Behind the gold curtain

A merchant seaman relates the
story of what he saw in Greece |

re Mediterranean spread out before us like an unruffled blue quilt, and the warm

sun grinned down in a
the skyline. As our ship d
out to be appallingly destitute, th
One was immediately struc

heights.
beast—exist on such barren soil?
Even plant-life seemed to have
but a precarious foothold, with
its life-span stunted and choked
off There wasn’t a tree to be
seen—just a series of low-slung
rocky islands, roller-coaster in
physique, with an anemic cover-
ing of grass and weeds. This
was our first glimpse of Greece.

Later I was told by a Greek
worker that the islands we had
passed were not unlike the penal
islands used by the present Greek
government in its attempt to
‘suppress and intimidate the
liberal and left-wing Greek work-
ers, They are now congested
with these same workers held
as political prisoners as never
before, not even in the heydey
of the notorious Metaxas dicta-
torship. One of the main reas”
ons, I was told, why these islands
we had passed were not also
used for penal purposes was be-
cause of unfavorable climatic
conditions—the temperature be-
ing much too warm and mild
as compared to the added torture
of the prisoners on the bleak,
cold islands further to the
north, :

As soon as our ship dropped
the hook and we were waiting
to be passed by the government
doctor, a few native bumboats
darted to our side from a near-
by fleet of anchored fishing
craft. These boats were anxious

‘to buy anything, but especially

cigarettes and clothing. They
were very watchful, and at the
least sign of harbor craft ap-
proaching from the shore, they
fled from our ship's side, return-
ing when they thought it was
safe. —

It was here I got my first inkl-

ty

ing of ‘what to expect ashore.
A bumboat pulled up alonside
us with a grizzled old man at
the oars, and a young boy of
about twelve and a girl of ten.
The boy played an accordian
and the girl a mandolin. Both
sang popular songs in their na-
tive tongue, songs such as South
of the Border, La Paloma, Santa
Luncia, Roll Out the Barrel.

The little girl had a lovely
soprano voice. They were seren-
ading us, not for money, as one
wand normally expect, but for
food. A large wicker basket
rested in the center of the
boat, a few pieces of bread in
it. Immediately various mem-
bers of the crew began filling
it up with fresh fruit, bread,
cake, from our dining messroom.
Most of the crew. members were
deeply embarrassed. It does
something to your insides when
you see children compelled to
beg for food, even in a dignified
manner. Soon the government
doctor came out on deck and
lashed out at the old man, chas-
ing him away.

As soon as our ship was offici-
ally cleared by the doctor, a
government ‘launch came out
and put aboard armed naval
guards, They had forty-fives
strapped on the hip and car-
bines. At first sight of this
Jaunch all the bumboats in our
vicinity took off—but fast. :This
armed guard has standing orders
to shoot at any boats coming too
close to anchored foreign vessels.

This same launch that had
deposited our armed guards then
proceeded to the group of near-
by fishing boats and shook them
down. Apparently their search
was successful for they started

by the

friendly manner as a chain of humpbacked islands dented
rew closer these islands took shape and-color. They turned
eir rocky shoulders jutting out of the sand to midget
k with the though: How can anything—man or

back to shore
with them.

towing one boat

.

FE naval guard remained
aboard our ship on a 24-hour
basis, even after we were tied
up. In addition, on the dock
itself soldiers were posted. The
uniform of the Greek soldier is
identical with that of the British
Tommy, but most of the military
equipment, such as tanks, guns,

trucks, are of American make.
Outside the gates stood groups

of young boys, who spoke ex-.
‘cellent English, and offered to

buy anything from safety-pins
to jeeps. Here again the big-
gest demand was for cigarettes
and clothing. I was told these
boys were agents for a blaek
market ring, working on a per-
centage basis. Boys are chosen
because they work cheaper, and
because the government doesn’t

-hound them as it does older vio-

lators.

‘The black market is kept
alive aboard the ships. solely
armed naval guards
and various government offi-
cials, as the longshoremen are
searched vigilantly both before
they leave the ship or pass
through the gates. The Greek
soldiers from the docks also
come aboard to buy what they
can, anything—clothing, can-
dies, radios, watches. They pay
about half what these articles
bring ashore on the black mark-
et. Heavy fines, and in some
cases imprisonment, are hand-
ed out to those seamen caught
going ashore with such com-
modities hidden on their per-
son. This is to encourage the
sale of articles aboard ship to
the guards. It is a practice pre-

were the rule. .

valent in all fascist countries
among their customs officials
and armed guards.
: 6

E drachma is a piece of pa-

per about twice the size of a
dollar bill. One can have a roll
big enough to choke a horse,
yet easily spend it in no time
at all. It wasn’t unusual to see
shoeshine boys with 50,000 drach-
mas. One boy showed me 92,000
drachmas (about $10.50). They
all indulge in the black market
money exchange with foreign
seamen.

Before being “rescued” by
America’s rugged “private en-
terprise” and Britain’s “now-
you-see-it, now-you-don’t” social-
ism (their export variety), the
rate of exchange was 100 drach-
mas to a dollar; today the offi-
cial government exchange is
8,500; on the black market 10,-
500. In terms of every day
simple living this is what in-
flation means to the average
Greek worker. %

Longshoremen, am the
highest paid of non professional
workers, receive 12,000  drach-
mas a day, about $1.50; factory
and white collar workers receive
8,000 or about $1. Women in
general get paid less for doing
the same work as men. (Anoth-
er standby of fascism.)
Clothing is also prohibitive. a
saw cheaply made shirts at ’5,-
000 drachmas; pants, 40,000;
neckties, 15,000.

Food is out of this world. I

Saw oranges at 900 drachmas — .

about 10 cents each. A work-
er’s meal, even in the cheapest
of restaurants, consisting
meat, one vegetable, two squares
of black bread—no butter, no
coffee (this costs extra) 3,500
drachmas. Yet I saw no signs of
rationing either of food or cloth-
ing. :

Good food can easily be had.
A chicken or lobster dinner with

fresh vegetables, butter, white

of

bread, pastry and topped off
with a decent wine costs 18,000
drachmas. But naturally only
the black marketeers and the
ruling classes can afford to
patrofiize these expensive res-
taurants.

6

JN Piraeus the houses dotted

hillsides in no apparent or-
derly manner, and dribled down
to the water’s edge. They were
mostly -a muddy yellow or
washed-out gray. Few of them,
except government buildings,
exceeded two stories in height.
Most were of a limestone or
concrete structure. I did not
see a single wooden framed
house in either Piraeus or Ath-
ens. I saw no visible war scars
in, Athens, but in Piraeus the
skeleton remains of bombed-
out buildings stin stood, espe-
cially along the waterfront.

I saw an unusually large num-
ber of amputees (large in pro-
portion to the general Greek
population). I was told this was
due in large measure to lack of
proper medical supplies and
equipment during the bitter war
years against the Nazis, where
amputations, rather than long
costly convalescence periods,

I was amazed to discover that
no young men in their early
twenties worked as longshore-
men either in unloading our
ship or on the docks. Later I
was told this was due to the
fact that most young men had
been conscripted into the gov-
ernment’s armed forces, or had
escaped to the mountainous in-
terior and were fighting with
the guerrilla army to overthrow
the present dictatorship,

The longshoremen themselves
were hard-eyed, uncommunica-
tive. But this Teluctance to
Speak was mainly caused by
fear and distrust. Yet unlike the
German workers, burning hatred
was pretty plain to see. It
brought back to me with start-
ling clarity the comparison I
had seen among the dockwork-
ers in Hamburg and Bremen,
and other German ports during
the hightide of Hitlerism in
Germany in 1937 and 1938. The
Same show of armed might be-
fore the workers, the same bul-
lying. All the trucks, carrying
away our cargo (frozen meats,
Long Island potatoes and barb-

ed wire) were manned and
guarded by soldiers.

The few longshoremen who
sneaked

into our passageway
when the guards weren't

around, supposedly to use our
toilets or get a drink of water,
invariably dug into the garbage
cans after each meal. It wasn’t
a pleasant sight. Strangely
enough, they never asked for
anything to eat personally. The
best we could do was to bring
them’ sandwiches and left-
overs out on deck. They thank-
ed us with pride and simplicity.
The guards were strict in chas-
ing them from the alleyways,
yet the euards personally were
fed in our own messroom, eat-
ing the same meals served to
the crew. ‘

Unions ‘in Greece are a
farce. They are under strict
government control, and the
workers have no _ personal
rights. Even to dare to go out
on strike is punishable by
death. I had a. definite feeling

of relief as we sailed from this |

country of inflation and military —
control and smoldering class hat-
reds. ‘

And I couldn’t help thinking
of the barbed wire we had
brought over in the holds of
our ship—wire to be used, be-
yond a doubt, for bigger and
stronger concentration camps
to imprison our fellow Greek
workers. A sad commentary on
the
conception of Americanism and
a sadder legacy for our children

to inherit.

: e
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MARCH 27, 1948—PAGE 17

e

Truman administration’s