During this period Greek society was deeply divided between Venizelists and royalists, a division with profound social-political dimensions that exceeded party alignment. The incoporation of the New Territories and their populations after the victorious Balkan Wars created additional strains and sources of conflict, bred by the same climate.

The rift was so deep that at times, during the Schism, it acquired the proportions of a civil war. In the November fighting Athens was shaken by demonstrations, while the day following the Battle of Philopappou a violent persecutions of Venizelists was launched and several distinguished Athenians were arrested and reviled. Among the most characteristic cases was the public humiliation and imprisonment of Emmanouil Benakis, the then mayor of Athens, national benefactor, with the charge that conspirators had been firing arms from his house. The house of Eleftherios Venizelos was destroyed, while in Pedio tou Areos in Athens and in other cities, Venizelos, was anathematized.
Such acute political passions, the antagonism between Venizelists and anti-Venizelists, characterized social relations and gave rise to friendships and hostilities, and persecution.
Everyone shared in this political climate, even the songs played by romvia, 'The Son of the Eagle' and 'The Son of Psiloritis' spread enthusiasm or roused the crowds who would take the romvia player to the police. The same applied with revues, which closely followed current events and were subject to censorship, in the event of producers not conforming by their own free will.
The restoration of the Venizelists to power signalled a new circle of counter-revenge at the expense of royalists. The elections of 1920 were held in a climate of polarization.
Even after the Catastrophe, the outcry for the disaster led to new divisions in social and political life and a wish for justice led to the Trial of the Six which, in its turn, affected the social climate, while the very presence of refugees brought new tensions in their relations with the 'native' Greeks.