Vauxite, aluminum, and aluminium have been central elements of political and economic disputes for a long period of Greek post-war history. All the country's economic development programs, from reconstruction onwards, included an aluminum unit in their plans. All the political factions in the country, from the Occupation onwards, considered the establishment of an aluminum industry as a key goal of economic policy, and even, with the exception of the Left party, included cooperation with foreign capital in their program in order to accelerate the development of the Greek economy. However, the creation of an aluminum factory represented something more than the installation of an industrial unit or, at least, one of the largest investments ever made in Greece: it was the point of conflict between two political worlds, two perceptions of what Greece should become after World War II, and even more so for what actually happened.