10.0 AFTER THE WAR ENDED - Part 05

Στην αναζήτηση ζωικού χώρου για το ελληνικό κράτος, αναγκαίο για την οικονοµική και εθνική επιβίωση του, πρωταρχικός στόχος της εξουσίας στην Αθήνα, αποτελούσε η γη της Μακεδονίας, όχι όµως και ο πληθυσµός της. Στην κατεύθυνση εκείνη, ο εκπρόσωπος του ελληνικού «Μακεδονικού Κοµιτέτου» της Αθήνας, το οποίο βρισκόταν πίσω από το «Μακεδονικό Αγώνα», στην αντιπροσωπεία που κατέφθασε το 1905 στην Αθήνα από τη Μακεδονία και παραπονέθηκε για τη φριχτή συµπεριφορά των ελληνικών αντάρτικων σωµάτων στην περιοχή της Μπίτολα και Λέριν, τους απάντησε: «Εµείς δεν έχουµε ανάγκη τους Μακεδόνες, αλλά έχουµε ανάγκη τη Μακεδονία» (Καραβίτης, 1994:937).

Translated by Stoian Kochov

1. Athens, May 2, 1906. File K 59 V, GAK

In investigating living space in the Greek state, necessary for economic and national survival, the first step of the Athens government was to look at the Macedonian territory, but not at its population. In this regard, a representative of the Greek “Macedonian Committee”, who was supporting the “Macedonian conflict”, arrived in Athens from Macedonia in 1905 with a delegation and complained (to the representatives of the Macedonian Committee in Athens) about the horrific and terrifying acts the Greek Andartes perpetrated in Bitola and Lerin Regions. The Committee’s reply was: “We (Greeks) do not need the Macedonians (people) but we have a great need for Macedonia (its lands). (Karavitis, 1994, 937)

2 The Macedonian conflict 1904 to 1908. (A great deal of effort has been given to the study of this period because of its importance to Greek history).

The city of Kostur was the first place in the region where the liberation struggle for the conquest of Macedonia (1904-1908) began. The first

actions were against the Bulgarian bands and were organized in Kostur by Pavlos Melas.

11.3. “Thirty three years of silence”

“The Greek institutionalized movement was among the first to establish itself in Aegean Macedonia, in traditionally strong areas where Macedonians were inclined to fight. Knowing this, the Greek Communist Party used its opportunity to create a climate of discontent in these regions and then spread the conflict throughout Greece. The communists chose Aegean Macedonia because it bordered Yugoslavia. Unfortunately the way they led the Macedonian people was totally wrong. They had a lot of Macedonian fighters but not many Macedonian leaders and those who were in leadership roles were no higher than unit commanders. On top of that they manipulated the situation and constantly moved Macedonian personnel around. Some were forced to move against their will and were disgraced in the process....” (This is part of a larger interview that can be found in the magazine “Duga”, 1985, p. 30, by D. Golubovich.)

11.4. Zahariadis’s most recent statements

During the CPG Central Committee’s XII Plenum, held on June 25 to 27, 1945, Zahariadis said:

“... We were against border changes since 1939 no matter what kind of forces were used or where they came from. We accept the democratic principle that recognizes the principle of people’s self-determination. This principle applies to the Dodecanese, to Cyprus, to Northern Epirus. At the same time we try to implement another democratic principle, the principle of national minorities and the principle of equality and respect. This principle should be implemented for the Macedonian minority, to regulate in a friendly manner, our relations with the northern Balkan republics...” (See: “Rizospastis”, July 17, 1945.)

Nikos Zachariadis, in the capacity as CPG Central Committee General Secretary and Chairman of the DAG Military Council, while speaking at the 13th Conference in 1950, which dealt with why DAG had lost the war, said: “If I had known much earlier what Tito was going to do, I would have reconsidered whether to take up arms and fight in the Civil War.”

“NOF was created by Tito and Kolishevski. Its founding membership and core leadership was composed of Tito’s agents, the likes of Mitrevski, Keramidzhiev, Gotse, Rakovski and others who worked for the sole purpose of advancing Belgrade’s interests in Aegean Macedonia... They used the Slavo-Macedonian National issue to achieve their nationalistic plans – the merger of Aegean Macedonia to Yugoslavia...” Zahariadis wrote this and it was adopted by the CPG Macedonian Special Council membership (72) then reviewed and accepted by the CPG Central Committee Political Bureau. So the Greeks were well aware of what was happening. See “To KKE 1918-1952”, p. 271, which is also quoted in Pavle Rakovski’s book 2000/347.

* * *

So, if I understood Zahariadis correctly, he said: “If I had been as informed then as I am today, this would not have happened to me.” And, in retrospect, this is how the very same strategist, who led the catastrophic Greek Civil War, described it. This is how he justified his political violence and blunder of historic proportions…

From one lie to another, lie after lie, Zahariadis gave us his assessment of the war. But what does that mean for us Macedonians who were given a one-way ticket out and were permanently exiled from our homeland? If we, the exiled Macedonians, have learned one thing, we have learned that all these ideologies such as Nazism, Fascism and Bolshevism are created by ambitions people who say they are concerned for the welfare of mankind but who in fact care only about their own personal ambitions. For example, Lenin implemented a system which eventually destroyed itself. Power in the hands of one man is always a real source of danger. But there was never a country or a government in the world to speak of, which was as cruel towards its own people as Greece, which abandoned them and left them to their own fate for more than half a century...

11.5 Siberia for “Tito’s Agents”

“Thirty years ago a groups of Macedonians, leaders of the People’s Liberation Front (NOF) from Aegean Macedonia, were accused by the pro-Stalinist Polititburo of the CPG Central Committee of having caused DAG’s defeat during the Greek Civil War of 1946-1949. They were sentenced to death for being accused of being “agents of Tito and Yugoslavia”. By order of Greek CPG General Secretary Zahariadis and his group, they were investigated, found guilty and deported to the Soviet Union. They were given death sentences in Moscow and sent to serve them in Siberia. Then, after Stalin’s death, their case was re-examined and they were found that they were wrongly convicted and were allowed to return to Yugoslavia, to Skopje where they are living today”. For more information on the above see Dragan Kliakich’s “Duga”, published January 15, 1983.

The first we heard of this evil done to Macedonians, specifically the leaders of NOF and AFZH was from a non Macedonian but later, people such as Pavle Rakovski and Vera Foteva, wrote about it in their own biographies. Pavle Rakovski’s book is called “Moite stradania” published by AEA publishers, Skopje 2000. Vera Foteva’s book is called “Do pekolot i nazad”, published by “Az-Buki”, Skopje, 2005. Vera’s book has also been translated from Macedonian to English by Risto Stefov and is available in electronic format by request at rstefov@hotmail.com.

What tormented me most during my research was that I could find no official voice of protest from anywhere that said: “Hey, you, over there in Moscow! Who gave you the right to judge these Macedonian revolutionaries about what they did in their own country? What did they ever do to Russia to deserve a death sentence, a harsh punishment of slowly and painfully dieing in Siberia?!” But I found no voice of protest anywhere not even from a single Macedonian! Is this because we were/are totally ignorant of what happened to us or do we simply not care? In either case what does this tell us about us and about our history? How can we expect to know anything about our past when we make absolutely no effort to learn our true history? It is not too late to point these things out to Russia and seek an apology! Even if we don’t expect to get one!

What Zahariadis did to our Macedonian revolutionaries and leaders of NOF and AFZH was indeed incredible but then we are we not surprised! Greeks have always treated Macedonians in this manner! Zahariadis used these people first to bolster his ideological struggle and then when he no longer needed them he not only cast them in the ideological waste basked but on top of that, he blamed them for his own mistakes and incompetence. But the unbelievable surprise about this story was Russia’s attitude towards them; especially since they had nothing to do with Russia! Scary, isn’t it? Devastating to the human psyche of those who were recipients of this evil!

This, unfortunate as it may be, did happen to us! We, or should I say, strangers and foreigners found our weaknesses and got us involved in this global chaotic struggle and convinced us to fight in a confusing and brutal war, so the question is, how do we Macedonians understand and interpret all this?

Let us examine and attempt to understand what they experienced;

For more information see Petre Andreevski’s novel “Nebeska Timianovavna”, 1989, p. 297

“Tavarish Khrushchev! Tavarish Khrushchev! We kept yelling out. Our voices echoed from the dome in the back of the theater. Khrushchev turned, took a step forward over a carved stone and saw two women struggle with his security police. “Let the women go” he said. The police officers turned away, I recomposed myself and hit the officer who was holding me. I hit him in the stomach. He let go of me.

We went to Khrushchev, but we were out of breath and after taking a few long breaths we stopped in front of him like statues: our hair and faces were a mess. We attempted to catch our breath as we both spoke at the same time and made no sense.”

How and why did the NOF and AFZH leaders abandon their centuries-old yearning for their homeland?

“Tavarish Khrushchev, I said to him, we are Communists from Yugoslavia, we are revolutionaries and fighters from 1941 from Greek Macedonia. We were arrested and rehabilitated, I said to him, we have visas from Yugoslavia but we don’t have a visa from you. We said we can’t go back as we continued to attempt to catch our breath. We were very nervous, I could feel my veins pulsing, I felt faint…

Uspokoites, uspkoites said Nikita Sergeyevich, as light glistened of his bold sweaty head. Vsio budet harasho. Olivera ... placed a letter in his hand!”

Thus ended the revolutionary activities of our people who were sent through Siberia to Katatrza. The question is: Knowing very well that they were all Macedonians from Greek occupied Macedonia, why did they tell Tavarish Khrushchev that they were “Yugoslav communists??!” Even after what happened to them and after they were found not guilty, why did they give up their national interests for which they fought so hard for? They were accused of being “Yugoslav spies” and “Tito’s agents” when in fact they were later acquitted of those acts, yet they publicly proclaimed to the world that they were “Yugoslav communists”?! Something does not add-up here!

It is only fair to acknowledge that the NOF and AFZH leaderships bears some historical responsibility for their involvement and for convincing the Macedonian people to fight in the Greek Civil War. If they were guilty of anything, it was what they unwittingly did to their own people, which had nothing to do with Russia. They should have been the ones to realize that the Macedonian people were Manipulated and made into willing victims.

12.0 The road of battles across alien communist ideologies

The fatal path we Macedonians, from Greek occupied Macedonia, took was a result of being led by the Left forces, in whose hands we entrusted our lives from 1924 to 1950.

Είναι γνωστό ότι µε βάση τις κοµµουνιστικές αντιλήψεις, η αναγνώριση της ύπαρξης ενός συγκεκριµένου έθνους ισοδυναµεί στην πράξη µε την αναγνώριση του δικαιώµατος αυτοδιάθεσης του έθνους αυτού.

It is accepted that on the basis of communist knowledge and understanding, there is recognition of a particular nationality which exists in practice, and with that recognition in the first place there can be self-determination for this nationality. (Document from the CPG archives)

Στη βάση αυτή, το ΚΚΕ (3ο Έκτακτο Συνέδριο [26/11 - 3/12/1924] ), υιοθέτησε τη σχετική απόφαση του 5ου Συνεδρίου της Κοµµουνιστικής ∆ιεθνούς (Μόσχα, 17/6 – 8/7/1924) και µιλούσε [το ΚΚΕ] για καταπιεζόµενες [από την Ελλάδα] εθνικές µειονότητες και για “ανεξάρτητη Μακεδονία και Θράκη” !!

On the basis of this, the CPG (3rd Extraordinary Congress (26/11- 3/12, 1924) adopted a resolution during the 5th Communist International Congress (Moscow, 17/6 - 8/7, 1925) and debated (CPG) about the acknowledgement (in Greece) of minorities and an “Independent Macedonia and Thrace”!!

Τον ∆εκέµβριο του 1935 (6ο Συνέδριο), το ΚΚΕ επικύρωσε την απόφαση της ηγεσίας του [Απρίλιος 1935] για ‘αντικατάσταση’ (καιροσκοπική, ωστόσο, προσωρινού χαρακτήρα και µηδέποτε ουσιαστικώς εφαρµοσθείσα!…) του παραπάνω συνθήµατος µε το σύνθηµα “πλέρια ισοτιµία στις µειονότητες”….

In December 1935 (6th Congress) the CPG top leadership confirmed the adopted resolution (April 1935) with a “change” (making it temporary and as such it was never actually realized!) to the above slogan: “Full equality for minorities…”

Σε συνέντευξή του στην Αγγλίδα δηµοσιογράφο Elisabeth Barker το 1946, ο Ζαχαριάδης είχε δηλώσει: “… τα ζητήµατα των συνόρων του Βορρά έπρεπε να διευθετηθούν µε βάση την αυτοδιάθεση…”

In an interview he gave to the English journalist Elizabeth Barker in 1946, Zahariadis said: “… the questions about northern borders should be regulated based on the self-division of the population”.

Είναι σχεδόν βέβαιο πλέον ότι χωρίς την αποφασιστική (καθοριστικής σηµασίας) στήριξή του από τη Γιουγκοσλαβία, το ΚΚΕ δεν θα τολµούσε τότε να εξωθήσει τα πράγµατα ως την εµφύλια ρήξη.

There is no doubt that without getting a definite decision and support from Yugoslavia, the CPG would not have dared ask the questions and started the civil conflict.

Εξίσου βέβαιο φαίνεται ότι ο Τίτο δεν θα είχε παράσχει την στήριξη αυτή, αν προηγουµένως ο Ζαχαριάδης δεν είχε δηλώσει ρητά στο Βελιγράδι ότι το ΚΚΕ είναι σαφώς υπέρ της αυτοδιάθεσης των Σλαβοµακεδόνων, η οποία βεβαίως εξυπηρετούσε απολύτως τη µακροπρόθεσµη γιουγκοσλαβική πολιτική στο “Μακεδονικό”, δηλαδή την απόσχιση της [ελληνικής] “Μακεδονίας του Αιγαίου” και τη συνένωσή της µε τη γιουγκοσλαβική Μακεδονία…

It is also clear that Tito would not have had motive for support, if not for this motto, if Zahariadis had not stated clearly and categorically to Belgrade that the CPG was quite clear on its position regarding the self-determination of the Slavo-Macedonians and that statement undoubtedly served to further promote Yugoslav politics in terms of the “Macedonian Question”, which meant (Greek) consent for the “Macedonians from Aegean Macedonia” to unite with Yugoslav Macedonia.

Κι αν επιπλέον ληφθεί υπόψιν ότι οι Σλαβοµακεδόνες αποτελούσαν µέχρι και τα 3/5 [14.000 στις 25.000!!] του ∆ΣΕ (αρχές 1949), είναι πολύ δύσκολο να µην οδηγηθεί κανείς στο συµπέρασµα ότι άξονας και καταλύτης του Εµφυλίου υπήρξε η αξιοποίηση (εκµετάλλευση;) από το ΚΚΕ του πόθου των Σλαβοµακεδόνων για την ‘εθνική αποκατάστασή’ τους.

And if you take into consideration that the Slavo-Macedonians represented somewhere around 3/5 (14,000 to 25,000) of DAG (early 1949), it is very difficult for someone not to come to the conclusion that the motive was to destroy them, the CPG made profound use of them during the Civil War, but the wishes of the Slavo-Macedonians always remained constant; “Independent Macedonia and national establishment”.

Μετά τη ρήξη Τίτο – Στάλιν και τη ‘σύνταξη’ του ΚΚΕ µε τον δεύτερο, η 5η Ολοµέλεια (Αλβανία, 30 – 31 Ιανουαρίου 1949) υποσχόταν, ως γνωστόν, στους Σλαβοµακεδόνες “πλήρη εθνική αποκατάσταση”· όχι, πλέον, στην αγκαλιά του Τίτο και της διευρυµένης “Μακεδονίας” του, αλλά αυτή τη φορά στα πλαίσια µιας [βουλγαρικής και πάλι εµπνεύσεως] ανεξάρτητης Μακεδονίας που θα συµπεριελάµβανε και τα 3 τµήµατα (ελληνικό, γιουγκοσλαβικό, βουλγαρικό) της Μακεδονίας, µιας κατασκευής σαφώς αντι -Τιτικής.

After the Tito-Stalin collision, the CPG “reaction” to Stalin, and the 5th Plenum (Albania, January 30 to 31, 1949), the promise, as was known to the Slavo-Macedonians for “complete national establishment”, was no longer in the arms of Tito and neither was the “unification with the People’s Republic of Macedonia”, but this time it was for (Bulgaria with inspiration) a single Macedonia, which would contain the 3 parts (Greek, Yugoslav, Bulgarian) of Macedonia, a new and definitely anti-Tito construction.