REACTIONS FROM THE U.S. AND FROM THE GOVERNMENT IN ATHENS

REACTIONS FROM THE U.S. AND FROM THE GOVERNMENT IN ATHENS

A Memorandum addressed to the central informative service of the U.S. Department of Defense claimed that: “…aims of the Soviet Union and neighbouring socialist countries were to bring the Communists to power in Greece by creating an independent Macedonia which was to enter into the Yugoslav composition and for Greek Thrace to join Bulgaria. In such a situation the Soviet Union would have a way into the Aegean Sea and full control over the Balkans.”

G. Marshal, U.S. Minister of Foreign Affairs, after arrived in Athens on February 14, said that the U.S. government is satisfied with the changes in Greece and, in the interests of the U.S. and the United Nations, Greece will receive help to preserve its independence and territorial integrity.

On December 27, 1947 the Greek government passed special legislation PR 509/47, “regarding state security measures and constitutional protection of its citizens”, according to which the CPG and EAM were outlawed. Then with U.S. approval, 650 people were arrested in Athens from December 25 to 28, suspected of being communists.

In this “created” setting in which there was no “realistic” hope of DAG winning militarily, the CPG began to warm up to the Greek government. On January 27, 1949 the Provisional Democratic Government, during a radio broadcast, offered a new peace proposal, as follows:

1). Review all treaties and agreements relating to the freedom and independence of this country, 2). Opposing armies are to maintain their territories, 3) Current proclamation for political amnesty, 4). Re-establishment of all political liberties, 5). Start negotiations to form a government acceptable to both sides. This government will precisely define Articles of Agreement to be signed and terms under which to hold free elections in two months.

However, as was in previous cases, this peace proposal too was deemed suspicious and unacceptable.

On February 1, 1949 British ambassador Norton informed Tsaldaris, Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs, that “There was no change in British policy towards the bandits (DAG Partisans)”.

On July 10, 1949 Tito closed the Yugoslav border to Greece and the CPG, under a KPSS directive, on July 23, 1949 broke ranks with the CPY. After that the Albanian government recommended to the CPG to begin “downgrading” the Macedonians…

NOF AND AFZH CADRES ARE ORDERED BY ZAHARIADIS TO REPORT TO DAG GENERAL HEADQUARTERS

October 3, 1948. NOF cadres were asked to report to the village Rudari in Prespa, Lerin Region. There, Zahariadis informed them to go and join the ranks of DAG. Here is what Vera in her book “To Hell and Back” had to say: “Immediately I agreed. (This meeting was held in order to arrange which NOF cadre had to go where in DAG’s ranks.)

You will go,” he said to me, “to the DAG 18th Brigade where you will serve as a political assistant commissar.” (Vera then was an example of a good Macedonian and was under the leadership of political Commissar Tashko Gushevski - Maki and Commander Pando Vaina.)

At the end of her autobiography Vera gave the following statement: “With our arrest there was no more NOF but the Organization continued to linger on outside of Greece and in 1951 was renamed “Ilinden”. As usual, the heads of “Ilinden” were hand picked by Nikos Zahariadis, which included Pando Vaina, Stavro Kochev etc. These “internal enemies” went to Bulgaria where they terminated NOF and “Ilinden’s” activities.

Official history after 1995

For his latest official description of the Macedonian and the CPY and CPG attitudes towards them, see Risto Kiriazovski’s book “Makedontsite i odnosite na KPJ i KPG (1945 -1949) – ofitsialni dokumenti so komentari”, 1995, Chapter 8, p. 201. Kiriazovski is now supporting a new position which opposes and contradicts what he had said in his earlier books published before 1995.

The National Liberation Front and other institutions of Macedonia (1945 - 1949) from 1985 and other books published until 1995 by the same author.

“… It is time for the Macedonians from Greek occupied Macedonia, and beyond, to face the entire truth and for every stakeholder to take responsibility for what happened. It is time to name things by their true names. It is our obligation…”

HUNTING DOWN “TITO AGENTS” AND DAG COMBAT UNIT DESERTERS FLEEING TO YUGOSLAVIA TO SEEK PROTECTION FROM THE CPM/CPY

Some of those deserters, until yesterday, were senior members of NOF and AFZH. They were now abandoning DAG to save their own skins. Did they forget that, for the last two years, they had been responsible for agitating the people, for creating a strong party apparatus and for maintaining high spirits in the Yugoslav party? All these members of NOF and AFZH were communists, loyal to the Parties, sent there by the CPY. This included Evdokia Foteva – Vera, leader of AFZH, who, on page 204 of her book “To Hell and Back”, said:

“…They, down in Aegean Macedonia, in the CPG, NOF, AFZH, NOMS, always served with intrigue (she was thinking of all those in DAG who had deserted during the Greek Civil War and fled to Yugoslavia - R. Macedonia)... Mincho (later her husband) and I were by nature truth-loving, brought up to be honest... We remained true to NOF of Aegean Macedonia to the end.”

“Dimitar Trpovski, a friend of mine from my village, on April 11 – 12, took me to the Greek ‘Iafka’ (telegraph office) in Skopje so that I could visit with a group of NOF leaders who had deserted DAG

and fled to Yugoslavia in 1948. Included among them were Mihail Keramitchiev, leader of the group, Vangel Aianovski - Oche, Steriana Vangelova - Slavianka, Lena Stoikova - Mirka and others, who immediately attacked me and told me that we had surrendered to the Greeks. I got angry and told them that they were despondent and deserters who had left their people in disarray and ran off to hide, to save their own skin and their own families, while we, who were loyal to the Party and to our people, remained there and were prepared to fight and die…” For more information see p. 85.

So, given that Vera has offered us her honest opinion about these people being “deserters” the question that comes to mind is: Were these people ever in favour of a United Macedonia in a Balkan federation or were they defending the Party (CPY) thesis that the Party would give the Macedonian people from Greek occupied Macedonia a Yugoslav solution? So, why did they leave Aegean Macedonia for the second time? The first time was when they left with the Aegean Brigade. Why did they leave after convincing and pushing so many Macedonian fighters to join DAG and fight in the battlefields all across Greece? Why did they leave the Macedonian fighters in the hands of the Greeks? Why did they not fight for what they preached, for a Macedonian solution?

This most striking condition outlines their commitment to the CPG and the reaction towards their own comrades whom they called deserters. Their focus and commitment should have been to Macedonia and they should have sought a solution that benefited the Macedonian people and not ask people “are you with Tito or with Zahariadis”? Unfortunately instead of promoting what was good for Macedonia and for the Macedonian people they allowed divisions to foster and alienated the people by asking them: “Are you with us and if you are not, then, you are not with everyone!” These kinds of statements were premeditated and had a devastating effect on Macedonian unity. I am more afraid of distortions of the truth than I am of having to mention this fact:

Liljana Panova in her book “End of an Illusion, the Greek Civil War and the Macedonians 1946-1949”, on page 159, wrote: “... Nikolova (Vera) confided in Aianovski – Oche and told him that the ‘CPG began to again implement its policy of creating divisions among

NOF cadres’, and that ‘today there are three factions in NOF, one with Paskal Mitrovski, one with Pavle Rakovski and the third with Koichev’ and that the ‘CPG was again preparing something against NOF’.”

There was an explanation in a footnote that went something like this: “A meeting took place during the night of April 12 and 13. Attending the meeting were Rakovski, Nikolova, Tane Naumov, NOF Board Secretary of Lerin District, Keramitchiev, Dimovski -Gotse and Vangelova – Slavianka.”

So, from what Vera has told us, there was something going on with the Macedonians from Greek occupied Macedonia. Whatever it was it took place between 1940 and 1949, especially among our Macedonian leaders: “Propagandize, organize, lead the Macedonian people to war and then leave…” That is precisely what happened! It is a fact that our leadership in the organizations: CPG, KOEM, SNOF, SNOB, NOF, AFZH and NOMS led the people to war and then fled leaving them in the hands of our enemies to be slaughtered like lambs and to be exiled from their homeland forever!

Ever since they pushed the Macedonian people into the trenches of war, the most basic misjudgment has arisen among the Macedonian leaders of NOF and AFZ. The following occurred:

IDEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT ABOUT “WHO WILL LOVE MACEDONIA MORE AND WITH WHOM TO UNITE IT” or “WITH WHOM TO SOLVE THE MACEDONIAN QUESTION”

Now, after they bowed to their masters, they became politically disoriented and each realized that “any one of them could be next to be shot”.

The Macedonian NOF and AFZH leaders, with different attitudes and each with their own party baton, set out to collect a sufficient number of surviving fighters or refugees in order to form “real fighters” for the future of Macedonia and the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia.

What does that tell us?

It tells us that our political leaders (regardless of their ties to the CPY or the CPG) did not understand how wars were fought. Their understanding was that wars were fought with full distinctiveness and had a clear beginning and clear end. But we the Macedonians, during the Greek Civil War, had nothing to distinguish us. We did not plan the beginning or the end of the war. We were simply manipulated and used to the maximum and then left out in the cold to become eternal wanderers of the world.

Continuing to follow Vera, who so far has given us insight into her position and that, even though she was a leader and organizer in the struggle, she does not feel responsible for what happened because she feels she acted diligently and did everything that was required of her by the Communist Party.

But it also shows us that after so many people lost their homes, so many people became wanderers of the world and so many more people became victims of their doing, Vera, as a leader of AFZH who fought for a united Macedonia and then firmly accepted the CPG attitude that the Macedonian would be guaranteed “equality rights” the same as the Greeks and status quo with respect of the borders and nothing more, felt like a victim herself who was manipulated by the Greeks just like every Macedonian from Greek occupied Macedonia.

What about the “deserters” who defended the thesis that Yugoslavia had all the answers for the Macedonian people from Greek occupied Macedonia?

It is more than obvious that those who were against the CPY’s position were not “for” a “United Macedonia in a Balkan Federation”, as was later stated by the CPG. No, they were not for a United Macedonia as not all Macedonians were who took part in the 2nd NOF Congress. They were now “courting” the CPY and the Yugoslav authorities and claiming that they were a “pro-Yugoslav Macedonian movement” and were happy with the status quo regarding the borders!

All those leaders of ours now referred to as “deserters” have written their own historiographies, biographies and books of personal encounters after they came to Skopje. They even wrote about how the CPG attempted to convince them to return to Greece and establish their own Macedonian units. In other words, the Greeks were now hunting the very souls who had earlier left the battlefields to save themselves. They now wanted them to return to Greece and fight in the battles in Gramos.

But they were not interested in going back to Greece; they were more interested in “making history on behalf of Yugoslav interests” and, as a result, they left no details about the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia.

So what does this all mean? There is an old saying: “If you don’t know why you suffered a setback, you are no smarter than you were before.” Even half a century later, surely someone must want to know how and why we got mixed up in this Greek Civil War.

We were sold on many illusions. We did whatever we could without realizing that we were harming ourselves. Our national goals were blurred at best and our leaders were efficiently manipulated by our enemies no less. We were naïve and we were sold on a lot of goods that were unrealistic and unattainable. We had big dreams and big aspirations and foreigners and strangers took advantage of us and turned our dreams against us. And that very well, I believe, sums it up.