Lebanon Agreement of 1944

an agreement signed in Lebanon on May 20, 1944, by representatives of the Greek government-in-exile, bourgeois parties, the Political Committee of National Liberation, the National Liberation Front, the Greek People’s Liberation Army, the Communist Party of Greece, and military-political nationalist organizations. It provided for the disbanding of all armed groups and the creation of a single army, the holding of a plebiscite to determine Greece’s future system of government, and the formation of a government of national unity. In signing the agreement, the democratic forces of Greece underestimated their own strength and made concessions that did not correspond to the actual balance of power in the country. The agreement made it possible for the government-in-exile to return to Greece. It also enabled the reactionary Greek forces, supported by British troops, to unleash terror against the democratic forces, prepare the dissolution of the People’s Liberation Army, and begin to abolish the Greek people’s democratic achievements.