The 1931 Revolt and Its Consequences

The decisive issue influencing the Cypriot question in the 1930s was the 1931 revolt. But in relation to what happened during the revolt of the Greek Cypriots through October 1931 we should underline the importance of a host of social factors in what followed. They include: (a) the social and economic disparities entailed in British rule which, despite their profoundly class-based character, the hegemony of the bourgeois strata would induce the popular classes to see as exclusively a product of colonialist domination, which only Enosis would resolve (b) the serious consequences stemming, for decades, from payment of the Tribute of Cyprus, (c) the effects of the global economic crisis, (d) realization on the part of the Greek Cypriot element that there was little to be expected from the diplomatic route towards the objective of Enosis, (e) the attempt by the British to interfere in the administration of educationEducation, (f) the aforementioned refusal in September 1929 of the Secretary for the Colonies Lord PassfieldPassfield to introduce further representative institutions and, of course, (g) the refusal of the Governor to accept the Legislative CouncilLegislative Council’s resolution on economic issues in September 1931, which refusal was motivated by the fact that the Turkish Cypriots did not vote with the British. Let us examine all this in more detail.