ABSTRACT
During this period the Venizelists went some way towards adopting a democratic organization based on local associations (which flourished more in areas of refugee settlement), whereas the Populists remained unashamedly a party of notables, relegating their local organizations to a menial role. Largely for the benefit of the refugees the Venizelists brought about sweeping land reforms in the 1920s, which the Antivenizelists tried to obstruct on behalf of large landowners. The Venizelists also did much to
expand primary education and promoted the status of the popular form of the language (demotic), while the Antivenizelists defended the status of the elite form (katharevousa) and the bloated system of classical secondary education which nurtured it.
