B. THE FASCIST OCCUPATION (1941-1944) - Part 02

According to “Glasnik”, organ of the Institute for National History: “Not a single Macedonian, prominent communist or activist, was given the opportunity to work in the districts among their Macedonian compatriots or with the Macedonian population. It was a common occurrence that during the occupation, there was not a single Macedonian CPG secretary in the regional committees in Lerin, Kostur or Voden Regions where the Macedonian population was compact...” (T. Simovski, Tashko Karadzha, “Glasnik” no. 1/1975, p. 120.)

Naturally Siantos’s CPG leadership made sure preventative measures were taken to prohibit Macedonians from taking leadership positions and from developing a Macedonian anti-fascist liberation movement.

But there was more…

Some of these Macedonian activists, probably the most dangerous ones in this respect, soon died under very suspicious circumstances. Tashko Karadzha, for example, came to Solun to work with the CPG Provincial Bureau and while waiting in one of their central offices was arrested by an Asphalia agent (April 8, 1942). Later he was killed by the Germans. Lazo Trpovski was also killed in a similar manner. He got a directive to go to Solun to do some work but never made it. It turned out that the Asphalia in Solun was expecting him and knew about his travels. Lazo was killed in an ambush. Only those who gave him his orders knew which route to Solun he was going to take.

This explains the paradox: Not one of the many prominent Macedonian revolutionaries succeeded in becoming a leader of the Macedonian anti-fascist liberation movement in Greece.

The Macedonians, however, did not stay leaderless for too long. New leaders surfaced about whom the CPG knew nothing. Not being aware of who they were, and of their role in the Macedonian movement, the Siantos CPG leadership did not pursue them...

* * *

During the fascist occupation the Macedonian CPG core organizations in Voden and Voden Region, Lerin and Lerin Region, and Kostur and Kostur Region were obliged to be connected via EAM, ELAS, EPON channels because they were not allowed to have their own. As a result they were unable to maximize their participation in the struggle against the foreign fascist occupiers.

The Siantos leadership, through its CPG secretaries such as Logas and Evtimidis, installed in those regions, made sure of that. (As it turned out, Evtimidis was an agent of the Asphalia.)

Here is another thing, characteristic of the times: The only news the Macedonian activists at the districts received was what the CPG, EAM, ELAS, EPON, newspapers published. These newspapers were always full of news about events from the distant fronts and from all across Greece, but persistently kept silent about nearby events taking place in the Macedonian districts, even in the closest ones.

This, no doubt, was another of the Siantos CPG leadership’s prevention policies to keep the Macedonian antifascist forces fragmented and isolated from each other, even in their own districts and surrounding areas. This proved to be a heavy blow against the Macedonian anti-fascist liberation movement.

This explains why Macedonians created more than one liberation movement organization…

For example the Macedonians created:

MAO (Macedonian Anti-Fascist Organization) in Voden, SOF (Slavo-Macedonian Liberation Front) in Lerin Region, and SNOF (Slavo-Macedonian People’s Liberation Front) in Kostur Region.

Each was created without the knowledge of the existence of the others...

The CPG Greek leaders agreed to allow the creation of MAO in Voden because of the strong pressure put on them by persistent demands from the Macedonian Voden Communists. But even after MAO was created the Greek leaders kept a lid on it and no one outside of Voden knew about it, not even the activists in nearby Meglen (Karadzova) and Ostrovo Regions where I worked in the underground. There was no news at all of its creation or existence in any of the CPG or EAM newspapers. MAO even had its own newspaper called “Red Star” and a “Newsletter” which it barely managed to publish only several times. Its small circulation unfortunately was limited only to the city Voden.

But when MAO became popular with the Macedonian people in Voden the Greek leaders deliberately disbanded it, and shut down its newspaper the “Red Star” and its “Newsletter”.

A little later the Greek leaders decided to “give in” a little and allowed the founding of a single Macedonian organization in Lerin and Kostur Regions under the name SNOF. But, as events showed, they did this because they hoped that without Greek help SNOF would soon fade away and become a fictitious organization. But they were mistaken… SNOF quickly turned into a dynamic combat organization. And so did MAO in Voden, which is why it was quickly disbanded.

And on top of that the Greeks became very hostile…

They began to attack, slander and discredit the Macedonian leaders with aims at destroying their credibility and strangling the Macedonian movement.

From the logic of the events that took place, we can conclude that:

“Like MAO, SNOF was created by the CPG on the assumption that it would remain stillborn and fictitious. These Macedonian organizations were dissolved because they grew rapidly and became the material force of Macedonian self-awareness and as living and active bearers and expressers of the Macedonian identity and Macedonian national existence... Of course, this “collided” with the “Greek character of Macedonia” (Εθνικον Συµβουλιον), and with the thesis that “Macedonia is as Greek as Attica” (“Rizospastis”) and with the thesis that the Macedonians are “Slavophone Greeks”.

Having this in mind, it becomes quite clear as to why the Siantos CPG leadership has never mentioned the Macedonians in any of the official Party texts as having participated in the national liberation war against the occupiers. Not only has the Macedonian participation been omitted, but the entire Macedonian existence in Greece has been completely ignored. Of course, to speak of the Macedonians as a non-Greek people and about their rights and freedom would mean that:

The CPG would have to publicly admit to the existence of a Macedonian national question, which then would mean that it would have to recognize that existence. And that would diametrically oppose the CPG leadership’s line that “Macedonia is Greek” and that the Macedonian people are “Slavophone Greeks”...

9. The great evil

On August 8, 1948, in his report to the CPM Central Committee, Svetozar Vukmanovich-Tempo, CPY Central Committee delegate in Macedonia, wrote:

“At the request of Greek headquarters our troops from Bitola Region were sent to Greek Macedonia, to Lerin and Kostur Regions, and there they made political breakthroughs with the Macedonian masses. The Macedonian people welcomed them as their liberators and all the counter-bands voluntarily surrendered their weapons. The Macedonian people wanted to be placed under the command of our Macedonian Headquarters. We rejected this because of the attitude of the Greek Party (CPG) regarding the Macedonian question...” (Sources of the Liberation War and Revolution in Macedonia, p. 183.)

The fixed events in the above quotation (an original document of that time), especially the existence of counter-bands in the Macedonian villages in the aforementioned areas, clearly indicates that the EAM coalition, i.e. the left wing headed by the CPG and the Siantos leadership, suppressed the Macedonian liberation movement which greatly facilitated the work of the German-Bulgarian propaganda. Taking away the Macedonian people’s inalienable right to organize and fight for their own freedom, without offering them anything in return, the Siantos CPG leadership left the Macedonian people at the disposal of enemy propaganda.

The Germans and Bulgarians tried to win over the Macedonian people by offering them an autonomous Macedonia under the auspices of “brotherly Bulgaria” or “mother Bulgaria”, with Hitler’s blessing. They wanted to mobilize and arm the Macedonian people and by doing so, they were hoping to acquire considerable territory and a living force that would significantly weaken the anti-fascist

liberation movement in Macedonia. And then this would have given the Bulgarians a foundation to be proud of and to call the Macedonian people “Bulgarians from Macedonia”.

The Bulgarians did manage to convince a small number of Macedonians to come to their side but the CPG never explained why… The CPG also did not explain why the occupiers armed a number of counter-bands. A large part of these counter-bands in the Macedonian villages were armed because they wanted to protect their villages from Greek ELAS unit attacks. On many occasions Greek ELAS units attacked several unprotected Macedonian villages and killed the local leaders because they were courageous enough to criticize CPG-EAM policy and publicly demand “equal rights” for the Macedonian people and not just empty promises.

ELAS units killed Macedonians because these Macedonians insisted that they wanted to fight for their own rights in a struggle of their own… and not in a Greek struggle… and not in the ranks of Greek national organizations… and not for the national liberation of Greece… These Macedonians died at the hands of ELAS because they wanted to struggle for their own democratic rights and freedoms.

Macedonian people died at the hands of ELAS because they did not want to struggle side by side with the Greek people. They wanted to be an equal ally and not just an unpaid mercenary. And so on, in that spirit.

As is well-known, the most dangerous Greek nationalist armed bands, which attacked the Macedonian villages and wreaked havoc on the Macedonian people, were created by the Greek reactionaries under the initiative of the occupiers…

The very fact that the occupiers resorted to this kind of measure against the Macedonian people, indisputably and convincingly speaks of their inability to attract the Macedonian population to their side. In other words their offer of an “Autonomous Macedonia under the cover of fascists” had no effect on the Macedonian people.

The reason why the Macedonian people felt compelled to accept arms from the occupiers was to defend themselves against Siantos’s anti-Macedonian practices, the chauvinistic outbursts from Greek ELAS units, and the savage outbursts from Greek nationalist gangs. It was necessary to survive, and there was no other way...

This is what happened and this is how things were and that is why when the Macedonian partisans from the Bitola region arrived in Greek occupied Macedonia, they were welcomed as liberators and the counter-bands (armed Macedonians) voluntarily surrendered their weapons. And this is why these Macedonians demanded that they be placed under the command of the Main Headquarters in Macedonia (Republic of Macedonia).

When the Greek CPG leaders and the people from “Greek headquarters” found out from Tempo (Vukmanovich) that the Macedonian counter-bands were surrendering without a fight to the Macedonian revolutionary troops, they asked for help from the Macedonians from the other (Yugoslav) part of Macedonia. ELAS did not have any “all Macedonian units”, and if it took action against the counter-bands with its Greek ELAS units, it would surely have faced massive losses. That is why the Greeks demanded that the Macedonian units be made with fighters from the other (Yugoslav) part of Macedonia. This, of course, was done out of desperation and necessity. At the same time the Greeks had to acknowledge that their “Slavophone Greeks” in Greece were the same people as the Macedonians from the other (Yugoslav) part of Macedonia...

10. They say one thing and think and do another