APPENDIX 2

APPENDIX 2

CPG’s attitude towards the Macedonian PLM and Macedonian National Question

The text that follows reflects Mincho Fotev’s thoughts and views in reference to how Dr. Ivan Katardziev has treated events that took place in Greek occupied Macedonia after World War II, especially during the period from 1940 to 1949, in his works entitled “Revolutionary traditions - factor of self-determination for the Macedonian people from the Aegean part of Macedonia”. We were unable to find the actual paper under this title even after interviewing Academic Ivan Katardziev. We assume that the title was derived from the content of some of his latest works.

According to numerous historical documents, it is a fact that the Communist Party of Greece, since its inception in 1918, recognized the existence of the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia. Ever since this part of Macedonia was occupied by Greece and fell under Greek domination, the Macedonian people have been struggling and have been closely linked with the labour and progressive movements of the Greek people under the CPG’s leadership, hoping that the CPG would protect their national identity and provide them with their democratic and national rights.

The Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia have been focusing their struggle against the harsh anti-Macedonian measures perpetrated by the Greek regimes. For the longest part, the Macedonian people have fought back against Greek government de-nationalization and assimilation policies and against harsh economic exploitation in an attempt to preserve their lives and national survival as Macedonians. Between the two world wars, the Communist Party of Greece was the only political party in Greece which sought to recognize the Macedonian people as equals to the Greek people, to provide them with democratic and cultural rights and to publicly protest against their persecution. Unfortunately the Communist Party of Greece never organized mass protests and demonstrations against the state sponsored terror and persecutions, or against the harsh political and economic conditions that the Greek regime imposed on the Macedonian people. Outside of writing about

protests in articles in the pages of their newspapers and withdrawing some of its MPs from the Greek parliament, the CPG leadership never did any real demonstrating in support of the difficult Macedonian situation in Greek occupied Macedonia. All the CPG did, between the two world wars, was “talk” about protecting the “minority rights” of the Macedonian people and all this, including its campaigns, was done verbally.

As stated above, the Communist Party of Greece did not deny the existence of the Macedonian people, but it never developed the right attitude towards the Macedonian National Question, or more precisely, it did not recognize the Macedonian National Question. If it did recognize it, then it would be forced to find a solution. Hence, the CPG developed an inconsistent attitude towards the Macedonian people’s national liberation movement. Before we argue the facts about the CPG’s attitude towards the Macedonian national liberation movement, we want to quote something that Nikos Zahariadis, CPG Secretary General, said as quoted in the book “Testaments by Nikos Zahariadis” published by “Glaros” in Greece in the Greek language, in April 1986. Nikos Zahariadis said: “...our attitude towards the Slavo-Macedonian minority was always correct. Equality. This was the CPG’s old position. This honour belongs to the first Party in the Balkans that did not agree with the position of the Third International for the autonomy of Macedonia in the spirit of the Balkan federation. The Communist Party of Greece was and is the most patriotic party in Greece. It never challenged the sovereignty of the Greek territory. It never gave an inch of the Greek homeland to anyone... The national question was a question that dealt with the victory of the revolution; it was part of the revolution as is the agrarian question. That was the Leninist attitude.” (Quote taken from page 52 and 53.)

From the above quote and from other sources it is clear that no Macedonian National Question existed for the Communist Party of Greece. Therefore the CPG’s attitude towards the Macedonian national liberation movement was destructive and, at certain times, openly hostile. An example of that would be the CPG’s May 1944 attack on the SNOF forces and SNOF’s dissolution at a critical time when the Macedonian people were struggling against the occupiers. After NOF, NOMS and AFZH for Greek occupied Macedonia were

created in April 1945 the Communist Party of Greece refused to accept these organizations and looked for opportunities to attack them calling them autonomist, nationalist and hostile to the Greek people’s PLM. There are irrefutable facts that prove this.

In June 1948, after the Informburo drafted its resolution against the Communist Party of Yugoslavia and after DAG’s defeat in August 1949, the CPG suspended and later disbanded NOF, NOMS and AFZH, arrested over 50 Macedonian officers and began to harass NOF supporters en masse.

According to the above-mentioned book, “Testaments by Nikos Zahariadis”, Zahariadis talked about NOF. Among other things he said the following: “We made a mistake in recognizing NOF with regards to the national question. The need to recognize it was imposed on us by the then situation. It was a necessary evil, an error. We could not avoid it because Skopje persistently insisted on it. NOF acted negatively, it distorted things, it did autonomist work and organized DAG desertions to Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia then accepted the deserters. This was the work of Skopje…” In addition to this quote, we would like to present another quote by Nikos Zahariadis, something he said during his speech at the First KOEM (Communist Organization of Aegean Macedonia) Conference in Lerin Region, held on July 15, 1949. Among other things Zahariadis said: “NOF represents the Macedonian liberation movement. NOF has actually expressed the aspirations of the Macedonian people who fight to win their freedom…” There are many other, very similar, contradictory statements made by high-ranking CPG officials, DAG leaders and officials from the Provisional Democratic Government of Greece.

The fact is the CPG treated the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia the same way as it treated the other ethnic groups and minorities living in Greece, such as the Vlachs, Roma, Armenians, Jews, etc. During certain periods, depending on the situation and developments in the Macedonian national liberation movement, the CPG leadership tended to appear with pro-Macedonian declaratives and political platforms as the protector of the Macedonian people’s national rights. But it was all tactics in order to win over the Macedonian national movement and turn it

towards Greek interests and towards the Greek national and class liberation movement.

At its Third Extraordinary Congress, held in December 1924, the CPG accepted the Comintern’s directive for creating a “United and independent Macedonia”. However, the CPG never did take measures to implement this directive. Given the circumstances, it would have been normal for the CPG to have created a Macedonian national governing body, to have appointed Macedonian personnel to create Macedonian national organizations that would have followed Macedonian national liberation policies. But the CPG never did any of those things… purely because of chauvinistic reasons. The CPG was always against the Comintern position regarding a “United and independent Macedonia” but did not have the courage to speak up in front of the Comintern. The CPG was even reluctant in accepting the creation of IMRO (United) because it did not want to help affirm the Macedonian organization as a national liberation and revolutionary factor of Macedonia in the Balkans.

The only real commitment the CPG made to the Macedonian people was what was written in the second paragraph for “full equality of minorities” adopted at the CPG Sixth Plenum in December 1935. This is the only valid position the CPG had taken. Unfortunately the CPG, for its own reasons, remained inconsistent throughout the war period. Following are some examples of the CPG’s attitude expressed towards the Macedonian people during the national liberation struggle from 1941 to 1945. After Greece was occupied in 1941 and during the Second World War, the Communist Party of Greece did not find it necessary to initiate and establish a unique Macedonian People’s Liberation Organization in order to give to the Macedonian people the opportunity to create their own national liberation movement, which would have mobilized all their fighting potential against the fascists and domestic traitors; would have affirmed their participation in the fight against the fascists and would have organized a national and cultural life for them while struggling for national equality in Greece. Instead of doing all these things, the CPG promised the Macedonian people equality and national and cultural rights in an independent and sovereign Greece, after they achieved victory over the fascists in Greece. This was the

kind of policy the CPG practically enforced. The Communist Party of Greece, however, did manage to organize a broad and intensive national and political propaganda and used every means to agitate the development of a Greek national resistance movement for the massive participation of the Greek people in a struggle against the fascist occupiers and against the national traitors and with it strengthened itself, EAM and ELAS. With its daily propaganda, the CPG strongly condemned the perpetrated fascist terror waged against the people that included mass arrests and shootings of Greek patriots, and so on. The CPG also organized an extensive propaganda campaign for the national liberation struggle of the Greek people and for the liberation of Greece from the Turks, as well as the struggles of the Greek working class against the anti-people regimes in Greece. All Greek national holidays were marked with military functions and with other events including rallies, cultural and artistic performances, etc. In the free territories, members of EPON in the ELAS units organized and put on cultural and artistic events performed by the youth groups. The Communist Party of Greece regularly informed the ELAS partisans and the people about the situation in the Eastern and Western Fronts and how the Allies were doing, especially the Red Army and its successes and victories. Unfortunately, the CPG provided no information on the development and status of the Yugoslav people’s national liberation struggle. The CPG and EAM said absolutely nothing about the massive participation of the Macedonian people in the struggle against the occupiers and the domestic traitors in Greece, or about the longstanding national and revolutionary traditions of the Macedonian people. No word was spoken about the glorious Macedonian Ilinden Uprising, the Krushevo Republic, the first Balkan Republic, etc. The CPG was not only not interested in celebrating Macedonian national holidays, but made every effort to criticize them.

In the spring of 1943 the southwestern Kostur District was completely liberated by ELAS partisan units composed of over 60% Macedonian partisans. There were approximately 60 villages located in the freed territory of which about 40 were inhabited by Macedonians. But, in time, this liberated territory was enlarged with heavy and bloody fighting so that by early 1944 about 80 Macedonian villages were freed in the western part of Greek

occupied Macedonia, mainly in Kostur and Lerin Regions. A people’s authority was established in all the villages that were freed and the system functioned normally. Broad cultural and educational activities were formed under the CPG and EAM leaderships in preparation for the opening of primary schools. Macedonian schools, teaching in the Macedonian language, were opened in Greek occupied Macedonia without objections. This was because there were frequent cases of Macedonian communists, at various party forums, asking for Macedonian schools to be opened and for classes to be conducted in the Macedonian language. Similarly, there was demand for the consistent implementation of national equality principles. The responses to that, in general, were as follows: “How can we possibly allow fulfilling the wishes of 150,000 Slavo-phones and having the entire Greek population turn against the CPG. This will be realized after we achieve victory in our revolution…”

Another characteristic fact of the CPG and its attitude toward the Macedonian people was that it never told the Macedonian people, and especially the Macedonian communists and fighters who supported it, what was happening in Yugoslavia, what the Communist Party of Yugoslavia’s position was regarding the Macedonian National Question and the decisions made by AVNOJ. But, in spite of all this, a fair number of Macedonians and pre-war communist leaders and Party workers, such as Kiro Pilaev-Petro, Lazo Trpovski, Stavro Kochopulo, Anastas Karadzha –Tasho, Atanas Hatzhis and others, still supported the CPG.

All that was done for the Macedonian people in Yugoslavia, including the CPY’s position towards the Macedonian National Question, the people in Greek occupied Macedonia, including the fighters and communists, was found out from the partisan units that crossed over from the Republic of Macedonia into Greek occupied Macedonia. Anything the Macedonian people said, thought, or did that was Macedonian, the CPG considered “nationalist” and “autonomist”, even claims for human and national rights. The same was true about SNOF, the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, which we will discuss later.

This was the CPG’s attitude towards the Macedonian national liberation movement and towards the Macedonian people in general.

Despite the attitude expressed by the CPG towards the Macedonian people and towards the Macedonian national liberation movement in general, the Macedonian people accepted the CPG line for a joint struggle with the Greek people under its leadership because they had no alternative or exit from this situation. They accepted the CPG line hoping that with the victory of the USSR against the fascist axis, the Macedonian people, with their struggle and blood, would get their freedom and national rights. But the CPG, as it turned out, was playing with their hopes and aspirations.

Unfortunately the Macedonian people, particularly the Macedonian communists and patriots, had no other choice. Had they not accepted to fight side by side with the Greek people, under the CPG’s leadership, they would have been in greater danger. First, there was the real danger for Macedonians to become victims of Supremacist Bulgarian policies, a danger which appeared in 1941 with the arrival of the Bulgarian fascist emissaries from Sofia, the likes of Andon Kalchev, Spiro Vasilev, Kiriazo Shkurtov, Kiselinchev, Stumbov, Giorgi Dimchev, Mladenov and others. They would have also been in danger of falling into the hands of the so-called “Macedono-Bulgarian Committee” and the organization “Ohrana”. Second, there was the danger that Macedonians would have fallen prey to Hitler and sent as hostages to work in the mines and factories in Germany.

Regardless of the unfair treatment they received from the CPG and EAM, the Macedonian people from Greek occupied Macedonia, thanks to their glorious revolutionary traditions and high patriotic consciousness and aspirations, massively participated in the national liberation movement in the Liberation War against the German, Italian and Bulgarian occupiers and against the domestic traitors. About 5,000 Macedonians voluntarily entered the ranks of ELAS and another 10,000 served in the ranks of the ELAS reserves. You can say about 80% of the Macedonian population was actively involved and organized in the ranks of the CPG, EAM, SNOF and ELAS and in organizations in the people’s government. As a result of fighting against the fascists, the Macedonian people suffered immensely with massive losses of life and material damages.

Unfortunately, to this day, no one knows what the entire toll was against the Macedonian people.

The CPG policies which the CPG implemented were diametrically different from those it promised the Macedonian people. What was said was completely different from what was done but illusion and misinterpretation were always handy tools for the CPG to fool the ignorant, mislead the helpless and misinform the masses. The CPG was a master of misinformation and misinterpretation of certain events.

Developing the Macedonian national liberation movement was a very hard and very difficult path to take, not only because of the difficult and bloody conditions imposed by the Greek state reactionary regime and fascist foreign invaders, but also because of the chauvinistic CPG attitude and destructive policies. The CPG’s attitude towards the Macedonian people and towards the Macedonian PLM caused severe long-term consequences for the Macedonian nation and people.

We will now provide some examples to illustrate the “incorrect” measures taken by the CPG. After the Infrmburo Resolution was adopted in 1948, Informburo communists and worker Parties took a stand against the CPY, among who was also the CPG which joined them in a provocative and even malicious manner, severing its relations with the Communist Party of Yugoslavia and declaring Yugoslavia a hostile state and an enemy of the Greek people and the Democratic Army of Greece. It not only took the Stalinist Informburo position and launched an open attack against Yugoslavia but the CPG also attacked the People’s Liberation Movement in Greek occupied Macedonia, which was led by NOF. During the Monarcho-Fascist army’s final operations against DAG and during DAG’s withdrawal from Mounts Vicho and Gramos, i.e. DAG’s evacuation from the Lerin and Kostur Districts, in August 1949, and during DAG’s withdrawal to the territory of the People’s Republic of Albania, the Macedonian population in the liberated villages was ordered to evacuate the liberated territory and flee to the people’s Republic of Albania. These orders were issued by the President of the DAG Military Council, by Nikos Zahariadis, CPG Secretary General, and by Mitchos Partselidis, President of the Provisional

Democratic Government of Greece. Any Macedonians attempting to cross the Yugoslav border were to be shot on sight by DAG’s border guards. Many Macedonians were killed this way. As a result of these CPG measures, about 50 Macedonian villages in Kostur and Lerin Regions were completely emptied of their populations and looted. This was done by the CPG in order to expel and exile the Macedonian population from its own homeland.

In September 1949 the CPG Central Committee Politburo issued an order to round up and arrest around 50 Macedonian NOF, NOMS and AFZH leaders. On October 2, 1949, after being arrested, all these leaders were imprisoned in the infamous Albanian “Bureli” prison in Tirana and in some other prisons. These rigorous CPG measures were aimed at beheading the Macedonian People’s Liberation Movement and blaming DAG’s defeat on NOF.

The organization “MAO” was part of the Communist Party of Greece. MAO was a Greek name meaning “Makedoniki Apelefterotiki Organosi” (Macedonian Liberation Organization) and not “Macedonian Anti-fascist Organization”. In 1942 MAO was formed under a CPG directive by Giorgi Urdov-Dzhodzho, CPG District Committee Second Secretary for Voden Region, and existed only in the city itself and only for a very short time. Hristo Andonovski who was from Voden Region, a journalist and publicist and a participant in ELAS, NOF and DAG, in his review of Tashko Mamurovski’s works entitled “Important Personalities from Aegean Macedonia (1945-1949)”, among other things, wrote: “MAO was a short-lived organization that never extended beyond the city itself and we must not exaggerate about it…” (Skopje, NIP “Studenski Zbor”, 1987.)

The Macedonian Revolutionary Organization SNOF (Slavo-Macedonian National Liberation Front) was formed on October 20, 1943 at the persistent insistence of the Macedonian communists from Kostur Region and after extensive discussions with representatives from the Communist Party of Greece. SNOF’s founding meeting was held in the legendary village D’mbeni, Kostur Region, in Kiriako Tsalev’s house where he was elected in the district’s leadership. The following comrades were appointed to the Secretariat leadership: Paskal Mitrevski was appointed Secretary

and Ivan Tsalev and Kiro Popvasilev were appointed members. On December 25, 1943 the First SNOF District Conference was held in the village Krchishte, where a District Board was elected with the following members: Paskal Mitrevski – Secretary, Andon Tsalev, Kiro Popvasilev, Lazo Poplazarov, Evdokia Baleva-Vera, Vasil Aleksovski, Simo Kalchev and Lazo Hadzhiev.

SNOF’s formation strongly resonated with the Macedonian people and influenced their feelings and national aspirations en masse in Greek occupied Macedonia. They saw SNOF as a prominent all-Macedonian national liberation organization that would fulfill their aspirations, deliver their national rights and free them to develop their own Macedonian national culture and society. SNOF’s formation was a bold step towards the affirmation of the Macedonian identity and for the Macedonian nation’s struggle in the fraternal communion with the Greek people and with all democratic progressive forces, fighting a bloody fight against the fascist German and Bulgarian occupiers for the freedom of their country. SNOF’s great historical significance was apparent from its progressive principles and from its basic tasks performed at a national level.

The principles that SNOF persistently advocated to implement were:

- Further develop the Macedonian national consciousness;

- Develop cultural and educational activities in the Macedonian language;

- Foster national and revolutionary traditions in the Macedonian people;

- Mobilize the full combat potential of the Macedonian people in the struggle against the fascist occupiers and domestic traitors;

- Beat back the Great Bulgarian policy towards Macedonia and liquidate the culprits responsible for it and their Supremacist agents;

- Maintain and develop moral and political national unity in the Macedonian people and brotherhood and unity between the Macedonian and Greek people.

SNOF especially advocated and urged the CPG to form a single SNOF for all of Greek occupied Macedonia, to be admitted as a full member in the EAM coalition as the sole and legitimate representative of the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia. The SNOF leadership also sought to establish links and cooperation with the National Liberation Front in the Republic of Macedonia and demanded that the CPG allow it to form special Macedonian partisan units within ELAS. The SNOF District Board Secretary for Kostur District, expressing the wishes and aspirations of the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia, wanted SNOF to be regarded as a national equal to other organizations in Greece because, in his opinion, this was the only way it could prospectively achieve its national goals and ideals - unification of all the Macedonian people. SNOF, as noted above, was not only a great national asset during the Second World War but also a major revolutionary factor with a clear ideological and political commitment to further develop the Macedonian national liberation movement in Greek occupied Macedonia.

The CPG never wanted SNOF to have political status, or to play a political role with a national program and an objective and realistic political orientation. The CPG did not even want to hear about SNOF’s status or role. This is because the CPG harboured a hidden, great Greek chauvinistic agenda. The CPG openly put pressure on SNOF and demanded of it to:

1. Limit SNOF’s organizational structure to only the villages and only where Macedonians lived. Only EAM was to function in villages with mixed populations.

2. Limit its national activities in the narrowest way, and use the sharpness of its policies to move against the Great Bulgarian propaganda campaign and against the activities of the Supremacist agents and armed gangs belonging to the “Macedono-Bulgarian Committee”.

3. Mobilize the Macedonian people and limit their activities to assisting ELAS only.

This means that the Communist Party of Greece wanted to turn SNOF into an instrument to carry out only certain political and organizational tasks of practical nature.

When the SNOF leadership disagreed with the CPG’s demands, the CPG insisted that SNOF be disbanded. And, in the end, it did exactly that and with its actions prompted a group of Macedonians fighters to break away from the ELAS composition and, in May 1944, depart for Karaorman to the free territory in the Republic of Macedonia.

The road to the development of the Macedonian national liberation movement and struggle in Greek occupied Macedonia was not opened by Lazo Oshenski but by the SNOF leadership in October 1943. This is a historical fact! In regards to Lazo Oshenski’s letter of January 24, 1944, I, as a direct participant in DAG on the ground in Kostur Region at that time, can attest that what was said in the letter is a real puzzle. SNOF at the time was not aware of such a letter, nor were the Macedonian communists and fighters… no discussions had ever taken place about such a letter. I say that categorically. I was there at that time and in that place and I was in a position of responsibility which would have given me access to such a “letter”. Besides, there are many people still alive who were participants in the PLM in Kostur District, who can attest that they never saw such a letter. In April 1944 the SNOF Second Conference was held in the village D’mbeni, Kostur Region. Lazo Oshenski attended the Conference as a delegate but never mentioned anything about this “letter”, and no discussions ever took place where Lazo Oshenski expressed any views about this alleged letter.

When it comes to Lazo Oshenski we need to say a few things about his personal role in the Macedonian national liberation movement. It is well-known that Lazo Oshenski added no special merit to the creation and development of the Macedonian PLM. He did not participate in the formation of the Macedonian national liberation organizations, the formation of the Macedonian battalions, or the formation if the “First Macedonian Assault Brigade” in Greece,

because at that time he was not there. He was outside of the Greek occupied Macedonian territory. During the occupation he first arrived in Kostur Region towards the end of January 1944, and in February 1944 the CPG District Committee made him available to the SNOF District Board in Kostur Region where he remained as a SNOF activist until early May 1944, that is until the CPG and ELAS forcibly dissolved SNOF. After that the CPG released him at his own disposal. Lazo Oshenski then went to Yugoslavia together with the Macedonian battalions. He arrived in Yugoslavia in March 1945 after the Varkiza Agreement was signed and after ELAS was disarmed. In October 1945 he was admitted to the NOF leadership and tasked to manage the economic and cultural Macedonian refugee committee based in Skopje. In March 1946, by CPM Central Committee decision, Lazo Dimovski-Oshenski was charged as a class enemy and was dismissed from duty, then expelled from NOF. He did not take part in the Greek Civil War. He lived in Skopje until he died in 1970.

Regarding Argir Kuzevski’s retirement which supposedly took place at a joint CPG and Macedonian resistance fighter Conference, held on November 20, 1943, during which, in the name of Naum Peiov, Lazo Oshenski on his own behalf expressed his desires. First of all this was not a Conference between CPG representatives and Macedonian resistance fighters, but simply a gathering of villagers in the village D’mbeni, which was organized by the local NOF activist.

Regarding the pressure the CPG placed and the separation of part of the Macedonian units and their transfer to the Republic of Macedonia under Naum Peiov’s leadership… It is not true that the Macedonian units that transferred to the Republic of Macedonia were under Naum Peiov’s leadership. At that time in May 1944, when the split took place, the Macedonian partisans were serving in the ranks of ELAS. Peiov crossed over into the free territory with only six SNOF supporters. It was Atanas Koroveshovski who broke away with the group of Macedonian ELAS partisans. Overall about 60 Macedonians from Greek occupied Macedonia gathered in Karaorman, from whom a Macedonian battalion was formed under the command of Atanas Koroveshovski and with Micho Shiskov serving as political commissar.

The group of Macedonian ELAS fighters splitting from ELAS and crossing over into the free territory of the Republic of Macedonia was a voluntary step which took place without the SNOF leadership’s knowledge. The group’s departure from Kostur and Lerin Regions to Karaorman, according to the manner and conditions under which it took place, was impulsive and extreme. This act inflicted serious and irreparable consequences on the Macedonian national liberation movement in Greek occupied Macedonia. They made a serious mistake by leaving. The actions they took to leave ELAS were contrary to SNOF’s policies. This was even justified by the fact that those who left were then ordered, by National Liberation Headquarters from the Republic of Macedonia and personally by political commissar Tsvetko Uzunovski-Abas, to return back to Greek occupied Macedonia to continue to fight in the ranks of ELAS, led by the CPG. The motives of this thoughtless act were unjustified… In other words, they arbitrarily separated from ELAS and, of course, from SNOF and went to Karaorman without seriously thinking of what would happen back home and what the implications and consequences for SNOF and for the Macedonian people in that part of Macedonia would be.

And who do we have to blame for all this? The Macedonian communists, the Macedonian fighters and the Macedonian people in general were disgusted by the way they were treated by the CPG and most of what was happening was in response to the CPG’s negative attitude towards the Macedonian PLM and people in general. But, in spite of all that, it never was justifiable to act on feelings of indignation alone and to revolt. Acts like that had a price associated with them. And, as it turned out, we paid dearly for these extreme acts. The consequences of our secession were indeed severe and irreversible. In the end they were made the cause for the Macedonian PLM severing ties with the CPG and ELAS. Because of the secession, the CPG leadership characterized the Macedonian national liberation movement in Greek occupied Macedonia as nationalist, autonomist and secessionist and publicly denounced the secessionists as counterrevolutionaries and traitors. The same CPG leadership also accused SNOF of being an instigator in the group of Macedonian fighters who separated themselves from the Greek

resistance movement and ordered its ELAS units to arrest all the SNOF leaders in Kostur District and forcibly dissolve all local SNOF organizations. At the same time the Communist Party of Greece organized and waged a dangerous and sharp political propaganda campaign against SNOF. The CPG also undertook a number of other political, disciplinary and repressive measures against prominent Macedonian fighters. There were even arbitrary killings of Macedonian patriots, as was the case with Kosta Makrievski, a teacher from the village Kosinets, Kostur Region. The CPG took immediate measures to prohibit all Macedonian cultural activities and other Macedonian national events scheduled to take place. The stand that the CPG took against the break-away group of Macedonian fighters was both irrational and negative because at the time, when the secessionists left for Karaorman in May 1944, there were many Macedonian fighters serving in the ranks of the ELAS XXVIII Regiment. On the ground in Kostur Region alone there were over 1,000 partisans. There were over 2,000 Macedonian fighters in the ranks of ELAS in Kostur and Lerin Regions and they had freed over 80 villages. It is worth mentioning that over 100 Macedonian activists and CPG, EAM, EPON and EA leaders acted on the same ground behind the scenes. The SNOF leadership in Kostur District alone consisted of over 40 officers and behind the scenes workers. Out of all the thousands of Macedonians serving in the PLM only 4 SNOF officials, about 20 ELAS fighters and only about 35 members of the military organizations left Greek occupied Macedonia and went to Karaorman.

Before this incident took place, on January 28, 1944, a meeting was held in the village Tsrnovishte, Kostur Region, between representatives of the Lerin and Kostur Region SNOF District Committees. The two districts were represented by four people. There were three items on the agenda but the following two attracted particular attention:

1. The Macedonian National Question concerning Macedonia’s fate after the war.

2. Creating a single national liberation organization for the whole of Greek occupied Macedonia...

The Kostur District delegation also put forth the proposal that, after victory over the fascists was achieved, Greece should be transformed into a federal state composed of two federal units, one being the “People’s Republic of Aegean Macedonia”.

It appears, however, that such topics were never discussed at the meeting held in the village Tsrnovishte, Kostur Region, between the SNOF Lerin and Kostur Region delegations and the agenda was pure fiction. The purpose of that meeting was to exchange information on military, political and economic matters in the districts, to discuss the status of the struggle and problems experienced by the people, and to exchange opinions and experiences on the activities of both SNOF organizations. Since there was no single SNOF organization for all of Greek occupied Macedonia, because the CPG would not allow it, the Kostur and Lerin Region SNOF organizations often held joint meetings. It is true that a meeting did take place in Tsrnovishte on January 28, 1944, and from this meeting it is clear that the Kostur and Lerin Region SNOF leaderships were not familiar with Lazo Oshenski’s “letter” of January 24, 1944. This is more proof that such a letter did not exist.

Besides that, the SNOF District leaders for Lerin and Kostur Regions were not in a position high up in the political hierarchy to make such demands, especially about deciding the Macedonia Question or establishing a single Macedonian national organization for the whole of Greek occupied Macedonia. The only thing those SNOF delegates had the authority to do was ask questions. In other words, the best they could have done was to “ask” if a single SNOF organization could be formed for the whole of Greek occupied Macedonia. Establishing such an organization depended exclusively on the CPG because the CPG managed the PLM in Greece. The matter for a single SNOF organization for all of Greek occupied Macedonia was raised by the SNOF District leadership the same day SNOF was formed, but the Communist Party of Greece flatly rejected the request, the same way it refused the request to form separate Macedonian partisan units within ELAS.

The idea of turning Greece into a federal state in order to form a “People’s Republic of Aegean Macedonia” is absurd! Such an idea

had never been discussed and had never entered the minds of any of the Macedonian communists. Not only for subjective but also for purely objective reasons this could not be true. At that time, in 1944, the Macedonian population was only one third of the total population in Greek occupied Macedonia. Besides, turning Greece into a federal state not only depended on the Communist Party of Greece, but also on all the political parties in Greece that made up the national liberation front - EAM, as well as other democratic socio-political structures.

Even if all these “Greek parties” agreed to create a “People’s Republic of Aegean Macedonia”, they still would have needed the consent of the external factors such as the “anti-Hitler coalition” who were directly interested in the fate of Greece and in the fate of the Balkans. On top of that, why would the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia call for the formation of a historically elusive “People’s Republic of Aegean Macedonia” when the Macedonian people to their north had already created a People’s Republic of Macedonia? Why not follow the original plan of joining the Macedonian state that was already formed, thanks to the joint struggle with all the other Yugoslav nations within Democratic Federal Yugoslavia, based on AVNOJ? No such demands had been made or questions raised until now. The voices that were calling for a “People’s Republic of Aegean Macedonia”, it would appear, were raised by those Macedonians who “voluntarily left SNOF and the armed struggle” and abandoned their homeland in Greek occupied Macedonia.

To get to the bottom of what took place at the Tsrnovishta meeting when the two SNOF delegations met, another meeting was held in October 1985 at the request of the Federal Republic of Macedonia’s Institute of National History at the INI, which was attended by about 20 invited participants, organizers and activists of the PLM from Greek occupied Macedonia. The participants in this gathering contested the meeting agenda and called it a “work of fiction”. The gathering was also attended by Giorgi Turundzhiev, a member of the SNOF District Board Secretariat who personally, as a member of the Lerin delegation, participated in the Tsrnovishta meeting.

Up until December 1944, the term “Aegean Macedonia” was unknown to the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia. It was neither used nor mentioned in public anywhere. The first time the term was mentioned in public was in Bitola, in December 1944, in front of the Macedonian people from Greek occupied Macedonia. This was during Dimitar Vlahov’s opening speech at the first conference of the Macedonian Political Commission from Greek occupied Macedonia.

The name of the Macedonian brigade referred to in this document as the “First Macedonian Assault Brigade”, initially was not referred to as the “First Aegean Macedonian Assault Brigade” but rather as the “First Macedonian Assault Brigade from Macedonia under Greece”. These were the words that were written on the Brigade’s flag. Also, the correct name of the Political Commission was “Political Commission of Macedonia under Greece”. In other words, the authentic historical document written on the ground in Greek occupied Macedonia, up to the time the “First Macedonian Assault Brigade” was formed and up to the time the “Political Commission” was created, does not contain the words “Aegean Macedonia”.

The question about unifying Macedonia was never raised by anyone in SNOF or in NOF. That question was not even raised by the People’s Republic of Macedonia. The only discussions that took place and questions raised were about the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia achieving their national rights, freedom and equality. But that does not mean that the Macedonian people did not want a Macedonian people’s unification. That was the ideal of every Macedonian fighter who fought for freedom and for national and social rights. As for the desire to have “national equality” between Macedonians and Greeks there are two different trends among the Macedonian people. A small number of Macedonian communists, mostly old members of the Communist Party of Greece, strictly followed the CPG policy regarding the Macedonian National Question - national equality for the Macedonians within Greece. The vast majority of Macedonians, Macedonian communists and Macedonian fighters, however, persistently advocated and urged the Communist Party of Greece to change its policies towards the Macedonian National Question and allow the creation of a national

political and managerial entity to manage and prepare the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia for the PLM.

As was mentioned earlier, both SNOF and NOF persistently promoted the embodiment of true national equality between Macedonians and Greeks, which was a realistic approach to unifying the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia.

Many massive Macedonian military formations were created during the liberation war between 1941 and 1949, a testament to the Macedonian people’s determination to achieve freedom. But treating all of these formations as exclusively “Macedonian” is also incorrect. For example, the Kostur partisan group, formed in May 1943, and the partisan detachment “Lazo Trpovski” did not have an exclusive Macedonian national hallmark. They were units like any other ELAS units but consisted of only Macedonian fighters. Saying that a “Slavo-Macedonian” army (SNOB) was formed in January 1944 is arbitrary and fictional. Such an army was never established because the CPG and ELAS would not allow it.

The only Macedonian national army units that were formed during that period were the Kostur Macedonian battalion, formed in June 1944 at Karaorman, the Voden battalion formed in June 1944, the “Gotse” Lerin-Kostur battalion formed on Ilinden in 1944 and the “First Macedonian Assault Brigade” established in November 1944. The brigade actually united all the other above-mentioned partisan units.

Skopje, August 20, 1986 Mincho Fotev