It was the police counterpart of the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE), KKE's military force.
The People's Civil Guard included both men and women; all of them were volunteers and ideologically dedicated to the Communist Party, a situation different from that of the DSE, which engaged in forced recruitment, especially in the last stages of the Civil War.
[2] In June 1948, the KKE leadership published a booklet to be studied by the civil guards, "Lessons of Popular Civil Guard" (Μαθήματα Λαϊκής Πολιτοφυλακής, Mathímata Laïkís Politofylakís), where it was emphasized that the Popular Civil Guard was a security force "of a new type", different from the Greek Gendarmerie and the Cities Police of the Greek government, whose aim was to serve the people.
[3] Initially the People's Civil Guard was commanded by Stephanos Papayannis, a former Captain of the Greek Army who had joined the Communist Party during World War II, and had fought in the Greek Resistance against the Nazis; later however, Vasilis Bartziotas, a Communist Party cadre took command.
[4] In northern Greece it was also named and it was much known as Close Self-Defense (Greek: Στενή Αυτοάμυνα).