Greek communists call for return of Elgin Marbles

By New Worker correspondent

Campaigners at the British Museum

Greek communists have long supported the call for the return of the Parthenon friezes known as the ‘Elgin Marbles’ to Greece so that they can be put on permanent display at the Acropolis Museum in Athens. The marbles, dating back to the 5th Century BC, were removed by Lord Elgin between 1801 and 1812. In those days Greece was part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire and Elgin said their authorities had given him permission to take the marbles from the ruins of the Parthenon in Athens. This was challenged at the time by Lord Byron and other champions of Greek independence and later by Greeks academics following independence who said these priceless relics had been looted and that in any case they weren’t the Turks to give in the first place.
    Over the years these calls for their return were routinely rebuffed by the British Museum which has held the sculptures in its galleries since the early 1800s. But hopes of an amicable compromise were raised following talks between the British Museum's chairman George Osborne and Greek premier Kyriakos Mitsotakis in London last November.
    According to reports in the Greek press the former Tory Chancellor set the ball rolling with a discreet meeting with Mitsotakis in London the year before in November 2021. Further talks with other Greek ministers followed culminating in the meeting with Mitsotakis when the Greek leader was in London for talks last year.
    Neither side revealed what was actually on the table during these talks but the Parthenon Project, a campaign group set up by the Greek magnate John Lefas that includes former Tory and Labour culture ministers as well as the actor Stephen Fry, hinted that the return of the marbles would be linked to a cultural exchange that would bring other outstanding classical Greek works of art such as “Agamemnon’s mask”, Nestor's Cup and the bronze Jockey of Artermision to London.
    A spokesperson for the Parthenon Project said: “With widespread support for reunification amongst both the Greek and British public, and constructive dialogue going on based on mutual trust, a solution to this long-standing issue is finally within reach.
    “We have argued for a deal that is beneficial to both Greece and Britain, centred on a cultural partnership between the two countries.
    “This would see the British Museum continue in its role as a 'museum of the world' displaying magnificent Greek artefacts as part of rotating exhibits, with the Parthenon Sculptures reunited in their rightful home in Athens.'
    But sadly these hopes were dashed last week when Culture Minister Michelle Donelan told BBC Radio that the Parthenon marbles belong in the UK and that returning them would "open the gateway to the question of the entire contents of our museums".
    Her remarks were dismissed as “unacceptable” by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). The Greek communists said that “based on the ‘law of the strongest’ the Minister of Culture of Great Britain has categorically rejected the obvious demand of the Greek people for the restoration of the stolen Parthenon sculptures to their natural place”.
    The KKE also criticised Mitsotakis’ conservative New Democracy (ND) government for cynically exploiting the campaign for the return of the Elgin Marbles for political purposes.
    “The ND government didn't hesitate to exploit the desire for the return of the looted sculptures by using it in its electoral propaganda, cultivating impressions of a successful outcome of the issue through its own actions, while it knew that the problem was impossible to solve through ‘under the table’ discussions with the British Museum's management instead of the British government.
    “The [Greek] government must be also held accountable because its adventurist tactics undermine the timeless demand, allowing the circulation of dangerous views about the borrowing and exchanging of the Parthenon sculptures with other priceless antiquities, something that means the legalisation of the theft.
    “All the previous governments bear responsibility for perpetuating the problem, because they never exerted substantial pressure to end the illegal possession of the country's cultural treasures by the British Museum and other major museums of EU countries.
    “The urgent demand of our people is the permanent restoration of the Parthenon sculptures as an inalienable part of the monumental ensemble of the Acropolis, as well as of all the other treasures of the ancient cultural heritage which have, at times, been objects of looting or antiquities theft”.