Greece headed towards the seven-year dictatorship of 1967, which, naturally, was overtly aided by the security forces, now cleansed of any democratic culture whatsoever. Therefore, what one must understand irst and foremost when one studies the consolidation of ultra-right ideology and the intrusion of pockets of ultra-right extremism into the Hellenic Police is that the 1967 dictatorship was not a rupture in the hegemony of these apparatuses. It was a culmination. The culture of torture that was dominant within the Greek security forces during the seven-year dictatorship should also not be viewed as an aberration but as the culmination of a irmly established and functional work culture. 6/ A LONG AND INCOMPLETE TRANSITION Given this historical burden, it is obvious that adjusting the security forces to the post-1974 transition was far from an easy task. The irst issue immediately posed to the new political regime was to remove all the high and low-ranked oicials of the security forces who had enjoyed privileged ties with the dictatorship. This process was labeled “purgation”. The second and equally important issue was to reestablish the lost honour of the security forces and to clarify their role in the new State by efectively subjugating them to government control under the Constitution. In the case of the security forces, “purgation” was limited to a few indictments in the most blatant cases of police oicers engaged in the power core of the dictatorship, especially those who were accused of torture. The great bulk of the police forces were naturally let intact. Changes and purgations inside the security forces and the army obviously had to be done very cautiously, since the long process of waterprooing and securing them from any iniltration by democratic elements had already formed a certain professional body. If we dare make a leap to our own present, we may remark that the “classes” of the municipal police and the gendarmerie enlisted during the dictatorship are today the leading echelons of the Hellenic Police. In this sense, a radical solution, directed towards a possible discharge of the whole middle and lower staf, would entail the dismantlement of the security forces altogether. On the other hand, the option of impunity also came at a great social cost. The relationships of the police with society were indelibly marked for the next twenty years. It is obvious that today’s developments are closely related to this historical burden. When PASOK came to power in 1981, it brought important changes to the police system and essentially initiated a second phase of “purgation”. Strict political control, democratization and the reconciliation of the security forces with Greek society were an obvious priority of the irst PASOK governments. Political control by the government could only be made possible by removing the inluence exerted by the army. Democratization progressively led to organizational and operational changes and, most importantly, to an “opening up” of the police to enlistment and employment of persons from all strata of Greek society. The 30 | ROSA LUXEMBURG STIFTUNG