted by NICE to be a member of the Central Committee of KKE.
They read him out of the Party, however, on a charge of misappropriation
of funds. Since that time he has called himself a Socialist, but he is
always involved in some scheme or other to make money. During the
occupation and afterwards he belonged to SK E 7, but he withdrew from
that party to join the ASO (Anaxartitoe Sosialistiki Omas - Independent
Socialist Group),, t3 which he still belongs.
Il. Diomrsios B21etatos-Pontikia Groin
4. The Central Committee met on 16 November 1948 and took up the communi-
cations received from Paris. Finally the discdsaion of them was put
over to another meeting, and there was discussion of the preparation
of a report on the position of ESPE on the Greek question. They ex-
changed views, and the meeting was adjourned to 21 November 1928.
That meeting was not held,-but ma postponed until 2; November 1948
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