He was born in the village of
Kutaisi,
Russian Empire, now in
Georgia. He studied medicine at the universities of
Moscow and
Odessa. He graduated in 1910 and settled in the city of
Sukhumi in the
Caucasus. In 1913 he travelled in
Germany for postgraduate studies. He then specialised as a surgeon in
Odessa, taking the position of the director of the hospital of Sukhumi. After the declaration of independence of
Georgia, he was elected a deputy with
Noe Zhordania's
Georgian Social Democratic Labour Party in the February 1919 general election. In 1922, Passalidis settled in
Thessaloniki and worked as a doctor. In the
1923 general election he was elected for the first time to the
Greek Parliament as a republican deputy. In 1941 his party formed an alliance with the
National Liberation Front (EAM) and, in 1945, he was elected in the central commission of EAM. In July 1951 he was the one who induced the formation of the
United Democratic Left (EDA), which he led until 1967, when the
colonels' regime persecuted its members. Passalidis took part in all the
Greek legislative elections from
1952 to
1964 as the leader of the United Democratic Left, being among the protagonists of almost all the debates during this period in the parliament. He was prosecuted and placed under house arrest by the 1967 junta. This worsened his health and he died in 1968 in Thessaloniki. He is still remembered fondly among Greek leftists, who still refer to him as "Barbayiannis" (uncle John). ==See also==