THE ACTIVITY OF THE FIRST MACEDONIAN PARTISAN UNIT OF LERIN DISTRICT - Part 02

Due to the increasingly difficult situation for the partisans, the Politburo of the CPG Central Committee was forced extend a hand to the leadership of the main board of NOF and to reserve a seat for it in the Provisional Democratic Government, DAG General Staff and the Supreme Military Council. In March 1949, important political, party and military positionswere given to the seniorveteran fightersand NOF members, representatives of the Macedonian people of the Aegean part ofMacedonia.The soldierPaskalMitrevskiwasnamed asa government minister, Vangel Kujchev of Banitsa, as a member of the Supreme Military Council and Commander of the People’s Militia, Kitse Kochev of Banitsa as Chief Director of the National Minorities Department, and Todor Kochevski-Viktor of Banitsa was responsible for youth of DAG’s main staff. This was a special honour for our soldiers. In all units, from private to the general staff, there was a new role introduced: assistant political commissar, selected from the ranks of the Macedonians. Mincho Fotev was assistant political commissar at the General Staff, responsible for the Macedonian soldiers in DAG’s units, and Pando Vajen was made commander of the 18th Brigade and later the 18th division. His political commissar was Gjorgi Vasilko. As commander of the 10th division, Lako Popdimitrov was appointed, and the commander of the 103rd Brigade was Ahileja Polijano. Many others, including Atanas Gushevski and Micho Velikin of Banitsa, were political commissars of DAG’s brigades.

Commanders of specific military areas were named: Pando Shiperkov commander of DAG Headquarters for the Vicho area; Dzodzo Urdin, member of the DAG General Staff and commander of the western and central part of Aegean Macedonia. Many Macedonian military officers gave their lives for the freedom of their people.

The Second Congress of NOF

At the First Plenum of the main board of NOF, held in August 1948, NOF’s President and Secretary were both suspended and replaced. There were misunderstandings between NOF and the CPG, accompanied by accusations about the war and the time afterwards. The CPG felt that it was NOF’s fault that the war was lost.

The main board of NOF held the Second Plenum on Vicho, on 3 February 1949. The General Secretary of the CPG, Zahariadis, was present, and said that for participating in the struggle, the Macedonian people would reap their own benefits on national, political, social, cultural and economic grounds. He also proclaimed a People’s Democratic State of the Balkan peoples as an achievement after many years of war. This was also broadcast through the radio station “Free Greece”, and proclamation was met by resistance by the government in Athens. NOF’s main board, in the newspaper “Prost Ti Niki” denied the proclamations of an expansion of a single Macedonian state which would join a third country.

The truth is that the Second Congress of NOF, held towards the end of March 1949, was a military congress for further warfare and the organizing of a democratic society after victory. Over 700 delegates were present from all corners of Aegean Macedonia. CPG Secretary-General Zahariadis was present as well as General Karagiorgis as the representative of the General Staff. In their speeches, both paid high tribute to the Macedonian people for their participation in the struggle. The proclamation from the congress stated: “The Macedonian people, with their struggles and sacrifices, in their achievements have proclaimed their determination to fight for a national and common way of life as they so wish”.

The congress was held in a tense atmosphere amid an unfavourable military position of DAG. During this period, the Communist Organization for Aegean Macedonia, KOEM, was formed, which did not lead to the hoped-for results as it was a weapon in the hands of the CPG. The position of NOF Main Board president, Kitse Kochev was

confirmed, as well as that of the Secretary Vangel Kujchev. Both were from Banitsa, and both remained in their appointments until the end of the war and DAG’s retreat to The People’s Socialist Republic of Albania. They were disbanded there by the leadership of the CPG.

The organization “Ilinden” was later formed amongst the emigrants in Yugoslavia, but only for a short period. The Macedonians who emigrated to eastern European countries were denied their own organizations.

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