The junta is thus trying to extract a big vote for the constitution with the positive stimulus of their propaganda barrage. They are also using the negative idea, which is really a thinly-disguised threat, that a "No" vote would result in a stricter alternative. The ruling clique is suppressing all dissenting opinion, and commanding a network of spies and informers throughout the country. Finally, they are capitalizing on the captive vote of soldiers, civil servants, and teachers--all of whom are under the junta's thumb.

Through all my travels in Greece my overwhelming impression was of the reticence of the people. They just won't talk to anyone unless they know him quite well. Many have been imprisoned for long periods for seemingly trivial offenses. The papers carried word of a man convicted of subverting the state because he played a record by Theodorakis, the greatest modern Greek composer, who happens to be a communist. A similar five year sentence was delivered against a man who had spoken out against the colonels on a public street.

Villages are the places where the tensions are worst, simply because, just like in American small towns, all the people know everyone else's business. The Greek countryside is quiet, but it is the quiet of a graveyard.

Young people throughout Greece are passive, for the most part. There is no overt action against the regime. Their protest mainly takes the from of making jokes against the colonels, who allegedly lead lurid personal lives. A small number of pamphlets circulate around Athens but there is no real, well-organized opposition. No leader exists who can act as a focal point for resistance.

PERSONAL liberties seem to be guaranteed under the new constitution but a close reading reveals several disturbing aspects. All individuals and communications media have complete freedom of speech except that they may not speak out against "the existing social order," i.e., the junta. What it means to "speak out" is vaguely defined, but it apparently will include all forms of criticism.

The media will also be forbidden to criticize any public official unless they can prove, without a doubt, that it was in the interest of Greece. In effect, there will be complete censorship.

All labor strikes will be outlawed. The junta repeatedly uses the rhetoric of saving the Greek Christian Civilization from the old days when workers were constantly on strike and students were always throwing stones. The constitution restricts unions from organizing against the interests of the existing social order. It's quite true that Greece was strike-ridden before the revolution and that walk-outs seriously worried many Greeks, but most observers didn't think in terms of the strikes being dangerous enough to overthrow the government.

The constitution also establishes a court which will decide on the legitimacy of the various political parties. The Communist Party is forbidden. The number of deputies in the national assembly has been sharply reduced, thus weakening the existing parties, according to critics of the junta, by not allowing them to send as many of their partisans to participate in government.

The document promises elections but does not say when they will be held.

The new constitution is based on the old 1952 constitution and is cleverly written to conceal its authoritarian bent. One clause excludes from the Chamber of Deputies all men who don't possess a degree stating they've completed what would be a high school education in America. This will, of course, effectively exclude members of the lower and much of the middle class from being elected to the Chamber.

The position of the new deputies, when and if elections are held, will also be significantly weakened by the constitution. They may now be arrested without the consent of the Chamber. Many observers think this situation puts them directly under the control of the ruling junta.

ON THE WHOLE, the constitution rationalizes the powers which the junta seized in April, 1967. It seems to insure liberties, but there are too many loopholes which the ruling group could use at will to stop any burgconing movement toward freedom. The new document significantly centralizes the government, which has become more legal but no less dictatorial.

Although the junta originally said the revolution was necessary to save the monarchy, young King Constantine is now in exile in Italy. He fled Greece after attempting to seize power from the junta on Dec. 13, 1967. Under the 1952 document the king had a lot of influence on paper, just as the King of England does today, but his role was supposed to be largely symbolic. Constantine, however, interpreted the constitution literally and personally exercised a lot of power. The new document, on the other hand, strips the king of all authority and even states that he must be only a figurehead. The junta itself has assumed all the power Constantine used to have.

Georges Papandreou, Greece's former prime minister and leader of the Center Union Party, was jailed at the outbreak of the revolution and has only recently been freed. His son, Andreas, the leader of the left wing of the Center Union, is also free and reportedly in Sweden.

Not everyone is against the regime. Student anti-communists, young and ambitious army officers, and tradition minded villagers terrified of the on-slaught of urbanization form the base of the regime's supporters. Greeks are very certain that this is not the regular kind of conservative reaction to the danger of a Communist take-over. They point out that the Rightist party of Greece does not support the regime, although certainly some of their support comes from individuals of that party. Even those supporters grant that the junta has been extraordinarily clumsy, but they think the colonels had the right idea when they took over in 1967 when the situation was volatile and allegedly open to Soviet pressure.