Noose – Chapter 4

Noose – Chapter 4

Sadness, love and war.

1.

Finally the time had come. We were lying on a thick layer of ferns in the dark. The only light shining was the last remnant of coals glowing in the fireplace and giving out small flickers of flame. Rula entered the underground barracks quietly and, while leaning on a peeled beechwood post, began to poke at us with a long stick, attempting to wake us up from our deep sleep. This was the first time in months that I had seen Rula in these barracks and when I fully awakened, what did I see? Her back part was as tight as a drum and her body was elongated like a Russian birch. “Hey wild boys, I am back!” she announced. Her eyes were shining, reflecting the glowing embers from the fireplace and her sweet cheeks were shimmering with the contours of her face being emphasized by the small flickering flames emanating from the fireplace. Whatever the truth may have been, from her visit to our barracks, from the gentle tapping of her feet, from the mysterious look on her face, one could feel the immense sadness built up in her. “Hey, look, the General came to visit us,” said Spiros, who wanted to court her before Rula was married, but we all knew that she had turned him down with the words, “You old rooster, you too want me to be your bride?” Now she was treating him with an apparent irony: “It seems that by habit, the old rooster is the first to crow,” she said. We all cracked up laughing; even those still not quite awake joined us in the laughter. Stunned, Spiro was left with his mouth wide open. He then retorted with visible anger: “Do you know what Plato said?” he asked. “Love is a mix of honey and poison; sometimes it’s sweet but more often it’s poisonous. Maybe you ate all the honey off of the general and now you came for me.” Rula looked at him and said, “Do you know who my husband is?” “I am guessing. Someone like me who was bypassed by love...?” answered Spiros. “No, but you should know that love is like a virus; everyone gets it as it goes around, the General had it when he was young, during his high school days. He had no passion for it anymore, now he enjoys talking. No one can put a word in edgewise because he constantly talks. He loves to joke around and rewards loyalty. He demands recognition from all his subordinates even on an emotional level. If you don’t care for his style, you will be set aside and you had best quit your position because you will be going nowhere. I quit my position because I am brave,” concluded Rula. Spiros was an agile man just over thirty years old. He had just completed a course in Marxism and was on the list to be appointed political commissar. The Party had given him permission, from the highest echelons, to work on confidential matters, but now everyone bypassed him, even in their conversations. He had brown hair, a longish face with a week-old beard. Most of the time he wore baggy khaki pants and an English sweater. He kept a packet of wound dressings and medicines in his large pocket and hung a “Mills” hand grenade on his pant belt, knowing that this made him a trusted and faithful soldier in the ranks of Markos’s Partisans. God had given Spiro the gift of quick thinking, so after Rula had finished speaking he mumbled: “Is that why you abandoned him? I know a person cannot change overnight, but you, you managed to change, it seems that you even changed your appearance.” Rula replied to him without getting angry: “I wonder if there is anyone crazy enough to say what they really think? Sometimes I think that civilization, as we know it, would fall apart if we all were truly honest. But with the General, there is always something new to learn because of his extensive experience. People say, “For a person to have a new vision for the future it is necessary for them to have a true picture of the past.” With some irony, Spiros relied: “What experience are you talking about, is this not his first marriage? If this truly is his first marriage, what is the best advice he gave you?” Rula looked at him suspiciously and said: “There are many things.

You have to be aware of your position and of the situation. That’s what helped me with my career. For example: you Spiros, an old rooster, what could you possibly give a woman; a fighter of DAG (Democratic Army of Greece)...? God forbid, not just love? Are you thinking of a woman now, in this deadly war? If you are then there are many things for you to consider. First you have to find a woman who will love you, a lot. And you have to love her just as much. You know that unmarried men live shorter lives than women, but married men have less desire to live. Now describe for me your first disappointment in love.” Spiros replied: “People disappoint me, not love. As of yet, I have not found true love. I want a woman who will forget her mistakes because it makes no sense for both of us to remember the same things.” Rula smiled and said: “This is the worst line I’ve ever heard from an old bachelor. You need to understand once and for all that a woman marries hoping to change the man and if she does not succeed, then she will accept the man for who he is. Understand that a person who knows how to love is a happy person! You are lucky to have someone to love you! Don’t you think you are lucky to be loved? But you, in your life you only love yourself. To love someone else is the greatest joy. But you, old rooster…” Feeling a bit challenged, Spiros interrupted: “What would you do if your man turned you down?” Pleased with what she had already said to Spiros, Rula replied: “I would apologize for his imperfections. And you too can do the same if you look in the mirror, but here in the mountains, there is no such convenience. What remains now is for us to make up; we are what we are.” “How does the General know you’re in love with him?” asked Spiros. “It goes without saying,” replied Rula. Even though Spiros knew she would exaggerate, he asked her anyway: “Did he give you that revolver as a gift? Is this the best time of your life? You have become a gun slinger!” And then suddenly, filled with terrible jealousy towards the General, Spiros, while kneeling and hugging Rula by the shoulder, said: “Kiss me!” Rula suddenly pulled away and coldly said: “Please, get away from me!” After a moment of awkward silence, Rula continued: “Yes, he gave me the gun. He also gave me a frame for a picture. He did that because he knows how passionate I am about him.” Surprised, Spiros said: “That’s very egoistic of him, don’t you think? Perhaps he felt a bit insecure and was afraid that you might forget him, or, God forbid, leave him? Don’t you think that such gifts are a bit selfish?” “And what kind of gift would you think would be more thoughtful?” she asked. “Diamonds perhaps?” he replied “One might throw a few diamonds around because ‘diamonds are a woman’s best friend’, right?” Rula calmly replied: “Yes, but with this gift he certainly wanted me to frame a picture of him, taken in his general’s uniform, so that I could keep it among my most intimate things. Oh my old rooster, when the love is gone, I will have the frame to remind me of my love, also of my fears and hopes. It will be a very enjoyable gift with which to discuss the philosophy of life and its original illusions. The General says: ‘The rules of life are inexplicable, but taking steps towards building a communist society, removes the torments from the working class.’ He believes that ‘our most important job is to fight against capitalism. Do you understand me?’ the General would often ask and then add: ‘There is everything in this world, but each should live their own life and not cry because they don’t own this or that. One day, as a communist society, we will be happy to have the things we are now fighting for and if not us then our future generations’…” concluded Rula. “The General firmly believes in that,” piped up Margarita, standing there with her face frozen in horror. She then stared at us as she stormed out the Barracks exit. Leonidas, Andonis and I kept our mouths shut. I remember Leonidas’s words: “It is wrong for a person to create pain and suffering for another person.

A person must not use violence, not even on plants and living creatures.” Leonidas was lying there beside me and was listening. He was educated and belonged to a family of priests, he had also taught theology in high school. They mobilized him by force, he was not here of his own will. Leonidas always kept details of his private life secret,

saying: “I don’t want to create a mystery about my personal life; it would be easier for me if I could just convince you that I am against war.” Leonidas then added: “When I think of Rula loving that impotent general, that strange male creature, I am ashamed of her and her illusions. Rula in her assessment is completely blind, but she is probably doing this with the thought of saving her head while the war goes on... She wants to outlive the war with her beauty. That’s the impression I got from her the first night she slept in the General’s barracks, not thinking about the past and full of hope and free thoughts. Her dreams are light and placid like the dreams of a bird. Leonidas raised his eyebrows in amazement, shook his head and continued: “Life in these most violent, brutal times is trying for a young girl. Then you have these ideological criminals taking advantage of young people. Here, in these times, a person will face their past, present and future. And those who get by would have understood nothing. Besides, this is not the time for understanding but for getting by.” While I listened to this sad and incomprehensible philosophical interpretation, I thought to myself: “How many roads must a man travel before he feels (effect in the psyche) like a man?”

From the war and Party Chronicles

Based on decisions made by the Central Committee at the Third Plenum held from September 12th to the 15th, and on decisions made by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) from December 12th, 1947 to December 23rd, 1947, the Provisional Democratic Government of Greece was established. The same government resigned on October 15th, 1949. Konitsa, a town in Epirus was chosen to be the seat of this government and as claimed by Zahariadis, its General Secretary, recognition would be secured: “We will take the city Konitsa, we will create a government and they will most certainly recognize us.” The unsuccessful battles to take Konitsa lasted from December 24th, 1947 to January 4th, 1948 delivering huge losses to DAG. Unable to establish Konitsa as his seat, Zahariadis decided to establish the Provisional Democratic Government of Greece in Prespa in a town called Asamati located in the Republic of Macedonia, then Yugoslavia. As for his Headquarters, Zahariadis chose a pre-war harbour building belonging to the Port Authority. The arrival of the members of the government was assisted by UDBA (State Security Bureau) Colonel Slobodan Krstikj-Ucho, a Yugoslav officer in the Yugoslav National Army. The Provisional Democratic Government of Greece originally consisted of eight members with Markos Vafiadis as its President. The other seven members were Yannis Ioannidis, Petros Rusos, Miltiadis Porfirogenis, Petros Kokalis, Vassilis Bardzhiotas, Dimitrios Vlandas and Leonidas Stringos. Also, twenty five officers were promoted to the rank of colonel in DAG, by decree. But not a single member of the government or DAG officers was Macedonian. The Provisional Government was not only a single party government it was also a single nation government consisting exclusively of Greek communists, even though 50-60% of its strength was Macedonian. REACTIONS: The Greek Royalist government requested that the United States and Great Britain warn the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries of the consequences if they were to recognize the Provisional Democratic Government of Greece. Aware of the consequences of such recognition, the U.S. government promptly reacted and on December 30th, 1947 issued a request to Eastern European countries not to recognize the Provisional Government, warning them that if they did there would be serious consequences. The United Nations Commission for the Balkans also advised its member nations not to recognize the Provisional Democratic Government of Greece.