THE USSR’S POSITION

THE USSR’S POSITION

WHAT WAS THE USSR’S POSITION ON THE QUESTION OF CREATING A MACEDONIAN STATE IN MARCH 1949?

On March 8, 1949, Chernishov, the Soviet diplomatic agent in Greece, telephoned Moscow and informed the Soviet authorities of the Greek reactionaries using unprecedented aggressive and active propaganda against the Communist Party of Greece and against the “Andart” (Greek fighter, mercenary during the Turkish Empire, fought for the conquest of Macedonia to join Greece. This is what the Greeks called the DAG fighters) movement as well as the “Macedonian question” (a decisions made at the CPG Central Committee 5th Plenum and at the 2nd NOF Congress). This propaganda, according to Chernishov, was primarily aimed at the CPG’s actions and at the Andarts (DAG), who were allegedly inclined to destroy Greece’s sovereignty. Therefore the question of unifying Macedonia should not be pursued at this time because this kind of propaganda will help the Athens government to recruit and transfer government troops with high military readiness to these parts controlled by DAG. The Greek people have a special sensitivity to the issue of Greek integrity and sovereignty, but the same concern arises among the people who now live in the cities and are communist and Andart (DAG) sympathizers. In particular, the next NOF congress is expected to convene on March 10 in the free territories that are under DAG’s control. On that occasion, the Anglo-American League state press, with provocative intentions, will declare that the Congress will decide on the annexation of Greek Macedonia into a common state with Bulgarian and Yugoslav Macedonia and that the Communist Party of Greece is “betraying Greece”.

In accordance with the information that Chernishov received back from Moscow, regarding the USSR’s position 26 on this matter, the

26 The Soviet Union’s policy towards the Macedonian Question was a function of USSR’s global policy and strategy in general and for Greece in particular. Stalin used the Macedonian Question, as well as the British, Americans and Greek Congress organizers were told that their intentions to speak about this issue during the Congress would not only be reckless, but would be detrimental to the future of the Macedonian people within the framework of some kind of Balkan Federation. Instead of pursuing this course the USSR recommended to the Congress delegates to turn their orientation towards the population in Greek Macedonia, and orient them to the fight against the monarcho-fascist society in Greece and to fight for the creation of a free and democratic Greece.

END OF THE WAR - SOLVE THE AEGEAN PROBLEM BY EXILING THE MINORITIES!

The Greek Civil War was a national disaster for Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia. It left thousands dead, thousands more maimed and disabled and countless broken families. The vast majority of those who fled lost their ancestral homes and lands and became permanent refugees.

Once and for all it should be understood that the people from our villages in Lerin, Kostur, Voden and other regions of Greek occupied Macedonia, had no intention of leaving their homes at the end of the Greek Civil War. So, one would have to ask: “Why then did they leave?” What and who encouraged the people from the villages to leave their homes and properties and head for Albania? Was there some sort of a plan to get rid of every Macedonian from Greek occupied Macedonia? Was there a plan to “ethnically cleanse” Macedonia of its Macedonians? Is that why Markos and

attitude towards the Macedonians living in Greece, as a cover for his policy that he implemented in the countries that fell under Western influence after the Second World War. During the Second World War, the communist parties in the countries that had divided Macedonia firmly respected the declarative principle of the great powers for not changing the pre-war borders. We should also know that Stalin on his own initiative decided to dissolve the Comentern and formally recognized the right to each communist party’s independence. Stalin also supported the thesis of ‘One state, one party’. The same Stalin with his forces in Moscow (October 1944) decided the division of spheres of influence in the Balkans and allowed the borders to remain ‘status quo’. This was Stalin’s answer to us and all the others who were looking for salvation from the USSR. That was the first blow struck against us and the reason why we lost our spiritual unification which left us without a strategy for our spiritual survival of our ethnic space in the Balkans.

Zahariadis, both colonists from Asia Minor, were put in charge of “managing” the war?

It should also be understood that NOF and AFZH had no political or military power and had no influence on the war so why did they call on the Macedonian people to rise and fight and for what?

October 9, 1949. The CPG Central Committee held its 6th Plenum in Bureli, Albania. The Plenum rejected its previous position which called for the “Independence and full national self-determination of the Macedonians under Greece”, adopted during the 5th Plenary Session on January of the same year and returned to the notion of “Equality for the Macedonian minority within the Greek state”. The plenum also decided to disband NOF and AFZH.

During a delegation meeting led by Stalin between the KPSS, CPG and APT leaderships, held in Moscow in January 1950, a few issues were discussed. One was the conflict between the CPG and the APT, another was a letter addressed to the KPSS Central Committee written by General Markos Vafiadis accusing Zahariadis of being an Intelligence Service agent. And a third was a discussion regarding CPG politics aimed against Macedonian national issues.

It was also found that it was wrong of Zahariadis to have established KOEM, the Communist Party for the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia.

Acting on Stalin’s directives, the CPG leadership held its 7th Plenum on May 14 to 18, 1950, during which the following issues were discussed:

1. KPSS suggestions, and 2. The internal political situation in Greece and CPG objectives.

During the Plenum Zahariadis took the position that “Tito’s betrayal, with help from his NOF agents inside Greece, played a decisive role in DAG’s defeat.”

We can see from the overall analysis, that the Macedonian National Question was always present in the daily politics of the Greek Civil

War. It was held there in the foreground to remind everyone of it but there was never any real intent to solving it. It was only there to serve the purposes of those who instigated the war and to fulfill their objectives. The Macedonian Question was used to spur the Macedonian people into action, to frighten the Greek right to take measures and to justify UK and US intervention in Greece in favour of the Athens regime. In the beginning the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia used it to create new socialist states but later used it to deflect the war away from Yugoslavia.

Unfortunately the consequences of these policies had devastating effects on the Macedonian people from Greek occupied Macedonia and subjected them to great cruelties including genocide.

* * *

In the end everything was on the table:

There are transcripts that exist in the UN of Russian and American dialogue with regards to the Macedonians of Greek occupied Macedonia, which deemed the Macedonian issue “a threat to the peace in the Balkans” and that discussions should take place about “population exchanges”. Meaning a transfer of minorities was proposed…

So what did all this mean for us Macedonians? It meant that the “powers” wanted us out of our ancestral homes and away, far away, from Greek occupied Macedonia. And isn’t that exactly what happened?

Up to this point we have faced the roots of evil and our dark secrets. It is time now for us to learn our own history and acknowledge our political immaturity. Leaving our ancestral hearths is proof of our “National defeat”. Worse than that, is that we kept silent for more than six decades, while being imprisoned and quarantined in foreign lands. Have we become complete robots controlled by foreigners? We need to show some respect for ourselves and start looking at our “black spots” in Macedonian history.

Are you convinced by any of this or do you still believe we experienced a “Revolution” as told by our “sectarian history”!?

The Moscow Document:

When Stalin and Zahariadis finished their talks on September 16, 1949, a summary document was prepared and signed by Stalin. The document defined the reasons for DAG’s defeat which the CPG needed to grasp as a basis and roadmap for its new political line and the form of struggle it had to apply. This is what was said:

“1. After DAG’s defeat in Vicho and Gramos the situation in Greece changed, forcing the CPG to change its political line.

DAG’s defeat was attributed to:

a) The CPG being unable to solve its problem with reserves for DAG and supplying DAG units located in central and southern Greece.

b) The aid provided to the Monarcho-Fascists in Athens by the Americans and the British turned the tide in the war.

c) Tito and his clique’s betrayal.” … 6 additional points were also given.

This document provides us with sufficient information to prove that we Macedonians, during the Greek Civil War, did not make any demands and were in no position to make any demands regarding the Macedonian Question. It also proves that the continuation or ending of the war had nothing to do with us...

But just today (February 25/26 2006), as I am writing this text, the newspaper “Makedonija Denes” (Macedonia Today) published an article entitled “Does Macedonia have the ability to unite?” It was an excerpt from Risto Kiriazovski’s book “Makedonsko Nacionalno Prashanje I Gragianskata Vojna” (Macedonian national question and the Civil War).

What was his aim? What did he want to accomplish by that, especially today when we are desperately looking for someone to answer for the victims of communism?! Perhaps his goal was to keep the question open and from time to time endeavour to shade the CPM/CPY’s treatment (through NOF) of the Macedonian people from Greek occupied Macedonia. And at an elementary level, to prove to us that the Macedonian leadership did everything it could for our people, but it was the great powers that prevented everything.

In October 1949 the NOF and AFZH leadership was arrested, jailed and placed under investigation.

Based on decisions made during the CPG Central Committee 6th Plenum on October 9, 1949 and during the Party Conference on October 7, 1947 in Bureli, Albania, DAG General Headquarters, the CPG Central Committee Politburo and DAG’s Security Services, after receiving prior approval from the competent Albanian authorities and personally from Mehmet Shehu, Albanian President, the NOF and AFZH leaderships were sequestered. Included among those sequestered were Paskal Mitrevski, Pavle Rakovski, Mincho Fotev, Evdokia Nikolova - Vera, Urania Pirovska, Mihali Maliov, Tasho Hadzhianov, Lambro Cholakov, Hristo Kolentsev - Kokinos and Lazo Pop Lazarov. All these people, after being arrested and jailed, were sent to prison camps in Siberia because they were suspected of being “Tito’s agents”.

All throughout October and November 1949, all the DAG fighters and civilians located inside Albania, instead of being returned to their homes or sent to the Republic of Macedonia, were transferred to various Eastern European countries.

Based on the October 1949 Moscow agreement, the fighters and refugees were picked up from Albania by Russian ships and transferred to the following countries: Romania 9,100; Czechoslovakia 11,941; Poland 11,475; Hungary 7,253; Bulgaria 3,071 and the Soviet Union 11,997 DAG fighters.

Many changes took place from October 1950 to May 1955 with people relocating in order to reunite with their families. As a result

of that, for example, the number of refugees in 1955 in the Soviet Union’s Uzbekistan rose to 16,000.

Tashkent in Uzbekistan was reorganized into “towns” where the immigrants lived under a regime organized by the CPG with its own party organizations representing more than 8,000 Greeks and Macedonians.

Stalin died on March 3, 1953, at the end of an era. May history be his judge! The situation in the Soviet Union began to change after Stalin’s death and on February 23, 1956 the KPSS held its XX Congress, introducing fundamental changes inside the USSR as well as in the Balkan communist parties.

The CPG splits into two factions

Two factions of the CPG were created among the political refugees in Tashkent. Zahariadis’s faction was supported by Niazov, Central Committee Party of Uzbekistan First Secretary. The anti-Zahariadis faction was supported by Melnikov, Central Committee Party of Uzbekistan Second Secretary.

Our return to the People’s Republic of Macedonia

One of the best explanations of the return to the People’s Republic of Macedonia was given by Evdokia Foteva – Vera which deals exclusively with her own personal experience and the welcome she received upon her arrival. Vera said many positive things about her experience after her return, particularly how she was taken care of by the state. In her book she also mentioned how the state also took care of the “deserters” who had fled the Greek Civil War to save their own skins. She was being very open and honest when on page 204, she said: “… Those who deserted DAG, NOF, who fled the war, not only left our people at the mercy of the enemy, but in our absence, here, they spread unbelievable lies… Even when they were down there in Aegean Macedonia, in the CPG, NOF, AFZH and NOMS, they served with intrigue. These people took the truth about DAG and NOF and turned it 180 degrees. They did this because they thought that we, who were sent to the Siberian prison camps would never return alive.”

Let’s talk about the return of the refugees and fighters!

The return of the refugees and fighters was nothing like the return of the NOF and AFZH leadership. While the NOF and AFZH leaders, upon their return, were welcomed with open arms, we the fighters who spilled our blood, died and were maimed for life in this war, had to prove our allegiance before we were allowed in. We “the brave fighters” as historian Kiriazovski has often referred to us had to prove our loyalty by serving time in jail. Our welcome was from the airport, from the train station, from the bus station… directly to jail so that our national identity could be confirmed and so that later we could be ranked into “eligible” or “ineligible” for entry and for benefits provided we were not convicted of being “Russian spies”. The fighters were then placed in different “ghettos” in Avtokomanda, Chair, Kisela Voda, etc., most probably for some unknown purpose. But as young people eager to get on with our lives, many of us managed to crawl out of the ghettoes and mix with other Macedonian people, and not just with the “Aegeans”. Those left in the ghettoes, for whatever reason, for the last 60 years felt like second-class citizens. These once proud people had to live with a sickly painful feeling of being pushed into this segment of life while endlessly waiting to go home…