THEY MANIPULATED US AND WE IMPLEMENTED THEIR IDEAS

THEY MANIPULATED US AND WE IMPLEMENTED THEIR IDEAS

Here is an example of manipulation: In 1942 with the same goals as always, as was decided in the joint meeting between the CPG Central Committee and EAM, a proclamation was made before the citizens of Greece and before the former officers of the Greek army, well-known for being part of the bourgeois class, that we, the Macedonian people, as far as they were concerned were always just “Slavophones”. In other words, as far as they were concerned, we the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia were just “Greeks who spoke a Slavic idiom” and nothing more!

A few days before the New Year in 1945, the Second ASNOM Extraordinary Assembly was held in Skopje, which was NOT attended by the “great” Josip Broz Tito. Tito had asked the Slovene Edvard Kardeli – Bevets, to go on his behalf. Fascinated by the greatness of his guest, Kolishevski listened humbly as Kardeli, without missing a beat, kept telling him “nasty” things, included among which were Kardeli’s concerns about Macedonia. Kardeli said to Kolishevski: “The war is reaching its end and with it the day when everyone must submit an account of what they did. Macedonia has five big minuses against it; Macedonia was the last state to enter

the war; Macedonia did not suffer much as a result of it; Macedonia has very little destruction; Macedonia has low casualties from it; and Macedonia did not take part in Yugoslavia’s liberation.

Kolishevski looked at Kardeli and asked him for advice as to what to do to turn those minuses into plusses. Kardeli coolly looked at him and said: “You cannot correct the first three things but you can do something about the last two. I suggest you get OZNA (Military Police) to immediately start arresting and executing people, and you must send a large unit to fight at the Srem Front”.

POLITICAL IDENTITY OF THE MACEDONIAN PEOPLE IN GREEK OCCUPIED MACEDONIA

Were the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia sacrificed for the sake of a “revolution” or because of some “perpetrated fraud”? Was the Greek Civil War, which lasted from 1945 to 1949, a “spontaneous” or a “planned war” to exile the Macedonians from their indigenous homes and send them wandering throughout the world in silence since the Balkan Pact of 1953?

DISGUISED HISTORY FOR THE MACEDONIAN PEOPLE IN GREEK OCCUPIED MACEDONIA

It is the responsibility of historians to find out and report on those who activated the “Macedonian syndrome” in the years 1945 to 1949 and on those who were responsible for the (self) sacrifices made by the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia!

In the brief analysis that follows we will argue and try to elaborate on the complex historical issues that faced the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia and how they were pushed into a dangerous situation. Hopefully we will learn something from our history...

Because in the end we, the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia, bore the full brunt of this conflict with a large number of casualties, heavy destruction of property and invested a great deal of effort that went to waste. We suffered the most during the war

and instead of achieving what we were promised, initially a re-united Macedonia, then human rights in Greek occupied Macedonia, we were driven out of our homes with no hope of ever returning. Initially we suffered in many of the Greek prisons and dry island concentration camps and later in the concentrations camps created and built by the Third Reich all across Eastern Europe.

It is our intention to find out who did this to us, who activated the “Macedonian syndrome” and, if possible, find out how we fell into this trap; how did we get pushed into a war that nearly destroyed us; a war that left over 20,000 dead, over 80 villages burned to the ground and more than 170,000 Macedonians permanently exiled from their ancestral homes.

There are some things that we seem to have forgotten. We seem to have forgotten that in the period 1940 to 1949, a remote and backwards place like Greek occupied Macedonia, beaten to the ground for many years, had been turned into a scene of wild nationalistic propaganda. This propaganda, however, was not locally generated and in fact there was no local Macedonian factor involved in it. This propaganda was imported with aims at lifting the beaten, degraded and tormented souls of the Macedonian people. Obviously, as it turned out, it was not done for the benefit of the Macedonian people but for some other foreign interests.

Unfortunately the “Macedonian syndrome” kicked in and the Macedonian people’s hopes were again activated with disastrous consequences.

Here is what Yugoslav Ambassador Milikovich had to say when Tito sent him to Greece: “When President Tito briefed me before my trip to Greece, to serve as ambassador, he gave me some guidelines about the ‘Macedonian Question’. The essence of what he said mostly boiled down to the fact that no such discussion should take place with Greece, especially regarding the Macedonian minority in Greece, because our views on this matter are completely different from theirs. We expended great effort to build friendly relations with Greece, which was not easy after the Greek Civil War in this country, a war in which we participated.” (See: article in “N.M.”, February 8, 1994, by M. Miljkovic, Ambassador to Greece.)

But, as can be seen from the above quote, the Macedonian people were not the only “guilty party” in this dreaded horrid war, yet they were the only ones to be severely punished! In fact, from the way the quote reads, we were not only sold out by Yugoslavia, it seems that some people could not wait to create “good relations” and make gains from our loss!

1.1 WHO WERE THOSE ALLIES OF OURS?

The EAM (National Liberation Front) was formed on September 27, 1941 and included: the Communist Party of Greece, the Agricultural Party, the National Socialist - Democratic Party, the General Workers Federation, the General Federation of State Officials, the National Solidarity Organization and representatives of the political, scientific and cultural life in Greece. The EAM was later joined by the more advanced part of the Liberal Party. From this overview we can once again see that we the Macedonians were not included, definitely not as allies. This is because, they say, until then we had made our choice to join existing Greek political parties as voluntary members and as citizens of Greece, without any Macedonian markings.

The EAM program consisted of the following:

A) 1. Expulsion of the German, Italian and Bulgarian occupiers;

2. Establishing the integrity of Greece;

3. Self-determination of Cyprus, the Dodecanese and Northern Epirus. (And where are we the Macedonians?); and

4. Strategic regulation of the Greek northern borders.

See the newspaper “Mahitis”, organ of the ELAS Committee since February 10, 1944, which in its commentary wrote: EAM is a national question. Even at this time we still don’t know where in the EAM program there is anything, absolutely anything envisioned about us?

B) The ELAS (Greek National Liberation Army) organization was formed in Rumeli, as a Partisan detachment, on May 15, 1942 with the same goals as EAM as was decided at a meeting by the joint CPG Central Committee and by EAM.

The proclamation was addressed to the citizens of Greece and to the former officers of the Greek army. We Macedonians were not mentioned, other than being called “Slavophone” Greeks... and nothing more. There is also the undeniable fact, and those who were in ELAS know this, that we all took an oath, Macedonians included, to liberate our homeland “Greece” and to protect the interests of the “Greek people”... Where are the interests of the Macedonian people in all this?

Let us also remind you that ELAS signed an agreement to subordinate itself to the English of Middle East command. The same “English” who wanted the Macedonians removed from Greece at any cost! It is ironic that the Macedonians were good enough to fight for the English but not good enough to be left alone to live in their own ancestral homes.

Germany launched an attack against Yugoslavia and Greece on April 6, 1941, after which time the Fascists became the new masters of the region. As mentioned earlier, EAM was formed on September 27, 1941 in response to the new regime’s taking power and called for the entire Greek population to resist fascism. In a joint meeting the CPG Central Committee then called for organizing a resistance army. This new Greek Army, appropriately called ELAS, was created on February 15, 1942 with the appearance of its first ELAS military units. The first detachment of ELAS formed in Greek occupied Macedonia was in Kostur on December 7, 1942 and it consisted of 10 Macedonians, 7 Greeks and 2 Vlachs.

Here is the ELAS oath that everyone who joined ELAS had to take: “I swear that I will fight to the last drop of my blood for the complete liberation, stability and independence of Greece. I will fight to preserve the integrity of the Greek people and the establishment of order and basic human rights. For this purpose I will strive to fulfill the orders of PEEA (Political Committee of National Liberation of Greece) by performing due diligence and

demonstrating discipline. I will follow orders and instructions from my superiors and I will avoid every process that may turn me into a traitor against the Greek people.”

Just before command of ELAS was passed on to Middle East Command, headed by the English, ELAS numbered about 70,000.

On July 16, 1943 ELAS Commander Sarafis and English Mission Military Chief Colonel Edie Mayers signed a joint declaration by which ELAS was recognized as an army and was subordinated to Middle East Command.

Given that out of the 70,000 ELAS fighters, 40,000 were Macedonians, did anyone consult with them that “this” was what they wanted to do? It was a huge army and, by rights, it should have had its own military leadership and military General Headquarters. But did it? Will our history be able to point out the names of any of the senior Macedonian officers serving in that army? I don’t think so, because those in control of the army did not want Macedonians in leading positions! Why?

Let us see how events developed: On October 31, 1944 a large group of English soldiers in armoured vehicles entered Solun before ELAS did. Why? Three days later the BBC in London announced that British troops had liberated Solun.

On February 12, 1945 the Varkiza Agreement was signed by the CPG and EAM, on one hand, and by the Plastiras government and British General Scobey on the other. With this agreement EAM and ELAS practically handed power to the right. This also meant that Greece would not be a socialist country. So, what were the communists fighting for?

This treachery was an obvious result of what ELAS, EAM and the CPG had done but then how did the CPG justify it? CPG Central Committee, in a resolution on November 15, 1948, said: “Markos Vafiadis, as the Commissar of a group of ELAS divisions in Macedonia, led a chauvinistic policy against the Slavo-Macedonian fighters!” (See: Sp. “Neos Kosmos”, August 1950, “Ten years of struggle”, p. 470.) In other words, it was blamed on Markos. But

why was this said so much later? Why was this said when Markos had already been removed from command and when the Macedonian people were already engaged in the Greek Civil War?

The First Socialist Congress in Greece took place in November 1918, during which it was decided to create the Socialist Worker’s Party of Greece. In 1920 this Party became a member of the Third International United Communist Party known as the Comintern, which was formed in 1919. In 1923 the Socialist Worker’s Party of Greece became the Communist Party of Greece or CPG.

In regards to the “Macedonian Question”, CPG policies went through five distinctive periods:

1 – Formation of the CPG (1918-1924);

2 – Support of a United and Independent Macedonia (1924-1935);

3 – Macedonian equal rights with the Greeks within Greece (1935-1949); (This was the period of time when the Macedonian people were being prepared for their (self) sacrifice drama.)

As it is well known, the CPG’s official position about a “United and independent Macedonia” was changed during its 6th Party Congress in December 1935. From that point on the CPG was not prepared to support a “United and independent Macedonia” but was willing to support full equality of all minorities. This, and the dissolution of the organization VMRO (United), for us Macedonians, was yet another heavy blow since Macedonia’s partition in 1913.

In 1935, all actions for establishing and developing Macedonian national identity attributes, which until then were not controversial, were extinguished. All that was common between the divided Macedonians had suddenly collapsed and came to a complete halt. Any kind of ties between Macedonian political organizations that had common goals, one by one disintegrated and the Macedonian political forces were pushed to join the democratic forces and parties in each State and to accept their political programs. Instead of forming our own Macedonian state, we the Macedonians were now reduced to nothing more than minorities in our own country… and

without rights. By doing this a new open process was created for us, forcing us to look towards the influences of the CPB (Communist Party of Bulgaria), the CPY and the CPG.

Unfortunately, during its 6th Plenum on July 1, 1941 the CPG Central Committee abandoned the Macedonians when it admitted that, for the sake of “national unity”, the “Macedonian Question” did not exist for Greece. This was one of the requirements for the CPG joining the Papandreou “national unity” program. (See: Dragan Kliakich, “General Markos”. Edition, Globus, Zagreb, 1979, p. 75.)

During the Greek Civil War, according to official documents, the CPG not only led the Macedonians but also referred to them as “Slavo-Macedonians”. More on this later.

4. Full equality was granted to the “Slavo-Macedonians” on June 20, 1949 just before DAG (Democratic Army of Greece) was liquidated. Final extermination of the Macedonian people; “Fight for your lives or die!”

5. Full equality was extended for the “Slavo-Macedonians” in October 1949. This was the period when people started returning to their homes.

Nearly all Greek officers, who had returned after the Greek Civil War, were promoted by the Greek government to three ranks higher than those who suffered during World War II. There were no Macedonian officers but those Macedonians who did try to return were told that “only Greeks by birth can return” and that “there is no place in Greece for the likes of you…” Yes, the CPG did grant the Macedonians rights; the right to be ethnically cleansed and exiled from their homes…”

What is more interesting about all this is how it was assessed by our historiographers. Specifically, let us have a look at the overall assessment of CPG activities in the period from 1940 to 1944, as conducted by distinguished author Hristo Andonovski in his book: “The Macedonians under Greece’s struggle against fascism”. On p. 218 Andonovski wrote:

“… First of all, in the very CPG leadership itself, not to speak of the mass membership, nationalist and chauvinist motives and attitudes still vegetated. Second, never in the past did the CPG seriously study the Macedonian National Question, but only to mobilize the Macedonian people to its side…” Further on he wrote: “... The almighty CPG leadership flirted with the civil bourgeois parties in Greece at every opportunity and by all means sought “national unity” with them and finally the whole resistance movement was subordinated to British interests in the Mediterranean.”

Here is Dr. Vanche Stoichev’s evaluation: In “Nova Makedonija” on August 16, 1994, he wrote: “A specific retrograde evolution was being performed in the CPG. From the first essential recognition of the Macedonian nation the CPG evolved backwards. Namely, the CPG categorically refused not only to recognize the Macedonian nation, but forced on it a Slavic origin by calling the Macedonian people ‘Slavophone Greeks’.

Another factor that had particularly serious consequences for the all-Macedonian resistance movement was the famous Comintern thesis ‘One state – one Party’. Over time, especially after the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, this thesis was put into practice, which placed the all-Macedonian people’s liberation struggle into peril. In its application the division of the Macedonian territory was recognized; the division and segregation of the Macedonian struggle and revolutionary movement was legalized; a legal means was created for the annexation of Macedonian territory and appropriation of the revolutionary struggle; it permanently prevented the existence and development of an all-Macedonian Liberation Organization, or the creation of a single Macedonian National Liberation struggle; assumptions were created under which a call for creating a common all-Macedonian Front, or a call for a common Macedonian struggle, would be illegal and those calling for it would be treated as criminals and charged with treachery and secessionism. This naturally de-emphasized general Macedonian national aspirations and emphasized the legal realities of the occupying states that occupied and established power on Macedonian territory. And as such the Macedonian national movement was deflated by giving it a separatist character. All three communist parties, CPY, CPG, and CPB enlisted Macedonian communist cadres with caution and

reserve, placing them in low ranking positions and always obliging them to prove their loyalty.”

Well, these were our “allies”… The essence of these problems can be summarized by asking a few questions. But the questions must be clear in order to avoid misunderstandings and these problems must be adequately explained.

1.2 Communists – the Macedonians in the CPG (Party members)

It was obvious that many Macedonians were torn between their national conscience and the binding political guidelines which were under the strong control of EAM, ELAS and the CPG. Macedonian membership in EAM and the CPG and Macedonian participation in ELAS meant that we had accepted the proclaimed Comintern goals and programs, which the CPG fully supported. This meant that we had accepted: “Full equality as minorities with the other citizens in the Greek state”, conditions valid from 1935 to 1949. Anyone from the CPG, CPY and CPB who had attended Party school in Moscow, in the years before World War II, could confirm this. These very same people agitated for the three parts of Macedonia (Vardar, Aegean and Pirin). They strictly adhered to these Comintern conditions, which were adopted in 1935 during the 7th Congress, under the thesis “one state - one party”. In the beginning of the war this was a major obstacle for the realization of an all-Macedonian unifying program. This was done after the ethnic changes in Macedonia, about which the communists gave us assurances that the “exchange of populations” was a “civilized act”. Unfortunately their ultimate goal was that we the Macedonians pay the full price.

They led us and we obediently followed believing that their intentions were clear and noble, and that we had a true partnership, and that we were not a “cat in the bag”. We must, of course, argue that there were Macedonians who thought differently. Besides that there was also the fact that up until October 1943, we Macedonians conclusively fought for delivering EAM, ELAS and CPG programs and objectives.

What is unclear here, and this question needs to be asked, is: “Did the Macedonian communists, members of the CPG, fight for a

United and Independent Macedonia? And could they have done that if they did?

If the basic principles on which nations – states are based, such as territorial, national, historical and cultural backgrounds, ethnic, linguistic, and ultimately economic principles, then the Macedonian communists, as members of CPG, who practically accepted CPG programs, renounced their own principles of territory and state. This, of course, was imposed on them by the CPG because the CPG fought exclusively for the territorial and national sovereignty of the Greek state. This meant that all the sacrifices we made were made for a very small concession offered by the CPG programs. This was especially true after May 15, 1943 when, in Moscow as per Stalin’s initiative, a decision was made to dissolve Communist International (Comintern) control over parties and formally recognize the right of every Communist Party to resolve its own issues. See: “History of the Macedonian people”, Skopje, 1988, page 345.

“The special political success of the national liberation struggle in Aegean Macedonia was a creation of the Slavo - Macedonian National Liberation Front SNOF in Kostur, formed on October 20, 1943, and disbanded in April 1944. This decision, made by the CPG, was made on the grounds that the Organization had a “harmful” effect on the enlargement of Greek masses in the ranks of EAM. But the real reason for disbanding SNOF was the May 20, 1944 forthcoming Lebanon Agreement between the Greek government in exile and representatives of the CPG and EAM for the formation of the so-called “Government of national unity of the Greek people”. Furthermore, according to our history: “The creation of SNOF was the first step in highlighting the Macedonian Question in the territory of Greece during the war period - or during the wake of the uprising.” See: “History of the Macedonian people”, Skopje, 1988, page 345.

In addition to other Macedonians who thought differently and did not believe the Greeks, there are two major pieces of evidence which follow, which will explain the Macedonian situation and how little of a political factor the Macedonians were amongst the Greek communists.

The high CPG authorities were well informed about the Macedonian Question and were well aware that it could not be resolved at a regional level. Attempting to resolve it at that level was meaningless. Yet this is how it was approached. Why? This was the CPG’s way of telling the Macedonian people that they were working on it in order to “manipulate” them, particularly the ordinary Macedonian regional secretaries who worked for them. This also reaffirms the fact that, all throughout 1943, the CPG was very careful about choosing the Macedonian communist cadres who acted in the regions on its behalf. All were given low level responsibilities and were always obliging them to prove their loyalty to the CPG.

The following two pieces of evidence, letters signed by Lazo Dimovski - Oshenski and Naum Peiov, contain details of the essence of the unprincipled policies carried out by the Kostur Region communists. These letters and historical documents are a record of the initial Macedonian reaction to the communists.

THESIS – A MACEDONIAN NATIONAL PLATFORM – DOES IT REALLY EXIST OR NOT!?

Let us have a closer look at what the following letters from Lazo Oshenski, Naum Peiov and A. Litovski are telling us…

Before SNOF was dissolved, the CPG bureau party apparatus in Greek occupied Macedonia was regionalized and placed under Western Macedonia, i.e. Kostur - Prespa Regions. Lazo Dimovski – Oshenski, in his letter, dated January 24, 1944, addresses the CPG Bureau in Western Macedonia and, among other things, said: “There are certain questions that are appearing among the Slavo-Macedonian element which the Regional Committee cannot answer.”

Obviously, the Regional Committee was not fully informed on how to deal with all questions and as such answers had to come from the top Greek leadership… There were no Macedonian leaders at the top of the CPG leadership. In other words, Greeks made decisions regarding issues that strictly concerned Macedonians. This means that politically appropriate answers had to be found that were not

only in line with CPG and other Greek policies but attractive enough to maintain the illusion that the CPG truly cared about the Macedonian people. If the Party did not find the “right” answers then there was the danger that the “Slavo-Macedonian” people could become disillusioned and go astray… even join the freedom fighting rebels in Kostur… the ones the CPG wanted to destroy so badly. This means that the CPG wanted “blind obedience” from the Macedonian people, giving the impression that the CPG truly cared and knew far better what was good for them than they knew themselves.

The first phase of the “Slavo-Macedonian” element participating in the “rebel camp” needs to be closely investigated, because it was a dynamic expression of the “Slavo-Macedonian” element which, under the influence of Greek propaganda, was “declared” to be Bulgarian. This assessment of our historiography, contrary to previous ones, is really about the respect it deserves in order to clarify and prove that; there is a high probability that long-standing Greek propaganda actually pushed our people by force, in critical moments, to declare themselves Bulgarian. Of course they did so because there was no Macedonian influence, and thus Oshenski’s efforts were focused in that direction.

Further on Oshenski said: “It did not matter which ‘Slavo-Macedonian’ exhibited the slightest interest in the history of our struggles and needed to understand the ‘Slavo-Macedonian’ people, he or she was immediately baptized Bulgarian or Bulgarophile, or an autonomist by the leadership and was isolated. And if someone had the audacity to ask why, they were told to: Be quiet or the leadership will crack down on you and you will never know the history of the ‘Slavo-Macedonians’ and that it is not a requirement for them to know any of this.” Our people were told that not even the “lower leadership” had such knowledge. But, in spite of our people being pushed to think that they were Bulgarians, many had realized that it was not their place to be “Bulgarians” and many united under SNOF. But even if SNOF had failed to meet their desires, they would have taken another direction until they found satisfaction. We should also know that most of the 1903 revolutionary insurgency core was from Koreshtata of D’mbeni, where today there is still clear Macedonian awareness. Proof of this is Trpovski, a communist

himself, who was liquidated by the Communist Party because he was Macedonian and opposed the Party Line. (See: “Aegean Macedonia in NOB 1944-1945” Volume I, p.17.)

Following is a letter from Naum Peiov addressed to Georgios Gianoulis, Commander of the Vicho ELAS units. This letter was sent on May 31, 1944 after SNOF was dissolved and after a group of Macedonian soldiers, in protest, along with a group of Macedonian organizers and SNOF activists who, in the first half of May 1944, left Greek occupied Macedonia and crossed over to Karaorman Mountain, located in today’s Republic of Macedonia. This letter was a bit more critical and, in a more organized manner, clearly identified unprincipled communist actions carried out by ELAS and by EAM regarding the “unrealized” Macedonian national platform. Peiov, in part, wrote: “... The people in our district did not want to join the revolution but were rather subdued by the ELAS armed force and by the influence of its political leaders.”

Further on he exposed his own attitude when he wrote: “In order for a people to rise up in a revolution they need to find fulfillment in their own goals, ideals and interests. They need to have their own national wishes and desires for liberation met. This is in accordance with the principles of the people - the liberation movements and in accordance with the Atlantic Charter, that every nation will fight within the old boundaries and for the extermination of the occupier, and that every nation has the right to self-determination. So, the position that our people will live within Greece, is perhaps temporary because the ‘Slavo-Macedonian’ people will decide their own fate.”

He then went on to say: “In order for our people to fight as a separate nation or minority within Greece, they need to be represented by our own body, by our own organizations. And then SNOF appeared like a shadow on the horizon, I say like a shadow because that’s how it appeared to our people, like a trap. It located itself only in villages where no EAM organization existed and covered all the villages in our area. I suggest that all the “Slavo-Macedonian” people living in the enslaved Greek state organize themselves in SNOF. Set up a central leadership specifically in all of Western Macedonia, which then would be directly managed by an

EAM Macedonian Bureau. The military, as a natural result of the political organization, is to be organized into separate units, with its own headquarters, which will be managed directly from ELAS.

The District Party Organization Secretary did not want to hear any of this, perhaps because the Secretary could not grasp its significance as a political necessity.

The EAM line, which is also the CPG’s line, cannot satisfy the ‘Slavo-Macedonian’ people. Our nation is a nation with a history, not a minority but a nation, it is an ethnological, historical and economic unit… and much more… which has found itself under the boots of imperialism, and naturally the people want to fight for the creation of a free Macedonia...” (See: “Aegean Macedonia in NOB 1944-1945” Volume I, p.131.)

This letter is of historical significance and represents a relevant argument which explicitly points out the CPG’s negative attitude towards the Macedonian Question. The question that arises from this, however, is: “How could the strategists of NOF and the CPM/CPY ignore these arguments and commit the Macedonian people to the so-called ‘brotherhood and unity’ idea, no doubt concocted by the Greeks, and put them under CPG control? Do we need to run away from the truth that NOF, by this act, did exactly what SNOF had done earlier, erase itself as a political entity in Greece?”

“Macedonian national liberation platform in the Aegean part of Macedonia, January – 1944”, by Dr. Aleksandar Litovski, Skopje, 2008. On page 233 Dr. Litovski wrote: “... the treatment of the Macedonian National Question in the Aegean part of Macedonia, the institutionalization of the Macedonian liberation movement in the Aegean part of Macedonia… were done through SNOF.” On page 236 he wrote: “In fact, when considering the political -propaganda activities of SNOF, it can clearly be seen that two dominant strands of action exist. First, an action aimed at attracting the Macedonian population in EAM and the CPG, and second, an action towards strengthening a separate Macedonian national identity in the Aegean part of Macedonia.”

The old people used to say: “Thoughts that don’t take reality into account are easy thoughts to think.”

And as I have said before, unfortunately Dr. Litovski, even though he is Macedonian, had no clue that the words “Slavo-Macedonian” in SNOF were “a tribal attribute”.

This is how “our people” assessed the situation about those days and that’s how it was completed. All those who left ELAS were declared traitors and held responsible for the “split” between the Macedonians and the Greeks. Their families were then harassed and persecuted by none other than their own comrades, the ELAS fighters, EAM members and communists in general. This was the face and character of the communists in those days. There was nothing more sublime than a “title” for a communist…

Not everyone can respond to the difficulties and to the storms that followed the members of such a Party. Children of the working-class, children of the future, go and fight, children of the unwavering and of the enduring and capable of heroic actions… well, only they can be members of the Party. Just have a look at what it says on the back of the Party membership card...

Here are the words of yet another, a more serious historiographer (See: “Nova Makedonija”, August 20, 1994.)

“In mid-1944, the Macedonian communist situation in Aegean Macedonia became unbearable. Greek communists, directed by English intelligence, took numerous measures to suppress the Macedonian People’s movement:

They banned new fighters from joining the Macedonian brigades under the pretext that this army was uncertain;

They dissolved the Macedonian national - Liberation Front in Greece;

They banned all propaganda in the Macedonian language in Greece;

They banned all posters that displayed the right to self-determination for the Macedonians;

They ordered the established Macedonian brigades to retreat to southern Greece. All the above measures were designed to suppress the Macedonian national - liberation movement.”

He then goes on to say: “However, these Greek communist deeds were then discovered and the Macedonian brigades managed to pull out of the Greek territory and enter Vardar Macedonia, seeking protection. Meanwhile, a delegation from the Kostur, Lerin and Voden Regions arrived at the NOV (National Liberation Army) and PO Macedonian General Headquarters and brought with them a number of documents listing terror acts and atrocities committed against the Macedonian people by the Greek partisans of ELAS in the past three years...” The text was entitled: “Communist against communist.”

But how quickly we forgot and went back again to join the same ELAS people and fight alongside them in the Greek Civil War. Above all, we managed to forget that the Greek people were tricky and pragmatic and did everything in their power to fool us and keep the spoils of war for themselves, starting with the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest… the 1919 Treaty of Versailles… and so on and so forth…