In 1974 the fascist EOKA-B staged a coup in Cyprus, backed by the military Junta in Greece. The Turkish army responded by invading the North of the island. The Cypriot workers’ powerful organisations, above all the AKEL (Communist Party), were caught by surprise by these developments and proved incapable of putting up serious resistance, constantly appealing to the UN to stop the invasion instead. Ted Grant pointed out the futility of such an approach and drew the lessons for the international working class and showed that the roots of this crushing defeat were to be found in the false policies of AKEL’s leadership who advocated passivity of the masses and support for Liberal president Makarios.