[1] The new government's formation was announced on 23 December 1947, with Markos Vafiadis, the leader of the Communists' Democratic Army of Greece (DSE), as its first chairman.

[1][2] The new government actively tried to present itself as a revival of the ideology and practices World War II-era National Liberation Front, which had dominated the Greek Resistance movement.

It was also notable for its active protection of the minorities living in northern Greece, especially as these tended to support the Communists against the nationalist royal government.

According to testimony by Vafiadis, Zachariadis had expressed the hope that if the city fell and became the Communists' capital, the PDG would be recognized by the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc states.

[1][2] In the end, the PDG was never recognized by any government, because the Soviets feared a widening of the conflict into general warfare between the West and their satellite states in the Balkans.