Venizelism in the context of "Alexander of Greece"

A referendum on the constitutional form of the state was held in Greece on 8 December 1974.

After the collapse of the military junta that ruled the country since 1967, the longstanding dispute between republicans and monarchists re-emerged. The junta had already held a referendum of dubious integrity the previous year on the same question, producing a vote in favor of a republic, which Georgios Papadopoulos used as a pretext to have himself declared President. However, after the collapse of the military regime and free elections the previous month, the newly elected government of Prime Minister Constantine Karamanlis decided to re-run the vote, the junta-era referendum being widely considered both electorally and legally questionable.

The Liberal Party (Greek: Κόμμα Φιλελευθέρων [ˈkoma filelefˈθeɾon] , literally "Party of Liberals") was a major political party in Greece during the early-to-mid 20th century. It was founded in August 1910 by Eleftherios Venizelos, winning a landslide victory in the November 1910 legislative elections. This began an era of Liberal-dominated politics, with the party winning 9 of the 12 elections between 1910 and 1933 and Venizelos serving as Prime Minister for a total of 12 years.

The party's platform was broadly modernising, liberal, social, and nationalist; a set of policies referred to as Venizelism in Greek politics. Though the party contained a social-democratic wing, it became increasingly anti-communist in the 1920s. Originally ambiguous on the issue of the Greek monarchy, the party became decidedly republican following the National Schism and went on to dominate the Second Hellenic Republic. Among its most well-known members, apart from Venizelos, were Alexandros Papanastasiou, Nikolaos Plastiras, Georgios Papandreou and Konstantinos Mitsotakis.

A referendum on remaining a republic was held in Greece on 13 April 1924. It followed the catastrophic outcome of the Asia Minor Campaign. As a result of the military defeat, King Constantine I was forced to abdicate (27 September 1922) in favor of his son, King George II. King George himself later went into exile in the Kingdom of Romania, the home of his wife Elisabeth of Romania, while the government debated the fate of the monarchy. Ultimately, a referendum was called. This followed the restoration of Constantine I in 1920 and reflected the see-saw nature of the Greek electorate and the then-present dominance of the Liberal and Republican Venizelists in Greek politics and abolished the crown.

In the lead up to the referendum, Prime Minister Alexandros Papanastasiou favoured the vote for the Republic, while Venizelos kept a neutral stance. Nonetheless, on 25 March 1924 the Second Hellenic Republic was proclaimed by parliament.