This document is based upon a series of extended email-based interviews with Demetrios Hadjidemetriou undertaken in August 2022. Additional research has been input by John Rudge.
Cypriot Defence Campaign was started in London after 1974 by a group of socialist based and being active in London. We produced a publication called Cypriot Worker and were members of Socialist Workers Party (SWP). After a few issues in Greek we started publishing Cypriot Worker in both Greek and Turkish as is shown in the photograph below of issue number 18 that came out in 1977.
Cypriot Worker number 4 – printed 1975
Cypriot Worker number 9 – printed 1976
Cypriot Worker number 18 – printed 1977
In the aftermath of 1974 over 10,000 Cypriot refugees came to the UK, mainly to London. As there was a large community here already, they had friends or relatives that could help them. The UK government did not open the door, in fact quite the opposite, they made it almost impossible to emigrate in the UK legally. Many came as tourists and tried to stay permanently so when their tourist visas expired, they ended up working without work permits or properly registered. A number of them were arrested and after a spell in jail were deported back.
We launched a Cypriot Defence Campaign (CDC) with these aims:
“WE DEMAND:
- An immediate end to the deportations
2. That all Cypriot refugees be recognised as such, and not as “long term visitors”
3. That all Cypriots who wish to do so are allowed to stay in this country
4. That all Cypriots, including students, should be granted a work permit
5. That the above rights be granted to all immigrants
6. An end to all immigration controls
Cypriot Defence Campaign Poster
WE URGE:
All Trade Unionists, Immigrant and other organisations and individuals to support our campaign.”
We described the role of the CDC as:
“one of leadership and co-ordination…….to make working people aware of the problem, publicise cases of deportations and organise in every possible manner all those Cypriots who were and are willing to fight against deportations….”
We wanted to show:
“that, above all, it was and is the mass, active involvement and participation of the Cypriot workers themselves that is going to build a strong, militant campaign to lead and draw the community out in the streets….”
And our wider political message was:
“The CDC exists to build all those links which are necessary if we are to be successful – links with the other immigrant communities and those forces which are prepared to take up the issue of deportations and fight – the black nurses in the hospitals, the Indian and Pakistani communities, the Irish people who are victimized by the Home Office because they are immigrants.”
Demonstrations were held in the local community, even Archbishop Makarios, the Cypriot President, was picketed when he visited a local Greek Orthodox Church in June 1977 (and a Special Branch Report exists to evidence the fact Ref: UCPI0000017447/1)! We also held open meetings, visited people in jail, wrote leaflets, carried out a petition, produced an open letter and spoke at trade union meetings.
We also published a 50-page pamphlet titled Stop the Deportations which sold for 20p. The pamphlet was tri-lingual in English, Greek and Turkish. In the six months before the publication of our pamphlet in early 1977 around 60 Cypriot refugees had been deported. At the time of its publication at least 12 Cypriots were in Pentonville prison awaiting deportation. The SWP’s Womens Voice Number 4 and Socialist Worker number 521, both from April 1977, paint the picture vividly.
Cypriot Defence Campaign Pamphlet Front Cover
Visiting Cypriots in jail while waiting to be deported was important moral support and helped the campaign present the issue as not one of simply numbers but one that involved real people. People who fled war and were only asking for the chance to work and build a better future for themselves and their families.
The last demand of the campaign caused some debate between us. It says “6. An end to all immigration controls”. When discussing the demands, some objected to this because they said it was unrealistic. They objected to it on the basis that the British State would never grant us this demand and abolish all immigration controls, therefore why have it. It shows their lack of political sophistication and understanding of how campaigns work. However, someone commented that anyone who did not support this demand was a racist. It was an unfortunate way of challenging their objection and it confused the issue. I believe this incident illustrates how ideas are clarified through activity and action, they do not come from purely abstract thinking.
Deme's Blog 