4th of August Party - Ideology

Ideology

The 4th of August Party emerged during the postwar period and belonged to the revolutionary current of nationalist thinking of that time that opposed both major forces of the Cold War and sought a “third path” beyond capitalism and communism. The political party was made up of members that belonged to, and have been considered to represent, the radical nationalist movement, such as Konstantinos Plevris and Dimitrios Dimopoulos.

The party was described as being made up of idealistic youths that “sought a truly revolutionary proposal of life and believed in higher values and ideas, having lived through the degeneracy and counter-culture of Western capitalism, while recognizing the tyranny and ideological bankruptcy of communism”. In addition to opposing communism and capitalism, the party also rejected liberal democracy and parliamentarianism, which were deemed as unstable and degenerate political systems.

Instead, the 4th of August Party advocated and worked toward the formation of a New National State. The form this new state would take was declared by the party’s emblem: a double-headed eagle resting above a meander. The double-headed eagle symbolized the Eastern Roman Empire while the meander symbolized ancient Greece as well as the synthesis of thought and action. The 4th of August Party had inherited from its namesake, the 4th of August regime of Ioannis Metaxas, the task of furthering the ideal of the Third Hellenic Civilization: a new state which would draw inspiration from the very best elements of classical and medieval Hellenism and, in the process, create a new Greek epoch.