PREFACE

PREFACE

The consequences of the Greek Civil War (1946-1949) final outcome were of crucial importance for the status and position of the Macedonian people in the Aegean (Greek occupied) part of Macedonia. The new spark of hope for achieving their national aspirations, to which the Macedonian people devoted all their potential and deep confidence in their righteousness for their national ideals, was extinguished in August 1949, when the Democratic Army of Greece (DAG) withdrew from its own territory.

Even though the Macedonian people entered the military conflict independently and were organized and led during the entire war by their own organization - the People’s Liberation Front (NOF), they signed a joint action agreement with the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) in the second half of 1946 which limited their independence particularly the independence of the Macedonian National Liberation Movement, which since then was under CPG control. This agreement, in fact, was an open opportunity for the CPG to directly influence the Macedonian movement and to succeed in infiltrating NOF and creating a split in the top NOF leadership and ultimately, by using its power and great authority, to meddle in Macedonian affairs as well as to shield itself from its own doing and put the entire blame for DAG’s defeat on the Macedonians – particularly on the NOF leadership and its management staff.

Taking into account the Macedonian National Question and the Informbiro narrowing conditions and constraints surrounding Yugoslavia (including the People’s Republic of Macedonia, the Macedonian people’s biggest supporter), the CPG, by accepting the Informbiro Resolution, brought discord to the Macedonian governing structure and at the same time blamed it for DAG’s defeat.

The book “In the Deep Night Dawn is Born” (Memories, Reflections, Knowledge), by Pavle Rakovski, is an actual synthesis of the author’s own authentic memories, thoughts and insights on events that took place during the Greek Civil War (1946-1949), but also on the circumstances under which they took place. Rakovski, as

a member of the CPG, and then as part of the NOF leadership, was a contemporary and direct participant in these events. Rakovski, in his book, has given us his personal consideration, knowledge and evaluation of all the important procedures and actions NOF had taken that has correlated them with the CPG’s policies towards the Macedonian National Question.

The book begins with an introduction in which Rakovski lists the motives that prompted him to write it. The information in the book, which he himself says would be “interesting for historians” is a useful “source of data for everyone who is interested in the fate of our people in the Greek state”. The book is divided into eleven chapters that are further broken down into a dozen or more delimited articles. The text is a series of interrelated events that take place in accordance with how the author understood the problems, and in some cases there are deviations from their chronological ordering. Namely, the entire content of the book is about proving the author’s basic thesis, which is, as he himself qualifies it, “the policy of fully ignoring the Macedonian National Question”, “the war against the Macedonian national ideal”, the “opportunistic” CPG policies… all supported by his personal subjective analysis of events, decisions made and actions taken by the political cadres and confirmed by his personal conclusions in favour of the main thesis.

Referring to his autobiographical notes Rakovski tells his story based on his own life experience with the Communist movement in Greece, his organized activities in the CPG during the Second World War, and his activities as a leader in NOF during the Greek Civil War. In doing so, he cites authentic information of events in which he personally participated. In doing so he has revealed new and so far unknown information in our historiography but which still requires additional scientific confirmation. It should be noted that a significant part of the book refers to already discussed and processed questions about the history of the Macedonian people from the Aegean (Greek occupied) part of Macedonia that deal with the most important internal and external political events from World War II and the Greek Civil War in Greece, as well as CPG agreements, meetings, plenums and congresses. All this is done in aid of confirming his main thesis.

In the last part of his book Rakovski talks about CPG accusations against the Macedonian NOF leaders, including himself, who were accused of being “Tito’s agents” and of cooperating with Yugoslavia to damage the revolution and to bring defeat to DAG during the Greek Civil War. Rakovski’s direct observations of this CPG planned scenario, whose final act was preceded by a whole series of events and resolutions, which gradually but surely led to the ultimate goal, causing a further disruption in relations among the Macedonian leaders themselves, seems to be Rakovski’s additional motive for writing his book, which Rakovski does not state openly.

Even though Rakovski, as a Soviet political prisoner in the years after the Greek Civil War, shared the same fate as the other Macedonian leaders arrested, unlike the others however, he continued to feel the consequences of the disrupted conditions within the Macedonian political leadership, after his return to the Socialist Republic of Macedonia.

This is why Rakovski was compelled to write his side of the story and offer it for publication in the mid-1970s. This is also why his several attempts to publish his side of the story were unsuccessful. Moreover, the logical explanation for the lack of success clearly follows from the fact that in his book Rakovski discloses new information that the then Macedonian historiography did not have, or contradicted the existing historiography. Rakovski here presented his personal subjective attitudes in relation to CPG policies regarding the Macedonian National Question which did not entirely coincide with the views of the official Macedonian historiography. Here Rakovski openly opposes the views of certain individuals from the ranks of the Macedonian leadership who, at the time, occupied state and other important positions in the Socialist Republic of Macedonia.

Interested readers who browse through these pages should remember that during communist rule deviation from official attitudes was unacceptable. This means that perception of integrity in a person, even the work of prominent figures, who did not follow the communist line was unacceptable.

Looking at it another way, the book “In the deep night dawn is born” was written by Pavle Rakovski who, during World War II and during the Greek Civil War, was a prominent figure and a leader in the Macedonian National Liberation Movement in the Aegean (Greek occupied) part of Macedonia. Here Rakovski opens new challenges that call for a more thorough scientific study of the personalities and activities of those Macedonians who our historiography has, so far, only touched upon and not fully studied. And this is not just one case, the case of the author of this book, but also many other prominent figures who deserve their own place in the Macedonian national history.

Dr. Katerina Mirchevska