Front Matter - Part 04

Every night a kerosene lamp lit the room with a view of Galichitsa. Zahariadis was working, writing and then taking small breaks to drink a cup of strong Georgian tea. On the fifth night he finished his writing, which he was going to present in the upcoming Fifth Plenum. Sometime before the break of dawn he put down his pencil, collected his papers and arranged them by page number. He then pulled out two pages as though he was getting ready to give a speech and in a soft voice began to read: “In Northern Greece the Macedonian people…” he paused. By the movement of his head it was obvious that he was unsure of the text. He reached for his pencil, stood up, walked around the room and reconsidered. He frowned. He went to the window, lifted the curtain slightly and for some time stared at the vastness of the fog covered lake. He turned and slowly and quietly moved away from the window, then began to pace between the door and the window. He threw a couple of logs into the fireplace and then stood beside the table. He sat down and with his head resting on his left hand he began to read again: “In Northern Greece, the Macedonian people ...” he paused again locking his sight on the last two words, swaying back and forth, making the old chair squeak beneath him and tapping the paper with his pencil. He stood up and with sluggish and quiet steps began to pace from one corner of the room to the other. He paused in the middle of the room, thought, frowned and resumed his pacing. He went close to the window, opened the curtain slightly and stared into the darkness. It was now snowing hard outside. It was a blizzard and the wind was howling wildly through the trees. He opened the window. The wind blew a wave of cold air on his face. Large snowflakes landed on the floor inside the room. He left the window open, turned and again began to pace, collecting and measuring his thoughts. When he felt refreshed he went to the fireplace, knelt in front of the fire and, with the tongs, adjusted the logs one on top of the other. He then stood up, closed the window and went back to the table. He took his papers, found the part that made him pause and spoke out loud: “Only Macedonian, only people?” then began to talk to himself saying “If I write that it will mean that I recognize and admit to the name and to the nation. Will these two words, used in this way during this political and military situation, yield the desirable results for our movement and strengthen the position of our Party with this population? No doubt – yes! And will taking such a position cause an outcry among some members of the Politburo and central committee? No doubt - yes! There will no doubt be a storm in the very leadership.” He put his paper on the table and from the pencil jar he took out a red pencil and with it beside the word ‘Macedonian’ he wrote the word ‘Slavo-Macedonian’ in parenthesis. He then began to read out loud: “In Northern Greece the Macedonian (Slavo-Macedonian) people…” unsure of himself he shook his head and above the word “people” wrote the word “minority” and asked himself: “people or minority? ‘Slavo-Macedonian minority’ does not sound bad at all. Or would it be better if I call them ‘Slavo-Macedonian’ population? Minority, yes…” he said and while holding the page in his hand stood up and took a few passes around the room. He circled and opened the window again. The cold wind forced him to close it. Again he asked himself: “Must it be openly written as ‘Macedonian nation’?” He hesitated. Should he replace the word ‘nation’ with the word ‘minority’ or should he use the word ‘population’? He circled the room again, burdened with doubt. He thought and abruptly returned to the table placing the piece of paper on the table. Then with his red pencil he struck out the words ‘minority’ and ‘population’. And now without thinking and without hesitation he wrote down the word ‘people’. Relieved, he then began to write: “Στη Βορεια Ελλαδα ο µακεδυικος (σλαβοµακεδονικος) λαος ταδοσε ολα για τον αγωνα και πολεµα µε µια ολοκληρωση ηροισµου και αυτοθυσιας που προκαλουν το θαυµασµο.”

(In Northern Greece the Macedonian (Slavo-Macedonian) people gave their all in the struggle and fought with heroism and self-sacrifice, and deserve our respect and admiration…) He paused again. Then looked at what he had written and said: “The last part is true. From the reports I received from NOF (Peoples’ Liberation Front) and from AFZH (Women’s Anti-Fascist Front), as well as the ones from General Headquarters, the population, especially from Kostur, Lerin and Voden Regions, gave its all. And the youth from the villages truly deserve our respect and admiration. Yes, well said. This will give them recognition. It will encourage them to fight even more… But, what will motivate them? More about that further down the page… I am certain that we will satisfy the Macedonian people with these words, those from NOF and AFZH and, it is understood that Tito and Kolishevski, because in all the talks we had with them, always called this population ‘Macedonian’. We will also satisfy those who, in Northern Greece, settled from the south of the country and from the islands. We will especially satisfy those who, during the population exchanges between Greece and Turkey, were brought here and became a majority. By the name of that part of Macedonia which Greece appropriated during the 1913 division, not only will they say, but they will truly claim to be Macedonians. Different from themselves they will also accept that outside of them, beside them and together with them, lives a Slavic population which fifteen years ago or earlier, we, the Greek Communists, gave the name ‘Slavo-Macedonians’. Which means, in this case, both sides will be satisfied. Up to here my write-up is excellent, well thought out and will hold… Let us continue...” Satisfied with the first part of his write-up, Zahariadis sat more comfortably, put his other papers aside and continued his conversation with himself: “Now let us see what will motivate the Macedonian or should I say ‘Slavo-Macedonian’ people to continue to give their all, especially, what will motivate their sons and daughters to fight, be heroic and sacrifice themselves for our cause? First, we need to tell those in NOF-AFZH and the group of deserters in Skopje that they don’t need to doubt the new democratic Greece because we will give them some rights. Second, national rights will be ‘revived’ in the new Greece. But in order to obtain all this, the Macedonian (Slavo-Macedonian) people must fight and make many sacrifices so that the Democratic Army of Greece can win the war. Yes. These are the conditions for their ‘renewal’. Yes. This is the basis…” Zahariadis, once again repeated his thoughts to himself, took a sharp red pencil from the pencil jar and without rushing, began to write between the already written lines, repeating out loud every word he wrote: “∆εν πρεπει να υπαρχει καµια αµφιβολια οτι σαν αποτελεσµα της νικησ του ∆ΣΕ και της λαικης επαναστασης ο µακεδονικος λαος θα βρει την πληρη εθνικη αποκατασταση του ετσι οπως τη θελει ο ιδιος, προσφεροντας σηµερα το αεµα του για να την αποκτησει.” (There should be no doubt that as a result of the Democratic Army of Greece and the People’s Revolution achieving victory, the Macedonian people will fully acquire their national renewal, which they desire. If that is what they want then they must sacrifice their blood today.) “This is good!” he said. And after reading the entire line he underlined the words ‘national renewal’ twice with the same red pencil and loudly asked himself “Will those simple and half literate leaders and activists of NOF even understand the word ‘αποκασταση’ and how will they translate it into their own language; what do the words ‘national renewal’ even mean to the Macedonian (Slavo-Macedonian) people, who in Greece are not recognized as a minority? Our Party recognized them as a national minority and in the course of the armed struggle that minority earned all the rights entitled to it. In the new phase of the armed struggle and Peoples’ Revolution we will give them new hope…”

He paused for a moment and while tapping the papers with his finger he said: “Well, yes. These words, ‘national renewal’, these people need to understand that they mean full national self-determination. The people in Skopje, and through them Tito and our opponents, need to know and understand that these peoples’ national question and self-determination in the spirit of the United Nations resolution, can only be achieved through our struggle and through our revolution. They need to know that this can only be done through the Macedonian peoples’ heroism and contribution in blood. In other words, they will need to fight if they want to be nationally separate in the way they want. Theoretically this is great. We should be able to use this as propaganda against the people in Vardar Macedonia to motivate them to also want to be self-determined, and in that spirit, to seek separation from Yugoslavia. We should be able to motivate them to show solidarity for their brothers who today are suffering. We must convince them to join their struggle and bleed among them. Wanting to separate from Yugoslavia would be the first step towards achieving their aspirations for national unification with their people and for the creation of a single Macedonian state. Yes. Yes, we need to convince them that they will find their best ally in the new democratic Greece if they accept this idea.” He again read the part of the sentence that said “the Macedonian people will fully acquire their national renewal, which they desire”. “And precisely in this, is the key!” happily exclaimed Zahariadis. “If this is how they understand it then their Peoples’ Republic of Macedonia will vanish, disappear, go to the devil. There is no room for a Macedonia in this region. There can be no state with the name Macedonia because this name is a historical legacy, exclusively belonging to the Greeks.” He finished writing on the page and then again spoke out loud: “The Macedonian Communists always stood on the helm of their people’s struggle. This for now is no good. And maybe overall it’s no good. But the Macedonian Communists acted from the ranks and in the name of the Communist Party of Greece. This means that the head of their struggle is the Communist Party of Greece. If they have AFZH and NOF, and we know how these organizations were formed and who their tutors were, then they should also have their own Communist organization which we can easily control. NOF however cannot be completely controlled but let it vegetate and in its own vegetative state its leaders will eat each other alive. We will oppose the Macedonian communists here. Then we will make those in the Communist Party of Macedonia in Skopje think that the Macedonian communists in Greece are truly at the helm of the Macedonian people. Yes, but of course,” he screamed out loud with pleasure “we will form a party organization. A communist organization, their communist organization, of course and it will be directly led by us; by the Communist Party of Greece. They, on the other side of the lake, across the border, have a Communist Party of Macedonia and they here, they here, will also have their own, similar to the Communist Party of Macedonia. If we advocate for their restoration in Greece, then let them have a political vanguard, and let it be a communist organization. Here is the second key that will open the same door: The Communist Organization of Aegean Macedonia. Let the Communist Party of Macedonia across the border fight it out with the Communist Organization of Aegean Macedonia here. In the morning we will find several stupid, half-educated, greedy village-type miners from the Lerin and Kajlari mines to join the Communist Organization of Aegean Macedonia and in the afternoon we will appoint several plowmen, shepherds and cow-herders to undertake the roles of leading it. They will be our puppets whose strings will find their way into these hands,” said Zahariadis spreading his hands open in front of him. Then shaking his fingers he said: “They [Yugoslavs] can have their own Macedonian people and we [Greeks] will have our ‘Slavo-Macedonian’ people…

let them quarrel among themselves, let them fight until they can’t stand each other… Once divided… they will remain divided, at least in this region. Let them be victims of their own doing. Macedonians don’t have the talent or the intelligence to become united. Let them remain the way they are ‘timid and quarreling among themselves, precisely tailor made to be slaves’. To people like that you just throw a bone and watch how they chew, let them make a spectacle of themselves. That is why ruling them is so easy.” Zahariadis felt tired. He spent the entire night sleepless, writing and correcting his presentation for the forthcoming Central Committee Fifth Plenum. This was going to be one of his most important meetings and he wanted his new position on the Macedonian issue presented just right. He sorted his papers by page number, placed them in a brown envelope and with a red pencil wrote “Strictly Confidential” on the top right hand corner of the envelope. Then, with a commanding voice, he called out to the security officer on duty to take the papers and have them typed (two copies). Extending the envelope to the guard he said: “Take it to Central Committee Headquarters immediately and give it to Vlandas personally!” He heard some whispers outside followed by the sound of horse hooves and then there was silence. Then Zahariadis, while rubbing his neck and forehead with his hand, slowly returned to the table. He turned the handle on the field telephone several times and lifted the receiver. There was a long pause. He hung up, put the receiver back and turned the apparatus handle again. While waiting for a response he stared at the fireplace, looking at the flames flicker and fade. Finally he heard a voice on the telephone. At first it sounded like someone was splashing mud in a swamp, then a groggy, hoarse voice came on saying: “Go ahead!” “Dimitri,” called out Zahariadis. It was Vlandas on the other side who immediately recognized Zahariadis’s voice and, as if splashed by cold water, suddenly woke up, quickly got out of bed and, standing barefoot in his underwear, politely said: “Yes, comrade Nikos, yes, I personally… “Dimitri,” interrupted Zahariadis with a stern tone of voice, “do you hear me?” “Yes, comrade Nikos, I hear you well… Please continue…” responded Vlandas. “A while ago I sent you my hand-written manuscript by courier,” said Zahariadis. “Who? Who did you send?” inquired Vlandas. “I said my manuscript. Study it and today at fifteen hundred hours come and see me at my place. Yes! I am here. Upstairs… Bring Bardzotas with you! “Yes… I understand…” confirmed Vlandas as the receiver went quiet. Vlandas waited a while before quietly hanging up the handset. Then as if sitting on pins and needles, Vlandas looked at the clock and cursing the Virgin and Christ, loudly said: “It’s four o’clock in the morning!” Zahariadis bolted the door and checked the windows to make sure they too were shut tight and then collected the papers he had scattered all over the floor. He then broke some kindling and put it in the woodstove. Water was simmering in the teapot. He placed three teaspoons of Georgian tea into his two handled porcelain cup and filled it with hot water. He then took several large gulps and felt warm inside his chest and stomach. After that he sipped his tea slowly, enjoying the moment while unwinding from yesterday’s thoughts, which he had spent all night putting on paper. The warmth coming from the woodstove and the warmth from the strong Georgian tea made Zahariadis sleepy. He turned down the wicks in the kerosene lamps and without undressing lay down and covered himself with his sleeping bag. The Great Lie – Chapter 5