Χειραγώγηση και ριζοσπαστικοποίηση: το καπνεργατικό ζήτημα στην ανατολική Μακεδονία (1919-1936)

Abstract

The present PhD thesis, based on new archival documents and sources, attemptsa new approach to the tobacco workers issue (kapnergatiko zitima) and the social strugglesof the tobacco workers (kapnergates) of Eastern Macedonia, Greece, during 1919-1936. The research focuses on this particular region, where the finest varieties of orientaltobacco were produced and processed in the tobacco firms (kapnomagaza), according tothe thorough classic commercial processing. The thesis focuses on the local experience aswell as the similarities and differences between the local experience and the experience ofthe tobacco workers of other tobacco towns (kapnoupoleis) of the country. It is supportedthat the tobacco workers movement was an expression of political protest originatingfrom the changes in the processing method. This protest is attributed to a combinationof factors, such as the political formation of the working class, the particular ideologicaland political orientation of the tobacco workers’ leadership, the state’s political discourseand its politics regarding the working class. The factors contributing to the developmentof class consciousness among the workers during the period from the Liberals’ (Fileleftheroi)rise to power (1910-1920) to the founding of the General Confederation ofGreek Workers (Geniki Synomospondia Ergaton tis Ellados) and the Socialist WorkersParty of Greece (Sosialistiko Ergatiko Komma Ellados) (1918) are studied, along withtheir contribution to the development of the labour movement and the tobacco workersmovement. The trade union and professional structure of the tobacco workers, especiallythe role of the skilled labour (denkçi) in the production process, as well as the socialistorientation of the heads of the unions who worked in the tobacco processing centers ofEastern Macedonia are discussed and stressed as the determining elements of the outburstof the workers’ struggles. The different phases of the tobacco workers issue are analyzed,regarding their demand to stop the exportation of unprocessed tobacco. The issue wasaddressed immediately after World War I by the workers who went on general strike in1919. Although it was centered around the fine tobaccos of Eastern Macedonia, it soonbecame an issue that affected all tobacco workers of Greece, thus turning into a class issue.During 1924-1925, there were protests and other forms of violent struggle, led by theCommunist Party of Greece (Kommounistiko Komma Ellados), including the obstructionof unprocessed tobacco exportation, the destruction of tobacco bales and violent clasheswith the authorities. This was a struggle against capital and a defence against the attacks of the bourgeois state. The large-scale strikes of 1927 and 1928 occurred in a time ofrivalry between the two tobacco trade unions, the communist and the conservative one,and had largely political motives. The underlying cause was the communists’ reactionagainst the state’s attempt to divide and manipulate trade unions, which were up to thencontrolled by the communists. These attempts caused disorder within the trade unions aswell as violations of political and trade union freedoms. The struggles for the prohibitionof unprocessed tobacco exportation contributed to the radicalization of the tobacco workers,who were continuously defending their political and trade union freedoms, whichwere violated by the various governments, culminating in the establishment of the Idionymonlaw in 1929. The exports of the renowned fine tobaccos of Eastern Macedoniastarted to decline during the 1930s due to the international financial crisis. At the sametime, the simplest commercial processing (tonga) was gradually imposed resulting in thedecline in the tobacco workers’ financial status. The impoverished workers were urged tospontaneous uprisings without the political and ideological leadership of the CommunistParty. The mobilizations called for “Food. Employment” and also caused the uprising ofagriculturalists and urban professionals who were disappointed by the bourgeois parties,thus embracing the entire people. The participation in the large-scale general strike inMay 1936 and the massive protests against the government’s actions to find a solution tothe problem indicated that social and political awareness were substantially increased.