Two Elections

In a critical plebiscite, the tide of popular balloting in Europe ran heavily against Russian domination last week. In an important election, it was a powerful undertow. In Greece, voters balloted nominally for or against return of the monarchy in the person of King George II, long an exile in Britain. Actually, they were voting for or against the spread of Communism in Greece, against the threat of Russian domination in the guise of Yugoslav, Albanian and Bulgarian menace in the north.

In Germany's Russian zone, voters were nominally electing a slate of municipal officials. Actually, they were voting for or against the spread of Communist influence through the Russian-sponsored SED (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands--Socialist Unity Party of Germany) and deepening domination by the Russian occupiers.

King v. Communism. The result in Greece: a decisive majority (70%) for the return of King George. An Athens lawyer who voted for the King summed up the dilemma of many Greeks: "I feel I have betrayed everything I believed in for the past 33 years. But I believe bringing the King back may help stem Communism in Greece, so I voted for him."

The Manchester Guardian summed up the feelings of many Americans and Britons: "Our mistake has not been in intervening in Greece, but in allowing the Greek Government to turn our intervention to its own purposes."

While the Communist press buzzed with talk of civil war, all parties except the Communists united in an unequivocal promise to defend Greece against foreign invasion.

In Saxony the German vote was less decisive and the result completely different. Result: victory for the SED. But the SED had polled only 48% of the total votes cast. The other 52% was shared among the Liberal and Christian Democratic parties. Most striking fact: the center of SED support had shifted to the country; the land reform program had pulled an unexpectedly heavy leftist vote. In industrial cities like Dresden, Leipzig, Plauen, Zwickau, traditional cradles of German leftism, the labor vote split wide open. But power remained in the hands of the Russians and their pet party, which, will control 22,494 out of Saxony's 29,356 municipal offices. In Thuringia's elections this week the SED won a clear majority.

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