He was also a committed Communist, and his political activity, particularly during the Greek Civil War, resulted in his having to live much of his adult life abroad: after periods of internal exile in 1936 and 1947, he was sentenced to death for desertion, and from 1947 to 1974 lived primarily in Budapest and East Berlin. In 1974, with the establishment of a democratic government in Greece, he was pardoned and returned to his native country. He was the author of two novels and four books of short stories.