Little Room

The late, great Eleutherios Venizelos was an astute politician and a tower of antiroyalist strength. His son, Sophocles, assumed that he had his father's talents. Last week young Venizelos made his first major bid for power, and lost.

He had been irritated because Premier George Papandreou had slipped off to Rome to talk with Winston Churchill without informing his cabinet. Young Venizelos was afraid that the supple premier was playing too close to Britain and the cause of Greek monarchy. He was also afraid that the Leftist EAM (Greek Committee of Liberation) representatives who had finally agreed to come to Cairo would balk at entering a pronouncedly royalist cabinet. So Sophocles resigned, figuring that from six to nine of his disgruntled fellow ministers would follow his lead and that Papandreou would be out.

Only two followed suit. The five newly-arrived delegates from EAM's mountain headquarters sized the situation up, marched straight to Papandreou to receive their portfolios. For the first time since the Nazis came to Greece, Greeks had a united government. Sophocles moved from his three-room suite at Shepheard's Hotel to an austere single room.

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